2017 King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26-30 December 2017

[MJMcCready]

I doubt whether any of the players mentioned in the article linked want to go to Saudi itself. This is just about a potential loss of earnings and nothing more.

[Roger de Coverly]

According to chess.com, a three year deal has been signed.

It's lucrative for FIDE, but as a blogger frequently points out, the chess world doesn't look closely at the sources of its financing.

[MJMcCready]

As long as money is coming in they don't really care where it comes from.

[MJMcCready]

Look at what happened at the London Chess Classic, the prevailing mentality was 'turn up and collect my appearance fee, stay in a hotel that is paid for, test a few new ideas in my repertoire again, bugger off to the next tournament and repeat, remembering not to care how boring the chess is, or how little I have to say. Just pick up the appearance fee and move on to the next one.'

[NickFaulks]

It's lucrative for FIDE.

Surely the more important point is that it's four times as lucrative for the community of professional players.

Having said that, I shall be very disappointed if the Saudis do not come through with visas for players from some nations. They were making all the right noises and if they do backtrack it will be an expensive foot-shooting exercise reflecting badly on them and, by extension, on FIDE. I must admit that I didn't believe the Saudis would do anything so crass.

Does it seem odd to anyone else that the two nations at the top of the supposed banned list are Israel and Iran, who are not exactly best buddies?

[MJMcCready]

Well they aren't going to shirk responsibilities towards a long-standing political agenda over a board game few of them have any real interest in for a tournament many chess players around the world aren't particularly bothered by. The event itself is far too insignificant.

[NickFaulks]

The event itself is far too insignificant.

That didn't have to be true - remember the table tennis matches between China and the US in the early 1970s which really did play a role in establishing better diplomatic relations. At a time when everyone knows that Israel and the Saudis are getting much closer behind the scenes, with both facing an existential threat from Iran, this could have been very significant.

[David Robertson]

From Facebook....

Happy Christmas everyone! Sorry for being early but I am not sure I will be able to celebrate it in Riyadh

Change of plan, it seems. Nigel is en route to Riyadh

[Richard Bates]

From Facebook....

Happy Christmas everyone! Sorry for being early but I am not sure I will be able to celebrate it in Riyadh

Change of plan, it seems. Nigel is en route to Riyadh

Surely it would be a change of plan if he wasn’t on the way to Riyadh?

[LawrenceCooper]

Change of plan, it seems. Nigel is en route to Riyadh

How so? http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... ation.html

[Christopher Kreuzer]

From Facebook....

Change of plan, it seems. Nigel is en route to Riyadh

Surely it would be a change of plan if he wasn’t on the way to Riyadh?

I think David took Nigel's comment at face value (meaning that he wasn't going to Riyadh). Clearly what Nigel meant was that he will be in Riyadh, but thinks he won't be able to celebrate Xmas there. Or that is it best not to. Or that he might not have a suitable internet connection. Or something like that. Confusing times we live in.

PS. Did anyone else see: A Short trip to Kyrgyzstan?

[LawrenceCooper]

Change of plan, it seems. Nigel is en route to Riyadh

Surely it would be a change of plan if he wasn’t on the way to Riyadh?

I think David took Nigel's comment at face value (meaning that he wasn't going to Riyadh).

Rather odd then for him to comment that "Nigel is en route to Riyadh"

[David Robertson]

Gawd! To clarify:

Yes, I did take Nigel's post at face value: he wasn't maybe going to Riyadh - a misreading (as I now see it) made plausible by the fact that Nigel has had medical 'issues' recently.

Yes, Richard is correct to point out that my subsequent post doesn't properly refer to "a change of plan", but to a reconfirmation of a plan that, having possibly, maybe, might be changed, in fact hasn't been. So 'en route' does confirm the route that was initially planned, but perhaps maybe, possibly wasn't, now is. I did give thought to typing "another change of plan", but rejected that because announcements on Facebook generally have the status of 'plan' rather than the vague ruminations of cat-loving strangers.

Never mind. Facebook confirms that Nigel is Riyadh-bound. And if that's good enough for me, I hope it's good enough at Arrivals

[Paul Cooksey]

The Guardian have a report on the visa situation from Reuters: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... udi-arabia

I'm quite looking forward to the event itself despite FIDE's usual shambles.

[Leonard Barden]

The Guardian have a report on the visa situation from Reuters: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... udi-arabia

I'm quite looking forward to the event itself despite FIDE's usual shambles.

I think the article by the Guardian's chess correspondent, published a day earlier than the above, is more informative, but perhaps I'm biased.....

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/ ... ontroversy