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Open letter regarding the Women’s World Chess Championship 2010 in Antakya/Hatay

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:37:57 -0500

Source(s): Alexandra Kosteniuk, Chess.com

Open letter regarding the Women’s World Chess Championship 2010 in Antakya/Hatay

We, the players of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2010 in Antakya/Hatay who have signed this document below, would like to share with the chess community and FIDE our thoughts about the level of the organization of the recent women's world championship.

The reason for this letter is to make the governing chess body, FIDE, aware of the problems that exist. We are chess professionals and would like to see the women’s chess world championship as the ultimate chess event which should be organized at the highest level. After qualifying for this prestigious event, we have to pay our own expenses to come and play in this championship. As such we would like to feel that we are the participants of a world chess tournament rather than are being overcharged, starting from the transfer and ending with the hotel.
There are certain points we neither understand nor accept, and to avoid disappointments in the future, we would like to express them now, so that next time around, the same problems do not occur.
Hotel and location:

Full board in the Hotel Anemon Antakya for the participants of the championship cost 130 Euros. The regular price for the same hotel with no food is 60 Euro per day. The hotel was located far away from the center of Antakya on a noisy, dirty road with nowhere towalk around.Some players tried to book their rooms through the official website of the hotel, where the room price per day was about 65-75 €, including breakfast. Obviously the remaining 60 € could be spent for a very adequate lunch and dinner. But they were informed that the hotel was booked out, and it was impossible to book a room without going through the organising committee.

Even though normally only the players are forced to stay in the official hotels, in Turkey everybody who came with a player needed to stay in the same official hotel. Which made the participation in the world championship even more expensive for players who decided to come with their trainers. It's an easy way for the organizers to force the players to pay more than they should.

The participants were given rooms in a four-star hotel, overlooking a dirty and very noisy highway, with unhealthy air conditions and nowhere to go walking at all! The walls between the rooms were so thin, the players could hear what was going on in the rooms next to theirs. Due to to all these conditions, the level of rest and preparation needed for players for such an important event was lower than usual.

Comparing to Nalchik 2008, where the players were obliged to pay only for accomodation and could buy lunch and dinner either in the hotel or in restaurants nearby, in Antakaya we didn’t have a choice. We had to pay for the food, but in the first few days the players were left starving, since the size of the portions offered were quite small and there was no buffet to choose from. In such important events as the world championships, since participants from all over the world are taking part in the event, we believe that some variety of food has to be proposed.

The price of 130 €, given the location and market conditions, was unreasonably high, and players and their families had no choice but pay for poor service at prices far above market value to the organizers.

Considering all of the above, we would like to ask FIDE that even though the prize fund hasn’t changed or improved since 2001, at least the venue of the championship shouldn’t become more expensive, and the event should not be located in places where conditions seem bad and unhealthy for the participants.Transfer & Registration Fee

The participants were charged 40 € for a ten-minute trip from the airport to the hotel. A local taxi would have been DRASTICALLY cheaper, and these taxis had room for at least three players. So basically we were being overcharged!

The players were also asked to pay a "registration fee" or deposit of 100 Euros, which is something new for the World Championship, and not convenient for the players.

Organisation

Even though, this time, there were no politically interfering circumstances as in Nalchik, most players seemed disappointed when comparing this World Championship to previous editions. There we were no guides or warm welcomes for the participants in Turkey.

The first game of the first round was played in the Archeological Museum of Antakya which is a very beautiful place but was absolutely unacceptable for a serious chess tournament. All the noise of the road was heard inside the Museum and was disturbing to the players. A decision to move even a single round from the regular hall to another location is absolutely unacceptable for such high profile events.

There were also not enough qualified arbiters for the first rounds, especially for the tie-breaks. From the coverage of the championship, you could learn that coaches and other players who didn’t play helped the organizers to monitor the rapid games during the tie-breaks.This should be absolutely avoided.

Next Steps:

The 2010 Women’s World Championship was a real disappointment for most of us. The impression we got was that the organizers wanted to spend the least amount of money, while earning as much as possible from the players, which is unacceptable for such high profile events.Therefore, in order to avoid such unpleasant situations in the future, we ask FIDE to take more serious steps for choosing a city-candidate for such important events. A FIDE representative, preferably a female player, should visit a site which is bidding for such an important event before it is accepted as the venue by FIDE. Before being accepted, the organizer of a future world championship should sign a special contract with FIDE, guaranteeing minimum quality of organization. All the points we discussed in this letter (quality of hotel, food, opening and closing ceremonies, hall of play, payments from players, etc.) should be specified in this contract and none of these should be changed before the event or without notifying FIDE.

We are also asking FIDE to improve the contract that all the participants sign before the world championship, as some points are not acceptable such as the requirements for the players to wear any clothes or brands that FIDE proposes (point 4.4).

The contract between FIDE and the players for the upcoming world championship should include the name of the hotel and the exact price the player will need to pay and exactly for what services. That price should be reasonably close to market prices for those accommodations.We hope that FIDE will take into serious consideration this open letter and will make sure all these very important questions are addressed in order to ensure all future events are held with fair conditions for the players.

Elina Danielian
Nana Dzagnidze
Jovanka Houska
Tatiana Kosintseva
Alexandra Kosteniuk
Maia Lomineishvili
Evgenia Ovod
Amina Mezioud
Lilit Mkrtchian
Elisabeth Paehtz
Anna Muzychuk
Maria Muzhychuk
Natalia Pogonina
Marina Romanko
Irina Slavina
Soumya Swaminathan
Anna Zatonskih
Natalia Zhukova
(in alphabetical order)

ECU and TCF Fail Politically ... European Womens Cancelled

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:20:52 -0500

Firstly, i'd like to thank Yelena Dembo for brining this article to my attention. She posted a link to the Chessbase article on her website and I've been ill lately again so I wasn't paying attention. From Chessbase we get the long and the short ... I'll publish the 'short' here. Ali Nihat Yazici TCF President issued an opening letter and he summarizes this this way:

"These last few weeks, we started to communicate with the General Secretary of ECU to finalise the details of this event and then, as a result of insulting and condescending behaviour on her part, we requested the intervention of the President of the ECU, Mr. Silvio Danailov. None of those attempts have however worked, as you will see from the various emails and letters sent, and we were completely neglected by ECU management. This is really a big disappointment for me considering that I was the first person celebrating the victory of ECU President just after election and wishing him good luck in the next four years."

As a small aside (bringing positive out of negative) I LOVED the events banner:

The Duality of Chess (aka Kramnik Wins Bilbao)

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 10:01:45 -0400

Ok, so I've seen EVERYONE doing articles on Kramnik's victory at Bilbao and being one of those people that simply follows the crowd I decided that I should write a full article on it myself. PAUSE Okay, I've decided not to write a whole article on the event because Chessbase did a nice job of journalistic coverage and I have no opinion on the result either way. I didn't follow the tournament because to be perfectly honest I didn't have the time. Things have been coming at me for the past month (you've probably noticed a lack in posting articles recently as a result).

Anyway, in the Chessbase article on this event I think it ilustrates rather clearly the duality of chess ...

What makes one player happy makes the other unhappy. There is a balance in this game of ours. Food for thought.

2010 Olympiad Sponsors

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:56:31 -0400

See A Trend?

Salym Petroleum

The Chess Community should make an effort to keep these sponsors but also to expand sponsorships into other countries.

Magnus Beats The World!

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:29:45 -0400

[Event "G-Star RAW Chess Challenge"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2010.09.10"]
[White "Magnus Carlsen"]
[Black "The World"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Plycount "87"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.O-O e5 8.d5 Ne7 9.e4 c6 10.a4 Bg4 11.a5 cxd5 12.cxd5 Qd7 13.Be3 Rfc8 14.Qa4 Ne8 15.Nd2 Qd8 16.Qb4 Nc7 17.Nc4 Na6 18.Qxb7 Rxc4 19.Qxa6 Rb4 20.f3 Bc8 21.Qe2 f5 22.Qd2 Ba6 23.Rfc1 Qb8 24.Na4 Rb3 25.Rc3 Rb4 26.Rca3 f4 27.Bf2 Bh6 28.Nb6 fxg3 29.Qxb4 gxf2+ 30.Kxf2 Bc8 31.Rb3 axb6 32.Qxb6 Qa7 33.a6 Kf7 34.Qxa7 Rxa7 35.Rb6 Ke8 36.Rxd6 Bf8 37.Rb6 Nxd5 38.Rb8 Bc5+ 39.Kg3 Ne7 40.Bh3 Kd8 41.Bxc8 Nxc8 42.Rc1 Rc7 43.Rxc5 Rxc5 44.a7 1-0

Carlsen Beats Anand In Style!

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:30:42 -0400

Carlsen, M. - Anand, V.
Arctic Securities, Kristiansund, NOR
2010.08.30, Round: Game 1-Final
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c6 6. O-O d5 7. Nbd2 Bf5 8. b3 Ne4 9. Bb2 Na6 10. Nh4 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 Be6 12. Rac1 Qd7 13. Nf3 Rfd8 14. Rfd1 Nc7 15. Qa5 Ne8 16. e3 Bg4 17. Rd2 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 e6 19. Rdc2 Nd6 20. a4 f5 21. Qe1 a5 22. Bc3 dxc4 23. Bxa5 cxb3 24. Rb2 Rdc8 25. Rxb3 Bf8 26. Rcb1 Ra7 27. Kg2 Nc4 28. Bb4 Bxb4 29. Rxb4 Nd6 30. Qc3 Rca8 31. Qc2 Ra6 32. h4 h5 33. e4 R8a7 34. exf5 Nxf5 35. Re1 Ra5 36. Qb3 Kf7 37. Re4 Ne7 38. Qc2 Nd5 39. Rc4 Ra8 40. Re5 Ne7 41. Bxh5 Rxe5 42. dxe5 Qd5+ 43. Bf3 Qxe5 44. Re4 Qd6 45. h5 Rf8 46. Qb2 b5 47. axb5 cxb5 48. Qxb5 Nf5 49. Qb7+ Kf6 50. Qh7 gxh5 51. Bxh5 Qd5 52. Bf3 Qd2 53. g4 Ng7 54. g5+ 1-0

GM Michael Adams Goes 9.5/11 2010 British Championship

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:37:18 -0400

Congrats Mickey!

(see the Chessbase full report)

Russia Versus China Match 2010 Tentative Participant List

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:24:43 -0400

China (Men):

Name FIDE rating Rank in China World Rank
Wang Hao 2724 1 22
Wang Yue 2716 2 29
Bu Xiangzi 2676 3 59
Zhou Jinchao 2668 4 68
Ni Hua 2645 5 96

China (Women):

Name FIDE rating Rank in China World Rank
Ju Wenjun 2496 2 18
Tan Zhongqyi 2461 6 36
Huang Qian 2447 7 42
Ding Yixin 2385 10 77
Wang Yu 2369 11 97

Russia (Men):

Name FIDE rating
Rank in Russia World Rank
Malakhov Vladimir 2732 5 17
Vitiugov Nikita 2722 7 24
Timofeev Artem 2690 12 45
Rublevsky Sergei 2688 13 48
Potkin Vladimir 2626 29 130

Russia (Women):

Name FIDE rating Rank in Russia World Rank
Kosintseva Nadezhda 2551 2 6
Pogonina Natalia 2501 4 15
Gunina Valentina 2462 6 35
Bodnaruk Anastasia 2397 11 68
Kashlinskaya Alina 2352 20 106

Thanks to Pogonina for this list

IM Irina Krush is the Women's US Champion For 2010!

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:57:36 -0400

Congratualtions, Irina!

Round Five Victory For Sabina!

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:14:07 -0400

Let this game be a lesson ... watch for your king's safety:

[Event "ch-USA w"]
[Site "St Louis USA"]
[Date "2010.07.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Marinello,B"]
[Black "Foisor,S"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2160"]
[BlackElo "2317"]
[EventDate "2010.07.10"]
[ECO "D04"]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 c6 4. Be2 Bf5 5. O-O e6 6. c4 Bd6 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nc3 Nbd7 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bd2 Qb8 11. Rac1 O-O 12. h3 Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14.
Nh4 Be6 15. Bc4 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 Nb6 17. Qe2 f5 18. g3 Qe8 19. f4 exf3 20.
Qxf3 g6 21. g4 Qe7 22. Ng2 Rae8 23. h4 Nd5 24. g5 Qe4 25. a3 f4 26. Rce1
Qd3 27. e4 Qxd2 28. exd5 Qxd4+ 29. Kh1 Qxd5 30. Rd1 Qxf3 31. Rxf3 Re6 32.
Kg1 Bc5+ 33. Kf1 Rd6 34. Re1 Rd2 35. b4 Bd6 36. Re4 Rd5 37. Ke2 Re5 38. Kd3
Rff5 39. Rc4 Kf7 40. Rfxf4 Rd5+ 41. Rfd4 Ke6 42. Ne3 Rxd4+ 43. Rxd4 Rf4 44.
Re4+ Rxe4 45. Kxe4 Bg3 46. Ng2 b5 47. Kd4 Kd6 48. Ke4 Bf2
0-1

Mulhouse Live Games

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 09:31:12 -0400

If you'd like to watch the games from Tournoi de Mulhouse then follow this link. My peep Natalia Pogonina provided the link.

Jermuk 2010 - Women's Grand Prix Results

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:22:52 -0400

1st "SuperGM" Tournament In Danzhou

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:28:18 -0400

Here is the results and participants of the 1st major touranament ever in Danzhou (thanks to Chessvibes).

Ivanchuk Wins The 45th Capablanca Memorial

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:37:36 -0400

GM Vassily Ivanchuk is my Homie!

Source: Chessbase

Wesley So Is Becoming A Force In Chess

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:48:00 -0400

Just a note ... I've been a fan of Wesley since he burst on the scene so I couldn't let this one go unrecorded here at Chessvine.

Wesley So won the "Battle of Grandmasters" recently with the following final standings:

1. GM So Wesley 2665 - 8.5
2. GM Gomez John Paul 2507 - 7.5
3. GM Antonio Rogelio Jr 2572 - 7.0
4. IM Sadorra Julio Catalino 2450 - 7.0
5. GM Laylo Darwin 2527 - 6.0
6. IM Nolte Rolando 2420 - 4.5
7. IM Dableo Ronald 2464 - 4.0
8. IM Bitoon Richard 2476 - 4.0
9. FM Pascua Haridas 2358 - 3.5
10. IM Dimakiling Oliver 2443 - 2.0
11. FM Garcia Jan Emmanuel 2315 - 1.0
12. GM Gonzales Jayson 2441 - 0.0