Togyz Kumalak tournament held in Germany

The tournament of Kazakh national game Togyz Kumalak was held in the German city of Schweinfurt, Interfax-Kazakhstan reports. It was organized by Jurij Nold, a formed citizen of Kazakhstan who now lives in Germany. Jurij Nold is the best Togyz Kumalak player in Europe. According to the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan, the tournament is timed to the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence. The Foreign Ministry says that it also plans to organize a Togyz Kumalak tournament in Berlin and bring inthe Kazakh national team to take part. At the opening of the tournament a representative of Kazakh embassy in Germany thanks the German side to the contribution into development of the two countries cultural cooperation and told about the Togyz Kumalak game. Togyz Kumalak ("nine pebbles") is the Kazakh name of a mancala game. The number 'nine' has a high significance and is considered auspicious in the folk beliefs and mythology of Kazakhs. The first tournament, in which players from all over Kazakhstan participated, was held in Almaty in 1948. The Togyz Kumalak rules were unified in 1949, before that many different variants existed. In 1992, the first Woman Championship of Kazakhstan was won by Irina Nold, a German Russian who now lives in Frankfurt, Germany. On November 1-7, 2010, the first World Championship was held in Astana, Kazakhstan. 25 player from 14 countries took part in the men's championship and 18 players from 10 countries took part in the women's championship. The current Toguz Kumalak World Champions are Asel Dalieva (women) and Galymcan Temirbayev (men). The best European player is Jurij Nold (Germany). In 2011 Jurij Nold won the first European Championship in Pardubice (Czechia). He also became the National German Champion 2011. Alikhan Baimenov is the current president of the National Togyz Kumalak Federation of Kazakhstan.