Chess Olympiad 2010 news from all continents

Chess Olympiad 2010 news from all continents
5 days to the start of the Olympiad

5 days before the start of the World Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, international mainstream media has launched multiple reports on the most important national teams event of the year. Guided by hope for medals and inspired by the strong participation, teams are preparing for the 2010 Olympiad all over the world.

A total of 1380 player will participate in the two sections for the medals of the top team event in chess. The statistics are impressive – 772 titled players will be present, out of them 247 GMs, 63 WGMs, 160 IMs, 87 WIMs, 81 FMs, and 80 WFMs.

And all this accompanied by on the spot commentary by Blue Gene super computer, Stockfish analysis at Chessdom Chessbomb live games platform, live commentary by IM Ipatov, GM Bauer, IM Perunovic, and invited guests at Chessdom.com.

All news about the Olympiad here / Participants

Cuba will carry the flag and travel 11 000 km to the Olympiad

One of the biggest distances will be traveled by the team of Cuba. They were sent by the Vice President of the National Sports Institute, who designated GM Dominguez to carry the flag of Cuba.

The men team of Cuba consists of GM Dominguez, GM Bruzon, GM Quesada, GM Corrales, and GM Hernandez, and is 20th seeded at the Olympiad. The women team is 17th seeded and consists of WGM Arribas, WGM Pina, WGM Marrero, WIM Linares, and WIM Ordaz.

India questions the absence of Anand and Koneru Humpy

Indian mass media is worried about the absence of their top player the World Champion Viswanathan Anand for the Chess Olympiad. Times of India tried several times to get in touch with Anand for comment, but without success.

The women team will also miss the top player of the country – GM Koneru Humpy. Sundar commented on the matter, “Her employers PSPB had written to us about her decision.” However, it is well known that Humpy and Sundar had exchanged letters of attrition in the media last September and that can be the basis of the conflict.

The last Olympiad for Anand was in 2006 in Turin. Before that he played Calvia, which happens to be the first of Koneru Humpy, in 2004 in Mallorca, where India enjoyed their best finish ever.

The 2010 Olympiad men team of India consists of GM Sasikiran, GM Harikrishna, GM Ganguly, GM Gopal, and IM Adhiban, and is 17th seeded. The women team of India is 8th seeded and consists of IM Harika Dronavalli, IM Tania Sachdev, WGM Karavade Eesha, WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman, and GM Mohota Nisha.

Philippines at the Olympiad without GM Antonio

Philippines will travel to the Chess Olympiad without GM Antonio, after the scandle which rocked the Philippine chess last week.

The opinions in the country are divided. Des Catolos from Chessheroes, one of the most respected chess bloggers of the country, comments, “With or without GM Joey Antonio in the line up, the Philippine chess team for the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia is ready for the challenge. As everybody knows by now, GM Antonio was dropped from the team for some disciplinary actions after committing some bad decisions of not playing in two major FIDE sanction tournament in Manila as part of the team’s preparation for the Olympiad.

It’s a tragic outcome. When all his teammates were here in the country preparing for the Olympiad, he’s nowhere to be found and was competing in tournaments in the US where he was mostly the top seed. Not the kind of preparation the team needs. They need him to be around. Discuss things, strategies etc. We felt sorry for GM Antonio’s decisions and he owe his teammates, NCFP, and Philippine chess fans an apology. As the saying goes, great power comes great responsibility. And he has some responsibility to be observed. Still, we wish GM Antonio all the best of luck in his endeavor and a reconciliation with the NCFP should be made sooner than later for the better of chess in the country.”

At the same time GM Antonio himself is ready to pursuit legal actions against the federation. Antonio bared his plan and informed GMANews.TV via e-mail, saying the NCFP’s decision to take him out of the team was done without due process and left him with no other recourse but ask the court for intervention.

The Philippines men team: GMs Wesley So, John Paul Gomez, Darwin Laylo and Eugene Torre. The women team consists of WFM Camacho, WFM Perena, WFM Cua, Jose Rulp, and J. Docena.

Here is the full article.