Gibraltar Backgammon National Team beats reigning champions France

The Backgammon Association of Gibraltar’s national selection recently won against France in the WBGF 2024 World National Teams Championship in Stockholm, Sweden.  

The event saw teams from 23 nations from across the world taking part. 

A spokesperson for the team said that it was a “fabulous learning experience for all of them” and a reminder that, with every opportunity like this one, their performance improves which, in turn, builds on their confidence and allows them to aspire to more wins.  

In similar fashion to other world sports team events, the preliminary round of the competition is drawn into groups.  

Gibraltar was drawn in group A together with Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Switzerland.  

“A particularly tough group to be drawn in,” the spokesperson said. 

The team comprising of Nadine Chipolina (Captain), Gilbert Licudi, Michael Pitaluga, Natalie Passano, Marcelle Licudi, William Danino and Stewart Stone brought home a total of six individual wins: Gilbert two, Nadine two, Marcelle one, Michael one. 

“By far the highlight of the competition for the team was bringing home a team victory against France, the 2023 world champions, beating them 3-2 with points scored by Gilbert, Nadine and Marcelle,” the spokesperson said. 

“A truly exhilarating experience that generated great cheer in the playing room and congratulations from many of what the team now consider friends as well as peers from the world-wide backgammon community.” 

The Backgammon Association of Gibraltar is a well-established, active and respected member of the World Backgammon Federation.  

“The Gibraltar Backgammon Team continues to learn and develop and although far from being leaders in the field, compared to other teams from larger nations like Japan, USA, France, Denmark, Germany to name a few, who dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to playing and developing their game, team Gib are making a name for themselves by confidently persevering, participating amongst leading nations and slowly rising from being bottom of the board or being considered ‘a guaranteed win’ by other teams,” the spokesperson said. 

The WBGF 2024 World Championship results saw Gibraltar rank 19th out of 23.  

“With realistic expectations, coming fifth from the bottom is a marked improvement which the team are proud of,” the spokesperson said. 

“They will continue to work hard and look forward to next year's world championship in Greece.” 

The Backgammon Association of Gibraltar (BAG) is a registered leisure association, recognised by the GSLA. BAG currently meets on Wednesday evenings between September and June at Latinos Restaurant where they hold league sessions. They also organise ad-hoc events like the National Day and New Year tournaments.  

BAG thanked the GSLA for all their support, especially when taking part in the World Championships.  

They look forward to working with the GSLA to promote backgammon on the rock further.  

Plans are underway to include backgammon in the GSLA summer activities programme for children in 2025.  

Any person interested in joining the BAG league, or anyone requiring more information should send an email to: gibraltarbackgammon@gmail.com