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Rage and Fury at the 2010 WSOB ShootoutThe closing event of the World Series of Backgammon Season III, the WSOB Shootout, ended last Sunday at the Adam St. Club after handful of controversies, at least one shattered clock, an alleged death threat and the victory of UK-based Japanese backgammon player Kazurhiro Shino. The latter had won $150,000 and was announced the WSOB 2010 champion, maybe to incline that no WSOB tour is planned for 2010.Shino against the Clock Kazurhiro Shino overcame a field of 64 backgammon giants to beat Dane Peter Jes Thomson at the 5-point, best out of three final to attain the first $150,000 prize. On the way, he beat Christian Plenz of Germany, in a match that was defined by Will Cockerell, the tournament organizer and a semi-finalist, as "a dreadfully unpleasant affair", in which Shino's clock misunderstanding caused him to furiously beat the poor device, terminating three of them and breaking one to pieces, as reported in more than one source. Backgammon World against PJT Some of the 2010 WSOB participants did not support Shino's triumph due to his violent behavior at the quarterfinals, and criticized the tournament directors for their lack of reaction to his deeds. At the same time, other members of the backgammon community have raised questions about the inclusion of Peter Jes Thomson, the 2010 WSOB Shootout finalist and a former World Backgammon Champion, who has been suspected of engaging in major cheats in online backgammon servers. WSOB vs. ESOB Coincidentally, days after the close of the third, rocky season of the WSOB, a new backgammon organization has begun spreading its intentions "to run big money online tournaments and bring biggest international events to offline tour". The European Series of Backgammon (ESOB) will be collaborating with backgammon and gambling sites owned by the UK based skill games tycoon GameAccouunt, in a similar way that DiceArena, owned by Jadestone Network, has worked with the WSOB during the last three events of the tour.
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