05-12/19:13 MasterLuke: @Hagbard: I think something went wrong with the game 'Tournament 749, Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens), 20 moves, I play white against Brave-frog. I must have pressed the resign-button by accident? There was absolutely no reason to resign after only 20 moves. Can you please re-activate the game at move 19, please?
05-09/10:07 Hagbard: Races are still running so anything can happen, but the position is right now
F1 points test sum Sahkku + Daldos16 + Daldos14 + Daldos12 + Sahkku:
#1 98 points Holidayinnes (72)
#2 73 points Jilles (67)
#2 73 points Hagbard (56)
#4 53 points Rosk (48)
#5 52 points Potapych (47)
#6 47 points Draganov (52)
#7 45 points Xerxes (45)
#8 34 points Tonythebook (36)
#9 26 points Brave-frog (33)
#10 23 points Cacreal (29)
#11 22 points Colophonius (34)
#11 22 points Jrton80 (32)
#13 4 points Nikolai hristov (12)
#14 0 points Herjan (5), Thorfin (4)
05-07/13:54 Draganov: @All, I will take a break from playing tafl after finishing my ongoing games. I want to focus on some personal things and my project regarding the Hnefatafl tips and strategy as well as commenting the games of the world Hnefatafl champions. I will be here and will look how the other players are doing but I will not be actively playing.
05-06/15:50 Hagbard: A reason for white's troubles in the version with guards, was that white had to convert some normal, armed men to be unarmed guards.
A reason that the version without guards is more balanced, is that these men are now armed.
05-06/13:11 masterluke: @dragonov: regarding the 'Martens' variants: on the contrary, they were quite extensively tested as Hagbard states below and they turned out to be very balanced. But in the progress of simplifying the game I left out the commanders and V-man and this resulted in the current Tyr variants.
On the other hand, why shouldn't these variants exist alongside Tyr and all the other games? Maybe we should rename them, leaving out my name? 'Odin'??
05-06/09:28 Hagbard: Plan for Formula One test:
The 5 tournaments added:
729 Sahkku
735 Daldos16
740 Daldos14
743 Daldos12
751 Sahkku
This is also what I'd propose for the World Championship tournament.
Sahkku twice, because it's the most complex of the variants.
Personally I've wondered about the Daldos12 game.
I think that I've had a fair chance in the other race variants, but I have problems with Daldos12.
Perhaps one reason is:
The small 12-board is unforgiving the same way the small tafl boards are. So that it's necessary to play extremely accurately all the time with absolutely no mistakes.
However, it's obviously not randomness which makes the 12-board difficult, because the good players win.
In my opinion, the Formula One points system has worked very well so far!
05-05/22:19 Hagbard: I listed them in the balance sheet now; 17x17 tested with 90 games, 15x15 with 80 games.
05-05/21:23 Draganov: @Hagbard, I think Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens) and Alea Berserk 15x15 (Martens) tournaments should be unrated since these variants will be probably too much imbalanced and in favor of the blacks.
05-05/21:21 Draganov: @Antonius, usually the time control is written next to the game variant. You can also see how much time you have in your time buffer by clicking on the enter button at the bottom of the page below your started games.
05-05/18:03 Hagbard: At some point we did call this "Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens 2)"
05-05/15:16 Hagbard: Name change:
Martens Alea -> Old Alea
Old Tyr-1 -> Martens Alea
05-05/14:21 Hagbard: Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens) as it is set up now,
is actually identical to Old Tyr-1 17x17, the variant which was tested right after.
The latter is already well tested and the balance is +1.08.
(Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens) was the version with guards, and other places for commanders and variegated men.)
05-05/12:24 Hagbard: If Daldos12 is counted:
Races are still running so anything can happen, but the position is right now
F1 points test sum Sahkku + Daldos16 + Daldos14 + Daldos12:
#1 80 points Holidayinnes (63)
#2 65 points Jilles (64)
#3 48 points Hagbard (45)
#4 46 points Potapych (44)
#5 45 points Draganov (49)
#6 40 points Rosk (42)
#7 32 points Xerxes (39)
#8 24 points Brave-frog (33)
#8 24 points Tonythebook (32)
#10 23 points Cacreal (29)
#11 22 points Colophonius (34)
#12 18 points Jrton80 (31)
#13 4 points Nikolai hristov (12)
#14 0 points Herjan (5), Thorfin (4)
05-05/09:53 Hagbard: I found some old emails to throw light on the history of the Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens).
Luk Martens had for some time worked with inventing this game and testing it at home with friends:
- The setup of pieces transferred to a 17x17 board from the historical known Alea Evangelii 19x19 setup.
- Introducing commanders, variegated men and guards.
- Using berserk moves.
January 2020 we started testing it here. The guards were unarmed and immortal and were meant to protect the king. But the tests showed that they more helped the attackers, who could hide behind them near the king.
But fun test games. In a test game, Adam Bartley in the very last move killed two men, turned over a V-man and captured the king in one turn!
The balance was at that time measured to -2.0
The guards were given up, the variegated men were moved forward, and February 2020 the board was outlined which is tested now.
From the Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens), Luk Martens continued the development into the Tyr games.
05-05/00:22 Antonius: I'm new here, so not quite sure how things work. If I want to accept a game or tournament invitation, how do I know what the time control is for the game before clicking the button to accept? I just want to make sure I don't commit to something and then find I'm not able to manage the time allowance. Thanks in advance.
05-04/19:25 Hagbard: At some point we measured the balance -2.0; but this setup with changed positions of V's has not been tried before.
05-04/19:06 Draganov: Even with immortal and jumping K the whites have difficulties to win the game
05-04/19:05 Draganov: I played dozen of games in this variant and found out that the K piece (both immortal and able to capture by jumping over a piece) is vital to keep the game well-balanced. There is no way a strong player to lose with the blacks are if the K piece is immortal but unarmed.
05-04/18:12 Hagbard: As far as I remember, the function of the guard pieces were to be immortal and unarmed.
05-04/18:01 Hagbard: It's a long time ago, but I slightly remember that it was as if the guard pieces were mostly in the way, and so they were given up, as far as I remember. I have an email from Feb. 13th 2020 with a board diagram which seems to be the latest setup. This is implemented now.
05-04/17:56 Draganov: In Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens) we have a new kind of a piece. It is an immortal guard that can capture like a knight by jumping over an enemy's piece. It can't be killed and it can't participate in capturing as a hammer or anvil. It can capture only by jumping over the piece. This new piece makes the variant great and funny to play. The whites have a lot of opportunities to organize their attacks and the blacks still have chances because they have double number of pieces and the king is captured from two sides. In my opinion, this variant is one of the deepest and very strategic. I played a long game against Jrton80 in which I found out a way to block his K piece and also the battle was for small advantages over the board for example controlling of a square (we played 10 moves just to take control over a key square). So, I strongly encourage everyone to give this variant a try and join the tournament.
05-04/15:56 MasterLuke: Hello everyone
As stated earlier, the new piece sets are intemplated in various game variants.
@Hagbard: regarding the variant 'Tournament 746. Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens)': something went wrong with the capital letters C, K, V and G on the pieces. Can you fix it? In the other variants Berskerk and Alea Berserk and Historical 13x13 they look OK.
@all who wants to play the variant 'Tournament 746 - Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens)' This is in fact a forerunner of the current 'Tyr' type of games. Draganov re-ignited the game and, I guess in conjunction with Hagbard, made some adjustements to the function of the Guard. He is unbeatable, BUT ALSO CAN ONLY CAPTURE like a Knight, so by jumping over an enemy piece.
@Hagbard: maybe it's a good idea to explain this in a few words underneath the game board?
05-04/11:35 Hagbard: Changed to new set in
Berserk Hnefatafl 11x11
Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens)
Alea Berserk 19x19 (Bartley)
Historical Hnefatafl 13x13 (modif. Parlett 2)
05-04/10:04 masterluke: @draganov and @hagbard: the new pieces look great on red board (current berserk setup). I suggest to use them also on Alea Berserk 19x19 because of the V-men, commanders and knights.
05-03/21:41 Draganov: I think the new design has better contrast and the pieces are more visible. However, I think the players are used to the old design and it will take them some time to get used to the new one. So, my proposal is to use the new design in some less popular variants like Berserk, one weak-king variant like Tawlbwrdd Lewis Cross or Tawlbwrdd Lewis Diamond and see the reaction of the players. I also think that we can standardise the game pieces as well. My personal opinion is that the best-looking tafl pieces are those used in Welsh Tawlbwrdd and the second best piece set is for Fetlar. Regarding the board color, I like the red boards the most since it represents the bloody tafl game very well. Is it possible to make a design combination between the pieces from Welsh Tawlbwrdd (Bell setup) and a red colored board. Maybe adjust the piece colors little bit but keep their faces and looking.
05-03/20:59 Hagbard: Luk Martens sent a general set of Hnefatafl pieces, including even commanders, variegated men, knights and guards.
The new set is now used for the Berserk Hnefatafl 11x11.
Personally I like also the previous sets, which are used for other variants now.
I'd ask you players if there's a wish to change also some other variants to the new set?
(Except for the Simple Tafl, because this set is kind of American style. It is used by the American University twice a year, and it's my impression that they like the pieces very much.)
05-02/14:52 Hagbard: The current race games test is very instructive:
Out of the seven top-three players from 2021-2023 six participate; only Bogd Khan is not there.
And to that eight fine players more.
05-02/08:57 Hagbard: Finished tournaments:
Old Hnefatafl 11x11: #1 Draganov, #2 Jrton80, #3 Axelrook
Saami Daabloe 11x9: #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Jrton80, #3 Rosk and Tonythebook
Daldos 3x14: #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Xerxes, Tonythebook, Hagbard and Colophonius
Brandubh 7x7 (Walker): #1 Colophonius, #2 Themightyglider, #3 Brave-frog
Historical Hnefatafl 7x7 (Irish Brandubh 2): #1 Colophonius, #2 Brave-frog, #3 Themightyglider
Tawlbwrdd Lewis cross-w 11x11: #1 Dimetr and Alex hnefatafl, #3 Jilles
Daldos 3x16: #1 Jilles, #2 Potapych, #3 Xerxes and Nikolai hristov
Frisian Dablo 11x9: #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Jrton80 and Brave-frog
Hex 11x11: #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Potapych and Brave-frog
Daldos 3x12: #1 Xerxes, #2 Jilles and Potapych
Saami Sahkku 3x15 (Kaafjord): #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Tonythebook, Hagbard and Colophonius
04-30/14:28 Hagbard: Races are still running so anything can happen, but the position is right now
F1 points test sum Sahkku + Daldos16 + Daldos14:
#1 61 points Holidayinnes (50)
#2 53 points Hagbard (40)
#3 37 points Jilles (51)
#4 35 points Draganov (34)
#5 32 points Rosk (36)
#5 32 points Colophonius (34)
#7 28 points Potapych (33)
#7 28 points Tonythebook (29)
#9 14 points Jrton80 (25)
#10 10 points Xerxes (28)
#11 4 points Brave-frog (20)
#11 4 points Cacreal (13)
#11 4 points Nikolai hristov (12)
#14 0 points Herjan (4), Thorfin (4)
04-29/18:48 Hagbard: @xerxes, that is true.
But still the numbers so far make sense.
I suspect that there is some mathematical explanation for that.
I guess that:
In Formula One races the drivers earn their start positions, and so they in each race especially compete against a handful of equally strong drivers. Whereas here in this tournament, everybody every time compete against everybody.
And thus the winner in our tournament is more efficiently and quicker found; this is my theory.
04-29/13:47 xerxes: @Hagbard. You are right re the F1 points. The potential disadvantage for us is that we are only having 4 rounds instead of the 23 in F1. That gives a big advantage to the winners of each round given that they get 7 more points than the player finishing second.
04-29/08:08 Hagbard: The Formula One way of giving points is interesting!
It's all about position. As in the cars' race it's a fight for every centimeter (every won game), not for the centimeter/game, but to get ahead of other players.
The three front runners of any race are strongly favoured. And all the way through the field one more won game can mean many extra points. Or if you're already much ahead, one more won game can mean nothing.
04-19/21:23 Draganov: Another interesting match for me would be a 'strong king challenge'. 10 games of Fetlar, 10 games of Old Hnefatafl, 10 games of Copenhagen, 10 games of Copenhagen Bell, 10 games of Total Hnefatafl. I am open to play such a marathon against everyone.
04-19/21:18 Draganov: I am open to play matches of 10 Copenhagen games only against Casshern and Herjan. I tried to challenge Plantagenet and Nath but they both refused. Nath seems to be done with tafl and Plantagenet is willing to play only in his own variant which is still in progress. Maybe Alex Hnefatafl and I should play a match because he is in good shape and came close to becoming a champion. However, we played 200 games against each other and I am not interested to play him again. However, I will challenge him if the tafl community wants to see such a match again. I consider you as a very strong player, potentially the next world champ. Probably we can make something interesting. What about triple duel... Cacreal vs Draganov vs Alex Hnefatafl. Each one of us plays 10 games against the other two players. The winner is the player with the most points gained from the 20 games. What do you think about such a 3 players tournament?
04-19/21:03 Draganov: Cacreal, the Total Hnefatafl allows repetition and if you repeat the position three times, it finishes as a draw. Respect the rules of the variant, please. I am more concerned about Total Hnefatafl because I proposed this variant and I am advocating for allowing repetition leading to draw. I do believe that this is one of the few ways to make the game balanced and to give the whites equal chance even on top level playing. I refused to play against you in Copenhagen because I am bored of playing Copenhagen. I haven't been playing Copenhagen recently except 2 games against Herjan because I really like his playing style and chatting with him. I am still not sure if I am going to continue playing Copenhagen. I will probably join the next world championship but only because it is my duty as a champion to defend the title. I am focused on exploring new variants especially those that have been considered imbalanced. However, I would play Copenhagen again only in matches that I consider interesting and motivating for me (the problem of being a champion is the lack of motivation).
04-19/20:54 Hagbard: Yes I called the draw. Draganov invented the rules, and the game did reach the eternal repetition we saw so often in the Fetlar.
The IM/FM is just because of a game balance adjust.
04-19/20:40 cacreal: Thorfin vs cacreal the repetition was stopped and @hagbard you manually made it a draw?
I thought this was a viking game and not a Draganov political forum. Also it seemed like I was a IM and now am not.
Did I miss something else on a message board? Draganov refused my challenge in Copenhagen so I joined the total tournament
to play a game against him, Thanks for the games. Skol
04-19/19:51 xerxes: Yes - congrats to Holidayinnes. I expect he has won most of them too !
04-19/19:23 Hagbard: Du kom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9fWyXV4gVw
Op al den ting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmQV-unQARg
Må din vej
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0r62JoM8VM
Lyse nætter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4NXA_69GVo
04-19/12:53 Colophonius: Congrats to Holidayinnes for the 4600th game!
04-17/17:11 Hagbard: Then only I can do it manually, I'm afraid
04-17/17:06 Draganov: What happens if one of the players refuse to do it and the other timeouts?
04-17/16:35 Hagbard: It works, in the sense that repetition does not give a win to a player.
But the two players have to both click the Draw-button.
Earlier the program stopped the game and gave both players a Draw. But some situations showed up where the program should not do that, therefore the players must do it manually.
04-17/11:48 Draganov: @Hagbard, thanks for the clarification. Could you also check if the repetition rule works in Total Hnefatafl because the game between Thorfin and Cacreal is still ongoing despite threefold repetition.
04-17/08:19 Hagbard: Variant number 16 balance 1.3
04-16/21:30 Draganov: @Hagbard, the game balance of Copenhagen is mentioned to be (16 ba 1.3). Could you explain what does '16 ba' mean?
04-15/07:29 Hagbard: Formula One test round 2 started, tourn. 735 Daldos16
04-14/21:18 Hagbard: A comment on race game tournament:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4&p=1811#p1811
04-14/18:30 Colophonius: It's another Brandubh-variant, played by the rules of Damian Walker. Therefore it's new design
04-13/20:34 Skye: New pieces on the Brandubh game? I havevn't played it for a while so in might be be mistaken. I like them, tumbs up
04-08/15:50 Hagbard: Idea:
The current
Saami Sahkku 3x15 (Kaafjord) (2024-04-05, tourn. 729)
has now 7 players and 4 days for more to join.
If this tournament 729 is followed by a Daldos16 tournament, then we can for fun add them together by the Formula One points system.
As in the Formula One races, if you want the good score, you should join both the tournaments.
04-08/09:24 Hagbard: The normal race games tournaments have for a long time used the 5x timing. Still they've run quickly, thanks to the players' attitude.
The defining constraint on the timing, is that two extremely distant players might never be able to meet online, except for the weekends. This is covered by the 5x.
The thought for the WTF championship race tournament is
Formula One points. (hat tip tonythebook)
Noone is eliminated.
Four rounds: Daldos14, Daldos16, Sahkku, Sahkku.
Since noone is eliminated, Round 2 Daldos16 could start even if some Round 1 Daldos14 games are not finished. Likewise Round 4 Sahkku after Round 3 Sahkku.
Only Round 3 Sahkku would preferably wait till Round 2 Daldos16 finished, because of the change of rules.
I can hear that 34 games per round is not frightening ...
04-07/23:02 xerxes: I agree with Plamen that race games should be played quickly. I for one do not take much time over a Daldos move (I've also played a fair bit of backgammon) but the games take a long time if the opponent is not online when the move is made. As an experiment perhaps we could set up a tournament of 4 or 5 interested players each playing each other in two games (white and black), so 6/8 games per player. All the games to be finished within one hour, games not finished within the hour are awarded to the player who has taken the least time for his moves in that game. (The problem might be finding a time convenient for all those players to be online together).
04-07/20:46 Draganov: I think race games must be played quickly. I have watched many backgammon players playing against each other (although I am not keen on backgammon and rarely play it) and never seen a player thinking more than 5 seconds per move. Never seen such a player from hundreds of backgammon players I have ever seen in my life. All of them were playing immediately in just 2-3 seconds per move. Why Sahkku or Daldos should be different after they are even simpler than backgammon. So. 34 games should be no problem for a race game players. However, if someone plays the race games with the same attitude like playing chess, it will be a problem to handle 34 games.
04-07/19:48 Skye: @Hagbard you're quick. Thanks for having a look.
04-07/19:45 Hagbard: Corrected
04-07/19:33 Skye: @Hagbard. Are the rules stated below the Market Hnefatafl right or should it just be the first line (captured from 2 sides). I don't see a throne and one of my black pawns could stand there, i was a bit worried but it worked out in the end. Thanks for having a look.
04-07/11:49 Hagbard: 4 rounds of each 34 games.
04-07/11:33 Hagbard: With 18 players like last year, the suggested race games WTF tournament format would for each player be 136 games.
With 5x timing, since there are so many games.
Would it be too much? I think that I could do it. With a lot of practise, the moves come easily.
03-27/07:15 Hagbard: I agree with Draganov on this. Thank you for welcoming new names and accepting their game invitations!
A new name might be a new future player, or as it regularly happens, a new name could also be a casual passer-by who leaves the game.
03-26/22:49 Skye: I dont want to call names just now, but i think if you accept a game and dont play (not even 1 move) you should lose some points. I think now the rule is: if both players have made 2 moves each. I might be over reacting but, i invite, some accepts and then doesnt play. Not nice. Takes away the fun i have in the game.
03-26/22:42 Skye: Just an observation: you (i) make an open invitation,someone accepts the game but then does not play. I know there is still time in the time buffer but i find it stranger (why wait so long / accept and then wait 2 days for your first move). Probably just me...
03-24/19:51 Skye: I remember Dtaganov calling on players to play / accept games from new players (i think a good idea). I have accepted al few games with new players but a lot dont play so i will stop playing / accepting games from new players for a while.
03-22/11:33 Hagbard: Plan:
In a month or so registering for a test of a modified WTF tourn. format:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1804#p1804
Tafl test with Tablut.
Race Games test with Daldos12 + Daldos16.
Timing x2 to make the test quicker.
03-22/10:48 Hagbard: John Ashton, USA, set up such a variant:
http://aagenielsen.dk/ashton_rules.php
When we tested it, however, the game balance was -5.26, that is extremely favourite to attackers.
03-22/10:37 Clark94: Are there any good variants with hostile attacker base camps? A long time ago I had an app on my phone that would treat all starting positins for the attackers the same as the throne. (No re-entering and hostile). It was very aggressive, however only playing against the computer I am not sure about the balance.
I’ve heard of Foteviken Tablut (9x9 t-cross , edge escape , white moves first , strong armed king , with attacker base camps being unable to be re-entered and blocking movement) but have not played it myself.
03-11/11:46 Draganov: @Hagbard, could you add some time in the time buffer of Jrton80 in our Alea Berserk game? We are testing the variant and reached an interesting position but his remaining time is reduced.
03-05/07:21 Hagbard: It's just a recalculation. Sometimes numbers are calculated again from small changes in game balances.
Max. rating was found to 1589, which is anyway very close to CM threshold 1600.
03-04/20:16 Skye: I just noticed that i went from CM back to AM. I am not really troubled by this (i thought CM was a bit high anyway). But, could someone explane how all this goes about / works? Thanks.
03-02/12:31 Hagbard: Finished tournaments:
Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11x11: #1 Draganov, #2 Alex hnefatafl, #3 Jrton80 and Tonythebook
Saami Daabloe 11x9: #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Rosk, #3 Mihkkal
Daldos 3x12: #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Colophonius and Hagbard
Total Hnefatafl 11x11: #1 Draganov, #2 Jrton80, #3 Hagbard
Historical Hnefatafl 7x7: #1 Colophonius, #2 Brave-frog, #3 Themightyglider
Tawlbwrdd Lewis cross-w 11x11: #1 Dimetr, #2 Alex hnefatafl, #3 Hagbard
Daldos 3x16: #1 Holidayinnes, #2 Colophonius and Brave-frog
Berserk Hnefatafl 11x11: #1 Jrton80, #2 Fraech, #3 Nikolai hristov
Saami Sahkku 3x15 (Kaafjord): #1 Potapych and Hagbard, #3 Rosk
02-29/22:18 Skye: @Draganov: excuse me for not playing, to busy.
02-28/10:51 Hagbard: They are.
02-28/10:31 Draganov: @Hagbard, are the unrated games calculated in the balance measurement or only rated games are included?
02-23/08:29 Hagbard: NB. The large forum is opened for new registering for a while.
02-22/16:42 Colophonius: I support the idea of an Alea Berserk 17x17 tournament between non-worldchampions :D But the rules need to be updated, at least the movement and capturing of the different pieces.
02-22/14:08 Draganov: Thank you Hagbard for making these possible imbalanced variants available for testing. I think Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens) was measured to be imbalanced and in favour of the blacks because in the past the knights were not able to capture. However, now the K (knights) are real beasts. They are IMMORTAL and ARMED. It is really challenging to fight against such powerful pieces. However, because the king is captured from 2 sides and the blacks have so many pieces, the variant seems well-balanced to me.
02-22/13:33 Hagbard: done
02-21/13:05 Draganov: It will be great if we have the following variants visible in the imbalanced variants section:
Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens)
Old Hnefatafl 9x9
Copenhagen Lewis cross 11x11
Copenhagen T cross 11x11
Tawlbwrdd Lewis diamond 11x11
Tyr 9x9
Sea battle square 9x9
Sea battle Lewis diamond 11x11
Sea battle-2542 9x9
Sea battle 9x9 (Imperial Contest)
All of these variants seems to be good to me. I am open to play them with both colors against everyone.
02-21/12:49 Draganov: @Hagbard, could you also create a section in the invite page, in which some imbalanced variants to be always unlocked. I would like to play several variants that are measured to be imbalanced but I think they could be good.
02-21/12:16 Draganov: I played 8 games in Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens) and I remmeber that I was more struggling with the black pieces. I will invite some players to play some games. Then, I will open a tournament because I think it will be good to see this variant when two low-rated players are playing against each other.
02-21/09:28 Hagbard: - as for a tournament, you're on the starters' list -
02-21/08:50 Hagbard: I found a radio interview with Peter Kelly 18.8.2008:
https://theworld.org/person/peter-kelly
02-21/08:49 Hagbard: Opened. Could be a challenge to white, as the balance is at the moment measured to -1.94
02-20/22:41 Draganov: @Hagbard, could you unlock Alea Berserk 17x17 (Martens). Last year I played 8 games in it (winning all of them). So, I think it is a great variant which might be well-balanced. I want to test it again. It will be good if we have a tournament in it and see how other players will play against each other. I hope to test it against some strong players like Dimetr, Jilles and Potapych too.
02-18/21:19 Hagbard: ok
02-18/20:29 Draganov: I am also preparing an article about the ancient game called 'Five lines' or 'Pente Grammai' as it was known in the past. I think it might be the bridge between Hnefatafl and race games like Daldos
02-18/20:24 Draganov: Yes, it is ok to link my pictures. I will send you some more photos of me. I have photos with OdinHimself and with my son in front of the Hnefatafl board that OdinHimself gave me as a gift when I won the world championship in 2021.
02-18/18:39 Hagbard: No, I suppose he takes some pauses sometimes, it's normal.
You have a picture on your chess page, is it ok to link to it from the world champions list?
02-18/17:48 Draganov: I also would like to welcome the new players from South Africa who joined the site. It will be good if you introduce yourselves in the chat.
02-18/17:46 Draganov: @Hagbard, do you know what happened with Alex Hnefatafl? He disappeared and timed out all of his games? I hope he is all right.
02-18/11:39 Hagbard: New in gallery:
Photo series from the board game day yesterday.
The Welsh Tawlbwrdd-w 11x11 was used.