Luigi Villa is a backgammon player from Milan, Italy.
[1] In 1979, he was the winner of the World Championship held in Monte Carlo.
[2] The very next day after winning the World Championship,[3] he was defeated in a 7-point match by Hans Berliner's computer program BKG 9.8,[4] becoming the first world champion in any board game to be defeated by a software program.
[2][4] The match was played for US$5,000, and drew an audience of 200 people.
[1] In 2006, Villa placed second at the World Championship following a six-hour, 25-point final[6] round against Philip Vischjager.