2008 World Xiangqi Masters Tournament Registers 1,000th Game Played

London, September 9, 2008 - World Mind Masters (WMM), co-organiser with the Board and Card Games Directorate of the General Administration of Sport of China of the 2008 World Xiangqi Masters Tournament, announced today that in the last 12 days, over 1,000 games have been played in the online tournament on its website – worldmindmasters.com.

“This is a great start to the 2008 tournament, and with 13 weeks to go in the online competition the number of players registering and entering through our website continues to grow,” WMM CEO Don Morris said. “We believe this is indicative of the continuing rise in popularity of intellectual sports among young people in China and around the world. It’s also particularly good news as Beijing gears up to host the first World Mind Sports Games in October, when 198 Xiangqi players from 31 countries will be competing,” he added.

The World Xiangqi Masters Tournament is open to anyone with a computer and Internet access. Players who register are immediately placed within the World Mind Masters ranking system and a potential pool of millions of online qualifiers who play against each other to reach the top 32, winning all-expenses paid trips to Beijing for live knockout rounds in December.

“We are delighted by the response to our new website which was launched together with the tournament on August 28,” said Morris. “This year, with the sports channel of China’s leading online news and content Internet portal Sina.com (a division of SINA Corporation NASDAQ: SINA) as our official online media partner, we are looking forward to reaching out to more and more Xiangqi players, encouraging them to come to our site not just to play, but to join our community and participate in blogs and discussions about the great game of Xiangqi.”

As in previous years, the top 32 online qualifiers who make it to Beijing are reduced to 12, who go through to face China’s top 12 players in the finals. This 24-player knockout for the World Xiangqi Masters title culminates in a medals ceremony and banquet in Beijing’s legendary Great Hall of the People, with prize money totaling US$40,000.

Online qualifying is open now, and players can learn more and enter by visiting www.worldmindmasters.com.

World Mind Masters Limited (WMM) is a rights and events owner and organizer dedicated to the major intellectual Asian and Western mind games. As the only professional international promoter of intellectual games events in China, WMM has established the official World Xiangqi Masters Tournament in partnership with the Board and Card Games Directorate of the General Administration of Sport of China. Having successfully hosted online and live World Xiangqi Masters events in 2005, 2006 and 2007, WMM intends to add to its stable of annual events by introducing championship events in other great intellectual mind games, including Go, Shogi, Checkers and International Chess.

For more information contact:
Momentum54 Limited
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Alastair Monteith-Hodge
+852 2521 5454
alastair@momentum54.com

This release was published on openPR.