景山充人
Michihito Kageyama 'Michy'
世界大師專訪 Interview with Grand Masters


景山充人大師編寫了 “The Backgammon Odyssey”，一套三系列的雙陸棋學術書籍：
　“Opening Concepts” - 《開局概論》
　“Back Checker Strategy” - 《後方棋子策略》
　“Endgame Technique” - 《殘局技巧》
澳門雙陸棋協會會長 葉國仁已將「開局概論」翻譯成中文版本。譯本於澳門雙陸棋協會有售。

Michy is the author of “The Backgammon Odyssey”, a series of 3 books:
　“Opening Concepts”
　“Back Checker Strategy”
　“Endgame Technique”
“Opening Concepts” has been translated to Chinese by Apollo Ip. This Chinese version is available at the Macao Backgammon Association.


問：Michy-san，我拜讀過你寫的幾本書...其實我很欣賞你的思路，你這個對雙陸棋很理論性的處理手法。你應該是花了不少腦汁在這遊戲裡。是什麼驅使你的呢？你對雙陸棋的熱愛從哪來的呢？
​Q: Michy-san, hm, I have read several of your books…and I am most impressed by your approach, your very theoretical approach to backgammon. Clearly you think a lot about this game. What drives you? What gave you this passion towards backgammon?

答：首先應該是雙陸棋的策略性吧，我想這是最主要的原因。起初玩的時候，我不覺得這遊戲特別好玩，都是搖搖骰子而已。後來呢，就發現雙陸棋其實有很多高深的策略.....這個沒想到。因為，這本身是一個很簡單的遊戲，規矩又不多，但哇，原來那麼複雜，那麼多策略思考的。我就著迷了。
A: So, first of all, the strategy of backgammon itself fascinated me, yes, that is the biggest reason. At first, backgammon was a boring game to me, it was just a game of dice. But then I found, that there are so many deep strategies in backgammon…I was very much surprised. It seems like such a simple game, we don’t have many rules, but wow, so many complicated, fascinating strategies, which impressed me. I was fascinated.

問：你是什麼時候開始玩雙陸棋的呢？
​Q: When did you start playing backgammon? Tell us…

答：我大概 25 年前吧，開始很認真的玩雙陸棋。
A: For me, er, backgammon seriously started about 25 years ago.

問：25 年前。在日本嗎？
​Q: 25 years ago. In Japan?

答：是的。
A: Yes, yes.

問：那時候，多人玩嗎？
Q: Many people play back then?

答：沒有。其實有幾個玩的不錯的，但並非很普及。我會說絕大多數的日本人都不知道雙陸棋是什麼來。
A: No. Actually we had some good players; it was not so popular. I say, the majority of Japanese people, do not know what is backgammon.

問：那說來聽，你起初是怎麼認識這遊戲的呢？
​Q: So tell us, how did you first know about this game?

答：我呀，就是喜歡玩遊戲的一個人，基本上什麼遊戲都喜歡玩。有一天我在一家百貨店找到一副雙陸棋，不知道是什麼玩意，好奇就買下來了，挺便宜的、小小的一副，10 美元左右吧.....
A: Basically, I like games. I like any games. I just accidentally found backgammon one day at a department store, and I didn’t know what it is. So I was curious, and so I bought it, it was very cheap, small, like er, less than 10 dollars (USD)…

問：哈哈哈應該是中國製造的.....
​Q: Hahaha, ok, made in China I think…

答：哈哈哈那我就跟朋友一起玩；我雖然買了副棋但又不知道怎麼玩。我們就拿了本書來看看什麼規矩，就玩起來了.....其實也不是在玩，因為我們根本不懂規則，所以不好玩，很快就.....不玩了。
A: Hahaha, so I played it with my friend; we bought it but we didn’t know what is backgammon. So we read a rulebook, and enjoyed…well, actually we didn’t enjoy, because we didn’t know any rules, so it was just boring. So we easily, er, quit…

問：啊哈。然後呢？
Q: Aha. And then?

答：後來，有一次我在一家書店裡找到一本雙陸棋的書。
A: And then, again accidentally, I found a backgammon book at a bookstore.

問：哪一本？
Q: Which book?

答：是一本日語的書，叫 「雙陸棋書」，是一本很簡單的書。
A: It was a Japanese book. The title is “The Backgammon Book”. Very simple book…

問：誰寫的？
Q: Who wrote it?

答：日本的一間公司，他們出產售賣魔術、遊戲等。這公司的人都覺得雙陸棋好玩吧，就寫了一本書，取材自 Paul Magriel 的那本.....
A: Actually, it was a Japanese company, a Japanese magic and game company. So the members of that company, all of them, they were also fascinated by backgammon. And they wrote a book, based on the book by Paul Magriel…

問：Magriel 的 “Backgammon”!
Q: Magriel’s “Backgammon”!

答：我相信他們是看過 Paul Magriel 的書。他們沒有將書翻譯，只是寫了一本新的書出來，但取材根源是 Paul Magriel 的那本。
A: I believe they read Paul Magriel’s book, and then, well they didn’t translate it, but they wrote a new book. But the base was Paul Magriel’s book.

問：我們在製作一些視頻，取材也是從 Paul Magriel 的書。
Q: Yeah, we are making some videos from Paul Magriel’s book as well.

答：是的，那本書的確很好。
A: That book was very interesting.

問：那你看了這本書？
​Q: So did you read it?

答：呃，是的，我買了這本書，一天就把它看完。
A: Er, yeah, so I bought that book immediately, and finished reading it in 1 day.

問：一天？！
​Q: One day?!

答：對。
A: Yes.

問：「雙陸棋聖經」，一天....
Q: The Backgammon Bible, one day…

答：沒有沒有，那本只是 250 頁而已，不是原作的 500 頁。你看起來很驚訝哈哈哈.....
A: No no no it was like 250 pages, and not like 500 pages…

問：噢，好吧...
Q: Oh ok ok…

答：你看起來很驚訝，哈哈哈...
A: You look so surprised hahaha…

問：哈哈哈.....那，25 年。你.....有沒有跟過哪位大師？就是，你怎樣提升水平的呢？
​Q: Hahaha…So. 25 years. And…did you study from some grandmaster…? Um, Did you, how did you become better?

答：基本上都是自己研究的，當然要用電腦軟件。沒有軟件的話，是不可能的。
A: Basically, I studied by myself, and of course, with the use of software. Without software I couldn’t learn by myself. I’d say it would be impossible.

問：你那時候應該是用 Jellyfish、Snowy、可能 GNU…..哪一個？
Q: So you were the generation using Jellyfish, Snowy, GNU maybe…so which one?

答：我開始是用 Expert Backgammon，這是 Jellyfish 以前的。
A: So, first I used Expert Backgammon. It was before Jellyfish.

問：Jellyfish 以前？！
​Q: Before Jellyfish?!

答：是的。後來才有 Jellyfish、Snowy。
A: Yeah. And then Jellyfish came, and Snowy came…

問：Jellyfish 以前哇，那就是 Windows 3.1 以前了哈哈哈.....
Q: Before Jellyfish wow! So that was before Windows 3.1 hahaha…

答：哈哈哈是的，但是 Expert Backgammon 那軟件已經很強了，雖則還比不上最強的人類棋手。Jellyfish 嘛，就超越了人類了.....
A: Hahaha yeah something like that. And that program was very strong. But er, it is weaker than the best human player. And Expert Backgammon was at such a level. Very good, but less than a human top player. But now, Jellyfish overcame humans…

問：對的。所以你是用電腦來做研究的。我在想，當時在日本應該沒幾個很強的棋手吧.....？
Q: Right, right…so you actually studied with computers. Now, in Japan at the time, I would imagine that they were not many very strong players…

答：是的。我們有舉辦過幾個大型比賽，有那麼 100 人參加。但是他們都.....不是很強吧，相比起現代的棋手來說。我因為用軟件來分析研究，所以得益很大。我記得，好像是 2001 年吧，我在日本雙陸棋已稱霸了，一年贏了三個大獎項。
A: Right. We had some big tournaments, we had around 100 tournament players. But er, they were not so strong, compared to recent backgammon levels. And I got big benefit from learning with software. So at some point, I remember the year, 2001, I dominated Japanese backgammon. I won 3 major titles in 1 year.