Hnefatafl forum

Hello tafl warriors!
I’m writing this post to share my personal top 30 best tafl players of all time. My goal is to offer useful information for newcomers, and for anyone looking to improve their tafl skills, by highlighting players whose games are well worth studying. You can find and explore their matches in the game archive section.

Of course, you can also find valuable games played by many other competitors, but the 30 players mentioned here produced some of the most instructive and insightful examples.

Another purpose of this post is to shed light on players who were exceptionally strong in the past but are now almost forgotten due to their inactivity. New players can still benefit greatly from studying their games.

The players are ranked solely based on their tafl skills in the Copenhagen variant. There are several great players who specialize in historical weak-king variants but are not as strong in Copenhagen, so they were not included in this list. Players such as Ded Fomich, Mmagari, Irish Raven (also known as Auskor), Asther-kane, Paul7, Hnefihunter, L716, Colophonius, ChaolAibhne, Jilles, and Dimetr are well known for their performances in the historical variants. However, Jilles and Dimetr still merit a place in my top 30 Copenhagen players.

There are also other strong players, such as Arne64 and Sigurd, whom I did not include in this list even though they played at a top-20 level. The reason for excluding them is that they played too few games for me to accurately assess their true strength. However, I definitely recommend studying their games as well.

My overall observation is that both tafl knowledge and player skill have gradually improved over the years. With players now being more active, they have gained far more experience and a deeper understanding of the game’s principles. However, there are still players from the recent past who would be competitive against modern players. Some former world champions and top players from earlier eras would be able to hold their own against anyone at any time.

That said, my rankings are based on my personal perspective, my analysis of their games, and my own assessment of their ability to consistently produce high-quality play.

Since I included myself in the list, I’ll add one extra player and present a top 31 instead. Here is my list, from bottom to top:

31: Dimetr — Although his main strength lies in the historical variants, he is still very capable of playing Copenhagen at a high level.

30: P59xy (also known as Pc.a59xy) — a very solid player whose main weapon was the Dutch Opening (1.g1-g2)

29: Docbullen — very strong player from the past, experienced in Fetlar as well as Copenhagen, a UK champion from 2014

28: Hagbard — Another strong player from the early era. His best tournament performances were in the early 2010s, but he remained competitive up until 2017.

27: Jrton80 — the most active player and also one of the most original the game has ever seen. Always fun to play against him.

26: Steiger — one of the tafl pioneers in Ukraine and Russia. In 2018 he reached the 6th place in the world.

25: Animals — UK champion from 2017. He was one of the leading British players.

24: Floki — Very solid when playing as Black.

23: Cromwell — also known as Camelot and Haio. He was tough to beat and could hold his own even against the top players.

22: Павел Дусенко (Pavel Dusenko) — Mostly active on the Felhunn mobile app, but he also played briefly here and finished 6th in 2022.

21: Потапыч (Potapych) — One of the most aggressively playing White players.

20: Luizz — He made great improvements in 2025 and began playing much more solidly. Before that, his style was extremely wild.

19: Jilles — With a solid chess background, he became one of the best players in the historical weak-king variants. In Copenhagen he plays solidly and is hard to beat.

18: SebastianMucke — a strong chess player who briefly joined the tafl community in 2020–2021 and produced several exciting games, even defeating some of the strongest players. Although he was one of the most talented players ever, he eventually lost interest and didn’t continue to develop.

17: Edmond-dantes — also known as Khan Asparukh and Цар Резос. A semi-professional chess player with an original, combinative, and imaginative style. A poor loser and sometimes psychologically unstable, he could beat anyone but could also lose to much weaker opponents. When he was active in competition, he was generally ranked 4th in the world

16: Sqaree — He finished 3rd in the 2018 WTF Championship and 2nd in 2021. He has an aggressive style when playing as White, often sacrificing pieces to seize the initiative. His approach resembles that of the old masters from earlier eras, focusing on bold sacrifices and early king activation.

15: Altti — One of the strongest players from the mid-2010s. He is still the highest-rated Copenhagen player on the Felhunn app, where he plays under the nickname Hnæf Halfdan.

To be continued...

Let's continue with the next players in my list:
14: Holidayinnes — a brother of Cacreal and a son of Garun19, he plays very solidly with the Black. He is very capable of playing positional tafl and understands how to block the corners very well.

13: Garun19 — also known as Cdafo, he is the father of Holidayinnes and Cacreal. Playing against him was a nightmare: he is one of the toughest and most solid players ever. A slow, methodical player (often making just one move per day), he is a true defensive master who almost never blunders. To give a sense of his strength, he finished 4th in 2020 and 3rd in the world in 2022 and 2025.

12: Adam — World champion in 2015 and one of the pioneers of the modern tafl revival. He played countless games against Crust and contributed immensely to the development of the game. His style is among the clearest I’ve ever seen, and I strongly recommend his games to every beginner who wants to quickly learn how to play as White. At his peak in 2015, he played with remarkable strength—precise, clean, and consistently producing excellent examples of high-quality tafl. Although his strength gradually declined afterward, his 2015 games remain outstanding.

11: Herjan — also known as Fjorlag and Siegfried. I can describe him as a true tafl warrior and a great world champion of 2016. His style was both aggressive and profound. He played wildly, opening many lines and choosing moves that led to highly complicated positions. His games are always bloody and exciting to watch. When he won the world championship in 2016, he played magnificently, producing some of the greatest games ever played.

10: Cacreal — also known as Frenir. A brother of Holidayinnes and son of Garun19 (quite possibly the strongest tafl family in history). He plays remarkable tafl. His style is primarily aggressive, yet he also shows an incredible ability to survive difficult positions when playing as Black. He finished 3rd in 2020 and 2nd in both 2021 and 2022.

9: Crust — One of the pioneers of modern tafl and a key figure in its revival. He won the world championships in 2011 and 2012, and until his retirement in 2016 he consistently played at the highest level. His contribution to tafl and his legacy are unmatched. He was the first player to truly figure out how to play the game effectively, and he formulated many of the most important tactical concepts in tafl. His games are clear, instructive, and highly educational—I recommend them to every beginner. Although he won his titles in the early years of the tafl revival, he continued to improve, proving that he had the ability to develop even further. We can only regret and speculate how great he might be if he were still playing in modern times.

8: OdinHimself — also known as Death. He pioneered the game in Bulgaria and is one of the most solid and hardest-to-beat Black players in the history of tafl. He could stop anyone, showing outstanding defensive skills. He is highly capable in positional tafl, fighting for every square and gradually accumulating small advantages across the board.

7: Bogd Khan — Another great player from Bulgaria. A painter and photographer in real life, he played with a high level of imagination. He was the only player who came close to beating Casshern during his early championship years. A well-balanced player with a strong sense for both attack and defense, he used a wide variety of openings and played with a distinctly creative style.

6: Schachus — He appeared like a meteor and disappeared just as suddenly. In tafl, he is the romantic and mysterious figure—much like Morphy in chess. Few players know who he is in real life or what his real name might be. In the 2014 World Championship, he destroyed everyone with his aggressive style. At the same time, he was the first player to truly demonstrate great defensive skills—something Plantagenet would later perfect.

According to some of the best players, including Nath and Plantagenet, Schachus was the strongest opponent they had ever faced. Casshern even rated him higher than himself (though Casshern made this statement early in his reign as champion). Schachus seemed invincible, unbeatable, a true genius.

However, I have noticed some flaws in his play, which is why I did not include him in my top 5. From the information available, he seems to have been interested in tafl only for a short time before moving on to other pursuits. He was never as determined or devoted to the game as the players who continued to compete for years. He played only about 50 games before disappearing. He struggled with time controls and was a slow player. In some games, he didn’t choose the optimal moves and might struggle against today’s best players..

The reason he was unbeatable in 2014 is that he faced an unprepared field. Crust was not yet at his later strength; Plantagenet was still a new player and would reach his peak in 2017; Nath was the reigning champion but played sub-optimally in WTF 2014. However, Nath later showed he could adapt to Schachus’s style and defeated him in the Grand Master’s Tournament of 2015. In other words, Schachus was beatable—players like Nath learned how to counter him.

Still, he played truly great tafl in 2014, and even with his style from that period, he would remain competitive today. We can only speculate how strong he might be now had he continued playing and improving. How good could he have become if he had the opportunity to play regularly against Casshern, Plantagenet, Alex, myself, and other top modern players?

5: Alex Hnefatafl — The first and only professional tafl player in the history of the game (according to his own words). He is so devoted to tafl that he can play almost nonstop, all day long. He won world championships in the historical weak-king variants and in the sea-battle variants, but he truly shines in the Copenhagen variant as well.

He plays as sharply as anyone, and he perfected his main weapon — the guillotine attack — like no one before him. He can survive with Black even with only a few pieces left, defending seemingly impossible positions. He handles muddy and unclear situations exceptionally well and has no fear of exchanges, risks, or open lines.

On the other hand, he has shown some flaws in his psychological stability and can sometimes play inconsistently. If he became a bit more patient and incorporated some early-fort plans instead of relying almost exclusively on guillotine positions, he would be rated much higher on my list.

4: Nath — The first player to truly understand the power of quiet moves. He played positional tafl and was more balanced in both attack and defense than anyone before him — and anyone after him until the era of Plantagenet and Casshern. He was adaptable, solid in defense, and methodical in his attacks. In his best games, it is almost impossible to find any flaws. His ideas were deeper than those of any player before him, up until the rise of Casshern. Once again, we can only speculate how strong he would be if he played today and benefited from the tougher competition of modern players.

3: Draganov — The first and, so far, only world champion from Bulgaria. The player with the most tournament victories in the history of tafl. I am one of the most active competitors and I has won world titles in all major tafl variants — Copenhagen, Historical, and Sea Battle — and I am even a two-time race-games champion. My main strength lies in understanding positional tafl, having strong positional intuition, and knowing how to defend in extremely difficult situations. I would say that no one has explored the game archive as thoroughly as I have, and no one is better prepared in the opening phase. I have the most diverse opening repertoire and also possess many weapons when playing as White—forts, guillotines, and piece-exchange strategies to dry out the opponent’s resources.

Patient and methodical, I can continue playing until the very last resource is exhausted, which has led to many of my victories coming only after more than 100 moves. My best years were 2021 and 2023, but I remain competitive, and I am the only player who managed to stop Casshern’s reign (twice) and play almost on equal terms against him. Whether I can improve even further or my best years are already behind me — only time will tell.

2: Plantagenet — World champion in 2017, when he defeated Casshern in the final match. However, it should be clarified that Casshern had not yet reached his peak at that time. Plantagenet is the only player who has competed against every world champion throughout the years, facing the strongest opponents of every era. He still plays from time to time, but he is now more focused on developing a better-balanced tafl variant and improving other board games as well.

A strong and rated chess player, he brought methodical and positional play to tafl. He is the best defensive player who has ever played. In addition, he performs exceptionally well in blitz. Sharp in attack, almost unbreakable in defense, and possessing an intuitive positional understanding at the highest level, he remains one of the most complete players in the history of the game.

The only sad part is that he is not willing to fully commit to tafl again and play a match against Casshern to determine who truly is the greatest player of all time. The best version of Plantagenet against the best version of Casshern would be the greatest match in the history of the game. I still have hope that we may one day see such an event.

1: Casshern — The player who has won the most world titles across all major variants. He holds an unbeatable winning streak record; in his best years, he typically lost only one game per year. He possesses the deepest understanding of positional play, and no one can organize methodical attacks the way he does. He fights for even the slightest advantage on the board and is capable of turning the smallest positional edge into a winning position. If you make even the smallest mistake, he almost never fails to punish it.

He is nearly as difficult to break as the best version of Plantagenet, but far more dangerous in attack because his pressure is so systematic that you must play perfectly on every move. He has also proven that he can adapt and improve when facing new competition such as Alex and myself. He is still actively playing, and we can hope to see him in a longer match against Plantagenet, Alex, or me.

This is my list of the top 30 Copenhagen tafl players of all time, as I see them. Feel free to comment on my choices or even share your own list. I hope this guide helps you navigate the game archives more easily and gives you a clear idea of which games are most worth studying.