A day with 2-2 results on the top five pairings left things even tighter. The USA gained a little ground on the pack scoring 2.5 over Georgia with wins by Kamsky and Onischuk while Nakamura lost. The many drawn matches allowed Iran to jump up but the 51st seed faces Ukraine next and a wake-up call is likely. (Not tomorrow, the 26th is a rest day.) The Netherlands will face Russia. (Full pairings here)
Vladimir Kramnik smoothly outplayed Levon Aronian to move to 2.5/3. Either he hasn't been seriously tested yet or he's really in incredible shape! He had a solid plus out of the opening and then exploited what looked like a serious blunder by Aronian, 19..Rc7 missing 20.Rc6 and Black has a lot of trouble stopping the pawn. Kasparov was reminded of a game he lost to Karpov in a Lyon world championship game with the same maneuver. 19..Qb7 was his recommendation, with "still unpleasant for Black". Btw, Aronian played this line with White against... Kramnik last year, all the way up to move 15. (15.g4 instead of Bg5. 1/2 in 85.) I suppose we still need to see Kramnik with black against a top player before jumping completely on the bandwagon. He's looking good and don't think Topalov isn't watching. Playing a match with Kramnik vintage 99 isn't like playing Kramnik 05.
Sargissian leveled the match by beating Morozevich. His personal score is now 4.5/5. Kamsky is continuing his MTel form and won a very complicated game with Jobava. Nakamura played the same line of the Slav with the opposite result. I haven't had time to go over it but as a Benoni player the Onischuk game just looks terrible for Black out of the opening. 8.Qe2 is an Epishin idea that seemed to catch Pantsulaia off guard. 13.Bc7 is a world-class annoying move. It became amazingly complicated but Black's Iron King turned out to be a bit rusty. Game replay here.
We need to start a PGN project so we can get at least some of the top games asap. I'd imagine at least a few of the federations with competent websites are collecting their teams' games. Of course it's good they wait and check the scores to get rid of most of the terrible notation errors, but we should be able to avoid the worst of those. If you post PGN scores to the thread I'll collect them into a file and update. If a few people do a few games from those they are following we could have quite a few. Going to Playchess or the ICC and copying them there also recommended. They are relaying dozens of games. But having them on the web would be nice. TWIC, ChessBase, and the official site usually have them the next day, if not before the next round starts. Don't clutter the main round item with PGN though, thanks.
Sorry for the various server errors when commenting. The increased traffic and posts have brought these back, it seems. But I don't want to stop and rebuild the server with so many visitors. I'll probably reinstall everything after the end of the Olympiad. By the way, I'm going fishing with my dad for a few days on June 1, who would make a good back-up blogmeister?
[Event "WCO 2006"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.05.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "GM Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "GM Pantsulaia, Levan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2609"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2006.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Nf3 a6 8. Qe2
Qe7 9. e5 dxe5 10. Nxe5 Nbd7 11. Bf4 Nh5 12. Nxd7 Bxd7 13. Bc7 Rc8 14. d6 Qxe2+
15. Bxe2 Bc6 16. Bg4 f5 17. Bxh5 gxh5 18. O-O-O Kf7 19. Kc2 Bg7 20. Rhe1 Bd4
21. Re7+ Kg6 22. Ne2 Be4+ 23. Kb3 Bf6 24. Nf4+ Kg5 25. Re6 Bd4 26. g3 h4 27.
Re7 Bf6 28. Rf7 Bd4 29. Ba5 b6 30. Bc3 c4+ 31. Ka3 Bc5+ 32. Bb4 Bxf2 33. d7
hxg3 34. dxc8=Q Rxc8 35. hxg3 a5 36. Be7+ Kg4 37. Rg7+ Kf3 38. Nh3 Be3 39. Ng5+
Ke2 40. Nxe4 Kxd1 41. Nc3+ Kc2 42. Rxh7 Bd4 43. Rh2+ Kd3 44. Ne2 Be3 45. Ka4
Rc7 46. Ba3 Rg7 47. Kb5 Rg5 48. Nf4+ Ke4 49. Rh4 Kf3 50. Ne6 Rg6 51. Nd4+ Bxd4
52. Rxd4 Kxg3 53. Kxc4 Kf3 54. Rd6 Rg4+ 55. Kb5 f4 56. Rxb6 Rg5+ 57. Ka4 Ke4
58. Re6+ Kd3 59. Rf6 Ke4 60. b3 Rg2 61. Kxa5 Rxa2 62. Kb4 f3 63. Bc1 f2 64. Bg5
Ke5 65. Rf8 Re2 66. Ka3 Kd5 1-0
[Event "WCO 2006"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.05.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kramnik Vladimir"]
[Black "Aronian Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2006.??.??"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Bg7 8. Nc3
d6 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. Be3 Rc8 11. Rac1 a6 12. b3 O-O 13. Qh4 Rc7 14. Bh3 Qb8 15.
Bg5 Bxf3 16. exf3 b5 17. Bxd7 Rxd7 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. cxd5 Rc7 20. Rc6 Rxc6 21.
dxc6 Rc8 22. Rc1 e6 23. Bd2 Qc7 24. a4 d5 25. axb5 axb5 26. Qb4 Rb8 27. Qa3 Bd4
28. Qa6 Be5 29. f4 Bd6 30. Ba5 Qc8 31. Qa7 Ra8 32. Qb6 Rb8 33. Qd4 b4 34. c7
Ra8 35. Qb6 Bf8 36. Bxb4 Bxb4 37. Qxb4 Qe8 1-0
I think it's still pretty impressive for a mere state like Georgia to go up against an entire country like USA, and even get a win against Nakamura.
I guess Kramnik is trying to remember the way he used to play chess in order to be prepared agains Topalov. As he only has four months to do that, he is recovering quickly, and with a well planned strategy, which means:
- Like in Manila 92, he will initially remember that he can win in Chess Olympiads.
- Then, in Dortmund, he will remember how it feels to have nine or ten draws in a round robin tournament.
When this happens, he will be back in form again to face Topalov.
Mig,
Games are available on TWIC.
Peter
cotdt: "I think it's still pretty impressive for a mere state like Georgia to go up against an entire country like USA, and even get a win against Nakamura.".
Dear cotdt,
The supposedly "mere state like Georgia" has a very strong chess tradition (in women chess the tradition is even stronger, more than in the US). And Rusudan Goletiani, the third borad in US women team in this Olympiad was born in Georgia (correct me someone if I am wrong).
Moreover, the two highest rated players of Georgia in the Elo list (Azmaiparashvilli - 2669 elo and Izoria - 2647) aren't playing in the Olympiad.
I mean same day after the round, Peter, but thanks.
I am guessing that cotdt is confusing the state of Georgia located in the US with the country of Georgia located in Eastern Europe.
I already read cotdt asking about "who is Gazza?" in the previous forum, so I guess cotdt is confused about everything.
I mean same day after the round, Peter, but thanks.
Or perhaps, Pascual, you have no sense of humor.
Anyway, I'm surprised to see Georgia vs. USA. I thought we had beat those Confederate bastards once and for all in 1865. Maybe it's time to get the Sherman clone out of the freezer.
"I already read cotdt asking about "who is Gazza?" in the previous forum, so I guess cotdt is confused about everything."
Ah oops! That explains it! I was thinking at first "hmm...why is Georgia facing USA?" but it is actually a country that no one here has ever heard of. Dorry for the mistake.
So is Kamsky facing Bu tomorrow?
Blogmeister goes fishing around FIDE election time? Has Kirsatan captured blogmeisters' souls in addition to having bought votes? http://www.chessfidelity.com/elections.php
Yeah, why doesn't anyone ever even try to buy my so-called influence? Really, it's insulting.
A call for back-up blogmeister? I'm up to the challenge, if anyone will want me. I understand it's strictly on a "don't call us, we'll call you" basis, yes?
Peace...
Cotdt, you are in the minority; most here are well aware of the Republic of Georgia. They have given us such great chess spelling-bee names as Dzindzichashvili and Azmaiparashvili. :-)
Hotep,
Maliq
Maliq
I hope you checked that spelling. wow. And I thought my name was hard to spell. lots of laughs.
the moves as given on ICC for the game Jobava Kamsky must have errors. moves 44 and 46 are insane as presented but probably move 46 was the basic correct move made at move 44.
this one is crazy with not taking queens and giving them up. total insanity as presented. I hope someone can get the correct game score for saving up in chessbase.
Georgia is also famous for its women chess players; many of the post-Menchik Women's WCs were Georgian.
And let's not forget (on the non-chess note) a certain self-described Georgian peasant who rose to become one of the most powerful people in the world of his time...
The One and Only World Champion Kramnik is back to reclaim what some flaky non-believers thought he had lost! Kramnik in good health is a force to reckon with and the match against Topalov will be a great clash between two different styles. Keep it up Champ!
Mig -- Once again all seeing all knowing! Thanks for the info on Levon playing this system against Vlad previously (at 21st European Club Cup // Saint Vincent - Italy on 21.09.2005). Looks like VK's pre-prep was all ready (improving on Lev's 15. g4). In any event I just wrote about it as an addition on the Ninja Boards and gave you full credit (as I always do)... KIBITZING at TURIN (Interesting Games) // http://www.chessninja.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=001250;p=2#000035 BTW: We want Fish pictures really BIG ones when you come back! I remember well my dad (Cecil) and I fishing for trout many times in the high Sierra's... Finger licking good! :-) Never fished for big ocean fish before, but it must be a lot of fun! - Mal
Tommy -- I just wrote about that too (SNAFU -- Re: Baadur vs. Kamsky score all messed up. One of the Ninja members also requested this info...
KIBITZING at TURIN (Interesting Games)// http://www.chessninja.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=001250;p=2#000036 // - Mal
Anyway, I'm surprised to see Georgia vs. USA. I thought we had beat those Confederate bastards once and for all in 1865. Maybe it's time to get the Sherman clone out of the freezer.
===========================
How naive you were! While the North won a decisive victory on the battlefield, the South won the "Peace". All of the gains of reconstruction were reversed, and the Jim Crow laws were implemented. It wasn't until a full Century after the Civil War that the South was "occupied". Alas, the Republican party is now the Party of the South, so in a sense, maybe they won the war after all....
I noticed that GM Evgenij Ermenkov (ELO 2462), playing the 1st Board for the Palestine team, was not paired in the 5th round, when the Palestinians played Latvia. Given that GM Ermenkov is the only titled player on the Palestinian roster, his playing strength seems poorly missed. In his absence, the Palestinians lost the match by 4--0. Ermenkov would have faced a real challenge on Board 1, and would probably have been slated to play against GM Daniel Fridmen. However, even though Ermenkov would have been due Black, and been facing an opponent with a rating that was higher by 100 points, he still would have had chanced to obtain a draw, and thereby avoid a shut-out result for his team. In his stead, Moussa Alaa-Eddine (2207) played, and was duly ground down. A similar scenario occurred in the 1st Round, when Palestine was paired against Vietnam. There, Moussa Alaa-Eddine, played Black on 1st Board against the Vietnamese GM, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2555). And, too, Palestine was shut-out by a 4-0 score.
Does it make sense for a GM to only play against the untitled representatives from federations such as the US Virgin Islands (ISV), Brunei Darussalam (BRU), and the Isle of Guernsey (GCI), whilst eschewing the chance to play against more formidable opposition?
Cynics might surmise that the pattern of GM Ermenkov's pairings might be explained by a desire to have him compete for a Board Prize on 1st Board, which necessitates maintaining a high percentage of possible points (rather than, say, achieving a high Rating Performance against his opponents.)
However, perhaps there is an alternative explanation, of which somebody is aware....
By the way, does anybody why Ermenkov opted to stop playing as a representative of Bulgaria (the Federation under which he earned his GM title?). He seems to be a real veteran player, having been born in 1949. Maybe he's just a "journeyman".
In other realms of competitive endeavors, the oil rich Arabian countries have been known to induce athletes to switch federations through financial inducements. This has particularly been the case with Track and Field, Weightlifting, and Football (Soccer). It is heartening to know that the Palestinian Federation was able to compete for Ermenkov's professional services.
----------------------------------------
Ermenkov Evgenij GM 2462 PLE Rp:2373
Rd. SNo Name Rtg FED Rp Pts. Res. Bo.
2 Wilkinson Sinclair 1880 ISV 1699 0.5 w 1 1
3 Pg Md Omar Ak Hafizon 2183 BRU 1994 1.0 s 1 1
4 Rowe Peter 2049 GCI 2143 2.0 w 1 1
http://schach.wienerzeitung.at/tnr3410.aspx?art=23&lan=1&flag=30&snr=112
That's an interesting bit of reporting there, DOug, thanks. (Is DOug a typo, or are you among the lucky few who've seen the movie Evil Alien Conquerors?)
DOug,
There is no other motive, Ermenkov is on cynical stret heading for a board prize. As he did in 2004, although then he drew with a 2550 in round 1.
This time, I guess he wants 100%.
Ermenkov already won the gold for the 1st board in Calvia 2004, so I think it's clearly an strategy. Obviously there are no important goals for a team like Palestinian, and an individual medal is worth more than the differencee between let's say 100 and 110 in the final standings. On the other hand, don't think Palestinian chess federation has as many resources as to buy players to get nationalized as Qatar does in athletics for example, but I dont really know the details of this case.
There was a discussion about it a while back on another site. The conclusion was -- Ermenkov became a 'naturalized' Palestinian with the sole purpose of earning as many individual Olympic gold medals as possible.
I think it's time to add individual medals based on performance, not percentage. (I don't begrudge the weaker nations their brief moment in the sun.)
cotdt doesn't even know the original states of US players! There are NO US-born players in the USA team: Kamsky, Onischuk, Ibragimov, Akobian and Kaidanov are former Soviets, and Nakamura is Japanese...
cotdt doesn't even know the original states of US players! There are NO US-born players in the USA team: Kamsky, Onischuk, Ibragimov, Akobian and Kaidanov are former Soviets, and Nakamura is Japanese...
Since that clearly seems to be Ermenkov's individual, personal objective, the likeliest conclusion is that the Palestinian chess authorities did not pay him anything to switch federations to be on their team (or are paying only his expenses, or only whatever they are paying their other players).
Playing for a team whose national goals are subordinated to his personal interests, is incentive enough to switch federations for an over-the-hill GM whose Elo has already slid to levels below that of many IMs. (And anyway, I don't imagine there'd be much obstacle to his switching federations again in the future, if he had reason to do so.)
I assume those of you who used the words, "naturalized" and "nationalized" are aware this has nothing at all to do with citizenship or "nationality" in the political/governmental sense. Chess players, like merchant ships, are free to adopt any country's flag they choose, as long as that country's relevant authorities accept them -- without having to show any personal connection to the country whose flag they fly. Players' requests to change federations do require FIDE approval, but that is simply a matter of submitting the paperwork and then waiting; approval is automatic if the paperwork is in order.
Perhaps the Olympiad authorities might consider reforming the board-prize system to avoid this sort of "gaming the system."
Still, this is the kind of thing where I wouldn't be offended to hear someone say, "Well, a chess player shouldn't be condemned for doing what he must do to put food on his table." (Assuming that the Olympiad board prizes will help Ermenkov bring in money in some way -- rather than simply a way of indulging his ego.)
That is, I do not equate Ermenkov's behavior -- which while not exactly above-board nevertheless falls within the letter of the rules and doesn't damage the integrity of the contest -- with cheating.
Most of all, I draw a bright red line between willingness to tolerate this behavior, and the chess-hating viewpoint expressed on Dirt from time to time, that says we have no right to condemn or punish real cheaters (i.e. people who seek to bribe or coerce their opponents, or who receive outside help during games) because they allegedly are "just trying to put food on their table." The a-holes who say that don't even believe it -- they are merely being trolls, trying to provoke angry responses from those of us who do love chess.
Re: Substitute Blogmeister.
Are the cats going fishing too? Let them earn their keep and update the blog!
If they aren't up to the task, try to get someone interesting...and cute.
I am interesting ... and cute.
Kogi,
I suppose then, that we should only let native americans on the team? After all, almost all of us in the US are foreigners of sorts. And last I checked, Nakamura is actually American. No room for bigotry here.
Nakamura is Japanese, but wasn't he born in the US?
"Nakamura is Japanese, but wasn't he born in the US?"
I think we've reached the point where we need a FAQ page for past discussions. Or wait...an "FDT" page - Frequently Discussed Topics - where someone can say "oh yeah, Nakamura...Japanese...that's #18 on the FDT!"
As for blogger pro-tem, I vote Irina Krush!
Nakamura was born in Japan, but came here when he was 2. I'm pretty sure he is a U.S. citizen.
Since the whole thing about birth is meaningful only to ethnically-obsessed people like Ruslan who believe in quaint concepts like "national character" and "blood", I'm baffled why so many people other than him keep bringing it up. I guess must be the general law of the Internet asserting itself -- that the overall level of intelligence and thought tends to fall about 30-50 IQ points below what people display in real life.
If the point of interest is a country's ability to develop top-level chess players internally based on that country's own resources, it WOULD make sense to distinguish between players who grew up there, and those who moved to and/or began playing for that country after they had already established themselves as chess pros (or, after they had reached a certain threshold of chess skill, such as 2200, or 2400). Obviously, birthplace has nothing to do with it, unless you happen to believe that "national character" and/or "blood" determines everything about a person.
Maybe it's just that the people who keep raising the nationality issue for people like Nakamura or Seirawan (who though born in the Middle East is as American as Brooklyn-born flyonthewall, if not more so) -- in contrast to migrating chess-guns-for-hire like Onischuk et al, for whom the issue is relevant -- are simply ignorant about America, and the fact that we are a nation of immigrants, as stendec pointed out.
I imagine a right-minded citizen of the world won't draw much criticism for displaying ignorance about America; among the right-minded, such criticism is reserved only for Americans (or Israelis) when they display ignorance about some other, "worthier" country.
I even recall seeing someone on Dirt once dispute the "American-ness" of Jennifer Shahade, who was born in Philadelphia. (From what I know of her father, he was American-born too; in fact it could easily be the case that her forebears have lived in America for several generations. Which would indeed make her "more American" than me, from a certain point of view: my father was born in Poland.)
Surely the act of casting doubt on someone's being American merely because they have an Arab surname, represents the height of self-parody for the often-laughable impulse to trash America's chess capability.
It is also interesting to speculate about the nationality and political predilections of the person who brought up Jennifer in that context.
Wouldn't it be hilarious if the person who made that comment about Jennifer, turned out to be one of those mindless America-bashers who goes around to cocktail parties saying that looking like an Arab or a Muslim in America is tantamount having a bull's-eye on your back?
I agree that America is a nation of immigrants. The question seems to be if we are also a country of chessplayers or if we are able to stimulate development of our own talent.
I think that there is a genetic component to chess skill and like all genestic traits they are more likely to be found in certain populations than others. But I don't like where that road leads, down a path of bigotry and ignorance (Armenians are not automatically/inherently better at chess, but there are more good Armenian chess players than there are probably of many other ethnicities).
And if you are like me, you don't like the idea of country-based teams anyway. It's glorified chauvinism and it never leads to much good.
Peace...
Regarding Hikaru, once more, the man was born to a Japanese father and an American mother. Thus, he is an American citizen by birth. He also was raised here. People need to give it up already; the man is very far from some foreign mercenary-for-hire. Land of one's birth actually has nothing to do with chess ability, anyway; he learned the game here and developed as a player here.
Hotep,
Maliq
I think the foreign-born chess situation reflects the country well very, since we're a nation of immigrants and in the area I live in California, 60% of us are foreign-born. For a stronger chess team, we should import Vladimir Kramnik and Rustam Kasimjanov! All we have to do is offer more money. I don't see why not, mainstream chess is becoming more and more popular here yet we don't have an American World Champion like we used to so long ago.
here are the top 10 active Grandmasters who actually developed their skills in the USA, whether they were born here are not. (from the USCF top 100 list)
1. Nakamura, Hikaru
2. Christiansen, Larry M
3. Benjamin, Joel
4. Fishbein, Alexander
5. De Firmian, Nick E
6. Kreiman, Boris
7. Fedorowicz, John P
8. Browne, Walter S
9. Rohde, Michael A
10.
ok, so there are not 10. Wolff and Dlugy are not exactly active, although Finegold is GM strength and Perelshteyn is a GM elect.
3 GM's under age 40. pretty good!!!
Clearly the USA has a great system for developing and keeping good players.
Add in the number of foreign GMs who've been active in the US for more than a decade, and the number will more than double.
Being obsessed with the origin of a chess player is a bit of a waste of time; for example, I'm sure that the Swiss think of Korchnoi as one of their own by now...
Good work, whatisUSchess.
I assume your final two sentences are meant as sarcasm. It doesn't matter to me; the whole subject (deciding whether the US culture is chess-friendly based on how many "home-grown" GMs we have) frankly bores me to tears.
Why then did I make the lengthy comments earlier in this thread? Because I was offended by the stupidity exhibited by some earlier commenters who insisted on classifying players based on where they were born, rather than where they were "home-grown."
Now that the discussion is on a more proper basis, I will butt out, with a couple of final quibbles.
What about Tal Shaked -- a presumably home-grown US GM (who by the way I happened to beat in a 5-minute game on ICC a couple weaks ago)?
Dlugy is active again, having played in the recent US Championship...although as I pointed out elsewhere, his status as "home-grown" falls into somewhat of a grey area. (He was 13 when he emigrated to the US, and the sources I can find don't make clear how strong he was at chess at that point, although it seems he was below 2200.)
Salvijus Bercys (currently the top-rated 16 year old in the US) by the way is an almost identical case to Dlugy, although he would probably have to be placed outside the "home-grown American" dividing line. He too was 13 when he moved here almost exactly 3 years ago; but he had already played in the National Championship finals in his native Lithuania (scoring 2.5/10 against a field whose FIDE ratings averaged 2403).
IM Alex Lenderman, also 16, is clearly a home-grown American. He might even have been born here, although I don't think he was. But he's been playing here for several years, and was rated in the 2000's or 2100's when I first encountered him.
Of course both those guys are well short of being GMs. But given their ages and rapid pace of improvement, both are a pretty good bet to become GMs within a few years if they stick with it. Lenderman, of course, won the Under-16 section at the World Youth Championships last year, and is a frequent participant in FIDE-rated events.
And, besides GM-elect Perelshteyn, there is also Lev Milman. I don't know his title status (IM? IM-elect? IM with one or more GM norms?), nor his birth/nationality status, but he also seems GM-bound within a few years.
Backup Blogmeister? C'mon, that's a no-brainer: Greg Koster.
Peace...
Flyonthewall, Lev has 4 IM norms and a GM norm; he barely missed a second GM norm last year in Minnesota because the average rating of his opponents was just slightly below the necessary standard. (There was a round in which he "made the cut" and thus played a 2000-rated player; had he not been the lowest of the high, he would have faced Kamsky instead, which would have given him the required opponent average rating for the norm.) He will be a GM soon if he chooses to pursue it.
Hotep,
Maliq
The USA will have a tough fight against China saturday! Russia versus the Netherlands will be tough also. I hope the USA gains ground, as it seems board points decide things, and not match points. The USA and another are 5-0 in matches.
The USA will have a tough fight against China saturday! Russia versus the Netherlands will be tough also. I hope the USA gains ground, as it seems board points decide things, and not match points. The USA and another are 5-0 in matches.
The ACP announced some time ago that they would present Anand with a special 'ACP trophy'. This was supposed to happen on the rest day - any one has a link to it?
Rob--
Who're you calling a "no-brainer?!"
Why, he is already the teacher's pet:
Greg Koste, Chicago, USA
Democracy means "rule by the people." In FIDE's "one-country, one-vote" system" 184,000 voters from Andorra, Faroe Islands, San Marina, British Virgin Islands and Palau (five countries) could outvote 3,000,000,000 voters from China, India, the US, and Russia (four countries). The FIDE system has nothing to do with democracy.
Flyonthewall,
Since you talk about me,
That's not because a genocide occured 60 years ago that I will deny any difference between human races, cultures and nations.
I'm not ethnically obsessed. I just point out some elementary realities. If Ermenkov changes his federation without any problem, the same thing is true about almost all the chess teams at olympiads.
The truth is that most western countries are made of russians. When Shirov (Spain) plays Onishuk (US) or Yussupov (Ger) or Ermenkov (Palestinia), do you think they talk German, English, Arabian or Spanish ???
My critics were about this whole system allowing players to defend any color their wish (in most cases only for money purposes, but again they are pros and have to pay for the bills). As a soccer/football fan, I appreciate to see my country's team at the world cup with people coming ONLY from my country. Otherwise, this world cup would make no sense.
And that's the general meaning of my critics : this whole olympiad thing is pure nonsense. Most players come from russia or eastern block. Most western teams are simply fake. And being a fan of a national team made-up with a bunch of mercenaries seems just misplaced, riduculous, unappropriate...
My critics were not about ethnicity. My critics were just towards such an erroneous national pride. Of course, you can choose to believe that Onishuk, Akobian (and so on) are just guys like you, that they are recent immigrants and that they love USA. Which is false : give them more money to play with Malta, Guatemala or New Guinea and they will leave the US chess team at once.
Build up a team with Nakamura, Kamsky, Seirawan, Benjamin and it will look like a real US team. You see, despite of their origines (russian, japanese, jewish), I consider those players as real american citizen, because they have embraced your culture.
With such a team, you can talk about national pride if they win something. But please, please, forget pro-US nationalist comments as long as in the team you find Onishuk, Ibragimov, Ehlvest, Shabalov, Ivanov, Kaidanov, Goldin, Stripunsky or Akobian...
Apart from those comments on misplaced national pride, what I said in the past about some ethnicities being far superior to other in particular fiels still remains true. You can't deny the fact that more than half of the most talented chess players ever were jews. You can't deny the fact that 3 world champions out of 4 are jew or armenian.
When a nation has been reading for the past 10000 years, when a nation has created the first religions, has created commerce, has created philosophy, you may believe (and this is my opinion) that 10000 years of reading, philosophy, and creating businesses have somewhat modified the genetic heritage of that nation.
Have you ever noticed that it's not statistically common to find a jew or an armenian down the social scale? In most case, we are merchants, advocates, artists (including writers, chess players, musicians), medics...
Have you ever noticed something that's even funnier? Einstein, Wegener, Darwin, Freud, Marx have brought the 5 major new ideas of the 20th century. They are all jews.
Have you ever noticed something equally fun? Who was in Yalta in february 2005? Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Again Jews.
Look at Fortune, and see how many jews you'll find in world's top 500.
This is just talent. Jews are more talented than other people, more successful. Analyze it the way you want, find the reasons you wish, or just close your eyes if you don't want to see.
[blinks]
So you're claiming that Nakamura, Kamsky, et al. would NOT play for Malta, Guatemala, or New Guinea should sufficient support from those nations be forthcoming? 'Cause goodness knows USCF doesn't do much.
Would Bacrot always play for France? Anand for India? Kramnik for Russia?
As for your standard of 'embracing the culture' as a standard for citizenship...how subjective could you possibly get? It's already easy to rip apart your suggestions, Ruslan; don't make it ridiculously so.
Oh, and your list of emigres needs some adjudication. Shabalov, Ivanov (Alex, I presume), and Kaidanov have played in the US for as long as Kamsky, if not longer. Akobian came to the US as a teenager--and trust me, Var has definitely embraced American culture.
Come to think of it, why are you defending Gata as a bonafide American, culture-embracing notwithstanding? He came over when he was a teenager as well...
Peach:
Intersting how?
and
How cute?
Peace...
Ruslan, your claim is absurd. There is nothing inherently advantageous to Jews with regard to natural talent. Indeed, Judaism is a religion and culture, and there is nothing exclusive about either one, so that one can NEVER claim "This is the Jewish gene pool." It is well-established that no group is inherently more gifted or talented than any other; feel free to convince yourself of all of your propaganda if it makes you feel good about yourself, but everything you claim is crap.
Hotep,
Maliq
I am an accidental troll; mea culpa. By quoting Ruslan's wacko ideas about ethnic superiority as a foil within my comment way up in this thread, I ended up provoking him to reiterate those wacko ideas down here. I now see that what I did meets my own definition of trolling. All who are offended by Ruslan's chauvinism, please forgive me for provoking him.
Ruslan,
FDR's great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Claes von Roosevelt (d. 1658) was a Dutch jew, making FDR 1/128 Jewish.
Thus, of FDR's approximately five liters of blood, about two tablespoons was Jewish blood. Powerful stuff indeed!
We have found the cure for U.S. chess. Hell, we've found the cure for U.S. society: inject every American man, woman, and child with two tablespoons of Jewish blood.
Imagine the progress! But imagine, as well, a latke-hamentash battle among 300 million American Jews! It would make the Civil War look like a children's quarrel.
"Have you ever noticed something that's even funnier? Einstein, Wegener, Darwin, Freud, Marx have brought the 5 major new ideas of the 20th century. They are all jews."
WRONG
"Have you ever noticed something equally fun? Who was in Yalta in february 2005? Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Again Jews."
WRONG
Al Halimi--
I see you cited my Chessbase criticism of "one-country-one-vote".
If you happen to live in San Marino I didn't mean to insult you by implying that your vote shouldn't be worth more than the vote of say, 45,000 Chinese.
Greg:
What I meant to say was that Mig seems to have obliquely expressed a certain preference for your contributions, so that was my way of supporting your candidacy for a pro term blogmeistership.
I just forgot to add the mandatory :)
Ruslan
Ruslan
Ruslan
what can anyone say to you.
May Peace and Love enter your heart.
Tommy
Maliq: "It is well-established that no group is inherently more gifted or talented than any other; feel free to convince yourself of all of your propaganda if it makes you feel good about yourself, but everything you claim is crap."
I find this almost impossible to believe if looked at objectively and without worry about being branded a racist. As a person who works with numbers Maliq, you should intuitively be able to understand how extremely improbable it is that the median for all races/groups/cultures for all mental and physical activities (whether it be mathematics, spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, strength, running ability, etc.) be exactly uniform across the board. But then again, we've already had a demonstration of your ability with numbers, and how you can shade them to fit your argument to the exclusion of rationality, haven't we?
Only a person more interested in being labled a "good person" by the group rather than the truth would find this plausable. Nutrition arguments alone would dictate that some "groups" (races, cultures, geographical divides - however you want to seperate it) would have more developed brains than others with different nutritional access. That is indeed a fact that scientists will come out and say without fear because they do not need to specifically name a group and be persecuted for it, but it is without doubt that early nutrition and access to protein is a key to brain development. Access to protein, like access to oil, is in no way evenly distributed amoung all "groups".
Add in then the governement you grow up under and their attention and TYPE of education. Governments and school systems around the world have different philosophies (and money!) on how best to educate children. No one can yet say for sure what is the best philosophy, but surely the very fact that there ARE differences in the approach will produce yet another differentiation on the "societal IQ" as a whole. Now add culture - races produce cultures, and cultures produce patterns of behavior and interests within. Some cultures will emphasize things like science and math more than others, while others in the poorest regions might be more concerned with agricultural techniques alone. It would take nothing short of a statistical miracle for all these factors and more to "exactly even it out" so that no group shows more intellectual talent than another over time.
I'm surprised that people so into a game of logic such as chess still allow themselves to be swayed by mob mentality thinking - in this case, making every races', every cultures' probability for intellectual achievement in science, chess, economics, etc. be exactly equal. Absurd - wake up and start looking at the world for yourself, and not through rose colored glasses.
I can hear it already - "troll". It's becoming a badge of honor around here more than the mark of shame it usually is on Internet discussion boards.
"it is well established than no group is more gifted or talented than another" : well, apart from Kenyan people running faster from 1500 meters to marathon, apart from people originating from jamaica-barbados and all this islands (kinda special mix of white-black genes) sprinting faster, apart from black people more efficient in boxing, apart from masai being 2 meters tall, apart from chinese being yellow and pygmees being 1 meter short, apart from those tiny physical differences we are all born equal and no genetical difference can be found between humans.
HLM : what was wrong about my two sentences? Marx was jew, he created communism (with Engels who was a jew as well). Freud was jew, created psychanalysis. Darwin was jew, created evolution theory. Einstein was a jew, and is a pure genious. Wegener was the first to see that continents move, and he was jew as well.
Roosevelt was jew, Churchill was jew, and Stalin was jew (Djugashvili means son of jew in Georgian), and those three guys shared the world like a cake.
"Judaism is a religion and culture" : somewhat true and somewhat false. Judaism is used for the religion and for the culture, but jews are an ethnic group. Of course, in our world, ethnics groups are getting more and more mixed, but again, a lot of spanish do look spanish, a lot of scotch do look scotch, a lot of english do look english, and a lot of jews do look jews. I don't even talk about japanese or chinese or indian or maori faces : there are some genetic differences that create typical faces.
Well of course, those differences, in the head of an idiot, can be dangerous. But that's not a reason to deny them...
Come on Ruslan, Darwin and Churchill were about as WASP as could be.
Al--
I am SUCH an idiot. Sorry!
Well, Bessel Kok will lose a horrendous loss according to all insiders including this very knowledgeable one http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3137 Widows partying at the funeral may not be well taken by all
You're all mis-reading Ruslan. It's now revealed that he has been pulling our collective legs all along, just like "Kirsan-fan" (a guy who keeps making hilarious adulatory posts about FIDE's commander-in-chief, that turned out to be all meant ironically).
"Stalin was a Jew. Churchill was a Jew. Roosevelt was a Jew. Darwin was a Jew."
Clearly, Ruslan meant his last to be read as a put-on. Thanks for belatedly clue-ing us all in on the joke, Ruslan. You sure had me fooled for quite a while!
Finally, Jon, somebody understands me. Better late than never.