Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: What is the largest international backgammon organization?
The World Backgammon Association (WBA) has been holding the biggest backgammon Tour of the circuit since 2007, the "European Backgammon Tour" (EBGT). In 2011, the WBA collaborated with the online backgammon provider Play65 for the 2011 season of the European Backgammon Tour and with "Betfair" in 2012. The 2013 season of the European Backgammon Tour featured 11 stops and 19 qualified players competing for 19,000 € in a Grand Finale in Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus. WBA also staged the "US Open" and other events around the globe. WBA has contributed to a high-stakes event called "Crowns Cup" broadcast on several TV-channels.
Two players, "Black" and "White", take turns placing a "stone" (game piece) of their own color on a vacant "point" (intersection) of the grid on a Go board. Black plays first. If there is a large difference in skill between the players, the weaker player typically uses Black and is allowed to place two or more stones on the board to compensate for the difference (see Go handicaps). The official grid comprises 19×19 lines, though the rules can be applied to any grid size. 13×13 and 9×9 boards are popular choices to teach beginners, or for playing quick games. Once placed, a stone may not be moved to a different point.
Equipment varies with the game. Board games, such as Go, "Monopoly" or backgammon need a board and markers. One of the oldest known board games is Senet, a game played in Ancient Egypt, enjoyed by the pharaoh Tutankhamun. Card games, such as whist, poker and Bridge have long been played as evening entertainment among friends. For these games, all that is needed is a deck of playing cards. Other games, such as bingo, played with numerous strangers, have been organised to involve the participation of non-players via gambling. Many are geared for children, and can be played outdoors, including hopscotch, hide and seek, or Blind man's bluff. The list of ball games is quite extensive. It includes, for example, croquet, lawn bowling and paintball as well as many sports using various forms of balls. The options cater to a wide range of skill and fitness levels. Physical games can develop agility and competence in motor skills. Number games such as Sudoku and puzzle games like the Rubik's cube can develop mental prowess.
The game can also be played on a 6 × 6 board with ten pieces on each side, labeled 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. A pair of 6-sided dice are rolled. The game can also be played in rounds with a doubling cube as in backgammon.
The Game of Ur is a race game and it is probably a direct ancestor of the tables, or backgammon, family of games, which are still played today. The Game of Ur is played using two sets of seven checker-like game pieces. One set of pieces are white with five black dots and the other set is black with five white dots. The gameboard is composed of two rectangular sets of boxes, one containing three rows of four boxes each and the other containing three rows of two boxes each, joined together by a "narrow bridge" of two boxes. The gameplay involves elements of both luck and strategy. Movements are determined by rolling a set of four-sided, pyramid-shaped dice. Two of the four corners of each die are marked and the other two are not, giving each die an equal chance of landing with a marked or unmarked corner facing up. The number of marked ends facing upwards after a roll of the dice indicates how many spaces a player may move during that turn. A single game can last up to half an hour and can be very intense.
The most prominent organization of Browns fans is the "Browns Backers Worldwide" (BBW). The organization has approximately 305,000 members and Browns Backers clubs can be found in every major city in the United States, and in a number of military bases throughout the world, with the largest club being in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition, the organization has a sizable foreign presence in places as far away as Egypt, Australia, Japan, Sri Lanka, and McMurdo Station in Antarctica. According to The Official Fan Club of the Cleveland Browns, the two largest international fan clubs are in Alon Shvut, West Bank and Niagara, Canada, with Alon Shvut having 129 members and Niagara having 310.
The World Chess Championship was a match between the reigning world champion since 2013, Magnus Carlsen, and the challenger Fabiano Caruana to determine the World Chess Champion. The 12-game match, organised by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon, was played at The College in Holborn, London, between 9 and 28 November 2018.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships, commonly known as Majors, are (CS:GO) esports tournaments sponsored by Valve Corporation, the game's developer. The Majors were first introduced in 2013 and took place in Jönköping, Sweden and was hosted by DreamHack with a total prize pool of 250,000. Six teams were directly invited, six teams were invited based on previous tournament results, and another four teams came from direct qualifiers.
GMT Games is a California-based wargaming publisher founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Mark Simonitch, and Andy Lewis. The company has become well known for graphically attractive games that range from "monster games", of many maps and counters, to quite simple games suitable for introducing new players to wargaming. They also produce card games and family games. "The Washington Post" called GMT "the modern hobby's highest-profile wargame publisher".
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment Corporation (known as Harrah's Entertainment until 2010). It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players to the Horseshoe Casino for a single tournament, with a set start and stop time, and a winner determined by a secret ballot of the seven players.
The World Karate Federation (WKF) is the largest sport karate organization and is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as being responsible for karate competition in the Olympic Games. The WKF has developed common rules governing all styles. The national WKF organizations coordinate with their respective National Olympic Committees.
Tak, similar to Chess and Checkers, can be played on a square board with alternating "light" and "dark" squares. In addition, Cheapass Games released a specialized hybrid board to provide a single surface for 6x6, 5x5, 4x4, and 3x3 games. For even-sized games, pieces are played on the squares (similar to a Chess board.) Odd-sized games are played on the small diamonds located at the corners and intersections of the squares (similar to a Go board.) If there is no board available, players may use an object or a temporary marker to designate the center of the board. Players must imagine the rest of the board until there are enough pieces in play to define it. The object or marker will then be removed.
However, the Guinness World Records recognises the Hungarian 1 billion b.-pengő (10) banknote (Pick No. 137) as the world's largest denomination, although the 100 million b.-pengő (10) (Pick No. 136) was the largest denomination to be issued.
The World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) is the third expansion of the World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970 participants have had to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP started holding circuit events in 2005 in other states, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. In 2007 the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas. The WSOP further expanded to Africa in 2010 and 2012 however these events did not award any bracelets.
The idea of a World Series of Poker began in 1969 with an event called the Texas Gambling Reunion. It was an invitational event sponsored by Tom Moore of San Antonio, Texas, and held at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno. This inaugural event was won by Crandell Addington. The set of tournaments that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve into was the brainchild of Las Vegas casino owner and poker player Benny Binion. In 1970, the first WSOP at Binion's Horseshoe took place as a series of cash games that included five-card stud, deuce to seven low-ball draw, razz, seven-card stud, and Texas hold 'em. The format for the Main Event as a freeze-out Texas hold 'em game came the next year. The winner in 1970, Johnny Moss, was elected by his peers as the first "World Champion of Poker" and received a silver cup as a prize.
The World Series of Poker Africa (WSOPA) is the second expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP started holding circuit events in 2005 in other states, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. In 2007, the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas. In 2010, the WSOP expanded overseas once again, only this time to Gauteng, South Africa. While the WSOPE awarded bracelets, the WSOPA was considered a circuit event with the winners receiving Championship Rings instead of bracelets. The WSOPA did not occur in 2011, but the series of tournaments resumed in 2012.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA ; French for 'International Federation of Association Football') is an organization which describes itself as an international governing body of association football, fútsal, beach soccer, and eFootball. FIFA is responsible for the organization of football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930 and the Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991.
As of 2017, the WSOP consists of 74 events, with most major poker variants featured. However, in recent years, over half of the events have been variants of Texas hold 'em. Events traditionally take place during one day or over several consecutive days during the series in June and July. However, starting in 2008, the Main Event final table was delayed until November. The 2012 and 2016 Main Event final tables commenced in October because of the United States presidential election. As of May 2017, the World Series of Poker has done away with the November Nine concept and instead went back to the old format of crowning the Main Event winner in July.
The Gambia National Olympic Committee was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 1 January 1976. The nation boycotted the first two Summer Olympic Games held after their recognition. They boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics over New Zealand's participation, and joined a United States-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Therefore they did not make their Olympic debut until the 1984 Summer Olympics, and have participated in every Summer Olympics since then. Sydney was their fifth consecutive appearance at the Summer Games. The 2000 Summer Olympics were held from 15 September to 1 October 2000; a total of 10,651 athletes represented 199 National Olympic Committees. The Gambian delegation consisted of two track and field athletes, Pa Mamadou Gai and Adama Njie. The flag bearing duties at the opening ceremony were performed by Njie.
The Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana was held from 9 to 28 November 2018 in London, United Kingdom, at the Cochrane Theatre of The College in Holborn.
Mancala is one of the oldest known games to still be widely played today. "Mancala" is a generic name for a family of two-player turn-based strategy board games played with small stones, beans, or seeds and rows of holes or pits in the earth, a board or other playing surface. The objective is usually to capture all or some set of the opponent's pieces. Versions of the game date back to the 7th century, and evidence suggests the game existed in ancient Egypt.
By the 21st century, the largest international tournaments had established the basis of a tour for top professional players. Major tournaments are held yearly worldwide. PartyGaming sponsored the first World Series of Backgammon in 2006 from Cannes and later the 'Backgammon Million' tournament held in the Bahamas in January 2007 with a prize pool of one million dollars, the largest for any tournament to date. In 2008, the World Series of Backgammon ran the world's largest international events in London, the UK Masters, the biggest tournament ever held in the UK with 128 international class players; the Nordic Open, which instantly became the largest in the world with around 500 players in all flights and 153 in the Championship, and Cannes, which hosted the Riviera Cup, the traditional follow-up tournament to the World Championships. Cannes also hosted the WSOB Championship, the WSOB finale, which saw 16 players play three-point shootout matches for €160,000. The event was recorded for television in Europe airing on Eurosport.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, the popularity of Backgammon surged, in part due to the charisma of Prince Alexis Obolensky, who was known as “The Father of Modern Backgammon”. "Obe", as he was called by friends, co-founded the International Backgammon Association which published a set of official rules. He also established the World Backgammon Club of Manhattan, devised a backgammon tournament system in 1963, then organized the first major international Backgammon tournament in March, 1964 which attracted royalty, celebrities and the paparazzi. The game became a huge fad and was played on college campuses, in discothèques and at country clubs; stockbrokers and bankers began playing at conservative men's clubs. Cigarette, liquor and car companies began to sponsor tournaments and Hugh Hefner held backgammon parties at the Playboy Mansion.
The International Jugglers' Association or IJA is the world's oldest and largest nonprofit circus organization, and is open to members worldwide. It was founded in the United States in 1947, with the goal of providing, "an organization for jugglers that would provide meetings at regular intervals in an atmosphere of mutual friendship." Though its focus lies on juggling, its programs also support other circus disciplines.
The first contemporary ex-gay ministry, Love in Action, was formed in 1973. Three years later, with other ex-gay organizations, it formed Exodus International, the largest ex-gay organization and the largest organization under the Exodus Global Alliance. In June 2013, the Exodus board decided to cease operations, with president Alan Chambers apologizing for the pain and hurt the group had caused and saying that he no longer believed sexual orientation could be changed. Chambers apologized for what he identified as regrettable techniques, and the narrow message of a cure and marriage rather than a relationship with Christ for all. Shortly after, Chambers and his wife started Speak.Love., an organisation for promoting conversations on sexual orientation for all. In September 2014, Speak.Love. was merged into Chambers' personal website. Exodus Global Alliance, however, no longer affiliated with Exodus International, has continued operations.