A quarter of a billion hits

Gibraltar rocks the world of chess with a quarter of a billion website hits
by Alice Mascarenhas
GIBRALTAR | 4 February 2012

Tradewise 2012 has rocked the world of chess and made history this week. Hou Yifan from China at 17 years of age played the best result by a female player in the history of the game. The world of chess will be talking about her achievements in this tournament for many years to come – she not only beat, up till now the best woman in the world, Judit Polgar, but four top players way above her own rating. The final round was thrilling as everyone waited to see if GM Nigel Short, who by his own admission plays his best chess on the Rock, would make it an awe-inspiring finish – as he played against Hou Yifan in the play-off. And he was victorious just after an hour and five minutes regaining the title he first won in 2003. At the official gala dinner Chief Minister Fabian Picardo presented the figure for the official website hits over the 10 days, a staggering quarter of a billion hits – this statistic he said best illustrated the huge success of chess in Gibraltar.

Thanking sponsors Gibtelecom, responsible for the technology used to make this happen, he wittingly remarked, “can the person organising the web presence please contact me at the end so they can help organise my next on line election campaign, and with this we are going for the presidency of the United States.”

Opening the night’s proceedings, Mr Picardo commented, it was an honour and privilege to be at the festival adding, “I want to start tonight’s address to you by apologising for being the first Chief Minister of Gibraltar that attends this event. I believe there should have been a Chief Minister here from the beginning of the event and it is my absolute pleasure to be here in my capacity as the representative of the people of Gibraltar. To show you by my presence the support of the Government of Gibraltar to the event that has flourished so successfully as a result of an idea that came to Brian so many years ago.”

“You will find us,” he stated, “a very willing participant and assistant in coming years whilst we are enabled by the people of Gibraltar as their government. With 363 individual chess players in Gibraltar there is no room at the inn. So it is up to us so that we can deal with the phenomenal success that Brian has created, that the sponsors have helped to make a reality, and to assure of a very warm welcome next year.”

Paying tribute to organiser Brian Callaghan, he said, politics was a little bit like chess.

“It is not always easy to get your queen to checkmate or stalemate the king. I think it is fundamentally important to leave you with these words. I think Brian Callaghan has managed to turn many, many pawns into queens through the success of this event and I would ask you to give him the warmest round of applause having created the best open tournament in the world.”

Nigel Short not only took the first prize but also won the special Commonwealth prize in this Diamond Jubilee year presented by the Governor Sir Adrian Johns and Bruno Callaghan. Hou Yifan, who came second overall in the tournament, also took the top Women’s prize and the Junior Award. Vicktor Korchnio won the Senior Award, and Best Game was awarded to Emmanuel Berg.

GM Nigel Short from England began his winner’s speech by asking for a Gibraltar passport.

“I don’t know what it is about this place. I get such a good feel at this tournament, it is so well organised that it helps me play better. I really could not imagine that I could be up here this evening making the speech. I was ranked 15th and I thought, my goodness we have come a long way in 10 years. I have not played every year, it is my fifth year. I played in the first year and it was a good little tournament with 60 players, and I was the star, and now I am just one of many superstars. There are many real giants of the game who I am honoured to play against. It is a great event. I am glad to have seen it grow and I really do believe that this is the best open tournament in the world,” he declared.

But Mr Short who had felt the might of the young Chinese player in the play-off just a few short hours earlier insisted he was not the story of the event although his victory had been very special. The story was the result of the young girl from China whom, he said, had put in a remarkable performance and shown what a world class player she is.

“Maybe,” he suggested, “what we are seeing here is the start of something new in women’s chess. I have in front of me Judit Polgar who has been forever, basically, the representative of women’s chess – the star above stars. This is nothing against Judit, who I respect greatly, but I am glad she now has some competition. Long live Gibraltar. Long may this event go on. I’ll be back next year.”

For tournament organiser Brian Callaghan, with world press headlines describing this as the best open ever, its success was clear, this had been an historic year coupled with the Government’s assurances of proactive support to chess in Gibraltar.

“What an amazing tournament we have had. It’s about having fun and playing serious, very serious chess. The chess you have played in Gibraltar this year has reverberated around the world,” he emphasised.

There was a special tribute for first Gibraltar tournament director Stewart Reubens involved since 2003.

Closing the gala was president of the English Chess Federation CJ de Mooi who stressed that although the festival may be under the English Chess Federation its success was solely due to the Gibraltar organisers of the event.

James Humphreys from Tradewise Insurance, said the festival had again shown the world the commitment and dedication this small territory had for the game – “our chess festival is by far the largest appearance Gibraltar puts in on any sporting world stage and with this understanding alone the event can and must be seen as an important ambassador for Gibraltar as a whole.”

The senior festival now gives way to another weekend of junior chess today and tomorrow. In August it looks forward to the second Gibraltar International Junior tournament.

Source: http://www.chronicle.gi