39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 (everything else)

[Ian Kingston]

Chessvibes reports that we're in for another four years of leadership from our favourite alien abductee.

[Michael Jones]

Look on the bright side Ian - maybe next time the aliens will decide not to release him.

[Ian Kingston]

Look on the bright side Ian - maybe next time the aliens will decide not to release him.

We can hope. Where's Fox Mulder when you need him?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Does anyone know what these Olympiad "category" prizes are?

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.a ... -1&wi=1000

[Roger de Coverly]

Does anyone know what these Olympiad "category" prizes are?

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.a ... -1&wi=1000

Team equivalent of a grading prize - best score by a team with an average rating of under 2200 - that sort of thing.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Does anyone know what these Olympiad "category" prizes are?

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.a ... -1&wi=1000

Team equivalent of a grading prize - best score by a team with an average rating of under 2200 - that sort of thing.

Ah, thanks. Presumably England are in group A, but just off the top 10. I've also just worked out what "Rank 1,2,3 get no category prize" means. It means the overall winners (of gold, silver and bronze), not the teams coming 1, 2, 3 in the category sections. Presuming that 1, 2,3 comes from group A, then fourth place will likely be the winner of the group A category prize. Wonder what the prizes are?

[Ola Winfridsson]

Chessvibes reports that we're in for another four years of leadership from our favourite alien abductee.

And in addition to this, Silvio Danailov has become the president of the ECU.

[Roger de Coverly]

And in addition to this, Silvio Danailov has become the president of the ECU.

I'm not sure the choice was particularly inspiring.

The German guy failed to organise an Olympiad team bearing any resemblance to their objective strongest.

The Turkish guy is not only in favour of zero default times, but wanted to propose a system of fines for late arrivals. In addition he thought that players should have to ask permission of their national federation to play in other national federation's territory.

[benedgell]

"Ilyumzhinov also seeks the expansion of chess tournaments to new parts of the globe. Recently, tournaments have been held not in Paris or NY but in Nalchik, Elista, Peru, Libya and Iran. Ilymzhinov is very happy with these changes."

[Alex Holowczak]

What I don't understand here is that we can clearly see how dreadful the policies of Ilyumzhinov and some of the ECU candidates are. I want to know:
a) Why can we see this, but the rest of the world can't?
b) Why are these the only candidates? Surely there must be some sensible candidates somewhere in Europe to stand for Presidency of the ECU?

My fear is that Danailov will use this as a springboard to be Kirsan's replacement.

[benedgell]

Slight aside, I love the bit at the start of the video report from Europe Echecs (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6710) where Kasparov gets shouted down by the Bermudan Delegate.

[Ola Winfridsson]

And in addition to this, Silvio Danailov has become the president of the ECU.

I'm not sure the choice was particularly inspiring.

The German guy failed to organise an Olympiad team bearing any resemblance to their objective strongest.

The Turkish guy is not only in favour of zero default times, but wanted to propose a system of fines for late arrivals. In addition he thought that players should have to ask permission of their national federation to play in other national federation's territory.

True. You certainly have a point there. :-

[Michael Jones]

Sounds like Karpov is going to contest the result.

[benedgell]

http://www.ugra-chess.com/node/435

A few points from this article (All quotes from Karpov):

"There will be no more fees for FIDE International titles."

"The World Chess Championship Match will include 14 or 16 games. The final decision will be taken by the best chess players of the world. The number of games of the final match, semifinals and quarterfinals will depend on it."

"On behalf of the FIDE leadership and FIDE delegates I would like to state that everything (at the Olympiad) including accommodation, catering and playing hall is prepared on the highest level."

[Michael Jones]

The Turkish guy is not only in favour of zero default times, but wanted to propose a system of fines for late arrivals. In addition he thought that players should have to ask permission of their national federation to play in other national federation's territory.

I can kind of see his point (the first one; the second is just bonkers). Obviously at the level where some of us rely on public transport to get to the playing venue and others may have a car but a lousy set of directions (or an incompetent navigator), we may have good reason for being late, but at an invitational tournament where players are being paid an appearance fee, and are probably staying either in the same building as the playing hall or somewhere very close by, not being ready to play at the appointed time is plain bad manners - to the organisers, sponsors and spectators, not to mention the opponent. Obviously the arbiter would have to exercise some discretion (ie check whether there was a valid reason for the lateness) rather than applying the penalty automatically, but if it was just due to oversleeping/not being bothered etc., I can't see any reasonable objection to an automatic default. Can you envisage, for instance, a tennis player not being present on court at the scheduled start time for a match, his opponent serving four aces to an empty court then waiting around for half an hour for him to turn up and start his service game? If I turn up for work late I don't get paid for the time I'm not there, and if I did it on a regular basis I'd no doubt get fired.