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Dirk Schiemann is one of the younger Giants of Backgammon. He first appeared on the ranking list in 1999 and has been in the top#32 ever since.

In & Out of the Backgammon Circuit

Dirk reached as high as #3 in the 2003 poll. Dirk's ranking has dropped since because he has been playing in fewer tournaments in recent years but he still considered in the poll because he played in the Atlantis Million event in The Bahamas in 2007.

when a player becomes inactive on the international circuit he should no longer be voted for on the Giants of Backgammon poll. By the way, Dirk did not go far in the Atlantis Million losing in Round 1 to Michel Serrero of France, the 2006 Champion of Europe.

Backgammon (& Life) in Costa Rica

Although originally from Germany, Dirk currently lives in Costa Rica where he got married and has a young child. He is doing well playing online poker and likes to play tennis every morning. Dirk continues to enjoy any backgammon action he can find in Costa Rica and will be playing in new backgammon events currently being organized in Costa Rica by the Costa Rica Backgammon Association. If you ever get down to Costa Rica and want some action, Dirk will be happy to play with you one-on-one if the stakes are not too low.

Backgammon Championships & Style of Play

When Dirk sets his mind to something, he strives for perfection – and in backgammon, he studied the game profusely and trained with Snowie software to a point where it was said, in the early 2000s, that he was probably the player with the lowest error rate in the world.

An example of Dirk's skill is that in 2003, at the 28th World Backgammon Championship in Monte Carlo, with 271 players participating the Main and Dirk made it the semi-finals, which is considered third or fourth place.At the Paris Masters and Open in France in 2001, Dirk, and then partner and fellow countryman, Johannes Levermann, won first place in the Doubles competition. In 2003, Schiemann partnered with the current #1 Giant, Matvey "Falafel" Natanzon of Israel, to reach the Semi-Finals of the 32-team Doubles event of the World Cup Challenge VII Backgammon Championship held in Bucharest, Romania.

In addition to many other places in major international championship, and quite a few Super Jackpots wins, Schiemann won the Consolation at the 12th Nordic "Wide" Open in Copenhagen, Denmark in the year 2000.