Candidates Tournament 2013

[Sean Hewitt]

Pragmatically, if attending the event live requires organising a trip to London, knowing what to expect is a pre-requisite. How extensive or limited the spectator facilities will be remains unknown and will probably remain so until those who have purchased first day tickets get a chance to report.

Absolutely. I suspect that most people would simply call or email the organisers before buying their tickets.

[Matthew Turner]

Even after a highly respected ECF official had advised them to contact the ECF Office?

[Carl Hibbard]

Even after a highly respected ECF official had advised them to contact the ECF Office?

Ok enough kiddies patience run out not a single more dig please from anyone or take some time off

[Jonathan Rogers]

Pragmatically, if attending the event live requires organising a trip to London, knowing what to expect is a pre-requisite. How extensive or limited the spectator facilities will be remains unknown and will probably remain so until those who have purchased first day tickets get a chance to report.

Absolutely. I suspect that most people would simply call or email the organisers before buying their tickets.

Only if, of course, they were able to feel completely sure who is truly organising it... It would not surprise me if we were to learn that AGON has performed rather like a British bank, and is being bailed out (in this case by FIDE) because what it is supposed to be running is regarded as too big to fail.

[Sean Hewitt]

Even after a highly respected ECF official had advised them to contact the ECF Office?

You're mixing your drinks again Matthew. I advised you to email the office, quoting your ECF membership number, in relation to your enquiry about what actions the ECF had taken to check out the arrangements for spectators before publicising an offer to its members. In case you've forgotten

"If you (or someone else within the ECF) has checked out the arrangements for spectators at the Candidates then I'd be grateful if he'd let us know. They don't seem to appear anywhere else."

That question can only be answered by the ECF, hence my reply, although you appear to have made contradictory statements as to whether you have emailed the ECF or not.

Roger's post, and my reply to him, was about what the arrangements actually are for spectators

Pragmatically, if attending the event live requires organising a trip to London, knowing what to expect is a pre-requisite. How extensive or limited the spectator facilities will be remains unknown and will probably remain so until those who have purchased first day tickets get a chance to report.

Absolutely. I suspect that most people would simply call or email the organisers before buying their tickets.

Clearly, that's a question for the organisers (or ticket sellers). Hope that helps to clarify your confusion.

If you want the ECF to post the email they have received and their reply (both in full) do say and I'm sure that can be arranged.

[John Foley]

Maria Yurenok is there with camera so pics will be on her site no doubt.

Ray Morris-Hill is usually quick off the mark and has some photos uploaded at http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com/Sport ... &k=X6fJmfk

[Jonathan Bryant]

Ray Morris-Hill is usually quick off the mark and has some photos uploaded at http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com/Sport ... &k=X6fJmfk

Thanks for the link (and thanks to R M-H for the photos).

At least now we know Andrew Paulson hasn't disappeared completely. I was beginning to wonder.

[David Blower]

Well I have got tickets for day 1.

I wonder if there is any commentry, or anything available to spectators as well. That said I got the ticket because I thought that seeing the top players in the world play chess in this country was enough in itself.

I wonder also if there are any display screens.

It will be interesting to see how long the players take between moves. I suspect it will be a bit slower than I take in the Wolverhampton League!

[Andrew Zigmond]

Perhaps I shouldn't be commenting further but I would point out that the ECF email that started this debate merely stated that ECF members could claim a discount on the ticket price. It was not an endorsement or a reccomendation of the event.

[Roger de Coverly]

At least now we know Andrew Paulson hasn't disappeared completely. I was beginning to wonder.

Takers for "spot the guest"? Using the "big" picture in the photostream, there's the lead writer for times_chess instantly identifiable (bottom left). Other than the Candidates themselves, the ex-editor of the BCM and Chess can be spotted (bottom middle). Rather more speculatively, do we see both the ex and current ECF Presidents, along with the ex ECF CEO?

(edit) Maria's pictures (translated)@
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... de%2F11378
or originals
http://chess-news.ru/node/11376

(/edit)

[Matthew Turner]

Sean Hewitt wrote
"If you want the ECF to post the email they have received and their reply (both in full) do say and I'm sure that can be arranged."

I quoted the question posed to the ECF Office in full
I quoted the ECF Office's response in full

The ECF then bothered to make a formal request to have that information taken down. Why?

[Sean Hewitt ECF DoMM]

I quoted the question posed to the ECF Office in full
I quoted the ECF Office's response in full

The ECF then bothered to make a formal request to have that information taken down. Why?

I shall be happy to answer that.

The ECF received an email, purporting to be from an ECF member, asking a question about the Candidates (though not the one original posted on this forum). Strangely, the email address was not that of the member himself, but was in fact that of a well known player from another federation who posts regularly on this forum, not an ECF member. The email did not seek permission to publish the ECF's reply and, given that the identity of the person originating the email appeared to be, at the very least, uncertain, I decided that it was not appropriate to publish the contents of this private correspondence.

[Clive Blackburn]

Pairings for Round 1:-

1 GM Aronian Levon 2809 - GM Carlsen Magnus 2872
2 GM Gelfand Boris 2740 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2793
3 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 - GM Grischuk Alexander 2764
4 GM Svidler Peter 2747 - GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I quoted the question posed to the ECF Office in full
I quoted the ECF Office's response in full

The ECF then bothered to make a formal request to have that information taken down. Why?

I shall be happy to answer that.

The ECF received an email, purporting to be from an ECF member, asking a question about the Candidates (though not the one original posted on this forum). Strangely, the email address was not that of the member himself, but was in fact that of a well known player from another federation who posts regularly on this forum, not an ECF member. The email did not seek permission to publish the ECF's reply and, given that the identity of the person originating the email appeared to be, at the very least, uncertain, I decided that it was not appropriate to publish the contents of this private correspondence.

Can this stuff not be split off into a separate thread? Or at least stop talking about it once the chess starts?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Pairings for Round 1:-

1 GM Aronian Levon 2809 - GM Carlsen Magnus 2872
2 GM Gelfand Boris 2740 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2793
3 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 - GM Grischuk Alexander 2764
4 GM Svidler Peter 2747 - GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810

My predictions... (I should base this on those Chessbase articles and form, but I'm going with gut feeling here): Aronian to draw with Carlsen, Radjabov to beat Gelfand, Ivanchuk to beat Grischuk, and Svidler to hold Kramnik. Though looking again at the line up, I'm reminded of how strong all the players are, and how almost all results are possible in all games (though in some you would expect the 'stronger' player to hold a draw with ease). What I'm wondering, with an event of this length, is how many short-ish draws there might be? Hopefully not many, but there could be some.