Hnefatafl World Championship 2021

 

The 2021 Hnefatafl World Championship took place from September 15 to December 12 last year. Like last year, the tournament was conducted on-line. A total of 35 players participated, from 15 countries.

Similar to previous years, there were two tournaments happening side-by-side. One used the modern Copenhagen rules, where the other used historical tawlbwrdd rules.

Plamen Dragonov, from Bulgaria, won both tournaments, and can now call himself both the Hnefatafl World Champion and the Historical Hnefatafl World Champion.

More information, including scores and moves of all games, can be found here. 

Drakkar set

I'd seen this 'Drakkar' hnefatafl set pop up on eBay several times, but always shied away from clicking the 'buy-it-now' button, because they all appeared to be located in Russia, and who knows where your money then goes and whether you'll ever see what you ordered .... But then, it wasn't very expensive, so the worst that could happen is me losing the money. So I bought a set in the end, and, even though it took a long time to arrive, it did eventually!

The set itself is made from wood, and a model of a Viking longboat serves both as a place to store the pieces, as well as for a board for another Nordic game, Daldos.

Of course, my interest was in the hnefatafl aspect of the set, and a cardboard board allows playing of a 9 x 9 version of the game.

The pieces are pretty rough and simple, but smell quite nice, of burnt wood!

Unique addition to the collection, this Drakkar set!