About the WBGF World Rankings Site

This website contains the official rankings of the World Backgammon Federation.

In 2018 the World Backgammon Federation launched the Backgammon World Rankings (BWR) list. The BWR is built on global results submitted by Tournament Directors (TDs).

This initiative has been well received by the backgammon community; many domestic tournament results have been routinely entered as well as most, if not all, of the larger international tournaments.

The previous workflow was for TDs to type results into an Excel form and then email it to a contact address. This sheet would then be manually imported into the Master ranking list.

The new online rankings site allows TDs to enter results directly into the ranking system, so no more Excel sheets or emails required. With rankings updated immediately, we expect it to deliver a faster and more efficient reporting service with even greater participation.

There are many other benefits of this improved workflow: we should see a greater depth of detail in results, better filters for tournaments, as well as individual historical records for each player.

Qualifying Tournaments

  • International tournaments
    • Live events only
    • 9 points cup or 7 points Round Robin (minimum)
    • Minimum buy-in €50
    • Minimum 30 participants or established tournament series such as ATB
    • Super Jackpots ($250 or more, match length minimum 7 points)
  • Top divisions
    • Championship Main, Consolation and Last Chance
    • Intermediate Main
    • Just one of each division per tournament
  • National championships
    • Regardless of number of entrants
  • Historic events that qualified under earlier rules
  • Narrow exceptions may be approved by the WBGF Committee

We are endebted to Karsten Bredahl, who first designed a way to rate players based on tournament rankings, and this website, at present, faithfully replicates his original construction. The exact formula that emerges from the spreadsheets Karsten built is rather complicated; here is a paper setting out the mathematical details.

This website is written and maintained by Tony Lezard.