After pleasantries had been exchanged and players reunited with each other, after a year or for some several years’ absence, the opening ceremony began. After tournament formalities had been dispensed with. Tournament rules were explained, pairings made and the players got down to business. Due to the number of entries the number of games per match was reduced from the normal best of 5 to 3. The tournament featured 3 former champions: Danildo da Cunha, Fernando Tavares and Serik Aktayev.

It quickly became apparent the females in the Kazakh contingent were gunning for the top spot and were taking no prisoners. Former champions (Fernando Tavares) were dispatched by Assel Daliyeva in a 2 straight win. That was not the end she went on to win all her games bar 3 and eventually placed 3rd. The first female to do so in a usually male dominated tournament, the other females did well as well taking matches from the males players.

Players who had not participated in a tournament for years showed great resilience and caused some major upsets. Players showed great stamina by playing for 7 hours with just a lunch break. After this some players went to the extended part of the festival and carried on playing well after midnight. Fatigue eventually got the better of at least one player who had to retire for the night.

Matches resumed on Sunday morning with players completing matches uncompleted from the day before and matches they had not commenced. Games were played in quick succession and it was a close call as to whether all the matches would be completed as some players had to leave early to catch their flights back to their countries. Fortunately all matches were completed within schedule for the closing ceremony to take place.

In the end it was the 2010 champion Serik Aktayev from Kazakhstan who reclaimed his title due to his absence in 2011, without losing a match. Hot on his heals was Fernando Tavares who placed 2nd and 3rd Assel Aktayev the first female to position in the top 3. Despite the stiff competition some player’s improved on their performance from previous years.

The closing ceremony was a short brief and emotional affair, due to some players having to leave to catch their flights. Announced at the ceremony was our intention to host a World Oware Tournament in 2016 to commemorate the 20th time of hosting Awale tournaments in Cannes. We hope to feature as well as a Junior/Senior Tournament a Master’s Tournament. Hopefully featuring players from Antigua & Barbuda, Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria, UK, France etc.

We all said our heart warm felt good byes after enjoying each others company for the weekend.By 2pm Sunday, everything was wrapped up.