World Mind Games 2013 - Day 6

Day 6 featured a new World Mind Games event in Draughts!

Super-blitz, referred to as the Armageddon or Sudden Death of Draughts, is a new 2-day event included on the 2013 World Mind Games competition programme. Its first day of competition began today.

Bridge began the Individual Open and Women’s events which features 8 rounds of 3 boards.

After the Awards Ceremony of Blitz Chess yesterday, Chess kicked off its third and final event known as Basque system today. Playing two games at the same time with limited time, a true challenge of the mind!

The Pairs Go event, composed of 8 of the world’s best pairs, consists of 3 rounds in a knock-out system format. The Pairs Teams to watch today were China and Korea, however Chinese Taipei came out on top.

The Cultural Programme ended today with a final visit to the Huajiadi Experimental Primary School for the game of Go.

Cultural Programme: A final visit to learn and share enthusiasm for the game of Go

Today’s Go school visit brought an end to the Beijing 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games Cultural Programme. The International Go Federation, BODA and SportAccord's Executive Director, George Yerolimpos accompanied 15 Go players to the Fangzhou Campus of the Beijing Huajiadi Experimental Primary School.

Upon arrival, 32 students were waiting for them, eager to test their skills. Before the games between the children and professionals commenced, the school Principal brought everyone to see two Go classes in order to demonstrate how the professors explain the rules and how the children learn to play the great game of Go.

The Principal continued by expressing how important mind sports are and how they help to develop the intelligence of the children. Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, International Go Federation President and former Director General of UNESCO, joined the games and played against 2 students. He explained how he did not start playing Go until University. His expressions painted the picture, as he truly admired the young children who learned the game of Go so early in life. The surprise of the afternoon came from a young girl who won her match against a professional. Ms. Yu, Women’s Individual World Mind Games Gold medal champion was impressed and stated that she was "… sure many future Go champions were sitting in the room".

Bridge: Individually Speaking

The last of the Bridge Championships to be decided at the 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games is perhaps the most challenging. In this event, players must adopt a standard system and partner in turn with all the other players.

At the end of the first day Poland's Adam Zmudzinski leads the Men's Championship with 57.58%, followed by Norway's Tor Helness on 56.42% with China's Haojun Shi third with 56.38%.

In the Women's Championship there is a tie for first place between the USA's Cheri Bjerkan and England's Nevena Senior their score of 56.04% leaving them ahead of the USA's Carol Miner with 55.42%.

Chess: Basque system chess a definite Mind Game

Two players, twenty minutes and two Chess boards is how the 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games introduces the Basque system.

Dividing the mind in two, choosing which game to focus on, spending an even amount of time on each game, which one do you opt for? A win on 1 board gives 1 point, 2 points total can be earned per round. Only the Grandmasters can tell you how to manage such a game type.

Today the Chess competition hall had a new look. Longer tables, rolling chairs and dual chess board set-ups made spectators turn their heads as they walked by in the corridor. As the afternoon started, the women began their tournament, followed by the men.

Valentina Gunina and Alexandra Kosteniuk played a tactical game, while Stefanova matched up with Hou Yifan in the live TV box. As the ladies finished their round, Karyakin and Aronian sat down for their battle, perhaps a brief glimpse of yesterday's podium crossed their minds.

A good night's rest is in order, as tomorrow will unveal the last day of Chess' Basque System.

Draughts: Super-Blitz, the Armageddon has begun

Day 1 of 2 started today in the Super-Blitz Draughts competition. An all new event hosted by the SportAccord World Mind Games.

Super-Blitz has a limited time of 5 minutes (+2 seconds per move). This consists of a best of 3 match type. Once a match is won, the clock is reset and the next match will begin. If a match comes to a draw, a new game will start but will continue on the same clock.

This match type makes for quick play, fast decision making and immediate reactions. Many big matches were held: Baliakin faced off with Georgiev in the Men's, while an exciting match occurred between Tkachenko and Nogovitcyna in the Women's competition.

Tomorrow the Super-Blitz competition will continue, as the digital clock panels get clicked at a blazing speed and the clocks count down in the Draughts competition hall.

Go: First Two Rounds for Pairs Competition

Pair Go is a version of the game played by teams 2x2 on a single board. These competitions at the 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games began with the teams from the Far East beating the opposition from Europe and North America in the morning, and then they tackled each other in the afternoon. The Chinese and Korean pairs were favoured to win, but both met with stout opposition.

Matched against China, the Japanese pair made a good start and led for most of their game. The Chinese Pair, however, gradually crept up on them and got slightly ahead near the end. The Japanese Pair lost in style by offering a sacrifice of a huge group of stones, which the Chinese Pair of course accepted.

The Korean Pair had an even harder time with Chinese Taipei. In fact, Joanne Missingham and Wang Yuan-jyun beat them, after an extended running battle and a big ko exchange. Tomorrow Ms. Missingham and Mr. Wang will play Ms. Wang and Mr. Zhou for the gold and silver medals, while the Japanese and Korean pairs duel for the bronze and two European pairs vie for fifth place. No predictions are offered for the outcomes of these matches. In Pair Go anything can happen.

Xiangqi: The finals approach with two days left of competition

On match day 6 the excitement about the match up between the two Chinese stars Wang Tangyi and Sun Yongzheng was big. Going into this match Wang had the advantage of red and only needed a draw in order to go into tomorrows closing round as the leader; Sun Yongzheng on the other hand needed a win to keep his title hopes alive.

As the match continued Wang`s defensive and very strategic play ultimately made it impossible for Yongzheng to cause an upset and resulted in a short draw. This means that Wang goes into the last match day holding all chances, only needing a draw to secure the 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games title. Another contender for a medal will be the Vietnamese Oung Duong Bac who defeates Lei Kam Fun (Macau) today. He will face Cao Yanlei (China) tomorrow, hoping to secure a medal for himself.

In the women's competition, there will be less excitement going into tomorrow`s last match, as Tang Dan managed to secure her Gold medal with today's win over Chan Diana Hong (Australia), leaving Nguyen Hoang Yen with the silver medal. Congratulations to both of them.

For more on the 2013 World Mind Games, please visithttp://www.sportaccord.com/en/.

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