Tournament report 17th German Backgammon Championship 2025
The venue for the
17th International German Backgammon Championship
was located right in Frankfurt, at the Scandic Hotel Hafenpark. Opened just two years ago, the hotel is situated directly next to the European Central Bank Tower. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive—and not just because of the modern ballroom that served as the playing hall. The guest rooms, and the outstanding breakfast in particular, also received special praise.
This year, 98 players in the Championship division, 72 in the Intermediate division, and 28 in the Beginner division made their way to join us, bringing the total number of participants to 198. As befits an international championship, the field was not limited to German players; we were also delighted to welcome participants from 16 other countries:
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, Italy, Switzerland,
Austria, USA, Australia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ukraine, Hungary,
Finland, Luxembourg, and Turkey.
Championship Flight (98)
The Major Flight, featuring 98 players, enjoyed great popularity—as always. There were two paths to qualification for the quarterfinals: the top four finishers from the Undefeated bracket and the top four from the Second Chance bracket advanced. The field that assembled for the quarterfinals was truly high-caliber.
It included Roland Sahlen from Sweden (G2), Mislav Kovacic from Croatia (G3), Denise Kaiser (M3), Andreas Hofmann (G3), and Super Grandmaster Dirk Schiemann (S2). Joining them were Willi Preskar, Martin von Behren, and Laila Leonhardt from Denmark.
In a duel between two good friends, Mislav prevailed against Laila and qualified for the semifinals. Somewhat more surprising was that Martin defeated the Swedish Grandmaster Roland. Willi gave Denis few chances, while the two national team players, Dirk and Andreas, also contested a high-class match. Andreas won, eliminating the nominal tournament favorite.
In the semifinals on Whit Monday morning, the last two Grandmasters were forced to bow out; consequently, an all-German final between Martin and Willi took place that afternoon.
Martin managed to maintain a lead of 3 to 4 points right through to the end, thereby deservedly claiming the title.
Michael Roth from Aachen won the Last Chance against Norbert Wiebusch from Hamburg.
Intermediate Flight (72)
The Intermediate Flight—traditionally a highly competitive category with a total of 72 participants—was fiercely contested. Local favorite Ulrich Roth from Frankfurt claimed the title, defeating Sabine Krämer from Germering in the final and relegating her to second place.
Markus Jordan and Vedat Özcan shared 3rd place; both lost their semifinal matches against the finalists.
The quarterfinalists—who shared 5th place—were Uwe Dable, Jesper Pretzer from Denmark, Ulrich Zöller, and Sami Kero from Finland.
Marcus Krawietz and Alexander Mentrup reached the Last Chance Final, and Alexander was able to take home the winner's trophy.
Beginners Flight (28)
In the Beginners' Flight, following five rounds of Swiss System play and a playoff match, the following players qualified for the semifinals:
Thomas Martini from Stuttgart
Saje Asgari from Frankfurt
Thomas Orlt from Seeheim
Katherina Flach
Gabriela Förster narrowly missed out during the semifinal qualifying round.
In the two exciting semifinal matches, Saje was defeated by Thomas Orlt, and Thomas Martini fell to Katherina.
It was a worthy final between Katherina and Thomas—thrilling right up to the very end. Thomas Orlt prevailed by a narrow margin and took the title back to Seeheim.
In the Last Chance, Patrick Flach—Katharina's husband—won ahead of Sven Fluske.
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Consulting (40) & Limited (23) Doubles
Forty teams competed in the Consulting Doubles. The defending champions—the married couple Regine and Kimon Papachristopoulos—once again reached the semifinals. However, they were unable to advance past the Finnish-German duo of Kero and Koch. The semifinals also marked the end of the road for the team of Brinkmann and Mentrup. In the final, Sami Kero and Ralf Koch prevailed against the doubles pair of Lea Holland and Andreas Hofmann.
The Limited Doubles event was also well-attended, featuring 23 teams. In the final, Thomas Joilet and Jörg Schlüter came up short; the eventual winners—Heike Müller from Frankenberg and Peter Haßelberg (the head of the online platform WBIF.de) from Gelsenkirchen—gave them no chance.
Super Jackpots
Frank Brinkmann from Straelen has won the prestigious 1st Super Jackpot, which featured a field of 32 competitors. In the final, he prevailed against Nadjib Kawkab from Düsseldorf.
Lars Nielsen from Denmark claimed victory in the 2nd Super Jackpot, which had eight participants.
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Limited Jackpots
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In the 1st Limited Jackpot—featuring 32 participants drawn from the Intermediate field—Bernd Schmidt from Mannheim defeated Gonzales Milton from Costa Rica; for him, at least, the long journey certainly paid off.
Felix Wagener from Hamburg won the 2nd Limited Jackpot—which consisted of 16 players—defeating Marcus Krawietz from Bad Soden.
SpeedGammon (128)
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In this year's SpeedGammon tournament, the 128 available spots were filled quickly. The semifinalists in this rapid-fire competition hailed from Ukraine and Münster—Oleksandr Krasov and Athanasios Lagopatis. Ralf Koch from Steinbach once again claimed victory in the final, relegating Torsten Lux from Schwalbach to second place.
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Ladies Cup (21)
And once again, there was a Ladies' Cup, which this time attracted a field of 21 competitors. The victory went to Silvia Weilenmann from Switzerland, who defeated her opponent, Jutta Lange from Berlin, in the 7-point final.
Congratulations to all the winners!
