Watching a backgammon match can be fun and entertaining, especially when both players play at World Class level and there is something at stake. When I am out of a tournament, I never play side-events. I go and watch a match between two of the best players in the room. I ask them permission to sit down at their table and watch their every move, from first to last. It gives me a feel of how top players cope with both the brutal and benevolent swings of the game.
Do I learn from that? Not really. If Mochi (the best player in the world) makes a surprising checker-play in a backgame or takes a cube I would certainly have dropped, I can never be 100% sure that he was right and I was wrong. However, if the match is recorded and transcribed, I can later watch the transcript and find out if the Grandmaster was right, or if I was. That, in my opinion, is a great way to learn.
Similarly, watching a backgammon match between top players on YouTube can be fun, but you can only learn from it if the XG-feed is posted and you know what is the right decision.
But why don’t you see for yourself? Below is the link to a 9-point match played between Marc Van Damme and Robin “Rain” Bilderbeek. It is an official BMS match (match 1 of MS1 0032), which means the performance ratings (PR’s) will be incorporated in the BMS Grading Table (click on BMS in the black banner above for current standings).
Thank you to Rain (= Robin Bilderbeek) for editing and posting the video.
