Lithuania hosts biggest draughts event for youth
The annual meeting of the strongest youth draughts players is taking place in Vilnius this week. The Lithuanian Draughts Federations organizes this European Championship. With that it is host for 17 countries that sent 259 participants. A huge task!
At 12:00 the Championship was opened by a concert of six young and very talented Lithuanian singers. The last participants were then arriving from the airport. Just in time to start the first tour at 15:00!
The European Championship is actually divided in ten separate tournaments, five for boys and the same amount for girls. The youngest players are not older then 10 years old. There are also groups for players not older then 13, 16, 19 and, the oldest, 26 years of age.
The former chairman of the European Draughts Confederation (EDC), Janek Mäggi, spoke kind words at the official opening. “I am glad that Lithuania took up the task to host this big event. It is a lot of work and it makes me happy to see that the Lithuanian Federation wanted to take this organization on her account.” Mäggi now is the chairman of the World Draughts Federation, FMJD.
Vilnius University is one of the sponsors of the event. Dr Olga Rancova, representative of this University, was proud to be the host of such an intelligent sport. She wished all players the best of luck and said “maybe, if you like Vilnius, we meet again when you come and study with us”.