Iakovos Iakovidis

Full Name: Iakovos Iakovidis

Date of birth: 1969

Birth Place: Thessaloniki, Greece

Current City of Residence: Athens, Greece

Marital Status: Single

Children: No

Occupation: Psychologist

How I started playing Backgammon: I was 5 and I just wanted to play. My aunt taught me the game in no more than 10 dice rolls. I still remember every detail. After age 22, I stopped playing, being fed up with it. But in December 2006 I received an email inviting me to play in a qualifier for PartyGammon Million. So I started playing again as well as learning the cube (in Greece we have three different variants of the game but we do not use the cube ). I won the qualifier, I made through two rounds at the million event in The Bahamas and I have started playing again. It’s crazy! Backgammon is a crazy game!

Backgammon Nickname: Tavlatoustra

Favorite Tournament Venue: Atlantis Resort, The Bahamas

Favorite Music: dancing

Favorite Food: Mediterranean

Other Interests & Hobbies: kick-boxing, boxing, judo, sailing, playing music, poker

Comment: I propose to the backgammon community to call the doubling cube: powerdice – or in Greek “δυναμ?ζαρο” – it does not only have increase by power of 2 but is also used when someone is in power in a certain position. Its use signifies power.