An international youth tournament with no venue and no grandstands closes registration the day before play begins. Over six editions, students from different countries have met at an online board to play Gomoku. After the sixth, the organizer posted a short questionnaire: should the tournament continue?
Six editions, one organizer: ranked sixth in the world
The event is called the International Schoolchildren Gomoku Online Olympiade. It is for primary school students and is played online. By August 22, 2026, Ants Soosõrv had organized six editions.
Ants Soosõrv is from Tallinn, Estonia, and has long organized online events in Estonia and under the RIF, the International Renju Federation. He also remains a formidable player: on the renju.net world ratings list in October 2026, he ranked sixth with a rating of 2818.
That combination makes the question unusually concrete. The person asking knows the game and knows what it takes to put an online tournament together. There is no permanent venue; registration, pairings, and games all depend on a platform and sustained organizing work. Each edition ultimately continues because someone is willing to handle those details.
Why online, and why Gomoku rather than Renju: lowering the bar
In the December 8, 2025 announcement, the opening round was set for Saturday, December 13, with registration closing the day before. The logic was plain: students and coaches did not need to travel to the same city. On a weekend, they could simply sit down at an online board.
In the questionnaire, the organizer made clear that he would not turn the event into Renju. One reason, he said, was that the tournament aims to attract new players, and Gomoku is easier to enter. Of the four questions, this was the only one he answered himself. The others were left open to coaches and players.
The field is made up of primary school students. An online format saves more than travel costs: a player first confronts stones, rounds, and opponents, rather than an entire Renju system that must be learned in advance. One possible explanation is that a playable competition makes a better starting point than a complete body of theory. That also fits the organizer’s reason for keeping the event in Gomoku.
Lower the barrier first. Let new players sit down at the board. That is why this tournament chooses Gomoku.
The August questionnaire: should it continue?
On August 22, 2026, the organizer published a short questionnaire, inviting coaches to respond and welcoming parents and players as well. It asked four questions: should the tournament continue; if so, how should the format change; would respondents promote it in their country or club and bring in more players; and would Renju be better?
The immediate backdrop was a modest decline in participating countries and numbers in recent years. The change was not dressed up as a grand conclusion. It simply made the next edition something to discuss: keep the current approach, or adjust the format and promotion first, then see whether registration recovers.
Handing the questions to participants also keeps the event’s boundaries visible. The questionnaire asks about rules and promotion, continuation and responsibility: who is willing to do part of the work in their country or club? The tournament’s future therefore rests on several answerable questions, not on the vague promise to “make it better.”
The problem of experienced players using schemes against beginners
The one situation the organizer explicitly said he disliked was experienced players using “schemes” against beginners. Here, schemes means memorized opening patterns: a player knows the standard variations and how early moves can steer a game toward a line they have prepared.
For someone who understands the game, an opening scheme is the product of training. For a student new to competition, the game may already be out of balance before they have formed a judgment of their own. Students need room to think in the moment. A scheme takes that room away in advance.
A tournament for newcomers cannot count only wins and losses. It must also ask whether beginners had a chance to understand why they lost.
What else Tallinn offers beyond the online board
Tallinn’s online chess life extends beyond this tournament. vint.ee is an Estonian online board-game platform where world champion Tomoharu Nakayama of Japan runs a Renju blitz series every Saturday. Registration is open, and players from any country can log on to play him.
The same platform also hosts an official Gomoku series with prizes, though only verified players may enter. Seen together, the two series show how an online board can support both open practice and formal competition with eligibility restrictions. The barrier changes with the purpose.
There is also a memorial thread tied to Tallinn. Estonian player, RenjuNews founder, and RIF vice president Tunnet Taimla died in 2023. Since then, the Tunnet Memorial has returned online each year. Tournaments, practice games, and memorial events serve different purposes, but they share one way of continuing: someone is willing to put the next date on the calendar.
The next stop is already on the calendar
The 2026/27 season is already listed on the RIF calendar: a trial event is scheduled for November 14, 2026, in Tallinn, followed by the first round on December 5. The rules registered for the event are Gomoku - Swap 2.
Those dates do not answer the questionnaire. They only show that the tournament has reserved a place for another season. The countries and numbers represented, any changes to the format, and which coaches or clubs are willing to promote it will still be answered by registration and response.
A tournament stays alive because someone asks again each year: will students still come, do the rules still fit, and have experienced players left beginners enough room to think? When the trial event arrives on November 14 and the first round on December 5, the answers will appear first in the number of players at the boards, the games they play, and how long they stay.
After six editions, the most valuable thing to preserve may be the question itself. Continuing means someone is willing to carry the event forward; adjusting means bringing the format closer to the games students actually face. For an online youth tournament, the next move can begin with a carefully completed questionnaire and a game won without relying on a scheme.