trekking: walking in the countryside for pleasure or sport. Usually meaning for a longer period of time than hiking.

For pleasure and sport? Hell yeah. Almost. Checking out the pictures from Officer dUB, an old extreme backgammon standby, and his opponent Hempel, a fairly new extreme backgammon player, it comes to the viewer’s mind that there is more than pleasure and sport involved here. The guys did a truly extreme tour here climbing up to lake Moriri close to the famous destination Ladakh, Northern India. It has to be seen who has enough power and oxygen left to battle it out next to the wonderful spot here.

Who actually won the game and who on the other hand had to carry the equipment back to the base camp is not known. Whoever it was – the definition of trekking has to be rewritten:

extreme trekking: walking in the countryside for extreme backgammon activities. Usually meaning for a longer period of time than a 5 point game.

It was a very well deserved victory in the end. oolong overcame magic, showed incredible strenght – mentally and physically and of course – performed backgammon at a level other regular humans can only dream of! Just one comment about the final which took place in front of the India Gate in Delhi: nobless oblige!

You are used to the fact that he xbg crew is covering the whole series in depth – and of course we do not want to disappoint you! We give you some impressions of this outstanding final act:

We see oolong here on his drive to the final. You can clearly see the tension and deep concentration! His whole body language has this graceful countenance – that’s what it takes to be a real xbg champion! We do not want to forget to cheer for the runner up! “The Driver”! You could not really count on him but he made his way to the final – showing his impressive expertise! Fantastic achievement!

This was the “All India eXtreme Backgammon Trophy”! Thanks everyone for participating! And big applause again for oolong!

p.s.: Yeah we also have to disclose that the final itself was quite a boring game – you know how that goes with these high expectations… oolong celebrated a clear 17-11!!

Although quitting the yoga scene as it became too commercial Shree Shree Remmidemmi still has “the moves” – you can’t loose sight on that… Instead of earning money now as a truck driver Shree Shree sells “black sausages” – what basically means he is not only a yoga master – he is godlike in bargaining as well…

Anyhow – his backgammon skills were truly extraordinary but oolong was finally awarded for his inhuman efforts – he made it to the final in a hard fought 17 point match. We are hoping to get an interview with oolong – after the final of course – oolong was busy preparing himself for the final showdown – trying to become one with the dices…

The first real version of Backgammon has likely originated in India or in China. Due to the trade connections between the two civilizations it is difficult to point out a definitive origin of the game, but the Indian game Parcheesi bears enough similarity to modern Backgammon to be recognized as the first ancient version of the game. [http://winningbackgammon.info/]

The very origin of Backgammon is sill not sufficiently clarified but it is believed to have originated in Mesopotamia – today Iran, Iraq and Syria. But it might be the case that it received some of his final touch in India. Maybe some Indians were playing backgammon around Jaipur a long time ago sitting on the wall same as Chloe and Eva here. Looks like another way to backgammon enlightenment…