2008 World Mind Sports Games

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UK players for the Individual Women's Go competition at the first World Mind Sports Games, 2008 in Beijing BGA Individual Women's at WMSG.JPG
UK players for the Individual Women's Go competition at the first World Mind Sports Games, 2008 in Beijing

The first World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) were held in Beijing, China from October 3 to 18, 2008, about two months after the Olympic Games. [1] [2] [3] They were sponsored and organised by the International Mind Sports Association with the General Administration of Sport of China and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sport. [4] [5]

Contents

Five mind sports participated in the first Games: bridge, chess, draughts (checkers), go (weiqi), and xiangqi (Chinese chess). [6] [7] Thirty-five gold medals were contested by 2,763 competitors from 143 countries. [8]

According to the World Bridge Federation, it incorporated the World Team Olympiad (19602004) and some established youth events in the Games "as the stepping stone on the path of introducing a third kind of Olympic Games (after the 'regular' Olympics and the Paralympics)". [9]

Events

Bridge

The World Bridge Federation organized eleven events in Beijing that constituted the "World Bridge Games" including nine WMSG medal events. Six were among the established world bridge championships contested in even-number years. [lower-alpha 1] The other three were for "youth" under age 28, a one-time compromise. [9] [lower-alpha 2] More than 1400 players participated, about half of all players in the Games. Entries from European Bridge League countries [lower-alpha 3] won 22 of the 27 medals, led by Norway with six medals including two gold.

EventGoldSilverBronze
WMSG medalists in bridge
Open TeamsFlag of Italy.svg ItalyFlag of England.svg  England Flag of Norway.svg Norway
Women TeamsFlag of England.svg  England Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Flag of the United States.svg United States
Open Individual Flag of Norway.svg Tor Helness Flag of Norway.svg Geir Helgemo Flag of Russia.svg Andrey Gromov
Women Individual Flag of Sweden.svg Catarina Midskog Flag of France.svg Anne-Fréderique Lévy Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Yan Ru
Youth Individual Flag of Turkey.svg Salih Murat Anter Flag of Romania.svg Radu Nistor Flag of Norway.svg Lars Arthur Johansen
Youth Pairs Flag of Turkey.svg Mehmet Remzi Şakirler / Melih Osman Şen Flag of Israel.svg Lotan Fisher / Ron Schwartz Flag of Poland.svg Joanna Krawczyk / Piotr Tuczyński
under-28 TeamsFlag of Norway.svg NorwayFlag of Poland.svg  Poland Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China
under-26 TeamsFlag of Denmark.svg DenmarkFlag of Poland.svg  Poland Flag of Norway.svg Norway
under-21 TeamsFlag of France.svg FranceFlag of England.svg  England Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China

Two other events were continued by the WBF from its quadrennial "Olympiad" program, as part of its new "World Bridge Games" but separate from the WMSG (non-medal events sharing the facilities). Japan won the third Senior International Cup, for national teams of seniors (age 58+). 'Yeh Bros' from Chinese Taipei won the second Transnational Mixed Teams, for teams of any nationality comprising mixed pairs, one man and one woman. [10]

Chess

The World Chess Federation organized ten events in Beijing, all of them in rapid or blitz chess.

EventGoldSilverBronze
Men's Individual Blitz Flag of Ukraine.svg Martyn Kravtsiv Flag of Ukraine.svg Yuriy Drozdovsky Flag of Greece.svg Hristos Banikas
Women's Individual Blitz Flag of Russia.svg Alexandra Kosteniuk Flag of Bulgaria.svg Antoaneta Stefanova Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hou Yifan
Men's Individual Rapid Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Bu Xiangzhi Flag of Ukraine.svg Anton Korobov Flag of Singapore.svg Zhang Zhong
Women's Individual Rapid Flag of Bulgaria.svg Antoaneta Stefanova Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhao Xue Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Huang Qian
Mixed Pairs Blitz Flag of Ecuador.svg Carlos Matamoros Franco / Martha Fierro Flag of India.svg Krishnan Sasikiran / Tania Sachdev Flag of Ukraine.svg Valeriy Aveskulov / Tatjana Vasilevich
Mixed Pairs Rapid Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ni Hua / Hou Yifan Flag of Vietnam.svg Đào Thiên Hải / Lê Kiều Thiên Kim Flag of Iran.svg Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami / Atousa Pourkashiyan
Men's Teams Blitz Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine
Women's Teams Blitz Flag of Russia.svg Russia Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam
Men's Teams Rapid Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine Flag of Iran.svg  Iran
Women's Teams Rapid Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine Flag of Russia.svg Russia

Draughts

Under the auspices of the World Draughts Federation 288 players participated in five medal events in Beijing. There was a strong regional showing as twelve of the fifteen medals were won by players from Russia, Latvia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

EventGoldSilverBronze
International Draughts 100sq (Men) Flag of Russia.svg Alexander Georgiev Flag of Russia.svg Alexander Getmanski Flag of Latvia.svg Guntis Valneris
International Draughts 100sq (Women) Flag of Latvia.svg Zoja Golubeva Flag of the Netherlands.svg Tanja Chub Flag of Russia.svg Tamara Tansykkuzhina
Russian Draughts 64sq (Women) Flag of Ukraine.svg Viktoriya Motrichko Flag of Moldova.svg Elena Miskova Flag of Moldova.svg Julia Romanskaia
Brazilian Draughts 64sq (Men) Flag of Russia.svg Oleg Dashkov Flag of Moldova.svg Ion Dosca Flag of Ukraine.svg Sergey Belosheev
Checkers (Mixed) Flag of the United States.svg Alex Moiseyev Flag of Barbados.svg Ron King Flag of Latvia.svg Raivis Paegle

Go

Under the auspices of the International Go Federation 560 players participated in six medal events in Beijing. South Korea won half of the 18 medals and all were swept by competitors from Eastern Asia.

EventGoldSilverBronze
Men's Individual Flag of South Korea.svg Kang Dongyun 7p [lower-alpha 4] Flag of South Korea.svg Park Jungsang 9p Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Li Zhe 6p
Women's Individual Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Song Ronghui 1p Flag of South Korea.svg Lee Minjin 5p Flag of South Korea.svg Pak Chi-eun 9p
Open Flag of North Korea.svg Jo Tae-Won 7d [11] Flag of South Korea.svg Ham Youngwoo 7d Flag of South Korea.svg Lee Yong Hee 6d
Men's Team Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Flag of Japan.svg
Women's Team Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea Flag of Japan.svg
Pair Go Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Huang Yizhong 7pFan Weijing 2p Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg Chou Chun-Hsun 9pHsieh Yi-Min 4p Flag of South Korea.svg On So Jin 4pLee Ha Jin 3p

Xiangqi

Xiangqi, or "Chinese chess", was the fifth sport to participate in Beijing, where 125 players participated in five events. Although the World Xiangqi Federation was not a member of IMSA at the time, the sport was included in the Beijing games as a traditional Chinese sport with a large number of players, especially in China. The host country won all five gold medals.

EventGoldSilverBronze
Rapid (Men) Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Wang Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Jiang Chuan Flag of Hong Kong.svg Zhao Ruquan
Individual (Women) Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Wang linna Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhao Guanfang Flag of Vietnam.svg Ngô Lan Hương
Individual (Men) Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xu Yinchuan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hong Zhi Flag of Malaysia.svg Look Kongdwa
Team (Women) Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam
Team (Men) Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam Flag of Hong Kong.svg Hong Kong

Medals

Teams from the host country China won one-quarter of the 105 medals, including one-third of the gold.

  *   Host nation (China)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China  (CHN)*128626
2Flag of Russia.svg  Russia  (RUS)4138
3Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea  (KOR)2439
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine  (UKR)2439
5Flag of Norway.svg  Norway  (NOR)2136
6Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey  (TUR)2002
7Flag of England.svg  England  (ENG)1203
8Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria  (BUL)1102
Flag of France.svg  France  (FRA)1102
10Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia  (LAT)1023
11Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)1012
12Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark  (DEN)1001
Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador  (ECU)1001
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary  (HUN)1001
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  (ITA)1001
Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea  (PRK)1001
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden  (SWE)1001
18Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam  (VIE)0235
19Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova  (MDA)0213
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland  (POL)0213
21Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia  (AUS)0101
Flag of Barbados.svg  Barbados  (BAR)0101
Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg  Chinese Taipei  (TPE)0101
Flag of India.svg  India  (IND)0101
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel  (ISR)0101
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands  (NED)0101
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania  (ROU)0101
28Commonwealth Games Federation Logo.svg  Commonwealth Games Federation  (CGF)0022
Flag of Iran.svg  Iran  (IRN)0022
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan  (JPN)0022
31Flag of Greece.svg  Greece  (GRE)0011
Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia  (MAS)0011
Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore  (SIN)0011
Totals (33 entries)353535105

See also

Notes

  1. World-level bridge competition comprises some series contested every two years, some every four years, thus in odd-number or even-number years but not both.
  2. Youth events are defined by age under 26 (U26) and age under 21 (U21).
    • A mid-summer notice implies that one-time compromise will be extended to feature U28 youth at least once more in 2012. See the main article for more information. Clarification is anticipated for mid-November.
  3. Several national bridge organizations from the Mediterranean and Western Asia are members of the European Bridge League Archived 2012-05-05 at the Wayback Machine .
  4. The numbers and letters after the players' names refer to their professional or amateur ranks.

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References

  1. First World Mind Sports Games to be held in Beijing. news.xinhuanet.com
  2. China to host Bridge Games Archived 2008-09-28 at the Wayback Machine The News–International, Pakistan.
  3. Beijing hosts first 'Mind Games', BBC News, 3 October 2008, by Shirong Chen. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
  4. A successful first edition of The World Mind Sports Games Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine . International Mind Sports Association.
  5. Introduction of the 2008 World Mind Sports Games Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine . British Go Association. No date. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
  6. The first international mind sports games "IMSA Cup" Archived 2008-04-26 at the Wayback Machine . FIDE (chess).
  7. China to host 2008 World Mind Sports Games Archived 2012-07-09 at archive.today . latestchess.com
  8. 2008 WMSG Results. 2008 WMSG. Confirmed 2011-05-25.
  9. 1 2 World Bridge Games Archived 2013-12-20 at the Wayback Machine . World Bridge Federation (WBF). Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  10. 2008 World Mind Sports Games Archived 2012-05-07 at the Wayback Machine . WBF coverage of the bridge competitions. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  11. "British Go News – Overseas Results". British Go Association. 2008-10-10. Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-06-02.