Kazan chosen as a compromise between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Arkady Dvorkovich about the Candidates Matches

Arkady Dvorkovich, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Chess Federation, revealed some details about the Candidates Matches, which will be held from 3 to 27 May 2011 in Kazan, Russia.

Q: Why did you propose Kazan as venue for the Candidates Matches?

A: When FIDE understood that having Armenian chess player competing on the Azerbaijan soil became impossible, we decided to act as peacemakers. We stated that we are open for proposals from all countries, but if nobody should stand up, we are prepared to resolve the situation. Tatarstan is capable of hosting such event and we know that they won’t have organizational problems, that everything will function perfectly. And we will share the financial costs.

Q: According to the FIDE regulations, the host of the Candidates Matches is entitled to nominate one player. GM Mamedyarov, a nominee of Azerbaijan, will compete in Kazan. Why did Russian Chess Federation agree to this?

A: It was part of the compromise.

Q: Compromise at our expense?

A: Yes, for the peace efforts of Russia. Sometimes it is necessary to reaffirm our position of the leaders in the chess world and that we have influence in the decision-making. Yes, there is the cost, but more important is what we do for our country’s reputation.

Q: But Sergey Karjakin could have played …

A: Of course, we would have liked to include another of our players, but we also want to have all the world’s strongest players competing, and without the Armenian Grandmaster, the chess world would be at huge loss.

Q: You said that we are the leaders in the chess world. Perhaps we are, in moral terms, but the leadership is in fact already lost …

A: We lost the crowns of World Champions, it is sad, of course. But if you look at the rating list of top 100 players, Russia is still dominating. However, the competition is constantly growing stronger, that is true.

More about the Candidates Matches:

Pairings / Schedule / Live coverage

Topalov – Kamsky preview / Kramnik – Radjabov preview / Levon Aronian preparing

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

There were some early technical issues with the LIVE video feed of the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiyk, Russia. The problems were fixed not long after that. Unfortunately, not too many people knew about this LIVE coverage ahead of time. The time difference also played a major role in having a relatively small audience.

Among the viewers of the LIVE video feed were Mark Crowther (TWIC), Peter Doggers (Chessvibes), and other journalists, etc. The Khanty-Mansiyk organizers went out of their way to put on quite a good Opening Ceremony. Nice job!

Among the speakers were Russian President Medvedev (by video), FIDE President Ilyumzhunov, and head of Russian Chess Federation Dvorkovich, etc.

I will be heading to Khanty-Masiysk from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, soon. I will share with you my experience on location once I am there.

If you are on facebook, don’t forget to check out http://www.facebook.com/polgarchess. Once you click “like”, you will be able to get all the updated news and info instantly. It is free

Our friends at Chessdom has some of the pictures here.

Enjoy!

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

According to a report in kommersant the Russian Chess Federation (RCF) in two letters signed by presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich has written to FIDE asking for significant changes to the next World Championship cycle both for Men and Women.

Nor are they the only critics. Emil Sutovsky has proposed Changes to the current Candidates cycle. He wishes to separate the Final of the Candidates from the Quarter and Semi-Final stages.

Proposals:

Move the Candidates tournament from Baku to Kazan. They cite the fact that due to the poor relations between Azerbaijan and Armenian it will be impossible for Aronian to play in Baku.

Here is more about the women’s cycle:

Change to the method of determining the women’s champion to a match tournament. They wish the winner of the World Cup (currently this will actually be the World Championship), Grand Prix and top rated player meet the champion Alexandra Kosteniuk who they think doesn’t have the advantages she should get as World Champion.

I think the article has its dates mixed up. According to the FIDE calendar the Women’s World Championship will be a KO in Hatay, Turkey in December this year. I believe they’re proposing to downgrade this to a World Cup and have the winner qualify for their Match Tournament. I presume then the match tournament will be in 2011. (The article quotes 2011 for the World Cup and 2012 for the World Championship so its not that clear)

FIDE are thought to be against changing the rules half way through a cycle.

More info is available on TWIC: http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/politics/russian-chess-federation-ask-for-world-title-changes

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

Bakh, who offered no explanation for his decision, will leave his post July 10, and Igor Levitov has been appointed acting director.

Bakh supported Anatoly Karpov as Russia’s nominee for the presidency of FIDE, the world chess federation, against the wishes of Dvorkovich, who proposed incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, leader of Kalmykia.

Source: http://www.themoscowtimes.com

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar