The 2007 Euro Team Championship starts in Crete on the 28th. Don't confuse this with the Euro Club championship or the chess Olympiad. These are the national teams and is a way of getting together without having to worry about the medals going to China, India, and the USA. Netherlands was the surprise winner of the last event in 2005, in Sweden, followed by Israel and France. If your memory goes back that far, you'll remember the biggest story was top seed Russia's 14th-place finish.
The 2007 field is an impressive one. Seven top ten players are there, including Ivanchuk, Topalov, Morozevich, and Aronian. Will be good to see Topalov in action for the first time since May. There are 14 players rated over 2700 and five of them are the Russian team, so they're the heavy statistical favorites again despite the absence of Kramnik. The usual powers Ukraine, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are also near full strength. Or you can play the over-under for Cyprus victories. Last year the entire team won three games. Let's root for four!
I read that Armenia puts Aronian, Akopian, Sargissian, Lputian, Asrian.
That's full strength I would say :)
"Will be good to see Topalov in action for the first time since May." Well, Topalov just played in Bilbao. He didn't impress me much.
This has probably been pointed out before, but I love the excuse for not updating the semi-official home page: http://www.veselintopalov.net/article/3-months-prostest
The silent protest really reverberated around the world ;)
I like the part regarding his book: "Get it, read it, know the truth." You betcha!
That would be a good caption for the NY Times as well. Once again, you betcha.
A nice preview of the Euro Team: http://videos.chessdom.com/etcc-video-preview
Ivanchuk is really traveling a lot these days.
Last weekend he played in the Spanish and the German team competition. Today he will play a rapid match against Leko in the Ukraine and this weekend he will play in Crete.
The Chessdom website has a first report directly from Crete: http://photos.chessdom.com/etcc-2007/arrival
Because I had absolutely nothing else to do, I just read the Player's Undertaking for the World Cup. In it, it says that the players agree to the rules for the 2007-2009 world championship cycle. Does this mean that after the first player faxes their undertaking to the FIDE office that FIDE may not changer the rules any more without voiding the contracts? If so, what a blessing!
@mishanp: was it a 3-month-protest against the conditions and circumstances in Elista or wasn't there just nothing to publish....successes you know. To repeat again and again the same wrong/idiotic statements doesn't make them true.
And yes, I neither like Topalov nor godfather Don Silvio.
Just curious: who is behind chessdom...I guess it is not Danailov or is he?
@snake: The previous post I find on the Topalov site is his bad start at Mtel. But he ended up making one of his typical comebacks and winning outright- making 3 in a row- which is something of a success- but there is still no mention of it. So they didn't even update for a success.
Now that´s an interesting way to protest. I mean, showing the "Bad start for Topalov" item at the top of his home page for three months.
No short draws in Crete? http://www.chessdom.com/european-team-chess-championship/captains-meeting
>>> One of the most interesting rules will be application of new FIDE article that says "prearranged results are not allowed". This means that no match can finish in several minutes,as it has happened at several Olympiads.
How does that work? There is a time limit?
(In that case; just tell your players to at least play on for half an hour or whatever the limit is.)
And what is the penalty?
Why is arranging a draw considered cheating? It's not like you can win the tournament with 50 %.
Not with 50 in every match, no, but you can certainly help yourself with an extra rest day and a few days of guaranteed not losing.
Mig, I think I would have had to add a "Smells Like..." to the title of this posting, just 'cause I love the wordplay...
Damn, what a disastrous day for me.
All my favorite players lost: Mamedyarov lost with White, Ivanchuk got wiped out by Bacrot with White, and Radjabov lost with Black. :-(
What a tremendous day for me!!
My favorite players won: Svidler won with Black, Morozevich won with White!
congratulations dcp23! you deserve it!
Nice one Evan, but I think many here might be too old to get it.
I would suspect most people 50 and under might get it, Cynical Gripe. And anyone older who is a Weird Al fan and heard his spoof of Cobain's song would also get it. Definitely a nice one, Evan. Wish I'd have thought of it.
Whew! I first read Cynical's warning as "...might be too YOUNG to get it." (After all, the song was written in what, 1990?) Somehow that idea made me feel older than his actual meaning, that many might be too old to get it.
I remember the first time I felt old, I was 21, I think. Walking through Harvard Yard circa 1977, I spotted a group of kids who turned out to be high school students taking some kind of tour. I decided to do my part by name-dropping various luminaries who'd attended the college, and pointing out which dorm they'd lived in their freshman year (which of course I made up on the spot).
"JFK lived in that building. Norman Mailer in that building. James Taylor, over there - before he split for McLean's" (the mental hospital near Cambridge where he supposedly wrote "Fire and Rain") ..."and this building behind us is where Richard Speck lived when he was here."
Of course, I made up that last one just for a laugh - not just the dorm reference, but the whole idea that Richard Speck was a former Harvard student. I wanted to see how gullible the visiting teens were, and how easily shocked.
Instead, what I found out was how old I was. "Who's Richard Speck?", came the reply.