Maral Tahori from Iran won the World Backgammon Internet Federation (WBIF) World Women’s Championship played on Heroes.BackgammonStudio.com. She defeated Maya Peycheva from Bulgaria in a closely-fought final match on Saturday, October 29. Maral’s match win-loss record was 8-0 in the final phase of the tournament!
The final match between Maral and Maya was viewed live by almost 70 backgammon enthusiasts on the stream brought to you by Women in Backgammon, and now you can watch it below and on our YouTube channel. Grandmaster Steve Sax and principal of the Backgammon Learning Center Phil Simborg, provided commentary.
Happy viewing!
The online tournament was held from May to October 2022. One hundred and ten women competed in five-round regional qualifiers in Europe/Africa (64 entrants), the Americas (30 entrants), and Asia/Australia (16 entrants). Thirty-six women qualified to compete in the eight-round Final. It was an arduous 13-round journey of top-level competition to the World Women’s crown for Maral!
The top 12 women all received prizes from the entry fee prize pool, and the winner received 500 Euros donated by Women in Backgammon.
Those who placed are shown below:
WBIF – WORLD WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP ONLINE TOURNAMENT
May 1- October 29; Heroes.BackgammonStudio.com
CHAMPIONSHIP (110): 1-Maral Tahori (Iran), 2-Maya Peycheva (Bulgaria) 3/4-Maj Falsig (Denmark), Mette Nørgaard Poulsen (Denmark), 5/7-Annalisa Agosti (Italy), Gitte Dalgaard (Denmark), Andreea Gabriela Paun (Romania); 8/12-Sabine Brinkman (Germany), Karen Davis (USA), Claudia Goehnert (Netherlands), Susanne Lahme (Germany), Kara Schultz (USA)
WBIF – WORLD WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP ONLINE TOURNAMENT
May 1- October 29; Heroes.BackgammonStudio.com
CHAMPIONSHIP (110): 1-Maral Tahori (Iran), 2-Maya Peycheva (Bulgaria) 3/4-Maj Falsig (Denmark), Mette Nørgaard Poulsen (Denmark), 5/7-Annalisa Agosti (Italy), Gitte Dalgaard (Denmark), Andreea Gabriela Paun (Romania); 8/12-Sabine Brinkman (Germany), Karen Davis (USA), Claudia Goehnert (Netherlands), Susanne Lahme (Germany), Kara Schultz (USA)
Maral Tahori was born in Tehran, Iran, and exposed to backgammon at an early age. She has been playing seriously for five years and attributes her success to hours of playing and studying. Professionally she works as a real estate agent. In addition to backgammon, she enjoys hiking, table tennis, and billiards. Her goal is to travel to top-level backgammon tournaments and try to spread positive energy to the people of the world.
Maya Peycheva competed in the 2021 BMAB-Middle East #6 event in Northern Cyprus,
placing 7th with a PR of 4.29, the highest of any woman in the BMAB rating system. She started playing backgammon in May 1994 and within two months won the Bulgarian Backgammon Tournament for Women in a field of 108 players. She has earned trophy cups in more than 25 tournaments including Nova Goritsa in 2002, Super Jackpot in Merit Open in Cyprus, the Romanian tournament in Slanic Moldova, and numerous times has been the Bulgarian Backgammon Champion. She finished first in the 2013 6th EBGT Cyprus Open and first in the 2007 London Open Last Chance. A highlight of her backgammon competition was playing and winning a match against Paul Magriel in the Masters division of the Nova Goritsa Backgammon Championship in 1995. She is on the Tournament Committee of the World Backgammon Internet Federation. Outside of backgammon, she was the Bulgarian Women’s Volleyball Champion in 1994. She has degrees in Sports Management.
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