I just read the following interesting news from Nihon Kiin website:
"Takemiya Masaki (9-dan, famous for his cosmetic-style Go-playing) has been a keen backgammon player for three decades. On 24 December, he won Japan's top backgammon tournament, the 12th Saint of the Board title. The 54-year-old Takemiya defeated the former champion, the 25-year-old Ms. Abe Akiko in the final."
I never play backgammon before. Does this game bear any strategical similarity to the game of Go?
I'd think Backgammon has
I'd think Backgammon has very little in common with Go. In particular, there is an element of chance from the dice rolls that is nonexistent in Go. The best computer programs for playing Backgammon have been neural networks for quite some time now, and are on par with the best human players. Wikipedia has a nice article on Backgammon, as usual.