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Livestream of the US National Women’s Online Championship Final

Sat, Dec 30

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Receive Zoom link upon registering.

Tiffany Van and Leyla Zalouskaya have reached the final of the USBGF Women’s National Online Championship. The Final will be featured in a Zoom session sponsored by the Women’s World of Backgammon Saturday, December 30 at 1:00 PM Eastern (US) with expert commentary by Joe Russell and Marty Storer.

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Livestream of the US National Women’s Online Championship Final
Livestream of the US National Women’s Online Championship Final

Time & Location

Dec 30, 2023, 1:00 PM EST

Receive Zoom link upon registering.

Guests

About the Event

In a highly competitive field that started with 32 entrants, Tiffany Van and Leyla Zalouskaya have reached the final of the USBGF Women’s National Online Championship. Karen Davis and Antoinette-Marie Williams were semi-finalists. The Final will be featured in a Zoom session sponsored by the Women’s World of Backgammon Saturday, December 30 at 1:00 PM Eastern (US) with expert commentary by Joe Russell and Marty Storer.

Thirty-two women started the journey, first playing in the Americas Regional Qualifier of the WBIF World Women’s Championship, and then qualifying for the U.S. National event by their win-loss record and/or Performance Rating (PR) in the Regional Qualifier. In this exciting final match, Tiffany Van from Houston, Texas, and Leyla Zaloutskaya from New York City will conclude the battle for the title of 2023 Women’s National Online Champion. They both have significant live tournament achievements. Joe Russell, former backgammon world champion (1989) and director of the 2023 Women’s National Online Championship, and Marty Storer, BMAB grandmaster and Executive Editor of PrimeTime Backgammon will provide expert commentary.

Tiffany Van is a shooting star in the women’s backgammon firmament! She shot to fame by winning the Michigan Fireworks Women in Backgammon Cup in 2022. She went on to win the Intermediate division of the Texas Championships in 2023 along with tying for 4th-6th in the Alamo Classic Limited Jackpot. Most recently she won the Intermediate division of the St, Louis Gateway where she also won the Speedgammon Intermediate event.

Leyla Zaloutskaya has a number of prestigious backgammon accomplishments. In her very first Masters division appearance, she was finalist to grandmaster Sebastian Wilkinson at the 2016 Bristol Open. Since then, she has placed first or second in numerous Masters division contests, earned Women’s titles, and won Doubles events. Among her many Masters-level distinctions, she split 1st/2nd place at the 2022 Jamaica Championship with partner Michael Neagu (Canada), and was finalist in both the 2017 Texas Championships and the 2017 Las Vegas Open losing narrowly to Matt Cohn-Geier, propelling her to 4th place in the 2017 ABT points race. Her Women’s Prizes include winning the 2023 5th Merit Open Montenegro Grand Prix Ladies Prize in the Masters Division and semi-finalist in the Ladies event.  She won the Ladies event at the 3rd Northern Cyprus Limak Open Backgammon Championship in Famagusta in 2019.  She won the 2023 Cherry Blossom Women in Backgammon Cup. Among her Doubles events titles, she placed 1st in the Doubles event at the 2023 Atlanta Spring Classic with partner Michael Neagu (Canada). With partner Blake Fleetwood she won the 2017 Viking Classic Open and the 2018 California State Championship. They were semi-finalists in Doubles in the 42nd Backgammon World Championship in Monte Carlo. Leyla has served for many years as President of the New York Athletic Club. She was the winner of 2010 New York City Mayor’s Cup Backgammon Championship.

Joe Russell is Chairman of the U.S. Backgammon Federation Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Directors of the World Backgammon Federation. He won the 1989 Backgammon World Championship in Monte Carlo. He has been voted one of the Giants of Backgammon five times, and is currently ranked #33. He has many international, national, and regional backgammon wins including the 1995 ABT Player of the Year. He organizes and plays for Team USA in numerous online and live world competitions. He has served as USA team captain for the Magriel Cup competitions with the UK Backgammon team. He directs the WBIF Women’s World Championship and the U.S. National Women’s Online Championship.

Marty Storer has distinguished himself as a world class competitor in tournament play. He is a Giant of Backgammon (ranked #13 in 2022) and a BMAB Grandmaster Class 1 with a PR rating of 3.35, one of only three Americans to have earned this title. He is the Executive Editor of PrimeTime Backgammon magazine. Published four times a year, PrimeTime is considered by many to be the finest game magazine in the world because of its consistent level of quality. In addition to the articles and position analyses that he writes for PrimeTime, Marty co-authored What's Your Game Plan? Backgammon Strategy in the Middle Game, with Mary Hickey in 2011. In 2005 he published Backgammon Praxis, a two-volume analysis of three matches played by Malcolm Davis.  He served two terms on the USBGF Board of Directors, and its Executive Committee. He won the inauguralAmerican Backgammon Tour in 1993, helped by his victory in the star-studded Boston Open. He won the ABT point race again twenty years later in 2022. In 2023 he was 1st in the Los Angeles Open and the Connecticut Masters Jackpot. In 2022 and 2015 he won the Michigan Summer Championship, and the Boston Masters in 2022 and 2019. In 2022 He won the LA Open Masters Jackpot and the Viking Longship Super Jackpot. He was a member of Team USA in the 2020 Magriel Cup.  For these and many other notable achievements, he was awarded the US Backgammon Federation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

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