Robert Wachtel

A chess master who collected a PhD in philosophy in his late twenties, Robert Wachtel is a rare breed: a world-class game player with a generous helping of literary brains to match his computational brawn. Currently ranked world #11 on the peer-rated survey “The Giants of Backgammon” and Grandmaster 2nd class by the Backgammon Masters Awarding Body (BMAB), Robert has been one of the game’s elite competitors for the last 40 years. He was the editor of the US Backgammon Federation’s flagship magazine, PrimeTime Backgammon, from 2011 through 2019, and is the author of two advanced treatises on backgammon endgame play––In the Game Until the End (1993) and In the Game Until the End Volume II (2014). These technical works were complemented in 2019 by hisThe Backgammon Chronicles: A Pro’s Adventures on Tour: a lush, two-volume, full-color cornucopia of essays, gambling stories, history, character sketches, essays, and adventures that takes the reader on an insider’s odyssey through backgammon’s last whirlwind decade––with its world-class author as guide. A companion volume to Chronicles, also newly available, is The Language of Backgammon: A Player’s Dictionary. Visit www.backgammonchronicles.com for more information about Robert’s publications and achievements.