Since September 2021, the Széchenyi István University has included backgammon as an optional course in its sports studies. A minor sensation was created at the selection trials for the World Championship, as one of the institution's teachers and one of its students were selected for the six-member national team preparing for the World Championships in Sweden this summer.

Backgammon - also known in Hungarian as "ostábla" - is a 5,000-year-old Persian board game that develops logic, tactical-strategic sense, combinatorial and problem-solving skills. The game was introduced three years ago as an optional course at Széchenyi István University, and 30-40 new students are sign up to it every semester. Many of them have already achieved international results. The institution also organises a university championship and a cup.

"The pinnacle of the sport is the annual World Championships and World Team Championships. The latter will be held in Stockholm between 8 and 10 July this year," said Richárd Máté, a backgammon instructor at Széchenyi University, who was part of the Hungarian team that finished fifth out of 18 countries in Italy in 2022.

Dominik Kiss, a student of Széchenyi István University and Richárd Máté, a lecturer of the institution, are the members of the Hungarian backgammon team preparing for the World Championship (Photo: András Adorján)

He explained that the Backgammon Recreation and Student Sports Association organises the qualification tournament that decides the Hungarian backgammon team for the given year. "During the tournaments, all participants play against each other and winning is worth one point. All matches are recorded and analysed using special software. Based on this, the team that plays better and more creatively gets an additional point. This is how the top six players are selected to represent Hungary as part of the Hungarian backgammon team at the World Team Championships," he commented.

In addition to the instructor, two students - Dominik Kiss and Máté Horváth - also entered this year's qualification series, who are at the top of the university backgammon rankings. At the end of the tournaments, it was revealed that Dominik Kiss was also selected for the national team alongside Richárd Máté. In the same series, Máté Horváth finished ninth, but he has a good chance of qualifying for the World Online Backgammon Championships, as he is currently in first place in the qualification tournament, which means he could even win the title of Hungary's online backgammon champion.