Category Archives: 1st SAWMG Edition
Closing Ceremony
The World Mind Games ended with a closing ceremony and a huge banquet on December 16th at the Beijing Intercontinental Grand Hotel. Ms Hou Yulan, Deputy Secretary General of the Beijing People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, and Mr Hein Verbruggen, … Continue reading →
Interview with Gianarrigo Rona
During the World Mind Games the Ranka staff had a chance to interview Mr Gianarrigo Rona, President of the World Bridge Federation. The interview was conducted mostly in Italian; here is the gist of it in English. Ranka: Please tell … Continue reading →
Park vs Sakai
White: PARK Junghwan (Korea) 9p Black: SAKAI Hideyuki (Japan) 8p Commentary by Sakai Hideyuki 9p, transcribed by James Davies. In this game Osaka’s Sakai Hideyuki succeeds in converting a winning position to a won game, the only Japanese player to … Continue reading →
Mixed Doubles: Final Round
The final round of the mixed doubles competition featured the same pairings as in the crucial third round of the mixed team event: China against Korea, Chinese Taipei against Japan, Europe against the USA. Somewhat surprisingly, eight of the twelve … Continue reading →
Jin Qianqian
One of the people present throughout the World Mind Games was Jin Qianqian, a well-known female professional player (5p), coach, and instructor. Her star pupil is Chen Yaoye (9p), who took the Tianyuan title from Gu Li and has now … Continue reading →
Mixed Doubles: Semifinals
After a three-hour lunch break, the pairs from Chinese Taipei and Japan returned to the playing room to take on the pairs from China and Korea. The game between China and Chinese Taipei would be televised, so Li He, Joanne … Continue reading →
Preparing for the World Mind Games
How did the six teams prepare for the World Mind Games? Three years ago the Chinese team had put great effort into readying their players for the World Mind Sports Games, and they were rewarded with gold medals in the … Continue reading →
Hsiao vs Yamashiro
White: YAMASHIRO Hiroshi (Japan) 9p Black: HSIAO Cheng Hao (Ch. Taipei) 7p Commentary by Yamashiro Hiroshi 9p, transcribed by James Davies. This was Chinese Taipei’s lone victory against the Japanese team. Hsiao Cheng-Hao, the youthful holder of Chinese Taipei’s Tianyuan … Continue reading →
Mixed Doubles: Round One
After the bustle of the mixed team event, the playing room seemed unnaturally empty in anticipation of the mixed doubles competition. Only three tables were set up, in the middle of the room, and one of them was empty. The … Continue reading →