Bridge | Chess | Draughts | Go | Xiangqi (Chinese chess)
As the third day of the event comes to a close, the World Mind Games competition is now well under way.
The Bridge Team finals for Men and Women were held, while new competitions commenced in Chess and Draughts with the Blitz tournaments.
Competitors continued to challenge each other in the Round-Robin Go tournament and Xiangqi Individuals battled in their 3rd round.
On a cultural note, the Faming Mountain Chess Club visited the World Mind Games venue to teach Grandmasters an initiation game for playing chess. The Grandmasters enjoyed being taught something they had never seen before, while they exchanged smiles and laughter with the young chinese chess players.
Finally, the second edition of the Beijing Universities Mind Games was held in the Beijing International Convention Center after having carried out all preliminary rounds on the online QQ Games platform.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS
Cultural Programme: Local Chess Club visits the competition venue
(Photo: Chess Grand Master Bartek Heberla teaches a young chess club member)
On a day where no school visit took place, the students of the Faming Mountain Chess Club visited the competition venue.
Chess Grandmasters Mr. Bartek Heberla and Mr. Pieter Heine Nielsen welcomed the 15 students of the Chess Club at the spectator area of the Beijing International Convention Center. This time around, the Grandmasters were the ones getting taught by 5-10 year olds.
(Photo: Cultural Programme Awards Ceremony for the Beijing College Mind Games)
Participants of the Beijing 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games celebrated the conclusion of the Beijing College Mind Games and Primary and Middle School Mind Games Tournaments in the official Awards Ceremony Hall of the Beijing International Convention Center. Officials from the Beijing Olympic City Development Association (BODA) and Beijing 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games Ambassadors awarded students with plaques, mascots and small gifts.
Bridge: Golden Moments for the Bridge Ambassadors
(Photo: Team Monaco - F. Fantoni/C. Nunes vs. Team Poland - C. Balicki/M. Mazurkiewicz)
With a brilliant display of almost perfect bridge it was Monaco, represented by Fulvio Fantoni, Claudio Nunes, Geir Helgemo, Tor Helness, Franck Multon and Pierre Zimmermann who won the Men's Team Championship at the 2013 SportAccord World Mind Games, defeating Poland's Adam Zmudzinski, Marcin Mazurkiewicz, Cezary Balicki, Krzysztof Buras, Krzysztof Jassem and Andrzej Narkiewicz. The bronze medals went to China, Zhang Bangxiang, Dai Jianming, Ju Chuancheng, Shi Haojun, Shi Zhengjun and Wang Weimin.
In a thrilling Women's final, China's Wang Wenfei, Feng Xuefeng, Zhang Yu, Wang Liping, Yan Ru and Liu Yan came and snatched victory from England's Sinéad Bird, Fiona Brown, Heather Dhondy, Sarah O'Connor, Susan Stockdale and Nevena Senior on the very last board, with the USA, Carole Miner, Cynthia Balderson, Lynn Deas, Hjördís Eythórsdóttir, Rozanne Pollack and Cheryl Bjerkan finishing third.
It was appropriate that each of the winning teams contained the Bridge Ambassadors here in Beijing, Fulvio Fantoni and Wang Wenfei.
For Teams Open Results click here
For Team Women Results click here
Chess: Current Blitz Champion Valentina Gunina means business
Blitz Chess started today with the first 10 rounds played. This category has a different format, whereby players will face-off two times and only have 3 minutes (+2 seconds added after every move) for an entire game.
Valentina Gunina from Russia is in 1st with 8 points. She showed great play with excellent decision making. It seems she is here to clearly making a statement. Hot on her heels is Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia and Yifan Hou, who must be careful and not drop any more points to stay in the race.
In the Men's Blitz category, Levon Aronian from Armenia with 8.5 points has won 8 games, tied 1 and lost 1 so far. The title is up for the taking, as it remains anyone's game. Current Blitz Champion, Le Quang from Vietnam is not far behind; with 10 more decisive rounds tomorrow, the race is on!
For a summary of Men's Blitz Results click here
For a summary of Women's Blitz Results click here
Draughts: The Spotlight Shines on Joel N'Cho Atse from Ivory Coast
(Photo: J. N'Cho Atse and A. Moreno Silva)
As the Draughts Rapids chapter came to a close yesterday evening, today was a new day with fast paced Blitz action.
The name echoing in the corridors was none other than Joel N'Cho Atse. The Champion of Africa stunned everyone with his impeccable play and extremely interesting positioning tactics.
After the first 10 rounds, Atse leads the table with Chizhov (10-time World Champion in Normal Draughts) while the other champions stay close behind. The competition remains tight, but all applauds go to Joel Atse for the quality of his game.
In the Women's Blitz, Nogovitcyna takes the top spot while she continues to demonstrate a special and unique style in this quick action Blitz category. The crowd hovered in front of the scoreboards after the 8th round with great anticipation for tomorrow.
For a list of Men's Blitz Results click here
For a list of Women's Blitz Results click here
Go: Yu Zhiying Clinches Gold or Silver Medal
(Photo: Team Europe - T. Hirata vs Team Japan - I. Shikshin)
China's Ms. Yu Zhiying (China's Go Ambassador), with a current world ranking of 4P is certain to return home with a medal: either the gold or silver in the women's individual event. She defeated Ms.Wang Chenxing in a game in which both players came out strong from the start. Strangely enough, the upshot of the fighting was that peace reigned on the board. Not one of the players lost a piece on the board. Ms. Yu finished with more territory, winning by only a few points.
In the repechage section of the women's competition, the two women representing Chinese Taipei put on a similar display, while Chang Cheng-ping was comfortably ahead on territory and Joanne Missingham resigned. The two Russians put on a more peaceful show, but not without its share of fighting, when the game ended in the death of a large group, belonging to go ambassador Natalia Kovaleva. It was only the two Koreans who refrained from pitched combat. Their game was won by Park Jieun, one of the very few women in the world to reach the top-level 9-dan ranking. The repechage winners will join Ms Wang in the next two rounds to compete for the right to challenge Ms. Yu for the gold and silver medals.
In the third round of men's team competition the teams from China, Korea, and Chinese Taipei prevailed over the teams from Japan, Europe, and North America. As in the second round, the result was a 3-0 shutout in each match.
For a list of Men's Teams Results click here
For a list of Women's Individual Result click here
Xiangqi: The Tables have turned for Chinese Xiangqi players
(Photo: Tang Dan vs. Jia Dan)
Although having the advantage of choosing red, the World Champion Wang Tianyi, was forced to a draw with Chong Heung Ming (Phillipines).
The other Chinese star and runner up from the World Championship, Sun Yongzheng, opened the game very well, creating a big advantage for himself early on. Then came the surprise of the day: instead of closing out the match, Yongzheng made a serious mistake in the mid game, resulting in a loss of a piece.
Kam Fun (Macau) took this unexpected chance and completed a great upset when beating his Chinese opponent. Yongzheng was clearly very upset with his own performance, as he did not engage in the post-match analysis with his counterpart but stormed back to the Hotel instead.
After today`s matches, Wang Tianyi and Kam Fun are tied for the lead with 2 wins and 1 draw.
Saving part of China`s day today was Tang Dan. She defeated her American opponent Jia Dan and keeps her perfect tournament record intact. We look forward to Match Day 4.
For the Men's Individual Results click here
For the Women's Individual Results click here
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