Česká federace mankalových her
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Junior World Championship, Almaty 2023

Czech version - Pусская версия

14.6. I receive a message via WhatsApp that the planned Junior World Championship will finally take place. It was originally supposed to be held in November 2020. Bring 4 juniors under 18, we will pay for everything. We participated at several Kazakh championships and I had our juniors there, but those juniors no longer meet the age criteria. I can ask those who took the board as a price for Logic Olympiad. But somehow I don't feel like I'm going to collect a full team that way. So whom should I give a chance? So in the end, I am writing to the entire children's Mensa - 1500+ people. And interested ones are starting to apply. Fortunately, there are just good amount of them, I am not receiveng hundreds of applications, nor did it go without a response. It will actually be the first expedition where we will choose who can go. So we come up with a nomination tournament. Also online trainings. And in addition, I am thinking about how I will combine the trip to Kazakhstan, from which we are supposed to return sometime on 9/26, with the World Junior Mental Calculation Championship held in Germany, where we go on 29.9. I received more detailed information on 29.6. As I assumed, 4 people is the financial limit, the team can have up to 8 members. There is no information yet in english, only in Kazakh. Translating those 5 pages is quite a challenge. And I'm curious what I'll learn in the chapter about doping. Is it going to be forbidden to drink coffee before the tournament? :-))) Much later I learned about the fact that doping is a serious and monitored matter even among chess players. A day later, the english version is also available. It looks like they are copying a bit from other federations, I noticed there is mentioned Cricket instead of Toguz on one place. There is info in english version, that blitz has a team entry fee. I noticed it when I first read the Kazakh version, but I guessed that it was cash prize for the winner. Never mind.

The day of nomination tournament is voted, most people find best Saturday 15.7. More than half of the interested parties should come. Well, a few more and there will be more Czechs than foreign players. It was always 30 Kazakhs versus 3 Czechs, this year it will be the other way around. Yay!. I have to resolve the dilemma of whether to let everyone play in the main tournament or have the juniors separately. It will depend on the number. But already it looks like 15 kids coming, and who knows if their parents won't want to join, so it'll be more like one big tournament. We will see, maybe we renumber the Go players and we will be the biggest non-chess group.

D-Day is here. It's supposed to be the hottest day of this summer, I have no idea how many people will come until the last minute, and when I discuss the possibilities with David, I'm simply worried about the outcome ... Asking the players if they prefer to play in one group with adults and Kazakhs or separately, and then do it according to the majority, I have no problem with that, but the idea that some part will play with advanced players and part in beginners group sounds crazy, I don't like it, but I simply don't have anything in hand to dissuade his idea. Fortunately, a consultation with the parents leads to two separate tournaments, which I think is the best. 5th in the standings defeats 1st in the last round, meaning there is a new complication, David requests a special match between 4th and 5th for participation. Is rejected. I ask the Kazakhs if they want to help inform other countries and of course they do, so I write to my friends in France, Denmark, ... two days later they stop me, we already have 20 countries and we don't want more. A video is being created in Pardubice, showing how quickly the Kazakhs can sow the pieces. The task is to sow a cup with 28 balls. It takes me 19s, a boy who has been playing Toguz for about 6 years needs just 7s.

I send information about the team to the organizers, hunt for the information I need, improve the server, write and comment the games and the time flies. A whatsapp group is set up, through which requests for a list of participants, passport numbers, etc. go. And sometimes an excuse from the organizers that they cannot buy tickets yet. The video is coming in about mid-August from the press conference. One important question is asked and answered in Russian. It says that 100 foreign participants and 200 domestic participants will participate in the competition. And that it will be played for 24 minutes rapid and 7min +2s blitz.

At the turn of August and September, I spent a few days at a festival in Romania. I'm doing well, I have 3 medals. I am recording all my games in Rapid competition, but I end up forgetting the entire folder there, so I ended up not bringing the planned study material to my team. Well, at least we have some books. I play with some Romanian and Turkish juniors, who will also go to Kazakhstan. I am some kind of not satisfied with their knowledge about game. Our players were definitely better alredy in Pardubice, month ago.

A week before departure and we still don't have tickets. It's getting to be quite an adrenaline rush. Will they really buy them on Thursday or Friday, as they promised on Monday? And what if there aren't enough tickets at that time? What will they do? Some teams just won't fly because of it? Well, I'm tense as hell. In our team only two accompanying persons have plane tickets, still for cheap money. And we pray that the same flight is left to us. I don't have as much of a problem as David, to be at the airport in Istanbul for 7 hours, but it doesn't quite suit me from a work point of view as it means to take extra day of holiday. I have none left. I wouldn't even have a problem flying through Bishkek if it helps them, because since I bought the ticket for David, the price has doubled. No tickets issued on Thursday. If they are not even on Friday morning, then things will be a little more complicated.

Saturday morning, no tickets. We're all pretty nervous. I'm still offering to help them and I'm quite interested in how much this delay will cost, given that the price of tickets to our chosen flight have increased 2.5 times from the time, when I bought ticket for David. And so I start creating a table. Maybe it will be useful for Serik to buy the plane tickets, and if not now, then maybe for next time. I intend to try flights to Almaty for the departure dates there on 19.9. and back on 25.5. and for comparison also on 21.11. - 27.11. However, before I can even prepare the table, Serik already writes to me and wants a copy of the passports, for checking, and because he needs to fill in the expiration date somewhere. I write to the team, luckily most of them respond immediately or I already have the information from before. Regardless of the fact that they can buy tickets at the last minute, they have a hard financial limit. So we are very lucky that there are tickets at all that we can fit into that limit. Leaving early in the morning, I don't like it, but it's the only option. On the way back, we can choose between 7 and almost 3 hours in Istanbul, so I choose the shorter one. So at 4 in the afternoon we have a reservation, so I write some instructions to the team, and at 9 in the evening Serik sends me the plane tickets. David would need a child with an American passport so that his plane ticket can be paid for, and he decides that he would rather not travel anywhere. Well, his problem. It will be easier for me. So I'm canceling his ticket, which I bought a month ago. Meeting at the airport at 7:30 in the morning, hopefully no one will have a problem with that.

We meet at the airport between 7 and 8 o'clock, at 8 we wave to our parents for the last time and fly. It's a bit windy in Istanbul, but otherwise the journey is without any problems. We are in a beautiful plane with screens for each seat and so we use it. For breakfast there are eggs, some vegetables, yogurt. Most of the team eats everything. In Turkey we wait for a not very pleasant 7 hours. We occupy one section of seats and alternately rest in the same place with headphones on, alternately train and we are also playing a match for the older category. There are three boys and there can only be two in their category. One simply has to play in the older category. I think it's the best maximize the chances of an overall good team placement by playing head-to-head matches and placing the worst in the older category, which is accepted by all. We play two matches and before the final one, for which we do not have time at the airport, and which could only take place after lunch at the hotel, Vaclav volunteers. Thumbs up. Boarding into the second plane starts an hour before departure. We'll find out why when we get on the plane. That sign was right, even though we have row 22, we are still quite in front of the plane. We fly with a similarly sized airoplane, like 4 years ago to KSA. 8 seats in a row and there are 56 of those rows. While settling down, we meet a team from Romania. So a big welcome. Meatballs with rice or pasta? Tough decision. But we like it. On the way out, our neighbor sees a bag with our boards. And he asks if we are Toguz players. And when we tell him why we are going to Almaty, he is very excited and we chat with him for a long time in the passport control queue. Vaclav's boarding pass falls out, luckily there are two of us behind him and we saw it. When we go to get our suitcases, Vasek long time can't find his. But finally we have it and we are already rushing to the exit. Lina is waiting there, takes a picture of us with the flag (like all the teams before and after us) and then puts us on the bus. A team from Bangladesh and Hungary also flew in with us, but Bangladesh has a lot of problems with visas and it takes a very long time for them to get to the bus. It dawns in Almaty and most team participants eventually fall asleep. It started to rain and we finally go to the hotel.

We arrive at the hotel, but there was a big expedition from China previous days and they only left half an hour ago. So not all rooms are ready. So not every team gets one room and someone just has to wait a while. And so they say we should go to breakfast first. Lina just eats some eggs and dring some tea and leaving again to the airport to get other teams including our last member. I'm chasing wifi and dealing with work matters. And since it falls quite a lot up here on the 6th floor, I'm checking to see if it's better at the reception. Yes, in reception area is connection better. And at that moment our last member arrives. Fortunately, the room is ready in the meantime. After lunch, we go together with the Turks and Romanians to exchange money and buy water. They studied where to go, so we are happy to join. On the way out we meet Ainur. After exchanging money and visiting a supermarket not so far away, we stay in the market area. What is that green thing? Finally, we buy and taste. Dried apricot taste better.

There's a meeting at five and I have just enough time to handle the team formalities. We submitted applications, passports for inspection, and boarding passes. The meeting clarified many things. We will only travel there in the morning and back in the evening. Rapid will play only 8 Kazakhs and 8 Kyrgyz, the blitz is open to all Kazakh juniors and they expect about 200 Kazakh players. On Friday afternoon we have a trip to the mountains and to the museum. So we're looking forward to it.

The first day of the competition - two game blocks and a ceremonial opening await us. We leave on green buses and get to a more beautiful part of Almaty. We land at the tennis club. 4 rows of tables, each has a different length, according to the number of participants in the given category. Everyone settles down and the game begins. Every now and then I try to take a photo of the positions on the boards. After the third round, we go for lunch. It was supposed to be in place where we play, but we are still being taken somewhere by bus. But we're not going back to the hotel. Chicken soup, hot vegetable salad and rice with carrots and pieces of beef. And a lot of oil in everything, so everyone jokes about it. After returning to the game hall, a ceremonial opening awaits us. Teams are lined up, holding flags, and as it's all going on, and there are several TV stations, some reporters suddenly start interviewing my team. Well, I said they would be on TV :-) Of course, Mr. Baimenov is also here, and as I wait for him to discuss one little thing, other reporters end up interviewing me too... During the opening, for example, the winner of the Kazakh version of The Voice competition sings for us. Sponsors and other important people play the first move and then the next round can be played. The boys have 3 points after the first day, Elen 2. A few participants didn't arrive in the end, so sometimes you get a free point. The referees are strict and who doesn't have an opponent, must wait for the opponent to run out of time on the clock. So 20 minutes of boredom. I buy books from Assel. And then they chase us into the bus and go to the hotel. I chase work things, then there is dinner and after that I bring my games into reception area and entertain a lot of people with them. Finally, we discuss the teaching of mathematics in schools with the Colombian coach and agree on another day of music session as I have a Kyrgyz Komuz and a flute and mini midi keyboard with me.

On the second game day, only two rounds are played in the morning. A trip is planned for the afternoon. However, we wake up to rain and it's cloudy all day, raining during the morning and so in the end the trip to the mountains is canceled and instead we go to a museum of musical instruments and one more. We can only enter the hall with blue shoe covers. Some forget them remove when leaving. Matěj ends the tournament with three points, the others have 4. Great for me, I expected it. At lunch, we move one table over, because the one we had yesterday didn't have a flower, so we sit with some of the Kyrgyz. The boys laughed a lot. Then we get on the bus and the first stop is the park, where I was also in 2015. We go to see the church. There is a huge flock of pigeons in front of the church and a person who sells feed for them. Whoever buys it, pigeons land on their hands, or even on their backpack, shoulders, or head. From the church we walk through the park to the Museum of musical instruments, which I visited in 2015 and wanted to see it again. The children don't enjoy it much and don't want to go to the second museum anymore, and since the green bazaar is round the corner, we separate from the group and go shopping instead of going to the museum. We're learning to bargain and having a lot of fun doing it. I leave my group at the end and I am looking for a section with national products. My goal is to buy a dombyra, a two-string Kazakh guitar, but something better than what I have from 2015. Just a professional instrument, not a child's toy. I don't have much time and money in the second place, I bargain for the amount left in my wallet. The bazaar closes and we figure out how to get home. We are trying to find out from the locals if there is a bus that goes to our hotel without changing. Everyone says something different, but combined with the maps at the stops and online information, we end up at the right stop, the right bus and after a few stops we are somehow sure that the bus will take us home. However, the ticket is bought from the driver and he drove off so fast that we hardly had time to sit down. Knowing the Czech rule, don't talk to the driver while driving, combined with exhaustion from the search, we don't even try to buy tickets. Meanwhile, it gets dark and there are so many people on the bus that we start moving to the door two stops before our stop. Maxat is in front of the hotel and since I know he can play, I let him try the dombyra. He tunes it and immediately goes to the dining room, plays and sings, and the whole dining room has a good time. After dinner, I take all the games and musical instruments to the reception and whoever can, he plays. A lovely evening. Our team is the last to go to sleep.

The next day we have a blitz. There are a lot of participants and the number is solved in the way that the boys playing each round first, and then the girls. There is an odd number of boys in U17 category, entrance to the hall is closed. Vašek has no opponent for the first round so he tryis to shorten the wait by practicing sowing. The audience chairs have been removed, so he just sits on the carpet with my board. But the referee immediately comes to move him out from there, so he moves with it to the vestibule. Whereas the previous two days I hunted positions, now I just take a picture of them right before the game starts and then I'm done I'm not trying, after all, the closed entrance doesn't quite say that non-competitors are welcome.

In the afternoon, the children have to take care of themselves, lunch is separate. They take us, the adult representatives of individual countries, somewhere far away to the center of Almaty for lunch, while the juniors go to the usual place. We have a conference - well, just a friendly chat with the top representative of the Toguz Federation. Basically the only point regarding Toguz was my election to the post of Vice President of the World Toguz Federation. Only Furqan was against, for about 5 seconds, a joker. So get ready, I intend to discuss a lot of things. At the meeting, I show my last two works - bestemshe banner and rules in the form of a song. People likes both. But it also means that I have a big task. Create a recording of the song. So I will have to gather courage and write to the author of the melody, Pokáč. The progress will be later described in report about the creation of the song.
In the evening, a tournament in Mangala takes place at the hotel.

The last day, there are a lot of people in category U15, so they play more rounds. When it's over, we go to lunch, after lunch there's only the closing ceremony. Downstairs are three rows of chairs. I'd rather go upstairs there will probably be a nice rumble down there and I don't like that. However, having a slight inkling that I might be one of those who will present the medals as I am the Vice President, I decided to stay downstairs. And I'm doing well. They really call me to the girls blitz medal ceremony. Well, I was hoping that at least someone would tell me in advance that I would be pushed to the front row, but nothing. Coming to the podium is ok, but unlike the others, I'll wait until both third places come, which could be called too slow start, and after all the girls receive their medal, diploma and certificate, I try to move out of the shot and stand to the left of the third place so that audience can see the winners because I'm so used to it from Pardubice. The winners are those important ones, not the presenters... But here it is expected that, on the contrary, I will approach the person presenting the gold medals. So Maxat waves furiously at me to go to him. So I'm bypassing Columbian coach and I place myself between them. Then the national anthem is played (other than the Kazakh one will not be played today) and then we can leave. Ugh, this premiere probably didn't go very well, but it will be better next time, I promise. After the announcement of the best players, the presentation of commemorative medals takes place. It is a pity they didn't give me one, it could be a very nice souvenir. First comers got some boards as well. They invited us last and the moderator announced it as "With a big honor ... Czech Republic!". Last chance to take a picture, and hurry to the hotel. After dinner, we try to print our boarding passes, and when we finally succeed, it's just time for a tournament in one of the Yakutian Games. I do the translator and announce the results. We won third place twice and one second. The prize is one set of sticks that they have been playing with. Since everyone wants them, we think they should play a match for it. Best in Toguz...

I want to say goodbye to our sixth member of the expedition, but she prefers to take a taxi to the airport and get there earlier than with the arranged transport, so I came late. So at least I say goodbye to a few other teams. We we are supposed to leave at half past seven. I sleep for about an hour. The journey back was without any problems, we land in Prague shortly after 6 p.m. Last photos and we go home. We want to get medal in two years on the next juniors championship.

Photos a videos from the event are available at 9qq.org and on telegram channel tgzqmlq

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