The second edition of SportAccord World Mind Games in Beijing closed on 19 December 2012 and turned out as a great success. The cooperation of SportAccord, the Local Organising Committee and the participating International Federations of Chess, Bridge, Draughts, Go, Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) and International Mind Sports Association brought positive results and led to achieving the main objectives of the event:

1. Delivery of first class operations to 150 players from 39 countries and delivery of high-level competition with some of the top-ranked players in the world. BRIDGE: Bauke Muller (NED), Sjoert Brink (NED), Sylvie Willard (FRA), CHESS: Levon Aronian (ARM), Radjabov Teimour (AZE), Hou Yifan (CHN), Koneru Humpy (IND); DRAUGHTS: Alexander Georgiev (RU), Alexey Chizhov (RU), Zoja Golubeva (LAT), Nina Hoekman (NED), GO: Choi Chulhan (KOR), Li He (CHN); XIANGQI: Wang Tianyi (CHN), Chen Lichun (CHN).

2. Increase of the visibility of the event in China and worldwide through broadcast media. There was a significant growth in broadcast interest both within the host country China and overseas. An estimated 70 million households watched the Xiangqi and Go finals as CCTV-5 China aired key events for the first time. Host broadcaster Beijing TV showed at least 2 hours per day for eight days and provided an international feed. The same coverage was available on eleven international media platforms including Setanta Africa, ESPN Star Sports in Asia, Digisports Turkey, Ring TV Bulgaria and Solar Sports Philippines reaching 64 countries around the world.

3. Increase of the online and onsite activities. The participation in the online tournament increased 37% compared to last year and reached 380 000 players. A record 1.7 million games were played on Bridge Base Online. In addition, as part of the Social and Educational Programme, 5 visits by delegations of different sports and 5 visits of students to the venue took place during the event.

The long-term goals of the event will focus on the following strategic priorities:

– Asserting the position of SportAccord World Mind Games as the world’s leading platform for mind sports by attracting further the world’s best players every year, and looking at long-term growth opportunities such as the consideration of new sports to the current sports programme;

– Expanding educational initiatives with schools and universities to increase popularity of mind sports with youth in China;

– Growing/stimulating participation in mind sports globally through expansion of initiatives on digital platforms.

The next two editions of SportAccord World Mind Games in 2013 and 2014 will take place in Beijing, China.

SportAccord World Mind Games Official Partners:

 

 

 

Press Release – SportAccord

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