Ukrainian genius/lunatic Vassily Ivanchuk sets what must be some sort of record by being listed as a participant in four tournaments on the TWIC homepage at the same time. (Karabakh, Samba Cup, Casino de Barcelona, World Team Ch) Chukky could hit over 30 games in 40 days depending how many games he plays in the Team Championship starting tomorrow. He started with two lacksidaisical performances before winning in Barcelona with 4/5. Unless he racks up some big scores he'll end up dropping most of the points that shot him up to his current #5 position. In this he's like another cardiogram rating chart star, Morozevich. It will be nice to see Ivanchuk back at Corus in January, let's hope he brings his A game.
yep, the two most mercurial talents in Chess right now, Chukster and Moro. If they didnt do crazy things would we appreciate them as much?!
Well, at least Ivanchuk will not appear in Corus rusty, just worn out.
'genius/lunatic Vassily'...I hope you mean this in a nice way. Comparing even an average chessplayer to the non-chess-playing public will lead you to rather unorthodox conclusions (not in latter's favour), so it's no wonder that a superGM should be slightly off the 'norm'. He is the nicest guy you've come across. I also like the fact that he is Pro Cuban and anti american as we all are...speaking for the 'hunters'.
Joke of the day:
'American' World team (ex-Russian provential division 3)...a slogan reads: if you can't make it for real, you can always teach americans...
1 Alexander Goldin GM 2615
2 Alexander Onischuk GM 2628
3 Boris Gulko GM 2589
4 Gregory Kaidanov GM 2614
5 Igor Novikov GM 2589
6 Ildar Ibragimov GM 2605
I was referring to Ivanchuk's schedule more than his odd behavior.
Mig,
Don't call him a "lunatic"...for such a player its the wrong word to use. Fischer is a lunatic. If you gave Bobby a hundered Jews and a gas chamber he would do a holocaust. Ivanchuk would not.
Prefer if you'd say "Ukraian genius/super-eccentric" instead.
How is Ivanchuk eccentric - what does he do? I remember hearing him described by some other GM (Anand?) as maybe the smartest person among all top grandmasters.
I usually don't like gossip, but I do admit I have always been curious about Ivanchuk's behaviour (same for Tony Miles and the "BLACK-is-okay" dude. I tried to find anectdotes on the net, but to no avail. I just remeber that at one linares, Kasparov declared that he was really worried for him, because he was behaving very, very strangely. What kind of things he does? Anyone around here knows any stories?
pd. Mig, feel free to censure me if you think this post is too "enquirer" like :)
The one anecdote i know dates way back to the Baguio world junior of 87 won by anand. ivanchuk was his main rival and needed to win the last game to finish second. apparently, after playing his move ivanchuk rushed out of the tournament hall, sprinted down the road and sprinted back, played his move, again sprinted out etc.
read in a book that after a while he began "galloping like a horse".
totally off-topic: The latest ChessMate magazine has a report on the san luis wch written by GM Ian Rogers. In that he mentions that Karpov in his visit to Argentina just before the tournament had said that Topalov could not win as he did not understand chess. Later, when Anand was asked to comment said, "I wish I didn't understand chess the way Veselin doesen't understand chess!".
other tid-bits: In the Anand-Adams 3rd round game, Anand had prepared 23.Qd2! to use against Kamsky in their 1994 sanghi nagar match. he later revised it for the Karpov match in 1998. as he didn't expect Adams to play the Zaitsev, Anand was playing the prepared variation based on his memory of the revision seven years ago!
Polgar-Kasim: Polgar had first analysed that line first as a 14yr old way back in 1990! 13. Bd2 which brought her a famous victory over anand in dos hermanas 99 was also part of that 1990 analysis.
Might I say however that Kasparov being "worried" about another super-GM reminds me a bit of a shark being worried about a wounded tuna?
Maybe a sports Psychologist is behind this new spate of activity? Ivanchuk has always been plagued by erratic play at crucial moments. In short, he has a reputation for poor nerves. Playing 30 games in 40 days may be an attempt to inure him to competitve pressures, by keeping him constantly immersed in such a competitive chess atmosphere. I believe that the theory is Progressive Desensitization.
On the other hand, maybe he just wants to string together a slew of 2nd tier appearance fees, to earn some quick cash.
If he decides to move to the US, he'll be well adapted to the weekly Grand Prix Swiss circuit.
It does look like he overplayed his hand - he should have sat tight on his rating, but maybe he needs the money from these tournaments, and it is kind of cool that he goes and plays in Canada. Looks like he's not afraid to take on anybody. It's also nice that he went and played in Cuba, and I hope the moderator is not coming down on Chukky for his political bent - e.g. if Americans are so sure that capitalism is superior to any form of socialism, what do we have to fear from letting Cuba trade with the world? Viva Chavez, go Castro, and long live Vassily Ivanchuk.
Ivanchuk deserves clearly to be in the top 5. He is a pure genious at the board. And, as opposed to a lot of "top level GMs", he plays chess all the times. He loves chess.
Not a question of money, not a question of rating, his only goal is TO PLAY CHESS EVERYDAY. Like Korchnoi, chess is his life.
He deserves to be in top 5 if he plays well enough...that is to say, he gets what he deserves, regarding ranking. Is that not obviously so?
If he plays too much and his play suffers from that, he is suffocating the very thing he loves with over-zealonessness.
Well, in any case, i'm eagerly waiting to see Ivanchuk play in a super-tournament and am more than willing to become a fan of his.
"Viva Chavez, go Castro, and long live Vassily Ivanchuk."
I second that.
It is almost quaint or charming to see that the loony left is represented here at the Chess Ninja blog.
Hah, funny. I didn't even notice the Coward spouting silliness here too. At least we now know he's just a troll; should have looked up his other posts. My bad. Ivanchuk's politics?! After getting a few hundred hate mails per year from right wingnuts for my casual digs at BushCo, now we've got Che Chomsky. Same lack of humor though.
"Hah, funny. I didn't even notice the Coward spouting silliness here too. "
Yeah, I caught him on the other thread, telling lies about Vice President Cheney and blaming America for all the oil we use. In my opinion, President Bush ought to go in and get that Chavez guy now, and we sure don't want 'ex-'commies like this Ivanchuk guy coming in here. No, sir.
What makes anyone think Ivanchuk is coming here? So far, none of the top chess guys showed any interest in moving to the United States. Not even Garry who, by the way, would fit right in.
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