Israeli backgammon player (1968–2020)
Matvey Natanzon
Born (1968-07-05 ) July 5, 1968Died February 14, 2020(2020-02-14) (aged 51) Education SUNY Buffalo Occupation Backgammon player
Matvey Natanzon (better known by his pseudonym Falafel ) (July 5, 1968 – February 14, 2020[ 1] [ 2] ) was a Russian-born Israeli backgammon player.
Life and career
Natanzon was born in Soviet Russia and moved with his mother to Azor , a small Israeli town near Tel Aviv , in 1972.[ 3] He moved to Buffalo, New York , as a teenager. Natanzon graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1991 with a degree in accounting.[ 4] Shortly thereafter he moved to Manhattan . Homeless, he lived for 6 months in Washington Square Park and learned to hustle chess and backgammon from local gamblers.[ 3] Some of Natanzon's associates at that time went on to become famous poker players, including Phil Laak , Gus Hansen , and Abe Mosseri . Natanzon himself played poker and was part owner of a card parlor in Tel Aviv.[ 4]
In 2005 Natanzon played on the Israeli team in the Nations Cup backgammon tournament.[ 5]
In 2007, Natanzon was named the number one backgammon player in the world by an unscientifically compiled peer-audited review known as Giants of Backgammon . Although the rankings are not precise, Jake Jacobs, the list's compiler, says about it that "We can never know for certain who is the best player in a given year, but we can confidently eliminate 99.99 per cent. Falafel survived the cut."[ 3]
Natanzon died on February 14, 2020 of GBM .[ 6]
References
^ "NATANZON, Matvey" . The Buffalo News . Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
^ "Falafel died on February 14th" . The Economist . March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020 .
^ a b c Raffi Khatchadourian (May 13, 2013). "The Chaos of the Dice" . The New Yorker . Retrieved May 14, 2013 .
^ a b Michael Kaplan (November–December 2007). "Rolling the Dice in Paradise" . Cigar Aficionado . Retrieved May 14, 2013 .
^ "Israel Jeux - Eric Guedj : Partouche Backgammon vient d'ouvrir le premier portail Web de Backgammon" . IsraelValley News. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2013 .
^ Deuel, Elisaf (2020-02-14). מישל נתנזון, גדול שחקני השש-בש הישראלים, הלך לעולמו [Michel Nathanson, the great Israeli backgammon player, has passed away]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2024-07-10 .