Kazakhstan is set to host the first ever World Championship in the Togyzkumalak national gameamong school students. The competition is scheduledto take place in Almaty this September. Anticipatedparticipants include representatives of around 20 states, among them Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Spain, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and others. The tournament is planned to beheld in two classifications: rapid and blitz.
“On international platforms for intellectual games, such as the Canadian website iggamecenter.com and the Polish playok.com, Togyzkumalak hasbecome one of the most popular games. Domestic IT specialists have created special applications for bothAndroid and iOS systems. Togyzkumalak is activelyplayed in more than 30 countries around the world, including Colombia, Germany, France, the UK, theCzech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Bangladesh, and others,” said Meiramgazy Sapargaliyev, spokesperson for the Kazakh Ministry of Culture andSports.
Each year, in Kazakhstan, over 1,000 competitions ofvarious levels are conducted in national sports, including Togyzkumalak. To date, six World Championships, six Asian Championships and fourEuropean Championships have been held. Presently, over 200,000 Kazakh citizens are engaged in thetogyzkumalak board game, also known as ‘the chess ofthe steppes’. There are plans to further promote thisintellectual game, including its integration into theschool curriculum.
“The Head of State pays great attention to thedevelopment of physical education and mass sports, including traditional forms. He believes thatholding such a significant sports competition willincrease the recognition of Togyzkumalak andattract the attention of the younger generation to a healthy lifestyle and sports,” added Sapargaliyev.
It is worth reminding that since 2006, theTogyzkumalak game has been included in the programof the World Intellectual Games, and two years laterthe Togyzkumalak World Federation was established. In 2020, by the decision of UNESCO, the Kazakhnational game of Togyzkumalak was inscribed on theList of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Editor: Bayan
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