Chess Olympiad teams will be topless

Vijay Tagore
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 03:26 IST

AICF ‘understands’ Viswanathan Anand’s position but unhappy with Koneru Humpy’s decision to skip the event in Germany in November

MUMBAI: The Indian team for the Chess Olympiad will be topless. Virtually. Both Viswanathan Anand and Koneru Humpy, the best man and woman players in India — and the world too — will not be taking part in the biannual tournament. The Olympiad is scheduled to be held in Dresden, Germany, from November 12 to 25.

Anand, the world champion and world No 1 at Elo 2798, and Humpy, the world No 1 woman player (after Judith Polgar who doesn’t play in the women’s category) at Elo 2622, have conveyed their unavailability to the All India Chess Federation although the AICF is hoping against hope that one of them will make it to the tournament.

Prior to the Olympiad, Anand will have just finished his high-voltage World Championship match against Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn and is expected to miss the Olympiad, irrespective of the result of the contest. The Kramnik match is from October 14 to November 2 and the Indian maestro would be too tired to play another tournament which starts 10 days later.

The AICF confirmed to DNA that Anand has already informed the federation that he would not be playing in the tournament but the federation has given him an option to make a decision after the Bonn match. “We’ve given him the option but we really don’t expect him to turn up. He would be tired by then and he will lose more than gain,” AICF spokesman Arvind Aron said. In the absence of Anand, the team could consist of K Sasikiran (2668), P Harikrishna (2622), GN Gopal (2572), SS Ganguly (2631) and Sandipan Chanda (2588).

Meanwhile, the AICF is peeved with Humpy’s decision to skip the tournament. “It is disappointing she has chosen not to play the Olympiad. We had a certain medal chance in the women’s section. Her presence would have galvanized the tournament,” said Aron.
Added a senior official: “The AICF has always helped her. We can understand Anand’s position.” He also expressed disappointment that her father-cum-coach Koneru Ashok, who was bestowed with the Dronacharya Award last year, did not prevail upon her to play for the country rather than a club tournament in Europe.

Source: DNA India

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The 2008 Pan-Am Youth Championship is held in Cordoba, Argentina from June 29 to July 6, 2008. A number of our players and their parents were not able to get to the playing site of the 2008 Pan-Am Youth timely due to the weather, especially in Buenos Aires. Some are just able to get on the plane to get to Cordoba now.

Fortunately, the organizer delayed the beginning of the championships to accommodate many players and their coaches who are stuck.

Good luck to everyone! I will also be heading to Argentina next week.

Here are the players who are rated over 2700. There are 29 of them!!

Rank Name Country Rating

1 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2798
2 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2788
3 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2788
4 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2781
5 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2777
6 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2775
7 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2744
8 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2742
9 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2741
10 Leko, Peter HUN 2741
11 Svidler, Peter RUS 2738
12 Aronian, Levon ARM 2737
13 Adams, Michael ENG 2735
14 Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2728
15 Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2727
16 Movsesian, Sergei SVK 2723
17 Kamsky, Gata USA 2723
18 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2720
19 Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2718
20 Gashimov, Vugar AZE 2717
21 Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2716
22 Polgar, Judit HUN 2711
23 Bu, Xiangzhi CHN 2710
24 Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2709
25 Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB 2708
26 Alekseev, Evgeny RUS 2708
27 Ni, Hua CHN 2705
28 Milov, Vadim SUI 2705
29 Wang, Yue CHN 2704

Source: FIDE

Standings after 2 rounds:

1-3. Kramnik, Leko, Gustafsson 1½
4-5. Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi 1
6-8. Ivanchuk, van Wely, Naiditsch ½

I am not sure why there is a need to have a rest day after 2 rounds for a 7 round tournament. But today is a rest day at the Dortmund tournament. Round 3 will resume on Tuesday.

Round 3 Pairings:

Naiditsch – Kramnik
Ivanchuk – Nepomniachtchi
van Wely – Leko
Mamedjarow – Gustafsson

Troitsky 1911, presented by Andreas

White to move. How should White proceed?

8/2B5/p4q2/4N2p/4Pp1k/8/P5PK/8 w – - 0 1

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Spain crowned champions
Germany 0-1 Spain: Torres ends Spain’s pain
June 30, 2008, 3:00 AM ET

Fernando Torres was the hero for Spain by firing them to Euro 2008 glory against Germany in Vienna – and ending 44 years of underachievement.

Torres struck in the 33rd minute at Ernst Happel Stadion and despite the efforts of Germany skipper Michael Ballack, they held on to their lead to spark wild celebrations in Austria’s capital.

Heavyweights in European football who produce a constant stream of individual talents, Spain had not won a major tournament since 1964 but finally shook off their tag of being chokers, not able to cope with the pressure of the highest stage.

They have also been perceived as a nation divided by their regions – the lyrics to their national anthem are not used – but full-back Sergio Ramos had kept mentioning the word “united” this week, and when Torres secured the Henri Delaunay for them they were just that.

Just shy of his 70th birthday, Luis Aragones will now leave his post as coach, probably for Fenerbahce, as a champion. Vicente del Bosque has been tipped to take over and he will inherit a young squad who have their sights on the World Cup.

Here is the full story.

GM Kramnik (2788) – GM Van Wely (2677) [D11]
29.06.2008 / Dortmund – Round 2

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.Bb2 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0–0 Bd6 9.Nbd2 0–0 10.Ne5 Qe7 11.Qf3 Rfd8 12.Qh3 h6 13.f4 Bb4 14.Ndf3 Ne4 15.Nxd7 Rxd7 16.Ne5 Rc7 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.c5 bxc5 19.a3 Ba5 20.dxc5 Qxc5 21.b4 Qb5 22.Qg3 Bb6 23.Nd7 g6 24.Nf6+ Kf8 25.Be5 Rcc8 26.Qh4 h5 27.Nh7+ Ke8 28.Bd6 Rc7 29.Rfd1 White wins 1–0

Click here to replay the game.

Photo and story from ChessBase

Extract from Herald Chess Column, Scotland, Saturday June 28.

Which country are you in? ‘Scotland’, I imagine, is the reflexive answer for most Herald readers; ‘Britain’ for a few others. Neither answer seems wrong. So are you in two countries at the same time? On such questions I see abundant shades of grey, but some see it, aptly, in Black and White.

As indicated in today’s news section, Chessbase.com ran a provocative article: “The United Kingdom of Many Sporting Entities?” which suggests that we might be guilty of having our cake and eating it too. Does it make sense to represent Scotland internationally while travelling on a British passport? Former world championship challenger Nigel Short thinks not, and describes the situation as “absurd, anachronistic, and profoundly discriminatory.”

For those who value geopolitical clarity (an oxymoron?) this predicament is problematic because Scotland competes with England and Wales, fellow citizens, in the same way we compete with independent countries like India and China, but not with semi-autonomous regions, arguably nations, like Quebec or Catalonia, who do not have separate representation.

I have played for Scotland most of my life, and was also proud to represent Britain in a one-off match against China last year. Personally I am at ease with this sense of nested nationality, and I don’t see why my passport has to subsume my patriotism.

Scotland is, I feel, a country, but you don’t have to travel far to find people who disagree, and who have stern binary views on such matters. Britain may pride itself on its pick ‘n’ mix constitution, but in the eyes of foreigners we are an anomaly, tolerated only because our geopolitical pragmatism far exceeds our sporting prowess.

The importance of this issue is brought home by imagining that F.I.D.E is F.I.F.A and the discussion applies to football, which, as anybody who has listened to Radio Scotland will know, is a national obsession. The argument remains just as strong: one nation, one passport, one team!

This discussion acutely brings out the tension in being both Scottish and British. How much of our national identity is based on the possibility of flying the flag for Scotland in sporting competitions? What happens if you take away that form of expression? Do we forget we are Scottish? Or do we rebel against the loss of identity by demanding our own sovereign state?

Leaving our claims to nationhood to one side, getting separate representation in the first place was due to the fact that F.I.D.E, like F.I.F.A, is comprised of national federations rather than sovereign countries, but this looks more like an historical accident than a political principle. The question then becomes what you do with the mess you find yourself in, and whether trying to clean up the mess creates more problems than it solves.

Here is the full discussion on ChessBase.

Magnus Carlsen, Aerosvit winner, nears championship level
By Jack Peters, International Master
June 29, 2008

Magnus Carlsen of Norway took first prize in the Aerosvit tournament in Foros, Ukraine, with a very impressive 8-3 score. Carlsen built a two-point lead midway through the 12-grandmaster round robin. His margin of victory over Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, who finished second at 7-4, is misleading, as Ivanchuk won his last two games while Carlsen was content to draw most of his games in the second half.

Carlsen and Ivanchuk have been the most successful players in the last few months and should move into second and third places on the July rating list. World champion Viswanathan Anand leads by less than the result of one game.

Carlsen, 17, does not play in the style of former champions Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. He takes occasional short draws but seems fearless, rarely misses hidden tactical opportunities, frequently cedes material to avoid passivity, and regularly wins from slightly inferior positions. Those qualities describe Veselin Topalov, but Carlsen seems sounder and less fanatical. And he’s improving rapidly.

Here is the full story.

Round 2 pairings:

Leko-Ivanchuk
Kramnik-Van Wely
Nepomniachtchi- Mamedyarov
Gustafsson- Naiditsch

Standings after 1 round:

1-8 Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Leko, Mamedyarov, Naiditsch, Nepomniachtchi, Van Wely, Gustafsson 1/2