London Candidates?

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Mick Norris
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Mick Norris » Sat Feb 11, 2012 7:19 pm

JustinHorton wrote:I thought it was held at the Riverside Theatre.
That rings a bell, I went 1 of the days, but my recollection has dimmed over the years

Must have been close to the water as I do recall seeing a penguin there

In the audience you could listen on headphones to commentary (Danny King? Andrew Martin??)

I am not sure how I would rate it with my other chess spectating - candidates (sponsored by Pilkington Glass) in London, or the Interzonal(?) in Biel

Linares (Short-Karpov and Timman-Jusapow) was favourite, the hotel (Anibal?) was nearly deserted, it was quite drive from Granada, and we got lost on the way - stopped next to a police car, wound window down, said "Ajadrez" and got a police escort to the venue
Any postings on here represent my personal views

John McKenna

Re: London Candidates?

Post by John McKenna » Sat Feb 11, 2012 7:31 pm

Thanks everyone for the memories to and Tristan for showing his ticket. Justin was right.

David Sedgwick
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by David Sedgwick » Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:49 am

Europe Echecs has an article at http://www.europe-echecs.com/actualites ... -4072.html, with a link to an Azerbaijani article at http://www.extratime.az/article.php?aid=265244. (Use Google Translate from Russian for the latter.)

John McKenna

Re: London Candidates?

Post by John McKenna » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:11 am

No new news, but going back in time again: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=452
RDK pontificates and speculates in his idiosyncratic way.
It includes the word 'burocratic' please remember the caveat that it may be a Shakespearean snare for the unwary.
Wait, some breaking news... but it's about the possible demise of the (tabloid) Sun, and if that were to happen the Times & Sunday Times could go as well!?
Also, Alastair Campbell was heard to say the PCC was, is and will be a joke!
What's new?
Last edited by John McKenna on Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

John McKenna

Re: London Candidates?

Post by John McKenna » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:22 am

In yesterday's Times (13/2/2012) RDK did chess a service in pointing out "access to a complete archive of all Boris Spassky's (75 years old on 30/1/2012) games, many with notes, can be reached via The Times chess twitter feed (@times_chess)."

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:39 pm

Chessbase article on the Candidates' tournament and potential fixture pile-ups:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7917

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Paolo Casaschi
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:57 pm

John McKenna wrote:In yesterday's Times (13/2/2012) RDK did chess a service in pointing out "access to a complete archive of all Boris Spassky's (75 years old on 30/1/2012) games, many with notes, can be reached via The Times chess twitter feed (@times_chess)."
He could have done an even better service pointing out that the http://www.chessgames.com provides access to a very good archive of all major chess players, including Boris Spassky http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=21136 (without the need of any middleman or twittbok link)

Roger de Coverly
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:17 pm

There's more on this at ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7936

It appears confirmed that Azerbaijan are paying for it, which is why they get to select the wildcard, but holding it in London presumably because Aronian wouldn't play in Baku.

It still leaves open the question as to why FIDE have devolved the organisation of the Candidates Tournament and other future events to the unknown and untested entity of Agon.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Alex Holowczak » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:20 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:It still leaves open the question as to why FIDE have devolved the organisation of the Candidates Tournament and other future events to the unknown and untested entity of Agon.
I naively thought that it might be something to do with "FIDE to receive 10-12 million Euros for upcoming cycles".

It sounds like they get guaranteed money without the hassle of trying to organise it.

Michael Jones
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Michael Jones » Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:00 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:There's more on this at ChessBase http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7936

It appears confirmed that Azerbaijan are paying for it, which is why they get to select the wildcard, but holding it in London presumably because Aronian wouldn't play in Baku.

It still leaves open the question as to why FIDE have devolved the organisation of the Candidates Tournament and other future events to the unknown and untested entity of Agon.
Because they couldn't possibly make a bigger mess of organising such events than FIDE manage by themselves?

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:08 pm

Michael Jones wrote:Because they couldn't possibly make a bigger mess of organising such events than FIDE manage by themselves?
A very fair point :lol:
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

Roger de Coverly
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:15 am

Alex Holowczak wrote: I naively thought that it might be something to do with "FIDE to receive 10-12 million Euros for upcoming cycles".
If you are an international or even a national "sporting" body, you should be cautious about accepting promises from untested third parties. Think cricket and Stanford or even ECF and "chess in schools". Kirsan has a fifteen year track record of undelivered promises and has purported to have sold chess to commercial operators almost as often as the Brooklyn bridge.

I doubt AGON have promised 10 million Euro, rather they have promised to try and raise 10 million for FIDE to spend on events. The money for the London candidates is said to come from Baku rather than Agon.

David Sedgwick
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by David Sedgwick » Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:58 am


Kevin Thurlow
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Re: London Candidates?

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:12 pm

“Are you sitting comfortably, children? Then I’ll begin…”

Surely this was "Listen with Mother", not Jackanory?

Danailov talks about a "singed agreement", presumably from close contact with the fires of Hell.

I have to say I share their scepticism...
"Kevin was the arbiter and was very patient. " Nick Grey

Graham Borrowdale

Re: London Candidates?

Post by Graham Borrowdale » Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:39 pm

I also share Giddins' and Danailov's scepticism.
However, I am sure Danailov's annoyance is more to do with his man, Topalov, now probably missing out on a place. The saying "what goes around comes around" springs to mind.
Personally, I find the idea of a national federation 'buying' a candidates slot dubious to say the least. It means players from countries with heavy state involvement (funding) in chess have an inbuilt advantage. As Radjabov is so highly rated nobody seems to be objecting, but if Adams (for example) were rated 5th in the world he would still most likely not get a place.