World Championship of International Draughts will start in Tallinn on Sunday

On Sunday, 1 October the World Championship of International Draughts will start in Tallinn and for the first time in Estonia, which will last until 16 October. Competitions will take place in Hotel Euroopa (Paadi 5, 1-3 October) and in Tallinn Chess House (Vene 29, 3-16 October). Competitions can be viewed on the spot and in the web. In Tallinn, 84 best men and 16 best women of the world will be competing, altogether from 50 different countries.

„Estonian Draughts Association has joined top class in the world as an organizer of mind sports competitions,” said the Prime Minister of Estonia Jüri Ratas. „Also the head office of the European Draughts Confederation has been located in Tallinn for last ten years. Every year one or two European title tournaments have been organized in Tallinn, including the world title match in 2013. This is consistency worth recognition.”

„The honour and right of organizing the World Championship is extraordinary in any sports,” said the Minister of Culture Indrek Saar. „In result of hard work of more than ten years, the Estonian Draughts Association has become an organizer of mind sports competitions on international level. For Estonia, this proves the ability of small countries to be a strong and successful player on the world arena.”

„For Tallinn, title tournaments of any sports mean many guests, which is useful for sport as well as the economy,” said the Mayor of Tallinn Taavi Aas. „Organization of the World Championship in draughts is important, because it is great honour and recognition to the Estonian Draughts Association as well as the City of Tallinn for organizing dozens European title tournaments in recent decade, during which Tallinn has been the city of location of the European Draughts Confederation.”

„Due to international work, the popularity of draughts has increased in Estonia,“ said Vice Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart. „It is also worth mentioning that Estonian competitors have had the possibility to compete at home, and thanks to the organizing rights their competition opportunities have been much broader. I believe than mind sports deserve more attention, in order to develop various skills and abilities of children and young people.”

„We are grateful to all supporters, who have helped us to make organization of the World Championship in Tallinn possible,” said Tarmo Tulva, President of the Estonian Draughts Association. „This year’s World Championship is the top event in Estonian draughts history. A tournament with such a high level has never been organized in Estonia before. I believe that this will add enthusiasm to us, and in coming years there will be also other top tournaments in Tallinn.”

From the organizing country, 2 female and at least 3 male players can participate in the competitions. The previous World Championship took place in 2015 in the city of Emmen in the Netherlands.

Sponsors of the World Championship of International Draughts are: AS Nordecon Betoon, AS K-Projekt, Enterprise Estonia, Estonian Olympic Committee, the Council of the Gambling Tax, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Ministry of Culture, Port of Pärnu, the City of Tallinn.

World Draughts Federation (FMJD, www.fmjd.org) was founded in 1947 by four federations, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Its main purpose was to regulate the competition on the world championship. From 1947 onwards, world champions had been proclaimed only by France and the Netherlands, which gave rise to the desire by a number of countries to have more accurate competition and tournaments, and led to the establishment of an international organization. By today, the FMJD has grown to an organization with 84 participating national federations. 

The FMJD has become a member of Sportaccord, which unites all internationally renowned sports federations. As such, the FMJD membership (and that of FIDE and WBF) is part of a more general movement towards integration of mind sports in the regular sports arenas.

European Draughts Confederation (www.europedraughts.org) was founded in 1998 in Tallinn by the federations of 12 European countries. Today, the confederation has 26 member countries. The first president of EDC was Jacek Pawlicki from Poland and until the end of 2007 the head office of EDC was located in Poland. The current president of EDC is Janek Mäggi and the head office of EDC is the Chess House in Tallinn. European Draughts Confederation organizes European championships in draughts and its task is to promote draughts as sports in Europe as well as attract new member countries.

Estonian Draughts Association (www.kabeliit.ee) is an umbrella organization of Estonian draughts clubs and is also member of the Estonian Olympic Committee. The association is also member of The World Draughts Federation and the founding member of the European Draughts Confederation (EDC, www.europedraughts.org). 

Additional information:

Janek Mäggi, President of the European Draughts Confederation
E-mail: janek.maggi@powerhouse.ee, tel +372 507 29 89

Tarmo Tulva, President of Estonian Draughts Association
E-mail: tarmo.tulva@kabeliit.ee, tel +372 504 20 24

"She who is Powerful"

Morizane Boyes - President of MSSA.

Morizane Boyes first entered competitive gaming in 2013, and since then has not only been competitive, but has excelled in everything that she has done.

In 2013, Morizane earned her Mpumulanga Provincial Colours, and at the S A National Championships too earned herself National Federation Colours. That not being enough, at MSSA’s Annual General Meeting in December 2013, Morizane was elected in for the role of Womens’ Desk. Morizane immediately made her task to introduce more females to gaming.

Such were her efforts that Morizane won the Volunteer of the Year at SPAR's GSport Awards.

In the next year (2014), Morizane earned a re-award of her Provincial Colours at the Gauteng Provincial Championships, and qualified for National Team trials for both StarCraft II and Tekken Tag Tournament being the only female in the history of MSSA to qualify for two different titles.

But StarCraft II and Tekken are not the only games played by Morizane. As Morizane says, “When I’m not “adulting” I am an avid gamer, I play almost everything”. This is indeed true, and apart from games like StarCraft II and Tekken, Morizane too plays CounterStrike and Rust.

Morizane was thus selected to represent South Africa as a member of the Protea eSports Team for IeSF’s 6thWorld Championships – Baku where Morizane represented the country above and beyond the call of duty.

Morizane too became the first female in the world to referee an international test match, and in 2015 refereed test matches in which South Africa played against Austria, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunisia.

With the birth of her son in 2016, Morizane stepped back from active competitive gaming, but still, through Sekhmetic strength, carried on with her duties.

In 2016, Morizane refereed the test match between South Africa and Ghana as well as organised the Mpumulanga Schools Championships, the Mpumulanga Championships, and the 30th S A National Championships. Even if Morizane was not directly involved in organising an event, Morizane was seen to be involved ‘backstage’.

Even while Morizane was competing herself, Morizane never shirked on her Management Board duties. During her period of office,female participation at MSSA events increased by a stunning 663%.

On the results shown under her tenure, Morizane was heard to remark, “I really am excited to see a larger group of girls joining the gaming scene. I believe that there is still a long way to go and I have some amazing women on the MSSA board who are going to help me make a difference for our girl gamers. We are hoping that we will be able to show the country how many talented ladies we have out there. Unfortunately some girls do still see this as a male dominated sport and we are hoping to change that mind set by starting female only tournaments where these ladies can build the confidence and the skill level to be able to take our guys.

Thus at MSSA’s 2016 Annual General Meeting, the Council Meeting with one voice elected Morizane as President as every member believes that Morizane is able to construct a sustainable gaming community.

Thus, even though MSSA is governed by committee, Morizane has firm and positive visions for gaming in South Africa.

Even though MSSA is tied in to its relationships with the International Wargames Federation, International e-Sports federation, and World draughts Federation, Morizanes vision for the MSSA is to have South African gaming to get stronger and move to larger stages all over the world!

Morizane stated, “I honestly believe we have the potential to place our stamp in larger tournaments and be taken seriously. I want to see bigger teams getting involved and I believe that it’s something we can achieve. I want to see e-Sports grow positively and I’m willing to work with the gaming community to achieve that”.

MSSA has always chosen the best possible Registered Players to represent South Africa, and many will remember the top South Africans like Robert Botha, Nathan Anderson, Anthony Hodgson, and Mohamed Wasim Lorgat (to name but a few)who have represented South Africa as members of the Protea Team. However, there are some clubs that are still not affiliated, and it is Morizane’s desire to see all organised clubs to be members of MSSA.

As Morizane stated on this issue, “As long as I’ve been a part of the MSSA, MSSA has never turned down any club that wanted to compete! I have heard from gamers in larger clubs that they fear that if they join the MSSA that they will not be able to take part in any other leagues. This is not the case we want gamers to improve their skills and playing as often as possible is the only way that can be achieved. I would love to be given the opportunity to converse with the gamers who have concerns, so that we can start creating a better gaming community”.

With a very energetic group of people who are on the MSSA Management Board, Morizane is looking forward to making all gaming bigger and better through creating a space where all gamers feel comfortable.

We all wish Morizane all the best with her three year term of office that runs until December 2019.