Six gold medalists from Russia: the first-ever World Longgammon Championship and the prestigious Georgian Grand Prix concluded in Tbilisi
The International Backgammon Federation (IBF), under the leadership of Umar Kremlev, has officially launched competitions unprecedented in both scale and significance: the first-ever official World Longgammon Championship and the prestigious Georgian Grand Prix 2026.
More than 500 athletes from 60 countries participated in 12 events, surpassing the previous tournament in Tashkent as part of the Asian Grand Prix in March of this year. The total prize fund was an impressive $500,000.
On behalf of the IBF, we express our deepest gratitude to all participants for their exceptional performance, endurance, and competitive spirit. We would also like to highlight the phenomenal performance of the Russian athletes, who once again confirmed their status as one of the world's leading backgammon players: 13 podium places and six gold medals.
Tournament Results:
Backgammon Main Tournament (350 players)
1. Julian Becker (Germany)
2. Philipp Marmorstein (Switzerland)
3. Christian Setzfandt (Germany)
Longgammon Main Tournament (150 players)
1. Misak Gevorkyan (Russia)
2. Razmik Grigoryan (Armenia)
3. Levon Jilavyan (Russia)
Backgammon Doubles (128 pairs)
1. Ali Haydar Bayar / Selin Kurt (Turkey)
2. Garal Yakov / Oleksandr Krasov (Ukraine)
3. Platon Tserliagkos / Dino Koukiaris (Greece)
Backgammon Blitz (128 players)
1. Ali Haydar Bayar (Turkey)
2. Hakan Bozkurt (Turkey)
3. Selin Kurt (Turkey)
Longgammon Blitz (150 players)
1. Airat Fatykhov (Russia)
2. Eduard Nazaryan (Georgia)
3. Vladimir Kichigin (Russia)
Sprint Gammon (128 players)
1. Milos Mikić (Serbia)
2. Fernando Neumark (Argentina)
3. Manvel Avetisyan (Russia)
Backgammon Masters Cup (128 players)
1. Lev Rosenfeld (Israel)
2. Johannes Levermann (Switzerland)
3. Guido Weidner (Germany)
Longgammon Masters Cup (64 players)
1. Dmitry Nikitin (Russia)
2. Akmal Buriev (Uzbekistan)
3. Armen Ovsepyan (Russia)
Backgammon 1-point (128 players)
1. Ioannis Atmatzidis (Greece)
2. Evgenia Stepanova-Shishkina (Russia)
3. Sergey Drmoyan (Armenia)
Longgammon 1-point (128 players)
1. Sergey Krasnobaev (Russia)
2. Kaparbek Dulatov (Kyrgyzstan)
3. Kapalbek Aitaliev (Kyrgyzstan)
Backgammon Women's (64 players)
1. Elena Anuchina (Russia)
2. Selin Kurt (Turkey)
3. Evgenia Stepanova-Shishkina (Russia)
Backgammon Seniors (128 players)
1. Tsaruk Manukyan (Russia)
2. Sergey Alenin (Russia)
3. Lars Trabolt (Denmark)
Partners The Moscow 24 news channel, the national internet quality assessment service MegaBitus, and SeaBreeze covered the historic event. The tournament and results were available to follow in real time on the IBF information system website.
Photos from all days of the tournament and the closing ceremony can be found here.
