Do we have a saint in the making?

Picture the scene - a man with his face supernaturally lit, a mother and child looking on reverentially, as he ritually cleans a sacred relic... with an Ikea lint remover.

I guess you have to start somewhere and with the Pope (THE Pope, not Bill) showing signs of a full recovery, Rob (pictured right) has some time yet to complete the mandated miracles, prior to becoming a saint.

If he were to become Saint Robert of Harrow, he could reasonably seek to be recognised as the saint of backgammon as, interestingly, there is currently a vacancy.

In fact, we in backgammon have some catching up to do as on 11 March 2025 World Chess introduced Saint Teresa of Ávila as their official patron saint. Some have suggested that Saint Teresa could cover all mind games, but that doesn't seem right does it? She surely has enough to be getting on with, organising a global chess tournament series in her honour, amongst other things.

Another contender for saint of backgammon is Saint Cajetan. "Who's he?", I hear you ask.

While not specifically named as a backgammon saint, he is often associated with gamblers and good fortune, making him a potential patron for those who enjoy games of chance like backgammon. Again, I would strongly argue that our Rob is much more likely to do a good job than Cajetan because, as we all know, backgammon is not just about chance and Rob has lately been reading his backgammon books. Besides, Cajetan is also patron saint of Argentina and the unemployed - he too has enough to be getting on with.

So there you have it - if anyone else fancies cleaning the club boards and a shot at sainthood, we have more lint remover rolls in stock. Just know that Rob is one step ahead of you.

Following the scene pictured at the start of this piece, we played 4 Swiss tournaments on Monday (on almost miraculously clean boards - thank you, Rob) which were won by Jonathan Shaul, Malcolm Comfort, Yas Turan and (surprisingly) yours truly. Congratulations to all of them and thanks to everyone that came out to play - it was a fun evening.

Next week is Grand Prix week - you can sign up for the £30 F1 or the £10 F2 now. Both limited to 16 players. See you there!