English Chess Forum

This has just started, in Turkey (of course) and England is not one of the ten teams playing (I don't think we ever have been?). Thus the lack of interest on this forum, I daresay. But get this - I gather that Greece has beaten Russia!?

Once again, a quick trip to the wonderful Olimpbase website tells us what we want to know...

http://www.olimpbase.org/teamst/eng_tea.html

England played - and won the bronze medals - in 1985 and 1989, and finished 4th in 1997.

Greece and Turkey, Turkey and Armenia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, USA and Russia, Israel also in the field. Is this a chess tournament, or a political statement of international unity?

Alex Holowczak wrote:Greece and Turkey, Turkey and Armenia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, USA and Russia, Israel also in the field. Is this a chess tournament, or a political statement of international unity?

Accordingto FIDE Regulations D.07.11.6.2., the following Federations are entitled tosend a team:

Continental Champions: Russia, Brazil, China, Egypt

3 Qualifiers from Olympiad: Armenia, Israel, USA

Organiser Country and two invitedFederations by FIDE President's approval: Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Greece

From the tournament website regulations: http://wtcc2009.tsf.org.tr/content/view ... g,turkish/

So for England to qualify given that we can't win 3 of the continental championships and are unlikely to get the approval of the FIDE President or be able to afford to host the event that probably means having to win the European Team or finish in the Olympiad top 5 (at the very least) to qualify.

Wouldn't inviting the top ten from the Olympiad be fairer?

It seems a bit convoluted, but fair.

Presumably China didn't want to be in it, so India took their place?

The selection of Greece seems based on geography rather than chess ability. Surely Ukraine could have fielded a team capable of winning? Hungary? Germany? Bulgaria? France? Holding it at the same time as Wijk aan See probably doesn't help.

LozCooper wrote: Organiser Country and two invitedFederations by FIDE President's approval: Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Greece

My slightly jaundiced reading of that is ...

Turkey = Ali Nihat Yazici (fair enough having the host country, I guess)
Azerbaijan = Azmaiparashvili (a Georgian but the captain of the winning Azeri team in the Euro Team Championship)
Greece = Makropoulos

So if you really want England to play in this competition, then the best strategy might be to get an Englishman appointed a vice-president of FIDE.

More seriously... I'm not sure about just picking the top ten from the last Olympiad. One point behind the event is to be inclusive, i.e. have a couple of teams from continents such as Africa and South America. It doesn't seem a bad idea to give them a chance in the big time. There is plenty of other big-time chess in Europe which we have reasonable access to to but they don't.

It's odd that I remember nothing about our 1997 entry. Now that I think a bit, I can see why we qualified - our much forgotten triumph in the European Team Chs in 1997 (Pula, I think). But then - nothing at all about our finishing 4th in the World Team Chs. Was Short on the same team as Miles, and behind Adams? Did Norwood captain it? Did Sadler score 80% again? Did Speelman have lots of vegetarian draws with white? Did Hodgson make the trip for entertainment value? No, can't remember a thing!

No need for memory work, Jonathan. Simply look it up in your copy of the relevant BCM.

P.S. When you do look it up in BCM, you will chuckle when you re-read the following exchange between England captain and England team member on preparations for travel to the 1997 World Team Championship...

BCM, 1997, NN wrote:Captain: "We have to decide who is going to take what."

Player: "I can take whatever you like."

Captain: "Well, then, we've got the vodka and tequila covered, so perhaps you could take the whisky."

Of course, I always obey my captain.

Two questions... first, the easy one: who was the captain?... second, more difficult: who was the player/writer of these lines?

Norwood and Nunn, one of the few post-1990 bits of chess history I remember.

Nakamura with a great win with black v Gelfand the world cup winner check it out well worth a look. Let me know your views please on the game . [Date "2010.01.09"]

[Round "?"]

[White "GM_Gelfand"]

[Black "GM_Nakamura"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "2761"]

[BlackElo "2708"]

[Opening "King's Indian: orthodox, Aronin-Taimanov variation (Yugoslav attack / Mar del Plata variation)"]

[ECO "E97"]

[NIC "KI.07"]

[Time "07:53:08"]

[TimeControl "5400+30"]



1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5

Ne7 9. Nd2 Ne8 10. b4 f5 11. c5 Nf6 12. f3 f4 13. Nc4 g5 14. a4 Ng6 15. Ba3

Rf7 16. b5 dxc5 17. Bxc5 h5 18. a5 g4 19. b6 g3 20. Kh1 Bf8 21. d6 axb6 22.

Bg1 Nh4 23. Re1 Nxg2 24. dxc7 Nxe1 25. Qxe1 g2+ 26. Kxg2 Rg7+ 27. Kh1 Bh3

28. Bf1 Qd3 29. Nxe5 Bxf1 30. Qxf1 Qxc3 31. Rc1 Qxe5 32. c8=Q Rxc8 33. Rxc8

Qe6 {Black wins} 0-1

That's what one plays the King's Indian for

Greece has now beaten Armenia!! (With Kotronias on board one!)

Doesn't surprise me Jonathan. Greece are a strong team who often play above their seeding. Kotronias is a talent who unfortunately suffers from a certain amount of inconsistency which prevents him from rising above 2650ish (I am half Greek so am a little biased)

He should still never, ever, have been allowed to play in the British Championship, though