From 2 to 18 October, the African Draughts Championships will be held in Cotonou, Benin. These championships will comprise a number of Frisian and FRYSK! tournaments as well. There will at least be an African Frisian Championship, an African FRYSK! Championship, an African Frisian Championship for Women and an African FRYSK! Championship for Women. The total prize fund for these Frisian and FRYSK! Championships will probably amount to €6,000.

To encourage African players to participate in one or more of these competitions, a number of preliminary Lidraughts tournaments will be held. From 20 to 28 June, there will be four Qualifiers and one Finals. The Finals will be held on 28 June in the form of a round-robin tournament. A prize fund of €1,300 will be available for the eight finalists in these Finals. These prizes are intended to help players cover their travel costs for the Championships in Benin in October. Prizes will only be awarded if players actually come to Benin and participate in the African Frisian Championships.

The Qualifiers will be held on 20, 21, 23 and 25 June in the form of Arena tournaments. The top two players in each tournament will qualify for the Finals on 28 June. To participate in the Qualifiers, players must meet the following requirements:

1) They must have their place of residence in Africa.
2) They must be members of the WFD Team on Lidraughts.
3) They must have played at least 50 games of Frisian (not FRYSK!) on Lidraughts.

To help new players meet this last requirement and practise, a series of WFD Arena tournaments will be held on Lidraughts from Monday 25 June. These will take place daily from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. If necessary, more tournaments can be organised.

If you have any questions, please contact Liuwe H. Westra, Secretary of the WFD Foundation, at liuwe.westra@mensa.nl.

Hoi Liuwe, ik neem aan dat in de eennalaatste alinea 25 mei moet staan i.p.v. 25 juni? Heb een goed Pinksterweekend verder! :)

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