Side Events
95% Return in all side pools unless noted.
All side pools carry over should you re-enter any event.
2026 Women's National Championship
*The Winner will receive a Women's World of Backgammon Logo Jacket and $500 bonus cash!
- Entry Fee
- $100, 90% Return
- Re-Buy
- $75, 90% Return
- Side Pool
- $50
- Match Points
- 9-points in the Main bracket and 5-points in the Consolation
- Format
- *Single Elimination w/ Re-buys and Consolation* Players will be allowed a maximum of 1 re-buy after they have lost. New entries and re-buys will be taken until the bracket is complete or at the end of play Saturday; to be determined by the Tournament Director.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
Players Cup (BMAB)
Fees
Entry Fee is $150 (100% return)
Side Pool A $50 and B $100 (100% return)
PR Side Pools grouped based on BMAB rating, $100 (100% return)
GM or better (under 4.0 PR)
M1-M3 (4.0-6.5 PR)
A1-A3 (6.5-10.0 PR)
I1-I3 (10.0-16.0 PR)
Registration/Transcription Fee $100
Format
5-rounds of 9-point matches
3 rounds of random pairings followed by 2 rounds of Swiss pairings
All matches will be recorded and transcribed to electronic match files then analyzed by the current version of eXtremeGammon using BMAB settings.
Schedule
Wednesday May 20th
5:00 PM Registration begins
6:00 PM Rounds 1-3
Thursday May 21st
11:00 AM Final 2 Rounds
Markowitz Masters
- Entry Fee
- $600, 90% Return
- Side Pool
- $300
- Match Points
- All rounds are 11 points
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full. There will be an optional $300 qualifier at 12:00pm on Thursday May 23rd.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
Faster Master
- Entry Fee
- $500, 90% Return
- Side Pool
- $250
- Match Points
- All rounds are 11 points
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full.
- Time Control
- (1 min / 10 sec)
Limited Jackpot
- Eligibility
- Players with a BMAB M3 (≤ 6.5 PR) rating and above are not eligible.
- Entry Fee
- $400, 85% Return
- Side Pool
- $200
- Match Points
- All rounds are 9 points
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
Intermediate Jackpot
- Eligibility
- Open Championship level (≤ 8.0 PR) players are not eligible.
- Entry Fee
- $200, 85% Return
- Side Pool
- $100
- Match Points
- All rounds are 9 points
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
Doubles Tournament
- Entry Fee
- $400 per Team, 80% Return
- Side Pool
- $200 per Team
- Match Points
- All rounds are 7 points
- Format
- Single Elimination
- Time Control
- (3 min / 15 sec)
Zavoral Board Tournament
- Entry Fee
- $150, 87.5% Return
- Match Points
- All rounds are 7 points
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full. The 1st place winner will receive a custom Zavoral backgammon board
. The 2nd place finalist will receive $400 (based upon a 16-player field.) Continuous entries all weekend till field of 16 is complete.
The winner of the Zavoral Board tournament receives a beautiful custom board designed by Bob Zavoral with the classic blue and gold Chicago Open colors.
CancelGammon ($1,500 added)
- Description
- CancelGammon is a fun backgammon variant where each player gets one chance per game to make their opponent re-roll the dice. This adds a strategic twist by letting you negate a bad roll (often doubles).
- Entry Fee
- $60, 80% Return
- Side Pool
- $30
- Match Points
- All rounds are 5 points
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
SpeedGammon
- Entry Fee
- $60, 80% Return
- Side Pool
- $30
- Match Points
- All rounds are 5 points
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full.
- Time Control
- (1 min total / 10 sec)
Juniors (under 60) vs Seniors (60+)
- Entry Fee
- $60, 80% Return
- Side Pool
- $30
- Match Points
- All rounds are 7 points
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full. There will be 2 separate brackets with the winner of the Juniors facing the winner of the Seniors for for a Chicago Open logo FM Backgammon board.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
The Blitz
- Entry Fee
- $30, 83.3% Return
- Match Points
- All rounds are 5 points
- Format
- Single Elimination. The Blitz is a series of 4-player knock-outs (There is no playoff). Knock-out winners each win $100.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)
1-Point Quickie
- Entry Fee
- $20, 80% Return
- Match Points
- All rounds are 1 point
- Format
- Single Elimination with continuous entries until the bracket is full.
The After Tourney Tourney
- Entry Fee
- $100, 80% Return
- Side Pool
- $50
- Match Points
- All rounds are 5 points
- Format
- Single Elimination. The After Tournament will have a singular start time at 3:00 PM on Monday May 26th.
- Time Control
- (2 min / 12 sec)