Who Thinks More, Chess or Backgammon Players?

Alright, let's take a break from the political, bi-partisan wars or real war talk and start or revisit a "heated" debate that has lived on in legend for years: who thinks more, chess players or backgammon players?

No need to panic: this is a friendly debate, my friends. Just to let you know where we are coming from, we've talked to both chess and backgammon only players, and we've talked to players who regularly enjoy both games.

The common first assumption is that chess players think more — after all, there are more pieces on the chess board that move in unique ways to keep track of. If you took this in a totally mathematical approach, yes, chess wins in this regard. Backgammon, meanwhile, only tracks all its pieces or checkers moving in one direction with all the checkers equal in movement (advancing forward one point or pip at a time). But backgammon can counter with the fact that its players have to shift more often and adjust to the unpredictability of the progress of the game - due solely to the key ingredient of dice rolls. Chess, in this arena, is much more predictable (yes, even though chess players have to hold more history or scenarios in their heads), and thus requires less re-thinking. Backgammon wins that round.

That's enough for now. So, let's take a break and play a game of backgammon!