Oh, The Games People Play!

Another summer comes to an end and cool winds will bring snow to winter sports fans. Olympic athletes have been training for their events and the 2018 Olympics competition.
                                                             Let the games begin.

Construction begins on the 2018 Ice Revue at PyeongChang, South Korea.

 Three countries France, Germany and South Korea vyed for the honor of hosting the winter games. The winner: South Korea!

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While it may be difficult to be thinking past the colorful season of autumn, the International Olympic  Committee has the task of  searching even farther into the future! Upcoming Winter Games sites are being planned  for the 2022 games! The IOC will announce the host city for the 2022 Olympics on July 31 of 2015 after final detailed bids are submitted in January. The three finalists for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games  will be one of the following: Oslo, Norway; Beijing;, and Almaty, Kazakhstan . Oslo remains in the running at this point,  but its bid may be withdrawn. The Norwegian public has expressed reservations, leaving politicians hesitant to back the bid, and that's in a country where the Winter Olympics are popular with Norway constantly finishing at or near the top of the medal count.

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The latest public opinion poll, conducted by research firm "InFact" for the Tromso newspaper Nordlys, found only three out of 10 Norwegians support the bid.
Opposition is strongest in northern Norway, where 80 per cent are opposed, while in Oslo itself, 50 per cent oppose the bid. The IOC organization has been seen as extravagant and  demanding on Olympic hosts cities, with a report in March calling for IOC members to pay their own costs when attending the Games.
The surging costs of the games ($51 billion in Sochi ) has also been turning many nations off the dream of hosting the Olympics. Apparently, there are  "Fun and Games" at the Olympics.

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Currently, the "Chess Olympiads" are being held in Tromso, Norway.The tournament takes place over two weeks, having begun  August 1st and ending August 15th. The competition involves 2200 players from 170 national federations. That should be a quiet event.

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Agnus Carlesen, World Champion from Norway.

Hou Yifan, reigning Women's Champion from China.

Players who participate at the Olympiad include the reigning World Champion and highest rated player in the world in Norway’s Magnus Carlesen, shown playing on “Board 1” while  Hou Yifan, the reigning Women’s World Champion plays on "board 1" for China. The current champions are Armania in the Open Section and Russia among the Women’s teams.



Who would expect controversy at a chess tournament? But wait, Russia is thinking of suing the IOC!  

Why? Because the Russian Women's team was disqualified .

Katerya Lagnes ,who was transferred from Ukraine to Russsia.

Russia was in the process of transferring a chess-player from the Ukraine Federation to the Russian Federation, apparently to provide more skill and chance for team success. The lengthy process caused them to miss the deadline to apply for competition in the Olympiad and the Russian team was not registered to compete. However, after negotiations, the Russian Women's team was allowed to compete. Nevertheless, the Russians are now suing members of the IOC. The hired lawyers won their contest, but there are costs.
Russian officials have sued the Norwegian organizers of the Chess Olympiad , wanting their Norwegian hosts to cover their extra expenses in legal fees spent fighting the disqualification .
Norway’s TV2 reported that the claim against the Norwegian organizers of the Chess Olympiad is for the equivalent of NOK 1.2 million (around USD $200,000), to cover the team’s cost of hiring lawyers to protest their initial exclusion from the Chess Olympiad . When they missed the deadline, the Norwegian organizers dropped them in accordance with the rules, but later relenting, let them and nine other teams enter the competition despite late applications.

There seems to be games within the games!

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The action around the chess boards in Tromsø continued, meanwhile, with Norway losing its match against Armenia .

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Closer to home, there are more friendly games in the news despite all being wars games! A popular game is

an old Nordic game, which began in Sweden. A friendly competitive outdoors game, "Kubb" ( Coob)  is a lawn game where the object is to knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden batons at them.This game can be somewhat described as a combination of bowling and horseshoes. The final goal is to knock over the King.

 "Kubb förenar människor och skapar fred på jorden".
(Kubb unites people and creates peace on Earth).

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While being a well-known game in Europe, this game is  catching on in the USA. In 2007, Wisconsin hosted the first promoted and official tournament in the U.S. In 2014, there are 24 tournaments in the U.S., 13 of which are in Wisconsin.

Hosted in Eau Claire, WI, the Kubb Capital of North America, the U.S. National Kubb Championship is one of the largest kubb tournaments in the world. It is one of three two-day tournaments in the world, as the final eight teams return.  It is the second largest tournament in the world with painted kubbs and kings.

The game  is played between two teams, which may consist of only one person per team. Locally, Vennskap Sons of Norway members have taken up the challenge of the game. Competition is fierce, but friendly!

Sheboygan-Manitowoc Vennskap kubb players in action. 
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Another popular war-game might have been invented by marauding Vikings as they trained their men in

battle strategy. Again, the King is to be destroyed.

This boardgame was a popular game  in medieval Scandinavia and was mentioned in several of the Norse Sagas. Hnefatafl ( Hef-eh-TAH-full) literally translates to "king’s table."

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All pieces move like the rook in chess-play and pieces are taken by"sandwiching" i.e. moving your piece so that an opponent’s piece is trapped horizontally or vertically between

two of yours. The battle begins as 'The Huns' attack from all four sides as the king of the opposition is found surrounded by his soldiers in the center of the scene.  Atttackers strive to prevent the king from reaching one of his corner castles, and if they trap him-battle over! As for the defenders, their objective is for their king to escape by reaching any of the four corner squares and safety. Their battle will be won.
 

  Everyone can enjoy this game due to the simple rules, but, like a Viking chieftain might have stressed,

 " Try to think like the enemy!".

   In this photo, while not enemies,  the granddaughters contemplate the action and it appears the king has two paths in which  to escape, and the game goes on.