2011 State Championship

The 3rd New Mexico State Backgammon Championship (2nd ABT sanctioned) will be held
in Santa Fe on JANUARY 27-30, 2011.

Ed Bennett and the Backgammon Club of Santa Fe are honored to again sponsor the New Mexico State Backgammon Championship in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The tournament will be held at the beautiful La Posada de Santa Fe Resort and Spa. They have retained the very special $99 per day room rate and waived resort and parking fees! Breakfast is not included. Last year we reached near-capacity for our venue so please register early to insure your slot.  This year’s guest speaker is renowned author and former world-champion, Paul Magriel.

Please see our Tournament Brochure for all the tournament details.

If you do have questions, please contact Ed Rosenblum.

Your visit is an opportunity for you to explore the wonderful world of Santa Fe in the “Land of Enchantment.” Plan on bringing your friends and family to share this very special tournament/vacation location. In the meantime, here is some Visitor Information about Santa Fe with links to restaurants and activities.

American Airlines has three non-stop flights a day (two from Dallas/Fort Worth ($182 one way) and one from Los Angeles($105 one way)) directly into Santa Fe Airport (for approximately $182 one way). Santa Fe Airport is about 20 minutes from the La Posada hotel, thus saving nearly 1 hour of travel time from Albuquerque. Southwest Airlines has the absolute cheapest fares to Albuquerque. For January 26th, their “Wanna Get Away” one-way fares range from $49 (from Denver) to $139 (from Chicago) to $104 (from Detroit) to $134 (from Boston) to $124 (from LA), to $109 (from NY), etc. These flights disappear quickly so book early.

Ground Transportation from the Albuquerque airport: 1) Take the Sandia shuttle. It has hourly departures and will drop you and baggage off at La Posada for $47.00 round trip. This is a good option if you don’t plan to tour outside the city. The heart of the city is three blocks walking distance from the hotel so there is still a lot to do without having to rent a car or 2) Rent a car. Depending on length of stay, this may be cheaper than shuttle especially if three or more people team up. There is no charge for parking at the hotel. Using Expedia, rates (as of Sept. 1, 2010) for four days (Jan 27th 11AM to Jan 30th 7 PM), an economy car can be rented from Enterprise or Thrifty for $138.71 including all taxes and fees.

If you arrive on a weekday, you can take the scenic Rail Runner located near the Albuquerque Sunport. The free Rail Runner Express gets you to the Rail Runner train in 8 minutes.  The Rail Runner then takes you to the Santa Fe Depot for $7.00.  Call the La Posada shuttle (505.986.000) for a free ride to the hotel.  More scenic and fun.  You can also play backgammon on the train!