World Blitz Cup 2021

Gomokuworld's Online World Blitz Cup (WBC) is a championship in one-minute gomoku and open to everyone. One-minute gomoku means swap2 gomoku games with the time control 1 min per player and game and is a highly involving kind of sport enjoyed by many gomoku players. To excel in it, one has to possess a whole bunch of various skills and abilities – the ability to think very fast and accurately, intuition, time management, emotion control, a lot of learned gomoku shapes, and fine motor skills. It is a highly intellectually demanding activity that causes strong adrenaline rushes.

The first WBC was organised in 2017 and was a total success. There were 91 participants from 20 countries, including many elite gomoku players – in particular, 8 out of 12 participants of the final tournament of the World Gomoku Championship 2017 held in Prague. Both competitions – the WBC 2017 and the World Gomoku Championship 2017 – were won by one and the same person, Zoltán László from Hungary. You can read more about the WBC 2017 at its official website.

The second WBC was organised in 2018, having 80 participants from 17 countries. Zoltán László from Hungary managed to defend his title thus remaining the Online Gomoku World Blitz Champion. The second place was taken by Adrian Fitzermann from Poland, who was second in the first edition as well. The bronze medalist of the competitions was another Hungarian player, namely Gergő Tóth. You can read more about the WBC 2018 at its official website.

The third WBC was held in 2019, having 65 players from 16 countries. Zoltán László from Hungary proved to be the strongest once again, confidently winning the competition for the third time in a row. The runner-up was Michał Żukowski from Poland, and the bronze medalist was another Pole, namely Adrian Fitzermann. You can read more about the WBC 2019 at its official website.

In 2020 a special edition of the WBC was organized – the Team Gomoku World Blitz Championship 2020. The tournament determined the then best country at one-minute gomoku. 18 teams from 5 countries, as well as two international teams competed, consisting of 74 players in total. The championship was won by Hungary A, namely Zoltán László, Márk Horváth, Kristóf Ménesi, and Gergő Tóth. The second place was taken by Poland A, namely Łukasz Majksner, Bogdan Brachaczek, Adrian Fitzermann, and Kamil Pawela. The third place was taken by Czech Republic A, namely Vladimir Nipoti, Miroslav Háša, and Jan Kopecký. You can read more about the TGWBC 2020 at its official website.

The WBC 2021 continues the excellent tradition, however now with enhanced time control, namely 1 min + 1 s per player (with Fischer increment). The tournament will determine who is currently the best on the planet at one-minute gomoku as well as help popularise gomoku in general and let many people fulfil their competitive instinct and experience strong emotions to spice up their lives.

The tournament formula and the rules are almost the same as they were in 2019: The group stage is followed by a double elimination stage. Every participant of the group stage advances to the double elimination stage and retains the opportunity to win the entire championship, but those who finish first or second in their groups in the group stage have a big advantage: They are eliminated after two lost matches in the double elimination stage, while all others – after just one. The main difference is the time contrl (1 min + 1 s) and the number of games played in each phase. All further details are explained in the rules below.

Summary of the most essential rules (i.e., those that every participant must know):

English: file WBC2021-ENG-SHORT.PDF below

Hungarian: file WBC2021-HUN-SHORT.PDF below

Polish: file WBC2021-POL-SHORT.PDF below

Russian: file WBC2021-RUS-SHORT.PDF below

Full version of the rules: file WBC2021-ENG.PDF below