- Zdenek Zizka is a 17-year-old backgammon player from the Czech Republic who has become one of the most promising players in the world despite only playing for a few years. - He learned the game from his mother at a young age and has improved greatly with the help of mentors and by playing online on sites like GridGammon. - Zdenek regularly competes in international tournaments and leads the rankings in Germany. He hopes to break into the top ranks globally and become the best player in the world someday.

1. Zdenek Zizka Interview
by Phil Simborg
4 July 2016
Phil: Because I have not personally met Zdenek, I invited someone who knows him well to write the
introduction to this interview.
Most people know Chiva Tafazzoli, President of the World Backgammon Federation. I consider Chiva to
be one of the great leaders in the game as well as a very close friend of mine, and I highly value his
opinion. Here is what Chiva has to say about Zdenek:
Chiva: Zdenek Zizka is currently one of the most promising players in the world. He is only 17 years old
and comes from a very nice backgammon-loving Czech family. His mother, Eva is a very solid player and
has taught him the game only a few years ago. He has been systematically working on his game, besides
school, with the help and support of his mother and the other Czech players such as his mentor, Jan
(Honza) Cerny, and Pavel Zaoral. Those are the main and most important players from Prague on the
international backgammon scene.
The members of the Czech group are all extremely nice people, over the board and beyond. They have
been regulars in the monthly and bi-monthly tournaments in Munich. They drive on Saturdays 4 hours
from Prague to be on time (never late) at noon for the start of the tournament which usually finishes
around 10 pm, to take the car back and hit the road home for another 4 hours. That´s dedication!
Zdenek has also been playing in international competitions such as Istanbul, Sibenik (Croatia), Berlin and
Munich and Vienna and has achieved great performances. He was part of the successful World Team at
the Nordic Open 2016 and contributed to their victory. Even the great Falafel is amazed by his talent.
He is the reigning Munich Master 2015 and the leading player in the current point race of 2016. He has
been awarded the title GrandMaster Class III by the BMAB recently.
I am quite surprised about his absence in the current Giants List of Backgammon and I am confident that
he will very soon figure among the very best in the world.
The backgammon genes are well-implemented within the Zizka family; after the mother Eva, and the
oldest son Zdenek, his younger brother Martin has also taken up the game and plays very well. Let´s see

2. if even their dog can become a champ soon...
I had the honor to play as Zdenek's doubles partner recently in Munich and, even though we lost, we
performed a wonderful PR 1.9. Zdenek was one of the nicest, funniest and most pleasant partners I ever
had – to be repeated.
Besides his backgammon skills, Zdenek is a wonderful, funny, a bit shy and amazing person and I am
proud and happy to call him a friend.
Watch out for this rising star to conquer the backgammon world soon.
Phil: Tell us about your studies in school.
Zdenek: I am concentrating on mathematics in high school, now going to 3rd of 4th grade. I am not
exactly sure what I want to do, but what I for sure know is working with money, statistics and probability.
Backgammon is not my life, but my life is like backgammon - full of luck, decisions, studying probability
and statistics. If there is a way I can make a career teaching and playing backgammon some day, that
would be great, but I am not relying solely on that route at all. I know that you (Phil) are living that dream,
but you worked in real estate for 40 years before you retired and then have made a career teaching and
playing.
Phil: Tell us about your backgammon history.
Zdenek: I started to play backgammon when I was 5. I was bored with simple games where the goal was
just rolling the dice and moving one figure without thinking. When I was young, my Dad was working in a
restaurant where they had a backgammon machine, so he knew the rules and he showed me and my
Mum how to play. He taught us the basic rules and strategy and we enjoyed the game very much, but we
knew nothing about the doubling cube. During our vacations throughout July and August, we would play
10-30 games a day on a small wooden board. It was our favorite family game and the experience was
invaluable in helping me understand checker strategy without the cube. As you know, even with the cube,
knowing how to play at DMP is quite important.
Then because my Mum and me were really interested and we searched the internet and found a group of

3. people in Prague that played live, and we joined the group. We attended a local tournament and there we
were introduced to a lot of wonderful people and also another good friend: the doubling cube! We are still
very much involved with these friends and play regularly in local tournaments, leagues and low-stakes
chouettes (1 Euro a point). At those stakes the money is more about keeping score than it is about
gambling, but what's a money game or chouette if there are no stakes?
At this time I also met Honza Cerny who became my Backgammon Dad (mentor). When I was 13 Honza
was teaching me how to think over the board. We were analyzing every game and every move and
discussing them fully. I am very happy to see that Honza's great teaching skills have been recognized
and he is now a part of Phil's (and Perry's) Backgammon Learning Center, along with so many of the
other top teachers in the world including another of my mentor's and good friend, Mochy.
My only book I have ever read was Backgammon Boot Camp by Walter Trice, but I think it really didn’t
help me so much. I played every day tens of games on GridGammon and was teaching myself by looking
and understanding positions after importing the matches into XG. I also make some notes from my
matches which helps me to understand. I believe that mostly what I need to continue improving is to play,
study my mistakes, and make sure I understand those mistakes fully. Eventually you make just about
every kind of mistake you can make, and as long as you don't make it twice, you will play well. Of course I
have received much help in understanding the game from Honza and watching and listening to other top
players and I have attended Mochy's school in Japan and will do so again in 2016.
Phil: Do you play as well live as you do when you play on line?
Zdenek: I think I play online worse than live, because online I would feel bad when I should think one
minute about one position. When I play live we generally use a clock so I do not feel bad if I decide to
take more time for a difficlt decision. So I think the main reason I don't play as well on line is that I believe
it is not courteous to play slowly and I feel rushed. When I look at my mistakes on XG later, I see many
that I probably would not have made if I had taken more time to think about it.
Phil: Tell us more about your live play.
Zdenek: In Czech every second week we have a league, where we play five 7pt matches, every other
week we have chouette, speedgammon etc. We don’t have exactly ranking in Czech for wins, but if we
have, I would not be doing so well, maybe I would be 3rd or 4th of 15 players. PR ranking we compare
from Czech Championship where we play 13pt matches on 10 loses. This year I hold first place in this
competition, followed by 2nd place Honza Cerný. I am periodically going to monthly Munich tournaments
in Germany. I am not ranked in Czech, but in Germany I am number 1 for more than 3 months at this time
(July 1, 2016).
Phil: Tell us about your experience in major tournaments.
Zdenek: My first international tournament was in November 2014, 2nd Merit Open in Cyprus, actually it
was a gift to my birthday. I played in the intermediate division (in 2014 my PR was about 6-8). This was a
major turning point for me-this is the point where I really decided to take the game seriously. I was
completely blown away by this tournament experience: amazing people who were fun and very kind and I
was surrounded by true genius everywhere I looked. The location was so beautiful. I had no idea
something this wonderful and exciting existed and I want to do everything I can to continue going to
tournaments like this around the world, but I know that most tournaments are not in resorts as beautiful as
this one in Cyprus. But there was a wonderful bonus: I had some great dice and won the Intermediate
Division, and that gave me the money to allow me to participate in more tournaments around the world.
Since then I have been to about 10 international tournaments and I began to become friends with many
famous and top players and tournament directors and they all made me and my Mum feel very welcome
wherever we went. My Mum usually goes with me because she also plays a nice game, around 6 PR,
and we have a lot of fun traveling together.
One day me and my friends have started going to Monthly tournaments in Munich, Germany, organized

4. by Chiva. This is another great experience for me, because as you probably know, Chiva is one of the
best tournament directors in the world and he has become a very good friend and has been very
supportive and helped encourage me greatly. I highly recommend any tournament Chiva runs as there is
always a friendly atmosphere and lots of fun and great backgammon competition. Phil, I know you are
close friends with Chiva as well and you ran tournaments for and with him in the US, so you know what
I'm talking about. Chiva told me that he wanted to see the US start a Backgammon Federation and he
came to you to get it started, and it was obviously quite successful.
Phil: What do you think of your backgammon experience thus far?
Zdenek: I think that I am getting as much experience possible for someone my age still in school, but
obviously the biggest problem for me is to play under pressure. I play emotionally and sometimes I make
mistakes I normally would not do only because I am scared. I am pretty sure that when I simply have
more experience playing under pressure I will improve and not get so excited or scared and be able to
concentrate more on just making the right moves and cube decisions.
Phil: What are your tournament plans in the near future?
Zdenek: I am really looking forward to next tournaments I am going. I am going to U25 Summer Camp by
Mochy in August, 2016, and then we move to Sapporo to the tournament. This will be an experience that I
have never dreamed - visiting Japan, meet people there, learn something new. I know you go to Japan
every year and you have said that the tournament, the people, and the country are amongst your
favorites, so it must be great. Then I plan to go to Sibenik in Croatia, beautiful city, sea, family´s
tournament atmosphere. In beginning of November 4th Merit Open and in end of November I am planning
to participate on tournament in Prague, city I live - there will be a final of German Master Series by Chiva.
Next year I would like to go to World championship in Monte Carlo. I hope to attend your and Mochy's
Boot Camp the day before the Merit Open.

5. Phil: I understand you have a club or group at school. Please tell us about it:
Zdenek: Well, it is not really a club, I would say a group of 5-10 people who like to play. I gave a
presentation for them and we are all excited about the International Collegiate Backgammon

6. Championships and hope we get a chance to compete as a team as well as individuals. They look to me
as their leader and mentor because of my experience and playing skills and I give them advice. Most play
against XG Mobile and practice and I think they will all be very good if they continue.
Phil: Since you have done little reading and learned mostly from your mentors and from XG, I am
amazed that you have become such a terrific player. How have you learned things that XG doesn't tell
you, like Woolsey's Law, Market Loser theory, take point theory, and other concepts?
Zdenek: Of course I know some take points or I can count some things from knowing winning chances in
different scores. But I think it is not really important, because why should I know that take point is exactly
15.9% when you never know (expect races, where you can count your percentage by Keith count) your
winning chances exactly. Some take points I have to know, like in score is: 4:3/7 and opponent is
redoubling me on 4, take point is 40%, why? Because if I drop, it will be 4:5/7 and I will have 40%. But I
think that if I know percentage from Match Equity Table in XG, I can mathematically count some important
things what I know. I know some positions where is a different between ND/T, D/T and D/P just one point
- 5:5/13 its a D/P, 6:5/13 its a D/T and 7:5/13 its a ND/T. All I need I think I can approximately count from
numbers in XG Match Equity Table.
Phil: So obviously you rely a lot on XG for most of what you have learned.
Zdenek: I have had eXtreme Gammon since 2013 and it truly is a great learning tool. I congratulate
Xavier and you for developing this wonderful machine and marketing it. I think most of the top players in
the world would not be anywhere near as good without XG. I can see my own progress very well using
the profile tab on the program. I have there more than 2000 matches only from GridGammon with overall
PR 4,05, where my PR between 1500-2500 game is 6 and between 1-100 game it is 3,8. In one way
eXtreme Gammon is giving me just statistics and in second way is giving me numbers from I can use to
improve. I use Woolsey's Law; I use some important points like race, position and gammonishly position
and then much I do by instinct and feel. When my instincts are wrong, XG hits me over the head with a
big red number, and I go back and study to correct my thinking.
Phil: How many hours a week to you spend playing, practicing and studying backgammon?
Zdenek: Well, its a good question - because of school its very different. Sometimes nothing, sometimes
12 hours. This year especially I am putting in more time because of event on Backgammon ace, where I
would like to win a yearly competition and board from Geoffrey Parker. I don't just play-I work hard to
study my mistakes and understand the logic so I don't make those same mistakes again.
Phil: What is the weakest part of your game and what are you doing to solve it?
Zdenek: My weakest part of the game is when I am in backgame, but not when my opponent is in
backgame. I think I will just have to put in a lot more time playing back games against XG and studying
my moves and trying to understand why XG is telling me to do this instead of that.
Phil: Do you change your strategy much when playing against humans as opposed to playing against the
computer?
Zdenek: Yes I change a lot, for making sure - I don’t play against XG, so, lets compare Mochy and
human (:-)) When I play against humans, I play what I think could be better to my winning chances.
Against Mochy or better players than me I just try to always make the best plays for PR.
Phil: You have competed in the BMAB (Backgammon Masters). What is your rating and your plans
there?

7. Zdenek: My BMAB PR is 3.84 and yes, I intend to compete in more tournaments. In July we are going to
Belgium for BMAB.
Phil: What other games or sports or activities do you enjoy? Is there anything else you are really good
at?
Zdenek: I played basketball for 7 years, but I finished this year, because of school. I also like betting (not
for real money), but there is a new website by Tipsport, where I can bet imaginary points and win some
real things and money. There are many competitions and one of them I almost won, I had two bets with a
course about 200, where I had more than 30 matches, but made a couple of bad bets on an Israeli
basketball game and lost those. That cost me 1st place and I ended up tied for 30th.
Phil: What are your long-term goals for backgammon?
Zdenek: My goal is for sure to be the best player in the world someday, and I am doing all I can to make
that dream come true. I am trying to start doing some my own lectures and I would like to use them in
future as a Backgammon teacher. My goal is to be known as friendly player who loves backgammon and
who plays great. I guess you can say I want to be just like Mochy and Michy. They are both great players
and great teachers and friendly and gentlemen all the time. You were smart to include them in The
Backgammon Learning Center.
Phil: Are there any rules of the game or tournament play that you would like to see changed?
Zdenek: I would let the game as is now, every small change can absolutely change the goal and the role
of luck of the game and that’s what I love, even the best player can be defeated by a novice with a small
percentage. Incertitude, atmosphere, beautiful boards, cups, dices are things what are doing the game so
comfortable and nice to all.
About tournament rules - because I almost never do illegal moves and I played 10 years with a fact that
illegal move is a mistake, even though I like to be a gentleman, I think we should allow illegal moves and
make people responsible for their mistakes. In my opinion backgammon is the cruelest game in the world
and this is part of the game.
Phil: What do you think needs to be done to grow the game and bring more children playing the game?
Zdenek: More advertising and marketing. More promoters and teachers like you and Mochy who go
around to schools to show children how to play and from clubs. They dont play the game because they
dont know about it. I think that the international backgammon collegiate tournament is the best way (hope
will be more advertised till January) how to grow backgammon. Have as example me - if my Dad wasnt
working in a restaurant 20 years ago that happened to have a backgammon machine, I would probably
not be playing backgammon to day. How lucky I was that happened!
Phil: Do you have a favorite quote or joke?
Zdenek: Yes, my quote I like is: "Sometimes it´s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever."
By Keri Russell. Even the smallest decision can affect your win/lose in backgammon. One roll the dice
affect next rolling the dice. One play affect another play, because its another position.
Phil: Do you have any heroes or people in backgammon you look up to?
Zdenek: I have a lot of respect for players who can play at the highest levels and still control their

8. emotions when losing. I dont like loud people and people who complain all the time. It is unpleasant and
ruins the game and the atmosphere. Everyone gets the same amount of bad dice and it is not nice to
complain when it happens to you. The good and bad dice are a big part of the game that makes it fun and
interesting. If you can't handle bad luck then backgammon is not the game you should be playing.
Phil: Why do you think you have become such a top player, and why do you think you might be the best
player in the game some day?
Zdenek: I have had terrific support from my family and friends. My Backgammon Dad, Honza Cerny has
helped me every step of the way. I am very good at math and I am not afraid to work hard to improve. I
have learned how to use XG well and anyone who can learn to play close to as good as XG will be a top
player.
Phil: Since Zdenek mentioned that Honzy Cerny is his Backgammon Dad, I decided to invite Honzy to
add his thoughts about Zdenek
Honzy Cerny: I have known Zdenek since he was 6 years old. He liked backgammon from start and
played very well. If I remember correctly, he took break for a while couple of years ago. When he started
to play again, he became truly dedicated to game. He improves rapidly by playing a lot and studying
difficult positions. He is modest and pleasant young man, always happy to discuss and help to everybody,
who ask for help. I am happy and proud to be his mentor and friend.
Phil: Now here are some final thoughts of my own. Everything Zdenek says about the way he has studied
is exactly in line with everything I have read and teach about Deliberate Practice. People who excel in
virtually any game or sport do so not only because they have some natural talent and skills, but much
more so because they have what the author of the book, Grit (Andelica Duckworth) describes as, well,
Grit! They have the ability and desire to stick with something until they master it, piece by piece, and
detail by detail. Again, deliberate practice. According to Duckworth, talent is half as important an indicator
of success as Grit.
I am also impressed with Zdenek about his attitude about luck and being a gentleman and not
complaining when he is losing. For a young man to internalize these high personal standards is quite
unusual, and I am sure it is because he is a very fine young man, but also because he has been given
great examples from his parents, his mentors, and his heroes such as Mochy and Michy and Honza.
I look forward to spending time with Zdenek in person this year in Cyprus and in Tokyo. As a teacher, I
have much to learn from this fine young man.