Dear Participants, Organisers!
FISU Vice-President
WUC Committee Chair
On behalf of the International University Sport Federation I would like to congratulate you on the completion of the 2020 FISU World University Championships in Mind Sports.
We had to change the format for online due to the pandemic. However, I am happy to see it has taken place. The organisers had to face new challenges, but this situation will only enrich our knowledge and teach us to adapt. In my opinion, you did a great job. I would like to thank the Polish University Sport Federation and the Organising Committee for their commitment and persistence to make it happen. The Championships that gathered hundreds of people was a success. Congratulations to the winners! Good luck to all of you and see you in better days!
BRIDGE
The sports bridge tournament being the part of 2020 FISU World University Championship Mind Sports online was held from Monday 26th till Friday 30th October. The competition was switched to an online format due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The platform which allowed the participants to play their matches on the Internet was Bridge Base Online.
151 participants divided into 26 teams representing 13 countries competed for the title of 2020 FISU World University Mind Sports online Champion. The qualification stage of the competition lasted three days (15 rounds) during which each team played 120 deals. The best 8 teams advanced to the play-offs where they fought for the best positions in quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals.
One of the teams which qualified to the quarter-finals was disqualified due to the usage of a forbidden electronic device by one of their players.
After the play-off stage which lasted 2 days, the winners of the tournament were finally announced:
1st place: China 1
2nd place : Italy 1
3rd place: France
In the history of the World University Championship, it is the third time when a team representing China won the tournament (2006, 2018). More champion titles, as many as 4, were won by the Polish teams (2004, 2010,2012,2016). The winner in 2002 was Denmark, Netherlands in 2008, and Czech Republic in 2014. The next championship are planned to be held in Antwerp, Belgium in 2022.
CHESS
What a wonderful time for mind sports it was!
Five days of fascinating matches, hundreds of tactics and countless emotions. For the first time in the FISU history, the chess event was that big, gathering almost 400 players from four continents. It is worth mentioning that some players were participating very early in the morning while others did not sleep at night. It was not a problem for Team China 1, who won the event, playing most of the games late at night.
The system of playing qualifications with nine rounds of Swiss system and then play-offs with sixteen best teams was exciting for both players and supporters all around the world. After 1432 chess games, we know the winners.
China took gold, Ukraine silver and Armenia bronze medals.
Congratulations for the medalists and for all the participants.
We are sure in Antwerp, Belgium 2022 and Kampala, Uganda 2024 we will see many participants who started their friendship with International University Sport Federation during our event, 2020 Bydgoszcz World University Mind Sports Championship!
During next ‘over the board’ events, all players will compete for 6 sets of medals, team and individual in classical chess and blitz!
Few interesting positions from the event:
Muthaiah vs Martirosyan
In this position black decided not to go e2-f2 to capture white pawns. He went to c3, putting white king in a stalemate. The only way for white to move was to move his pawns, which got him checkmated!
An amazing queen sacrifice by Alicja Sliwicka (POL), U18 European Champion.
In a game against Fernando Flores position from the diagram occurred. White took a pawn on e5, attacking a queen at the same time. It looked like white could get an advantage. But Alicjahad prepared for this an amazing response! She sacrificed a queen for a bishop on g2! King had to capture on g2 and it was a discovery check with a knight on d4, which ended the game, because in the next move white queen will be taken.
Broadcast
It was the first time when chess&bridge had one broadcast from the virtual studio. Experienced and well known commentators Keti Tsatsalashvili and Marcin Tazbir explained all the moves and tactics which happened on virtual boards. They were showing some players on their zoom cameras and talking with very interesting guests. Among them there were: Chief Arbiter of the event, IA Tomasz Delega, Mr. Tomasz Sielicki, famous entrepreneur and medalist of both chess and bridge Polish championships and IO Lukasz Turlej, Vice President of the International Chess Federation!
We would like to thank again all people who were involved, especially the great, international team of arbiters, who have done outstanding work to make sure this event is played smoothly and in a fair play atmosphere.
The chess event was coordinated by International Organizer, Lukasz Turlej. As he said in the live interview “It was a wonderful event, I am very glad to see the outcome of it. It was a great decision by FISU and Polish University Sport Association to do it online. When FISU will organize an e-sport league online between the countries, chess are ready to join it”.
