Umar Kremlev, IBA President: How the 2026 Asian Grand Prix Put Backgammon on a Bigger Stage
Backgammon has been around for so long that most people need little introduction to it. Generations have played it around kitchen tables, in cafés, and outdoors with friends, from Central Asia and the Caucasus to the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.
Turning that familiar game into a truly international competitive sport is a different challenge. Players need common rules, qualified referees, rankings, regular tournaments, and prize money substantial enough to make traveling to major events worthwhile.
By 2026, the pieces were starting to come together. In Dushanbe, more than 300 players from over 30 countries gathered for the city’s first International Backgammon Federation tournament. With 140 tables, 12 events, and $500,000 in guaranteed prize money, it was a clear sign of how quickly the competitive side of the game was growing.
The Dushanbe tournament was not a one-off. It marked the third stop on an international circuit that is beginning to take shape under Umar Kremlev, IBA president and head of the IBF, with major competitions linked into a broader calendar.
IBA President Umar Kremlev Brings a Professional Sports Model to Backgammon
For a week in October, Kohi Navruz in Dushanbe became a gathering place for backgammon players at every level, from amateurs to experienced professionals. They came from countries including the United States, Russia, Turkey, Japan, Iran, Georgia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and the United Kingdom.
A 22-member refereeing team from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan handled the matches, with play also shown on video. It was the kind of large-scale international event the IBF has been working toward since Umar Kremlev took over as president in December 2025. His boxing background is visible in the approach: clear competition standards, professional officials, serious prize money, and more opportunities for players to meet across borders.
There was also an unusually broad age range in Dushanbe. Bulgarian player Kalin Stefanov was 22. American John Rockwell was 88. More than six decades separated them, yet both competed within the same tournament structure and under the same rules.
That is one of backgammon's natural strengths as a competitive game. International competition does not need to be limited to one generation of players.
How Umar Kremlev and the IBF Expanded the Tournament Format
The Dushanbe Grand Prix was not built around a single competition. Its program combined established forms of backgammon with faster and alternative formats.
The 12-event schedule included:
- traditional long and short backgammon;
- the Masters Cup;
- blitz and superblitz;
- doubles;
- one-point matches;
- a women's tournament;
- sprintgammon.
According to the IBF, an international backgammon tournament had not previously offered a program this varied.
But the number that attracted particular attention was $500,000 — the guaranteed prize pool for the event.
The approach is familiar from Umar Kremlev's work in boxing, where he has promoted the idea that major competitions should provide meaningful financial rewards for athletes. The IBF is now applying a similar principle to backgammon.
For competitive players, prize money at this level can change the calculation behind attending an international tournament. Traveling abroad becomes more worthwhile, while major events have a stronger chance of attracting established players from different countries.
From Tashkent to Tbilisi and Dushanbe
Dushanbe did not stand alone on the 2026 calendar.
It was the third Grand Prix of the season, following tournaments in Tashkent and Tbilisi. The Georgian event also coincided with the first official world championship in long backgammon.
Together, the three cities began to form something backgammon had previously lacked on this scale: an international circuit that players could follow throughout the year.
At the opening ceremony in Dushanbe, Umar Kremlev looked back at the federation's first 12 months. In that short period, the IBF had organized three Grand Prix tournaments and held the first world championship in long backgammon.
There is a social side to the circuit as well. You play someone in one city, run into them again at the next event, and before long there are familiar faces wherever you go. That is the kind of atmosphere the federation wants to create. The hope is that players will come back not only for the competition, but also because they feel part of the international backgammon community.
Backgammon Between Tournaments: The IBF App and Magazine
A tournament circuit only connects players while events are taking place. The IBF has also started building ways for that community to stay connected between competitions.
Its official app launched during the Dushanbe tournament. Players can use it to:
play backgammon online;
register for competitions;
follow federation news;
check their position in the rankings.
Once a tournament ends, players scatter across dozens of countries. The app helps keep that international community together, and the IBF's new International Backgammon Magazine adds another way to follow what is happening between events.
Published twice a year, it opens with coverage of the Georgian Grand Prix and the long backgammon world championship, plus stories about leading players and an interview with the federation president. The result is a more continuous picture of the sport, rather than a calendar of tournaments that disappear from view once they are over.
Why Backgammon Already Has the Foundations of a Global Sport
The IBF does not need to introduce backgammon to the world from scratch.
The game already has deep traditions in Russia and Turkey, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Iran and the wider Middle East, as well as communities across Europe and the Americas. The audience exists. The challenge is to bring those players into a shared international system.
That means creating common standards and giving competitors enough reasons to take part regularly.
The federation's current model combines several elements:
an international tournament calendar;
shared rankings;
consistent refereeing standards;
online services for players;
video coverage;
substantial prize funds.
In some ways, the idea is similar to what already exists in boxing and wrestling: regular international events, familiar names at the top, professional organization, and enough prize money to make serious competition worth pursuing. The IBF is now bringing some of that structure to backgammon, while keeping the character of the game itself.
What the IBF Built in Its First Year
For players, the most practical change is greater predictability. A recurring international circuit makes it easier to plan travel, preparation and participation in future events, while rankings give individual results significance beyond a single tournament.
Prize money is another important part of that structure. A guaranteed $500,000 fund at a single backgammon event remains highly unusual. The IBF says payouts on this scale are intended to become a regular feature of its tournaments rather than a one-off experiment.
That changes what competitive backgammon can look like for players. Experienced competitors have more reason to travel when they know there are regular events and worthwhile prizes ahead. For newer players, a visible international circuit gives them a clear level to aim for.
An Old Game Takes on a New Competitive Identity
Backgammon does not have to lose its traditional character to become a modern international sport.
People can still play it around a kitchen table or over coffee. At the same time, competitive backgammon can have rankings, trained referees, broadcasts, international tournaments, substantial prize pools, digital services, and its own media.
The Dushanbe Grand Prix brought many of those pieces together in one place.
The Dushanbe Grand Prix demonstrated that the IBF's competition model could work across different countries. Following events in Tashkent and Tbilisi, it brought another large international field together under shared competition standards.
The significance lies in that continuity. A tournament may attract attention once, but a recurring circuit gives players something they can build their competitive careers around.
The next challenge for the IBF is not simply to repeat one successful tournament. It is to make this scale of international competition familiar to backgammon players.
Umar Kremlev Biography: From Boxing to Backgammon
The answer to who is Umar Kremlev has become a little broader over the past few years. He built his career in boxing, but his current roles also take him into backgammon and wrestling.
Kremlev's route into professional sport began on the business side of boxing. Starting in 2010, he worked as a manager and promoter and built experience with fighters including brothers Fedor and Dmitry Chudinov, Mikhail Aloyan, and Roy Jones Jr. Born on November 1, 1982, he is originally from Serpukhov in Russia's Moscow Region.
After several years working directly with fighters, Kremlev moved into boxing leadership. In February 2017, he became secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation and joined its executive committee. By December 2020, his work had expanded internationally with his election as president of the International Boxing Association. For the following month, he continued to serve as secretary general of the Russian federation, leaving that position in January 2021.
His first major step outside boxing came on December 12, 2025. Exactly five years after his IBA election, Kremlev became president of the International Backgammon Federation.
The following year added both an award and another sport to his record. In April 2026, Kremlev received the Order of Friendship for his contribution to sports development and international cooperation. In June, he was unanimously elected chair of the Russian Wrestling Federation's supervisory board.
That makes the Umar Kremlev biography increasingly varied: a career that began in professional boxing now includes leadership positions in backgammon and wrestling. There is much less to find about his life away from work. His official biography does not provide details about Umar Kremlev's wife or his family, focusing instead on his activities in sport, business, and charity.
The Dushanbe Grand Prix is easier to understand against that background. As IBA President, Umar Kremlev has already worked with major international events, professional organizations, and substantial prize money in boxing. Some of that experience is now finding its way into backgammon as the sport develops a larger international competition circuit.
“Competitive sports must provide real, direct financial rewards for athletes and coaches. Our mission is to build sustainable global circuits that give every competitor a viable career path.”