Saami Tablut Master tournament 2019 started Feb. 15th.

World Tafl Federation Hnefatafl Championship tournament 2018

Quadrathlon 2019.

(1. Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11x11 uses the results from the World Championship.)
2. Berserk Hnefatafl 11x11, starting January 1st 2019. The winner is Berserk Tafl Master 2019.
3. Historical Hnefatafl 11x11 (Welsh Tawlbwrdd), starting January 15th 2019. The winner is Historical Tafl Master 2019.
4. Sea battle tafl 13x13, starting February 1st 2019. The winner is Sea Tafl Master 2019.
The quadrathlon score is calculated for players who participated in at least two of the four tournaments. The winner is Quadrathlon Tafl Master 2019.
Timing: 1 day per move. Time buffer 10 days. Long-game-threshold 14 days.
Extra (outside of the quadrathlon):
Historical Hnefatafl 9x9 (Saami Tablut), starting February 15th 2019. The winner is Hist. Tablut Master 2019.
Fetlar Hnefatafl 11x11, starting March 1st 2019. The winner is Fetlar Tafl Master 2019.
Historical Hnefatafl 7x7 (Irish Brandubh), starting March 15th 2019. The winner is Hist. Brandubh Master 2019.
Tafl against humans.

Тавлеи против людей.
(Button in top panel.)
Rasmus Holbroe vikings
Artist: Copyright © Rasmus Holbroe (Jan. 2016).
Tafl against the computer.

Search! Who is Nicolas Cartier, who wrote this paper?
LE TABLUT DE LINNAEUS / Nicolas Cartier (November 2011).
Small forum.

Code of Conduct. You should not post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful or threatening material. Doing so may lead to you being immediately banned for a period of time.

  02-22/07:51 Hagbard:  From March 1st we find again a Fetlar Master. Last time was seven years ago in 2012, and the winner then was Tim Millar ("crust").
The "Old Hnefatafl" rules have been used in Russia, fx. in a tournament at The Middle Ages Festival in Staraya Ladoga 2010, organized by the St. Peterburg Varangian club Ulfgard. Would it be an idea to also find an "Old Hnefatafl" Master?

  02-19/10:43 OdinHimself:  Congratulations to this Bulgarian player, even though he's anonymous. 🍻

  02-19/08:24 Hagbard:  Congratulations to Khan Asparukh, who won the Historical Master tourn. and the HIST trophy!
#2: casshern. #3: OdinHimself.

  02-18/08:06 Hagbard:  I'm sure. The bridge is built by volunteers, many volunteers.

  02-18/05:39 OdinHimself:  @Hagbard: Can I join? :)

  02-17/22:49 Hagbard:  Building of a 700 metres Viking Bridge:
http://nyheder.tv2.dk/lokalt/2019-02-17-verdens-laengste-vikingebro-tager-form-paa-vestegnen

  02-16/16:26 OdinHimself:  @Hagbard: Wow!!! Amazing! :)

  02-16/07:33 Hagbard:  Building of the Royal Viking Hall in Lejre, Denmark:
http://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2019-02-16-kaempe-vikingehal-udfordrer-nutidens-byggeri-vi-springer-over-hvor-gaerdet-er

  02-14/10:23 Ded Fomich:  N. B. PTO is alive! The beta site is available for playing (beta.playtaflonline.com). It still needs fixes, but it’s reanimated. It’s not supporting Safari browser now, but works well using Firefox on Apple devices.

  02-12/09:28 Hagbard:  New:
Photo series in the gallery from Danish Classic Board Game cafe and from game board of Chuck Ward.
New topic in the large forum: Tafl in Sápmi.

  02-11/17:20 Mihkkal:  Crash course and free playing of Saami Tablut and South Sámi Dablo in Umeå, Sweden on March 6th. Venue: Västerbottens museum, 18:00-21:00.

http://www.sahkie.se/event/spela-gamla-samiska-bradspel/

  01-27/19:28 Agmundr:  @Hagbard: Gratulerer verdensmestere! Det beste laget vant i dag! 🍻

  01-27/18:59 Hagbard:  God kamp!

  01-27/16:45 Steiger:  Thank you, Mihkkal, for such detailed and deep comments.

  01-26/21:34 Mihkkal:  Final note on the Skyruk post: it's an impressive piece of work, but when it comes to the section on Sáhkku it suffers from some lacking knowledge about Sámi history and culture that leads to some dubious conclusions. Regarding historical development: if the "tâb family" did originate in the Middle East, I think the geographical distribution of Sáhkku and Daldøs makes it more likely that "Tâb games" came through Novgorod to Sápmi and was in Sápmi turned to the Sáhkku games, whereas Daldøs has a separate connection to the Tâb family.
Regarding the rules, all I can say is that research has marched on, and that the revitalized Sáhkku games currently played in the north use other rules than those presented here. They can be found in the Daabloe network's group (https://www.facebook.com/daabloe) in various languages.

  01-26/21:23 Mihkkal:  More on the Skyruk post: 
- There's a misunderstanding here about the hats. The four-corner hat is also a hat for men. Some female sáhkku warriors do have hooked tops though, and these symbolize the ladjogahpir hooked hats for women.

  01-26/21:14 Mihkkal:  ...even more on the Skyruk post.
- That the Sámi are/were not sailors is also a statement that betrays lacking knowledge. Medieval Norse sources describe the Sámi as sought-after boat builders, and Sámi participated in the settlement of Iceland. Most of the Sámi population has always been coastal "Sea Sámi".
- Sáhkku was still in play to the 1960s according to published articles, despite efforts by evangelists. (Yet-unpublished research material I have, show it was some places in play until the 1990s - but of course this is somethibg Skyruk cannot know).
- Earliest clear written reference to Sáhkku: 1840s, not 1870s. Possible mention also 1600s.
- Sámi " c" is pronounced "ts" and not "k". So "pirttsu" and not "pirkku".
- The idea of "princes" in Sáhkku is a speculation from the researcher Itkonen. It has no support in any source.
- Regarding rules: please note that Sáhkku is a family of games, not one game. There were different variants in different parts of Sápmi.

  01-26/21:02 Mihkkal:  Continued on Skyruk's post:
- "Arab game in the North Pole" is a phrase coined by a French researcher in the 2000s. Locally, sáhkku has always been known as a Sámi game.
- That the "Vikings" brought the game to the north is very speculative. 1) It is not known that the Vikings did play tâb-type games. 2) The Danish-Norwegian Daldøs is exclusively known from the extreme southwest of Scandinavia. This is far, far away from the central-northern-eastern part of Sápmi where Sáhkku is traditional. There should be a tâb-type gaming tradition in between if Sáhkku comes from Daldøs or the other way around. It is more likely that the two games share a common ancestor.

  01-26/20:51 Mihkkal:  More on Skyruk's post:
- He's very much wrong about sáhkku being limited to coastal parts of Sápmi. The earliest possible reference to the game is by an author from the inland, in the 1600s. The earliest certain reference is from the Lule Sámi inland during the mid-1800s. The game is also known from the north coast and east coast+inland. 
- To say that Sámi culture is "homogenous" (odnorodnaya) betrays little knowledge about us. We have ten different languages, for one thing. And as for our traditional board games: each district has had its own unique variants of those games. Traditional Sámi board game culture is *very* heterogenous.
- Sáhkku was very much "invented by the Sámi" in the sense that Sáhkku is a unique sub-family of games in the larger "Tâb family" of games, and that this sub-family is only found among the Sámi.
- Again, all statements on how "Tâb style" games have travelled and "mutated" are speculations.

  01-26/20:32 Mihkkal:  When it comes to the Skyruk blog: interesting, but some critical notes.
- There's no written or archeological source linking Daldøs to the Vikings. The game is known at the earliest from an 1870s' book. The story of the book is set in the 1600s. It could of course be older but there's no evidence.
- Daldøs is obviously related to the other games in the "Tâb family". How and when these games have spread and changed, and where the first " Tâb style" game was invented... No certain knowledge, just theories

  01-26/14:32 Hagbard:  Held og lykke til Norge også, Tyskland var flot klaret.

  01-26/14:26 Agmundr:  @Hagbard: Vi møtes igjen i Boksen! Håper det blir en spennende kamp! Lykke til! 🍻

  01-26/14:20 Hagbard:  Norge og Danmark mødes i VM-finalen i morgen!

  01-26/14:12 Hagbard:  The way of singing is somewhat similar to traditional Norwegian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRT8_m8aoow

  01-26/12:52 OdinHimself:  Do you know that Bulgaria has been under Ottoman slavery for 500 years? During this period there were many uprisings. Men became rebels and went to the mountains to fight the oppressors from there. Songs have been made for the most fierce of them. One of the most famous songs about such man is "Came out rebel Delyo". It's a Bulgarian folk song from the central Rhodope Mountains about Delyo, a rebel leader who was active in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The song is most famously sung by Valya Balkanska, a 1977 recording of which was included on the Golden Record carried on board the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes in space.
"Came out rebel Delyo;
rebel true grit;
with fellow Dumbovtsi and Karadjovtsi clans;
asking Delyo warning;
the opressors and the tyrants:
-I have two aunts in the village;
don't you dare convert them (in Muslim)
don't make me come for you;
your mothers will mourn you;
and more so your wives.
Gulsum (his beloved) cautions:
Listen Delyo, be wary;
for they collude, Delyo;
the opressors and brazen-faced tyrants;
casting silver bullet for your demise;
-Gulsum, my love;
not yet is born a man who could kill me;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahluybb0T0A

Bulgaria has roots...

  01-25/09:16 Mihkkal:  A session of Tablut and other old board games in Tromsø this week: 
https://tinyurl.com/ybjkrvto
Once there was a Tromsø Tafl Laug, does that still exist?

There will be a course/game evening featuring Tablut and Dablo im Umeå (Sweden) as part of the Sámi Week festival in early March.

  01-23/10:39 Steiger:  @Semargl: Yes, it is not excluded - quite possible.

  01-23/10:30 Semargl:  @Steiger: I think Skyrk is mistaken about many things. When he is excited, he add his own style.

  01-23/07:10 Steiger:  @Semargl: https://skyruk.livejournal.com/288965.html

  01-22/20:17 Semargl:  Is Ad Elta Stelpur game really Scandinavian historical or modern? I found the rules only in French.http://www.abrabadaboum.fr/nos-locations/jeux-en-bois/article/ad-elta-stelpur?fbclid=IwAR38kMgJvHlBof2OL6OtMWIsQRN89zZ0LJtejpRm3xHio9-4kVDZMeJv664

  01-22/20:07 Steiger:  @Volkenpuk: I'm glad you like it.

  01-22/19:28 Volkenpuk:  @Steiger, that is a good station I did not know about, good recommendation.

  01-22/14:59 sqAree:  Is it that rare? It seems to happen in like every game where black wins. It's super easy to force two adjacent edge squares as white and that's just for prolonging the game by hundreds of moves.

  01-22/11:33 Steiger:  Danheim Radio (Live Viking Music Radio - 24/7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHtDgnOE3Kw

  01-22/06:19 Hagbard:  The position in the game Siegfried/sqAree is very very rare. Even when 7b is not possible in that game, black will win anyway.

  01-22/04:32 Volkenpuk:  Some music I listen to, on occasion. I'm new by the way and excited to play many games with you all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRg_8NNPTD8

  01-21/21:39 sqAree:  Regarding rule 7b:

It's not really a rule but a shortcut to let clear games end faster. Is it possible to change the rule in such a way that it also detects black encirclements with "holes" with a maximum of two adjacent edge squares? Because even then it's clearly impossible for white to win, the smallest edge fort needs three adjacent edge squares.

  01-21/12:12 Hagbard:  The Berserk Master tourn. finished. #2: Khan Asparukh. #3: Hagbard.

  01-21/06:36 Hagbard:  I want to sign jrton80 with "(AP)" = most active player of the year, hopefully no objections.

  01-20/02:34 jrton80:  I not sure how to feel about having played almost double than anyone else on the site. I just showed this to The Woman, her reply was "so you have no life, and?"

  01-17/22:19 Agmundr:  Ja! Meget bra spilt av dere! Gratulerer med seieren! 🍻

  01-17/21:59 Hagbard:  Det var en god håndboldkamp!

  01-17/12:01 Hagbard:  @Agmundr: Ja tak, og held og lykke til jer også! Der bliver nok fart over feltet.

  01-17/11:11 Agmundr:  @Hagbard: Lykke til i håndballkampen i kveld! Håper det blir en spennende kamp! 🍻

  01-17/07:53 Hagbard:  The Saami Tablut ordinary tournament turned into a big event with 9 players and spectacular games!
#1: casshern. #2: Ded Fomich. #3: Agmundr and Khan Asparukh.

  01-16/15:00 Ded Fomich:  Thanks, gentlemen! It was a really great battle, blood and guts everywhere =). Actually I think that I’ve made the main mistake (or even several mistakes) much earlier than on move 105 (I was almost a goner on move 105, nothing could help me) and after that tried in agony to make things right again. I need to look through the game later with a fresh mind. And I never imagined that it’s possible to play a Tablut game so long, Tablut surprises me again and again. The draw is not possible using historical rules, so it was a fight to the last drop of blood and the best warrior won, the fallen one went to the Valhǫll. Skál! 🍻


  01-16/14:24 Bogd Khan:  I didnt check the rule withe the king capture next to the throne, my mistake

  01-16/07:26 Steiger:  @Bogd Khan: Bogdan, regarding the 105th move, I do not agree - the f4 attacker was under attack and any other move would not have solved the situation.

  01-16/07:09 Steiger:  @OdinHimself: Thank you, Lucho! Fun track, especially because of the mouth harp.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8fjhuf9XXw ;-)

  01-16/06:28 OdinHimself:  @Steiger: I was intrigued by your words and used the Replay option to watch the game. I have one word only: Skilled! Masters of steel and masters of fight! And here's the special musical salute for you Steiger ;) The so called Medieval Black Metal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOcoZQuaxoc

  01-16/05:25 Steiger:  Salute, Miky!

  01-16/00:01 Miky:  Nice to meet you, i'm new and i want to learn play this game.

  01-15/23:59 Miky:  Hi!

  01-15/19:33 Bogd Khan:  Congrats Casshern and Ded Fomich! Amazing game! Unfortunately Ded Fomich made big mistake in 105 move...

  01-15/18:22 Steiger:  Casshern and Fomich, your last game in the tournament 123, is the most epic spectacle I have seen lately. Splendid! Well done!

  01-13/11:47 Hagbard:  Congratulations to casshern, who won the Berserk Master tourn. and keeps the BERS trophy!

  01-13/07:44 Hagbard:  Busiest players of the latest year:
jrton80: 776 games
Harry64: 405 games
Bogd Khan: 361 games
Trygve: 358 games
Agmundr: 335 games
casshern: 295 games
mmagari: 287 games
xerxes: 200 games
kAAgEE: 195 games
Steiger: 156 games
Ded Fomich: 149 games
commentjouer: 148 games
Fraech: 146 games
Hagbard: 137 games
Khan Asparukh: 135 games
Pié96: 120 games

  01-11/11:58 Hagbard:  Post about the current tournaments:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1095#p1095

  01-10/17:44 Hagbard:  FYI - Copenhagen Hnefatafl data were not sent to the University of Mainz for their machine learning project. I read some of the articles about the game of chess' problems with game engines.
Saami Tablut 9x9 data were, however, sent. Any interest in and analyzing of this ancient game is scientific research and welcomed, IMHO.

  01-09/18:02 OdinHimself:  @Hagbard: Great! I think I can try the Welsh tawlbwrdd, haven't played it for months. :)

  01-09/08:32 Hagbard:  At the bottom of this page is the ongoing quadrathlon calculation:
http://aagenielsen.dk/taflchampions.php

  01-08/16:11 Hagbard:  Sorry, there's not a permalink. But the start timestamp is a unique identifier, fx.:
Mihkkal / Casshern. Tournament 123, Historical Hnefatafl 9x9 (Saami Tablut), 26 moves, 2018-12-28 18:37:44, black won (Casshern)

  01-08/09:12 Mihkkal:  Is there any way to permalink to a match replay? When I go to a replay the url is only the generic http://aagenielsen.dk/visspil.php
I can't figure out how to share links to concrete games with other people.

  01-05/17:38 Mihkkal:  @Semargl Thank you, and likewise!

  01-05/16:01 Ded Fomich:  @Hagbard Thank you!

  01-05/15:59 Agmundr:  For those that wants more games and training in different tafl games i can recommend the app Hnefatafl by Philippe Schober. You can play against the AI and online. If you don't have a android smartphone or want it on the PC, you can install a emulator like Bluestacks https://www.bluestacks.com/ My game name is Agmundr78 Skål! 🍻

  01-05/11:20 xerxes:  Perhaps the next tafl quadrathon could include an underwater event ? ( https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/lifestyle/diving-chess-sport-takes-age-old-game-underwater )

  01-04/20:25 Semargl:  @Mihkkal: Very interesting games) I wish you success in your endeavours!

  01-04/20:04 Mihkkal:  @Semargl Unfortunately there's no possibilty to play Sáhkku or Dablo online yet. So far the whole Sámi game revival is IRL only. But particularly the Dablo games are very well suited for online play.

  01-04/19:48 Hagbard:  1000 cyrillic characters now.

  01-04/19:42 Steiger:  Не вешаем нос - оттачиваем мастерство!)

  01-04/19:38 Semargl:  @Ded Fomich:Хорошо, возьму информацию на вооружение)

  01-04/19:15 Ded Fomich:  @Hagbard Could you please increase the message size in this chat (small forum)? It’s quite small while using Cyrillic alphabet.

  01-04/19:12 Ded Fomich:  Также постоянные игры с сильными игроками способствуют обучению. Так и живём.

  01-04/19:09 Ded Fomich:  *усугубляется большим количеством правил и размеров досок. Этот сайт является центром притяжения очень сильных игроков со всего мира, здесь есть внушительный архив игр за несколько лет, по нему и учимся.

  01-04/19:07 Ded Fomich:  @Semargl Строго говоря, тафл повсеместно не очень хорошо развит. Федераций как таковых нет, но есть клубы, их очень немного (болгарский клуб «Один», например), здешние игроки лишь изредка вживую с оппонентом за доской играют, в основном рубятся в сети, где самая сильная оппозиция. Учебников, пособий и аналитики практически нет. И всё это усугубляе&

  01-04/18:59 Semargl:  @Mihkkal: Where can I play Sáhkku and Dablo online?

  01-04/18:58 Semargl:  Where can I play Sáhkku and Dablo online?

  01-04/17:53 Mihkkal:  @Semargl The game in the first picture is a sáhkku game. The board design and the king piece gives it away, although the pieces are of untraditional design. Sáhkku is a Sámi family of games that id separate from but related to Danish/Norwegian Daldøs. Sáhkku and some other old Sámi board games are having a small revival these days. Tablut included, although some types of Sáhkku and Dablo are (so far) more popular. For more info see https://m.facebook.com/Daabloe/ (open English-language page) and https://www.facebook.com/groups/2085478548176555/ (group).

  01-04/12:53 Semargl:  Thanks, it's really Sáhkku set.

  01-04/11:12 Steiger:  @Semargl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1hkku

  01-04/11:10 Hagbard:  Daldøs. Much used in Moscow Geek Wars club also:
http://aagenielsen.dk/steiger/35228481_1734405593310813_3052956444413394944_n.jpg

  01-04/11:01 Semargl:  What's this game? http://aagenielsen.dk/zmijovich2/33040765_1259021580896210_8010473706256072704_n.jpg

  01-03/21:50 Semargl:  @Ded Fomich: Жаль, что у нас тафл плохо развит. И у кого тогда учится? Аглосаксы и болгары сильные игроки. Но они и так вне сайта играют. Школы, учителя есть. Федерации создают. В этом плане молодцы.

  01-03/21:36 sqAree:  So did ED get banned?

  01-03/21:35 Ded Fomich:  @Semargl На этом сайте активных игроков из Питера я не встречал, к сожалению.

  01-03/19:42 OdinHimself:  @jrton80: Yes, it was sarcastic. I explained already. It shouldn't be taken seriously by anyone. That's why Hagbard didn't delete it in first place. I love tafl and vikings.

  01-03/19:27 jrton80:  @OdinHimself What I read was just too hyperbolic to be taken all that seriously. I particularly liked "burn all tafl sets, annihilate all tafl players, destroy all viking villages, pound the Viking heritage into dust, blow up bulgarian media and shoot to death all journalists who spread lies about your qrotesque, abstract, fantasy spoof tafl world and cast into oblivion all memories about the existence of a cooked up by you EVIL DEMONS unreal game called Hnefatafl" It is not exactly a conciliatory stance you are taking there. How could it be taken seriously? Although, it may just be fun to play it like you meant it

  01-03/13:10 Semargl:  Есть с кем поиграть оффлайн в Питере?

  01-02/09:51 Hagbard:  @tuireann: Thank you!

  01-01/14:16 Steiger:  С Новым Годом!

  01-01/10:34 OdinHimself:  A Happy New Year everyone! Let it be better and more successful! And filled with many tafl victories!

  12-31/22:52 tuireann:  Answered some questions about the state of PTO and the use of AIs in the forums: http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=108

  12-30/11:54 Hagbard:  Evaluation of the Championship tournament:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1081#p1081

  12-29/17:38 Ded Fomich:  @Casshern @OdinHimself @sqAree Thank you all, your letters are received & answered, please check you mailboxes. If you don’t get an answer, just let me know.

  12-28/20:08 Hagbard:  Code of Conduct added: "You should not post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful or threatening material. Doing so may lead to you being immediately banned for a period of time."
This text is copied from the large forum where it is built in in the software.

  12-28/18:38 Hagbard:  NB. The large forum is opened for new registering for a couple of days.

  12-28/14:34 Steiger:  @edmond-dantes: it's so hard to understand you, but I appreciate your trying to hurt me. Keep it up!)

  12-28/05:44 Steiger:  Truth be told, I do not want edmond-dantes to leave - he is a funny freak and a jester with delusions of grandeur, it would be boring without him.

  12-28/05:33 OdinHimself:  Gentlemen, I hope you all understand correctly my words from yesterday, I'm sure you do, because all of you are intelligent people. My words were sarcastic of course. I was hoping to satisfy Edmond Dantes' bloodthurst at least for an evening. :) If someone here got affected and took my words seriously, please accept my apologize, this was not my true intention. My work will never end, I will not stop promoting the game in Bulgaria no matter what. I hope we all stay together as long as we can and try to build up our federation. I will put all of my efforts to raise funds for legalizing the federation and also I'll work for live tournaments in Bulgaria and Europe, where we can play face to face. I promise you this. With all my respect, I wish you a happy day. :)

  12-28/00:37 sqAree:  I don't know what kind of info Odinhimself gives to the media, and I feel like this is more of a private issue of ED to discuss with him.

Apart from that yes, I'd like to see Hnefatafl spread and become more known around the world, and eventually having "real" championships (that is, not online, and maybe but not necessarily with funds). But I also don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. Until then, all we have is this site and its players. Until nothing "official" exists, we can as well call this the World Championship, because this site is where tafl is happening right now.

I have some experience with other strategical niche games. Usually it becomes pretty known on which site the world's strongest players play, and a tournament on a site like that can be seen as a World Championship, regardless of its name. That's how it works, without funds the good players converge to where other good players already are..
Unfortunately we can't apply that argument to our current situation, because for some reason a lot of the best players chose to not participate in the tournament.

Oh, and I don't really care about the grandmaster titles and such. Sure, it can be cool to replicate titles of the chess world, but I'd say the hnefatafl situation in general is not developed enough to create master titles that are meaningful in any way.

  12-27/20:53 casshern:  @Edmond-Dantes: And sorry to Plantagenet in advance for continuing to bring up your name. But, what is the difference between Plantagenet and Casshern? You claim to not know if I am a real person since you cannot meet me in real life. You ask for a photo of me or a social media account. But why fo you not question Plantagenet? He was asked to provide a photo and declined. How fo you know he is human? How do you know he does not use an engine? What proof do you have of these things? And why are you so convinced I have an engine? What proof do you have? Why do you vilify me and call me a cheater, but you praise Plantagenet and you don’t question any of his actions? You are not of sound mind. Your actions are contradicitve. If I had an engine this whole time, then why did I lose a game to you last year in the world championships? It was a simple mistake that I quickly realized. An engine would not have made that mistake.

  12-27/20:43 casshern:  @Odinhimself: I was curious to heard your thought on ED’s comments. And you didn’t disappoint. Thank you. However, he doesn’t strike me as a person with a sense of humor.

@Edmond-Dantes: I am surprised you thought the WTF was a legitimate legal body. Have you not looking into the history of this site? There is a link at the bottom of this page. Feel free to educate yourself. There is also discussion on the WFT in the large forum. Go in and read for yourself. As Adam said, WE ARE THE FEDERATION. I will say it again, since you did not understand me the first time, the world had Hnefatafl and chose to abandon it. The world chose chess over Hnefatafl. It was only recently that Hnetatafl was discovered at archeological sites. This site has served our community. And has allowed the game to grow all around the world. I wish Hnefatalf was more popular, even more popular than chess. Oh how I love this game. But that is not up to me or any of us here. I do not actively promote the game, but there are plenty here who do. They deserve your respect. Without them, you would have never know of this game. I will say it again, what do you want? If you don’t like things on this site or the admin, feel free to leave and not visit this site. Create you own utopia where you are king, ruler, god. If all you seek is the title Grand Master or World Champion, then have my title. Post it all over the world, you are the World Champion. My only condition is that you never visit this site again. This title means nothing to me, if I could not play this game for the fun of it. I have met some really great people here and I would not trade that for the title of World Champion. If that is all you care about, then as you said, go ahead and proclaim yourself the World Champion and be gone.

  12-27/20:30 Steiger:  @OdinHimself: I like only first EP and first album of Anathema.))))

  12-27/20:27 Steiger:  A ha ha ha!!!];>

  12-27/20:23 OdinHimself:  @Steiger: Beware with the horns, you devil worshiper!!! You listens diabolical music and utters nefarious dismal orations and obscure verses for the multiverse in space air!!! Anathema! lol :):):)

  12-27/20:19 Steiger:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf7WDbjAEkE

  12-27/20:12 Steiger:  You people certainly are a lively bunch.) Horns up!\m/.

  12-27/20:06 OdinHimself:  @Plantagenet: Hold your horses fellow! :) Kill fuck die is the title of W.A.S.P.'s seventh studio album. Nothing personal. :) Burn rape slaughter is another thing though. You must die, because you're a fake, illegitimate grandmaster. You sir, are nothing but a big lie. How can I be sure you even exist? You may be just a bot with implemented speak app. Untill I face you and defeat you in real battle, for me you're just a big, funny looking baloon. So, I'm not trying to demonize no one's wotrds. I just want to show you another perspective of the view. And I'm disapointed of the fact that you're just a little disappointed. I expected all of you to be very much disappointed! Because I am! You all should be! A couple of years ago I asked what is needed to establish a federation in Bulgaria. Seven acting tafl clubs for a start. Seven. And the only one we have is "Odin". No federation will be founded in Bulgaria in the coming 20-30 years. But who cares? It seems that what I did till now was wrong. According to ED I exposed lies in Bulgarian media (in national air), trying to manipulate the society for untrue and fictional things. "In the future - he says - he will be especially vigilant for exposing fictitious data to the media especially in Bulgaria and will try to expose such lies." No comment. I wish I can be reborn viking again, simple life and vicious death, isn't that beautiful? :)

  12-27/19:17 Plantagenet:  Wow… I'm a little disappointed. OdinHimself demonizes what edmond-dantes said. "Kill, fuck, die! Burn, rape, slaughter!" interesting motto though.

  12-27/18:40 OdinHimself:  Alright. Lets end this right now. Take down the site, erase all data, blast the illegal federation, rape and kill casshern, Plantagenet, Adam and all fictitious GMs, burn all tafl sets, annihilate all tafl players, destroy all viking villages, pound the Viking heritage into dust, blow up bulgarian media and shoot to death all journalists who spread lies about your qrotesque, abstract, fantasy spoof tafl world and cast into oblivion all memories about the existence of a cooked up by you EVIL DEMONS unreal game called Hnefatafl. I spit on this diabolical, obscene name. Hate each other you misanthropes! Kill, fuck, die! Burn, rape, slaughter! All of you - DIE!!! Nothing shall remain, only grudge! And darkness, and emptyness... are you happy now?

  12-27/16:59 sqAree:  I don't have much time right now to write an elaborate paragraph but I just want to point out that edmond-dantes has a quite good point there.

Though we gotta consider that the Copenhagen game was invented by players of this site, and that we'd all be really happy if a real federation with funding and all arises.

  12-27/16:39 xerxes:  @Hagbard: I echo your congratulations to Casshern, OdinHimself, and sqAree.  I'd also like to thank you for putting in the time to organise a well-run World Championship.  I also agree with your thoughts re Grand Masters on the main Forum.

  12-27/07:32 Hagbard:  Posts about the Grandmaster list:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1077#p1076

  12-26/12:53 Hagbard:  @Ded Fomich: Thanks for the info

  12-26/11:06 Ded Fomich:  @Hagbard One sleepless night, I managed to talk to Tuireann during his online stream (https://www.twitch.tv/tuireanntv). He hasn’t enough time now to reanimate PTO and add some software features, all we can do is wait.

  12-26/10:56 Ded Fomich:  @Casshern @OdinHimself @sqAree Congratulations! Nicely done, gentlemen! Please contact me (bergsaenger ÆT disroot DOT org) to discuss the delivery of your prizes. When the New Year’s hysteria has subsided, all the prizes will be sent by Dmitry to the winners (after the New Year‘s break). We have an extremely heavy post offices’ workload at the moment.

  12-26/08:42 Hagbard:  A week ago I emailed to the administrators of Play Tafl Online and asked for news about the site which is down for the time being, but have not received a reply.

  12-25/22:44 sqAree:  Congratulations to casshern and Odinhimself! I'm very happy about my rank. Inherently I wanted to reach the final, then my goal was to not place last in the final. Would've have never thought I could become 3rd. :)

  12-25/17:02 Hagbard:  A big congratulation to Mario Aluizo who well-deserved won the World Championship Tournament and even without losing a single game!

A thousand thank yous to my co-umpires Adam Bartley and Mario Aluizo, who very much took part in the planning and in the running of this tournament! And to Dmitry Pashkov for kindly offering three wonderful prizes for the three top winners and thus increasing the tournament suspense!

And a big thank you also to the 26 players who participated and made an exciting tournament!

  12-25/10:03 OdinHimself:  Congratulations and big thanks to all bravehearts who fought in the battles and glorified our beloved viking board game! :)

  12-25/09:25 Adam:  Speaking as umpire: It's official! Casshern has won the World Championship Tournament 2018 and is the Hnefatafl World Champion 2018!
OdinHimself takes second place and sqAree third place. Thanks to everyone for a great tournament!

  12-25/09:10 Hagbard:  To umpire Adam:
Requested that Casshern won the World Championship Tournament 2018 and is the Hnefatafl World Champion 2018!
And that OdinHimself won as #2 and sqAree as #3.

  12-25/09:08 Hagbard:  Looks like #3 is: sqAree 7 pt.

  12-21/14:46 sqAree:  I'm going to come back to play normal tafl games regularly here now, after like 3 years of absence. I'm too annoyed about my level of play in the championship and need some training. :/

  12-20/09:37 OdinHimself:  @edmond: OK. Please take my apologize. I didn't know that. Then I support this unknown bulgarian player never mind who he is.

  12-20/06:42 OdinHimself:  Go, Bulgaria, go!!! :) Although I love Germany and support the Manschaft in all footbal championships, I love Bulgaria most! And Khan Asparukh was the founder of Bulgaria, our first glorious ruler of many more! And although Lubo (Khan Asparukh) has his own individual thought pattern and don't respect the small fish (including the small golden fish, i.e. me) I am not a narrow-minded person and cannot hate people because of their beliefs. That's why I will support him in his participation in the WTF championship till the end and show him my respect. I would love to see him holding the bronze medal and ranking Bulgaria on 2 top places! Go, Lubo, go! :)

  12-20/00:44 Hagbard:  Third lead: Khan asparukh and sqAree, both 6 pt.

  12-18/04:53 sqAree:  @Hagbard: Thank you for the other time limit that is going to be implemented.
And as for my exit fort example, I'm satisfied if that's not a white win when there are black pieces inside. I don't know how your code detects exit forts, so I was just wondering what would happen.

  12-17/19:27 Steiger:  @OdinHimself, thanks! Orizen - never hear it before - I like, reminds me Falkenbach, but more severe.

  12-17/18:16 OdinHimself:  Correct link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aObCe5mKmT0

  12-17/18:15 OdinHimself:  A special musical greeting for my friend Steiger!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aObCe5mKmT
Pagan spirit! ;)

  12-17/10:35 Hagbard:  Ideally the game hall should be about playing tafl for fun, and not about winning by not playing.
In the past, many players left the site exclaiming that the games became too prolonged for their patience. Therefore over time the timing has been tightened.
With the fourth mode there would be these options:
1. Live play.
2. Tight timing for reasonably quick responding and games lasting typically less than a month.
3. Prolonged timing.
4. No timing.

  12-17/08:41 Hagbard:  NB. The large forum is opened for new registering for a couple of days.

  12-17/08:25 Hagbard:  Planned fourth timing mode to implement after the tournament: the timing which is used for the final right now.

  12-17/08:20 Hagbard:  In the diagram example, all black pieces in the fort, including the king, would be immobile in a couple of white moves (reversed colors).
True, if these are not the last black pieces, but there are more elsewhere on the board, then the king is not finished yet.
If the movement of the other black pieces is limited, then black could lose by repetition.
If not limited, then white has to capture those loose blacks.
If that is not possible, then it's a case of both players having too few pieces and a draw.

  12-17/01:26 sqAree:  About the time control: If a player can only make a move once every day, a 0.5 time limit per move would make him lose by time because he can never do a couple of faster moves (and this is partly in control of his opponent as he doesn't have to make a move directly after him). Also in control of his opponent is making the player lose 0.5 days of the buffer every day.

About the exit fort: Maybe you meant to say "black loses", and that is not necessarily true because he is not forced to move one of his four pieces in the fort. There might be other black pieces on the board.
The point is that the black pieces can't be captured and yet white has met the requirements for an exit fort victory; in my opinion however this shouldn't count because of the black pieces in the fort.

  12-16/17:29 Hagbard:  Any news about the Play Tafl Online site?

  12-16/08:11 Hagbard:  @sqAree: in the exit fort the king is protected forever, the game would continue indefinitely. But in your diagram example white loses in a few moves: the king moves one step to the right, white moves one step down, a black piece moves one step to the right, white captures two blacks and the fort falls apart.

  12-16/07:52 OdinHimself:  @sqAree: About the games - not true. There are no easy games in the final group. Only experienced players there. So every game, every move is a battle of titans. :)

  12-16/07:51 Hagbard:  A fourth timing mode is planned when the tournament is finished (the timing is critical code and must not be touched before).
0.5 day per move sounds restrictive but is not, because you get the time returned to the buffer as soon as you do a couple of faster moves.

  12-16/04:29 sqAree:  Also I like edmond-dantes's suggestion regarding the time controls. His argument that many people might only be able to move once a day makes sense.

  12-16/04:26 sqAree:  https://imgur.com/a/pyyPcP6
If the king is right next to the black pieces in the picture, would it count as an exit fort? It touches the edge, it can move and it's definitely not possible to capture it. Yes, in the next move black can block the king while protecting his 4 pieces, but the question remains (this was the simplest example coming to my mind where the exit fort conditions are fulfilled and there are still black pieces in the fort that can't be trivially captured).

  12-15/21:59 sqAree:  I don't think your games against me were very tough for you. :P I never saw a chance.

  12-15/21:21 OdinHimself:  I want to thank all my opponents for the beautiful and tough games we played and wish them luck, future progress and a Happy New Year! Congartulations to the champion and big thanks to the organizers and the sponsors! Long live hnefatafl!!!

  12-15/18:37 chuck ward:  That's sad. His FB is down also. Hope he is ok We used to have long talks of Tafl and he was writing a book. I have the 1st 4 chapters. Anyway I was hoping he was around.

  12-15/18:32 OdinHimself:  I'm afraid he's not

  12-15/18:30 chuck ward:  Is GM Tim Miller (crust) still active?

  12-14/18:15 OdinHimself:  Go, Bulgaria, go!!! :)

  12-14/18:12 Hagbard:  Looks like #2 is: OdinHimself 9 pt.
Third lead: Khan asparukh 6 pt.

  12-14/15:59 chuck ward:  Happy to be back.. Been a few years.. Looking forward to some games :)

  12-14/11:04 Hagbard:  Any special wishes for choice of variant for the next ordinary tourn., starting in four days?
Except for Berserk, Historical 11 and Sea 13, which will be part of a quadrathlon series.
The latest tournaments were chosen to give more experience with infrequently used variants.

  12-13/18:42 OdinHimself:  By the way I have some ideas how we can get money for the federation. But I'll have to check a few things just to be sure.

  12-13/16:50 sqAree:  I'd love to see a youtube channel with a playlist covering the rules of the game, basic tactics and finally advanced strategies, as well as analysis of chosen high level games. But who wants to dedicate time?

  12-13/16:06 Brench:  Has anyone considered setting up a Patreon for WTF?  Maybe also a dedicated YouTube channel for instruction or game analytics?

  12-12/20:13 Adam:  I think the idea of a duo who cover modern gaming and the viking history is an excellent idea. Outside of a few websites, viking/historical events are the only arena that consistently presents hnefatafl to a new audience.

  12-12/19:41 Adam:  Great to see so much interest in the Wtf chairing. In answer to a good question, there is nothing legal in the Wtf set up or structure. Crust and I wanted to start something'official', but it's official only on merit. The moment the community thinks it's unneeded or unwanted, it evaporates. I think to be official one needs stable employees and therefore funding. We've had no luck with that yet, so the job is to keep playing and building and linking people.

  12-12/19:36 Adam:  Congratulations Mario!

  12-12/17:32 casshern:  Thank you Alex and Steve!

  12-12/09:46 xerxes:  Well played casshern

  12-12/06:53 Steiger:  Salute, Mario! Well done!

  12-12/06:45 Hagbard:  Looks like casshern won with full house 12 pt.
Second lead: OdinHimself 7 pt.

  12-09/10:26 Hagbard:  NB. The large forum is opened for new registerings for some days.

  12-08/14:02 OdinHimself:  Thanks Agmundr, my viking brother, but I think that there are exactly six candidatures hanging on the wall right before mine. :) Anyway, thank you for the support! Skal!

  12-08/13:32 Agmundr:  My vote goes to Odinhimself! 🍻

  12-07/18:02 Hagbard:  @OdinHimself: Thumbs Up! (Nicole Simmons)

  12-07/18:00 sqAree:  Well, I feel kinda honored to be nominated by Hargbard, but I wouldn't really know what to do, and OdinHimself is very suited for this job anyway. :)
Having said this, I will obviously not stop contributing my thoughts.

  12-07/17:50 OdinHimself:  @edmond-dantes: Thank you for your estimation. I said what I had to say. There's only one more thing I would like to add - it would be a good thing (move) this duo (WTF representatives) to combine/apply both histroical (viking) and modern (technical) approach when it comes to game's popularization. In my opinion this is the most balanced and properly decision to present hnefatafl to the world and make it attractive again (for those with hearts). Off topic: I'm glad to let you know, that the US ambassador's wife Nicole Simmons (in Bulgaria) have posted on her brief Annual charity bazaar 2018 review, that she has played a hnefatafl game against me (which she believes is a Finnish game) and she lost (lol), but it was very attractive and fun for her. I believe that every single tiny step towards the big goal makes the distance shorter and the end closer. I will not stop to present hnefatafl to the world and revive it, because this is something I love and believe in. Ur askan ett rike!!!

  12-07/12:27 Hagbard:  My contribution to the chairman discussion was posted here:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1069#p1069

  12-07/10:02 Hagbard:  A student group at the University of Mainz, Germany, has asked for tafl game data for a machine learning lab course for which they decided to develop a self-learning Hnefatafl game engine.
I sent them the data for Saami Hnefatafl 9x9 - being a historical tafl game it could perhaps be interesting to have it analyzed by the project.
However, it is the Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11x11 which they want. I guess I could send them that, too, soon when the tournament has finished?

  12-06/23:30 teondrae:  Deregisters from the World Championship Tournament 2018.

  12-06/20:27 Steiger:  @casshern: thanks, Mario, but Fomich don't have facebook page and I don't know english well and I'm not enough civilizated :)

  12-06/20:15 casshern:  I also think the most suitable candidates for the WTF are Hagbard and Odinhimself. I would also suggest Steiger or Ded Fomich, if they are interested, or someone from the Formby community, Herjan or Siegfried? As Adam said, it is as much or as little work as you would like it to be. And as Edmond-Dantes likes to say, I don’t have the qualities for this sort of job. It is not necessary to be a GM to be apart of the WTF, but I do think the opinions/counsel of the GMs should be considered, especially when it comes to rules and game play.

  12-06/16:57 OdinHimself:  @Steiger: Thanks my friend, but I think it's more appropriately to raise the candidatures of the grandmasters first, since Hagbard declined. So I propose Herjan, Plantagenet and Nath. Then comes the future GM (in my opinion) casshern. If none of them wants to take part in the WTF occasions, I'll be glad to.

  12-06/10:10 Hagbard:  Proposed Quadrathlon 2019:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1068#p1068

  12-06/08:23 Steiger:  Regarding the WTF, I support the candidacy of OdinHimself

  12-06/06:02 Steiger:  Thanks! That was fun!

  12-05/19:47 OdinHimself:  Skal, Steiger!

  12-05/19:10 Hagbard:  First to finish all games: Steiger

  12-05/18:47 Hagbard:  Thank you to OdinHimself for proposing me, but I'm plentiful occupied by the website.

  12-05/17:23 OdinHimself:  Count me in! I can say from personal experience, that keeping a facebook page alive contributes for popularization and getting new people fror the cause. I propone Hagbard.

  12-05/10:20 xerxes:  Yes - and an out-of-date site does more harm than good.

  12-04/23:24 sqAree:  Great idea Adam, online presence is important these days!

  12-04/22:32 Adam:  Speaking as Adam: Hello tafl community. I want to put an idea out there for folks to think about. The Tafl Federation facebook page has been woefully inoperative for a long time now. It does still serve as a signpost to this site of course, but it can have a life of its own given the input. At present Crust and myself have editing access. Crust has been absent for a long while and shows no signs of returning any time soon, and I am largely removed from online life. So I propose that people are nominated and two voted in by the regulars here to act as chairman/vice chairman. It's as much or little work as you want it to be, and the only thing I would say is that one should be as objective as possible, and wherever possible promote the rules played on this site. This after all is where the federation is in reality, its us playing hnefatafl. Lets see what people think. If we get enough willing nominees we can set up a voting post on the forum.

  12-01/17:04 Hagbard:  Tak for det! Det var nervepirrende, jævnbyrdigt hele vejen og det afgørende mål scoret i det sidste sekund. Det var ærgerligt med Tyskland, men held og lykke med de næste kampe!

  11-30/22:58 Agmundr:  @Hagbard: Gratulerer med seieren mot Sverige i håndball EM! Spennende kamp! Heiet på dere! 🍻

  11-29/17:14 Hagbard:  No, the repetition loses and should be detected in a couple of moves more.

  11-29/16:22 xerxes:  So does that mean the game is drawn ?

  11-29/13:38 Hagbard:  The repetitions are regarded as a Fetlar invention; so only in Fetlar there are repetitions and draw forts.

  11-29/13:16 xerxes:  @Hagbard: Are repeat positions allowed in Old Hnefatafl ?  No warnings are being issued for white in an edge fort in my game vs Agmundr.

  11-27/23:03 Hagbard:  Round 3 is half finished.

  11-27/11:11 Steiger:  We cannot stop progress, but we can be honest and respectful towards ourselves and those around us. Technology can not kill or replace the spirit.

  11-26/18:44 OdinHimself:  Once more I am going to back up edmond on his last statement according Brench. As I said before a good tafl engine is going to be a heroin for those in pain. Once made with good intentions, heroin quickly turned to be more evil and dangerous than its predecessor - the morphine. For those who doesn't know Heroin comes from Heroic (sounds pathetic right now). As they say "The road to hell is strewn with good intentions". Believe me, edmond may not be as much polite as we would like, but he knows what he's talking about. He has a huge experience in chess and is right about one thing - an engine will kill the joy, the genuineness / unpretentiousness of the game, its spirit. It will be much more fun and safe if we develop it slowly and without using machines. Totally agreed. I know that here's not the right place to post this, but I'm in grief. A friend of mine passed away... He was true... Einherjars are with one more now. RIP R. I'll meet you there...

  11-26/16:36 Brench:  @Plantagenet.  That may be raising expectations or asking for a lawsuit from Google :).   Also it may have been done: https://blogg.blank.no/alpha-tafl-c394faef2c0f

Can anyone here read this?

  11-25/22:39 Plantagenet:  If you create a Hnefatafl engine, call it "Alphatafl".

  11-25/21:03 Steiger:  For some characters, rank on websites is the only way to feel superior to others. :D

  11-25/20:31 Brench:  For myself, I’m interested in a Hnefatafl engine because a) I want to improve my game,b) am interested in the mathematical underpinnings of the game and c) am interested in AI.  Will some people use it to cheat?  Probably.  Will I? No.  And I have to believe that most people are here because they enjoy the game and not because they want some rank on a website which is, ultimately kind of meaningless.

  11-25/19:16 Hagbard:  @ed: I wait with questions till the tournament finished. I have noticed that Play Tafl Online is not running at the moment, which means that robot moves cannot be copied to this tournament from there.

  11-25/16:20 nath:  I did invest some time to develop theory a few years back. There weren't many people to help around back then, so I stopped. Even if I build an engine, my primary goal is not to have something that just outplays humans, but rather let that thing inspire human play. For that to work we need humans understanding the underlying ideas and reasons the engine is playing these moves. A black box that just plays perfectly isn't interesting the least. But I have enough trust in community that we can pull that off.

In terms of complexity I think Hnefatafl is more complex than chess. Chess just seems complex, because you got so many different pieces with totally different movement patterns. That's somewhat artificial complexity that engines can strip away pretty easily. In terms of tree Hnefatafl is more on the level of shogi, while to tree there is highly dependent on the exchanges. I just love Hnefatafl as a very interesting board game.

@Brench: You've got mail (of the electronic kind).
Full contents of the small forum.
Logo: Adam Bartley.
World Tafl Federation on facebook.
Notice the collection of photos on the Facebook site! Large photo series of handmade tafl sets!
World Tafl Federation Hnefatafl Championship tournament 2018.

Hnefatafl is also known by the names Nefatavl, The King's Table, The Viking Game, Viking Chess, Tablut or simply Tafl.
History of this site.
Comments on Hnefatafl.
The origin of the Viking board game Hnefatafl and the Berserk rules.
Links to more information on the Viking board game Hnefatafl.
Tafl Shops.
Viking word of wisdom: The Hávamál.
(Havámál på dansk).
Здесь можно играть в тавлеи и против компьютера, и против людей. Можно использовать кириллицу.
Many thanks to Adam Bartley ("Adam"), Tim Millar ("crust"), Gregory Binns ("Torc"), John C. Ashton, Nicolas Cartier, Jonas Lööf ("conanlibrarian"), Olli Salmi, Damian Walker ("cyningstan"), Sten Helmfrid, Rene Gralla, Olga Mudrichenko, Gary and Christa (Germany), Ludovic Antoine, Nikolas Lloyd, Jeffrey Westcoat ("Sigurd"), Rasmus Holbroe, Thore Nissen, Lucho Panchev ("OdinHimself"), Alexander Steiger Dis ("Steiger"), Dmitry Pashkov and Delray Curtis ("jrton80") for their contribution to this site. And not least the more than 400 players the world over who played here more than 15000 real tafl games humans against humans and thus created a vast, practical experience with this intriguing, historical board game.
Updated 22.2.2019