April Weekend Tournament

The April Sectional Tournament is fast approaching. The original deadline for registration was Tuesday, April the 15^th but it's not too late to give Lorne a call and register!!

NEWS FLASH: TD Lorne Gibbons is seriously considering changing the event to an Active tournament. He suggested 2 rounds on Friday and 3 on Saturday. If you are interested in such a tournament, then show up this evening and register.

Prospective players can contact Lorne Gibbons during the TNT evenings at the University of Winnipeg or at 222-0855. They can also e mail me at the following address: niginator AT shaw DOT ca. (Replace AT with @ and DOT with . ) I will be posting the updated list of players on this blog as they are added. The parings will be posted on the MCA website as well, and that will probably be done by Alex Nikouline once registration is over.

The event is a 5 round Round Robin tournament broken into sections of 6 players. Typically, there is also a final "open" section of the players with the lowest ratings that cannot be fit into a section of 6 players. The tournament will be played in room 5L24 at the U of W.

Time controls for the event are as follows: Fri all moves/120 minutes; Sat & Sun 30/90, then all/60.

A sectional tournament is an opportunity for players to have a series of games against players with ratings similar to their own. The opponents, and colours, are known in advance. The only caution is that byes are pretty well impossible to get so players should expect to play all 5 rounds.

Let us know of your intention to play. I will add the names as they come in.

Name	Rating
Khedkar, Jay S.	1883
Kong, Dezheng	1862
Iomdina, Bella	1775
Gannon, Keith	1685
Green, Aaron	1667
Green, Jim	1662
Lipic, Stephen	1599
Goodman, Clifford	1595
Letain, Cory	1430
Green, Leah	1163

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Chess Federation of Canada makes plans for HUGE changes ...

Chess fans and members of the Chess Federation of Canada may be very interested to know that huge changes are planned for the CFC. These changes, as outlined by the CFC Executive, are as follows:

1. Outsource our daily operations.
2. Broker our merchandise business
3. Sell the CFC Office
4. Replace the printed magazine with an online version.
5. Strategic alliances with CMA (and the FQE, see move 6.)
6. Comprehensive review of our membership structure and revenue split with the provinces, including Quebec.
7. Better support for organizers and arbiters in pursuit of better tournaments.

The most recent Governor's Letter can be downloaded online and includes much more details about the plan of action.

The 2007/08 GL7 can be downloaded here.

It should be noted that there are some complaints about the lack of consultation with the Governors themselves. However, it is only fair to point out that the Executive views the current situation of the CFC as an emergency. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Please feel free to post remarks on this blog or elsewhere, such as on ChessTalk.

Gwyddbwyll, or wood sense, has a new beginning at Exclam! online.

Long ago the ancient Celts played board games not dissimilar to the game that preceded modern chess. There is some scant evidence for what these games were like. Literature and oral tales taken down had interesting references as well: gwyddbwyll and fidchell are mentioned.

Roughly translated, gwyddbwyll, or fidchell (pronounced fickle) in Irish, means "wood wisdom" or "wood sense".

The graphic above is author Nigel Suckling's imaginative version of what a fidchell board might have looked like ... His essay on the origins of fidchell can be read over here. Suckling also outlines some rules by which fidchell can be played using this board.

In one of the few remaining texts for insular Celtic prose mythology, The Mabinogion provides us with a Star Wars like image of gwyddbwyll pieces that come to life and move by themselves like the holograms in the Millennium Falcon. We also have this piece ...

Peredur came to the castle, and the castle gate was open. And when he reached the hall the door was open, and when he went inside he saw a gaming board in the hall, and either of the two sets of pieces was playing against the other, and the one to which he gave his help began to lose the game. And the other side gave a shout, just as if they had been men. Then he grew angry and took the set of pieces on his lap and threw the board in the lake.

The quote comes from 'The Magic Gaming Board' whose 12th century Welsh author is unknown. Bad sportsmanship, it seems, is timeless.

There are also fascinating models of boards in which all the pieces other than the king move like modern rooks. Here is one such board ...

However, there is no certain version of a fidchell or gwyddbwyll board in existence. In 1932, the Ballinderry Game Board was found, near Ballinderry, West Meath in Ireland, and it is surmised that this is a fidchell board. (See below for a photograph of this board.)


With the coming of Christianity to the British Isles, all things associated with Druids and Druidism were suppressed, especially cultural practices like fidchell or gwyddbwyll. For what we would today describe as a board game, even a game as great as chess, the Celts viewed as divination, or perhaps a portal to another world, or as prophesy of what was yet to be.

Although the Celtic Christian Church was fairly tolerant in many aspects regarding traditional pagan practices. It was firmly opposed to Druidism, and all things affiliated with it. This association of Fidchell and Gwyddbwyll with magic and Druids may thus explain why these games were abandoned.

Abandoned, or stamped out? More information about the origins of gwyddbwyll can be found over here.

Modern day Welsh chess players use the ancient term of gwyddbwyll to describe chess as it is played today. Many websites attest to the popularity of this terminology: here at blogwyddbwyll, or here at gwyddbwyll ar y we.



So, why all this discussion of games lost in the mists of time? Well, I needed to explain why this column will be called gwyddbwyll. Chess players are intensely jealous of their game and somewhat conservative to boot. But I hope that a little "wood sense" will be welcome anyway. Perhaps I can even popularize the term somewhat, and thereby rescue a little bit, even if only a word or two, of what our modern game has vanquished.

Iechyd Da!



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A blog reader has provided the following links with information about the related game of Hnefetafl. Thank you, Martin!

Hnefetafl: a Norse game

Hnefetafl: Viking Chess