Lucky Pens

[MJMcCready]

Mr McCready, I am puzzled. Surely you realise that, when a company sponsors a chess event, they do so in hope of receiving favourable attention. Thus the BCF decided many years ago that it would not accept sponsorship from tobacco companies, long before that became standard practice.

I am planning to go for the FIDE Congress. I doubt Kasparov will attend the Olympiad. He is not popular with FIDE officials currently.
What is 'nard'?[/quote]

Yes, okay so to answer, the general consensus concerning the ruling family of Azerbaijan, that being the Aliyevs,is one of antipathy towards chess and anything else that can be broadly defined as a cultural activity. The Azeri government (which is not a company) has wealth beyond belief and in general their primary interest is putting their tiny little nation on the map, its not an attention grabbing exercise strictly speaking, its more to do with pride of their nation, pride of their new found wealth (oil, courtesy of what was dubbed the deal of the century, with BP some ten years or so back) and a general desire to flash the cash. The Aliyevs are deeply despised by the populus, for example at the Euro games last year, rather than put their hands in their deep pockets, they forced all civil servants to take a 20% pay cut to pay for certain aspects of it. The average salary of a high school teacher is $100 a month, so you can imagine how ell that went down. They are super-rich, invest little into their nation and are deeply despised as a result. They are clever enough to pay the police very well, and I can link a youtube video which I once witnessed of what happens when you voice your contempt.

To answer your question; primarily the Azeris don't have a worldview as such, they are more concerned with regional affairs, since technically they are at war with Armenia, and showing they ahead of their neighbours. They just like to flash their cash for their own amusement, but the closer they can move away from Russia (who backs Armenia) towards Europe the better, there is already a pipeline that supplies Turkey with natural gas, and for some years now there have been many overtures to bring Azerbaijan into the EU...which of course will never happen since its a police state and will remain an oligarchy.

As you know Baku is Kasparov's home town but he is so guarded about his upbringing, its hard to know if he wants to go there. I'm not sure what role FIDE officials would play in that, please explain. When I lived there, I always asked people if they knew who he was. Everyone did but the responses were abstruse to say the least. Upon mention of his name, you would only get a collection of worried faces and repeated assertions that his mother was Armenian...they didn't really accept him as one of their own but that probably had more to do with the fact that he continued to play for Russia after Azerbaijan gained independence. When the more senior figures I spoke to mentioned him, the fact that he was once world champion was never ever mentioned, they spoke reluctantly as though he was a traitor but never said so. They love the stars of the day, Kasparov is, comparatively, irrelevant in spite of how great he was and I do believe Rajubov once gave him a very sound thrashing.

Regarding Nard, best to google it, a cross between backgammon and carom? I never could work it out...very much an old man's game. You see it absolutely everywhere. Chess is only played in one or two parks by amateur clubs, all the players are knocking on a bit. Azerbaijan is quite like England chesswise, they have some great players and some high-profile events but beyond that the game is in decline. The principal difference between the two nations is that Azerbaijan has retained its class division between the elite and the general public (formerly the proletariat) who are, generally speaking looked down upon. When I went to watch the candidates in Oct 2014, the venue was a luxurious opera house, the general public were discouraged from entering, but juniors attending with coaches, foreigners, journalists and those from the upper echelons of society were welcome. It meant that the playing venue was almost empty even though it could accommodate thousands, and the club I went to broadcast it live, which is where its members watched the play unfold. At least in England you can enter a venue to watch chess no matter how scruffy you are...anyway that's quite enough for now.

[NickFaulks]

I doubt Kasparov will attend the Olympiad. He is not popular with FIDE officials currently.

That hasn't stopped him before.

[Roger de Coverly]

That hasn't stopped him before.

Is the Aliyev who is the current big cheese in Azerbaijan, not the son of the Soviet era local political boss who supported Kasparov against the Soviet Chess Federation?

[Stewart Reuben]

It amused me that, in 1996, at the opening cermony for the Olympiad in Armenia, Gary was part of the Opening Ceremony, billed as World Champion. At that time Karpov was the official World Champion. Then Karpov later attended the FIDE Congress, billed as World Champion. At the closing Ceremony, Gary again joined in as World Champion.
More serious is whether Armenia will play. Also Ashot Vardapetian is Chairman of the Rules Commission. Will he participate?

[John Clarke]

Re the business of hiding (or not) the scoresheet: I suppose this means an opponent who's fallen behind with scoring near the time-control is always able to refer to the other guy's sheet to see how many moves have been played. Something that a mean-minded opponent could stop him from doing back in the bad old days.

[John Clarke]

.... its a police state and will remain an oligarchy.

Sounds as though "kleptocracy" would be a more accurate term. Though most oligarchies do seem to degenerate to that point sooner or later.

[John McKenna]

Technically, can it be termed a kleptocracy when the ruling family legally own the wealth of the state?

That could be the case in the case under discussion - as opposed to the case of the Marcos family in the Philippines, say, which can be called a kleptocracy because state assets were purloined that were not all legally the property of the ruling family.

[MJMcCready]

That hasn't stopped him before.

Is the Aliyev who is the current big cheese in Azerbaijan, not the son of the Soviet era local political boss who supported Kasparov against the Soviet Chess Federation?

Yes that is correct, his name was Heydar Aliyev and he did everything in his power to promote Kasparov.

[MJMcCready]

It amused me that, in 1996, at the opening cermony for the Olympiad in Armenia, Gary was part of the Opening Ceremony, billed as World Champion. At that time Karpov was the official World Champion. Then Karpov later attended the FIDE Congress, billed as World Champion. At the closing Ceremony, Gary again joined in as World Champion.
More serious is whether Armenia will play. Also Ashot Vardapetian is Chairman of the Rules Commission. Will he participate?

I think Gary lost his Jewish father when he was young and was closer to his mother. It's possible he identifies more with his Armenian ancestry. Whenever he talks of Baku in the 70s he just describes it as a backwater.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Re the business of hiding (or not) the scoresheet: I suppose this means an opponent who's fallen behind with scoring near the time-control is always able to refer to the other guy's sheet to see how many moves have been played. Something that a mean-minded opponent could stop him from doing back in the bad old days."

They still can (and there's nothing wrong with it) - the Laws only require the arbiter to be able to see the score sheet.

[Saul Richman]

I keep using the same pen until I lose. Then I throw it away.
I have got through 00s of pens...

[John Hickman]

The players will be not allowed to bring mobiles, watches and pens. The organizers will provide pens for every player

I brought my ...



The organisers provided me with a ...