World Mind Games begin today

SportAccord Mind Games will be held in Beijing, China between the 12th of December and 20th December 2012. The World Mind Games was held for the first time in 2008 and consisted of 5 disciplines: chess, bridge, draughts (checkers), go, and xiangqi (Chinese chess). SportAccord, the organizer of the Mind Games, is the umbrella organization for both Olympic and non-Olympic sports as well as for major organizers of conferences and sporting events.

The chess section brings the best players of the world in blitz and rapid chess, excluding quite possibly Magnus Carlsen and the ones playing in London. Even then the tournament is incredibly competitive. This is the amazing list of players:

The players will participate in the following events:

Rapid Chess – Men & Women

For all rapid chess competitions each player will have 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move, starting from move one (G20’+10”), for the whole game.

Blitz Chess – Men & Women

For all blitz chess competitions each player will have 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, starting from move one (G 3’+2”), for the whole game.

Basque System – Men & Women

This will be a rapid chess competition where each player will have 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move per game, starting from move one (G20’+10”), for the whole game. Two games will be played simultaneously against the other opponent, one with white pieces and one with black.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony was as usual quite spectacular, with several shows for the audience. China is well known for their protocol and they did a fantastic job as usual:

The entrance of the Chinese flag could not be missed

The players entered in a slightly less than organized form

The five games pressent in the games: Xiangqi, Draughts, Go, Chess and Bridge

The Cuban delegation: Yanelys, wife of Leinier Dominguez (center) and to the right is International Arbiter Serafin Chuit Perez

Peter Leko and Maxime Vachier-Lagraeve share some tips on the unusual Basque system

The top rated players in each section: Levon Aronian and World Champion Hou Yifan

Kosteniuk and Ju Wenjun were the ambassadors to the ceremony representing chess

Schedule

Links Official tournament site The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.