Alekhine's Parrot

TheParrot Says…Welcome to the archive of the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on this week’s news by writing to TheParrot@Chessville.com where selected letters will be featured.

2004

• July-September

• October-December
  
   

2005

• January-March

• April-June

• July-September

• October-December

2006

• January-March

• April-June
  
   

Chess News USA:

USCF Election Fiasco – a (1) (2) (3) and (4) what are we voting for?

Following a very strange international election for Fide, USCF go all out to be stranger.

After mismanagement of ballots the July election may be cancelled.  The talk of the town is that there may not be a reelection until 2008, and Bill Goichberg’s board of 5 will rule in place of the delegates.

USCF’s own explanation why (1) it sent ballots to non-members [!] is not forthcoming, but non-members have received and returned ballots, plus the fact that (2) all ballots ask for 10 nominees, even though the limit is 5 for some states – additional nominees in either case would invalidate the vote for the entire state – what happens then? The state then elects whoever it wishes with a vote.

Additionally USCF’s rules prohibit employees running for office, although two are – (3) as admitted by both Grant Perks and Ernie Schlich, who have done paid work for the USCF in May and June 2006 even AFTER they were certified as candidates for election. Though they claim not to be employees but “contractors”.

As part of this employee/contractor/expenses investigation it transpires that the usual amount for a board member to claim as expenses has been (4) $200 per year. As a comparison: 2003, when John McCrary was president the only expenses claimed were $1023.50 for the entire board for the entire year. But it transpires that recent expenses have been:

Tim Hanke $1,586
Don Schultz $3,513
Elizabeth Shaughnessy $1,691
Steve Shutt $906

And

Beatriz Marinello $13,926.00 during 2005, for which there are no submitted receipts, invoices, bills etc. to document these expenses.

Don Schultz has excused his high expense amount by, in his own words, “well over half of my expense reimbursement here was for paying on behalf of the USCF the cost of a dinner for the representatives of the delegates of the Americas at the Calvia Olympiad. This specific expense was authorized in advance by an EB vote.”

Credit for USCF board expenditure research: Sam Sloan, New York City.

But there is chess in New York, New York:

2006 NYC Mayor's Cup, the strongest double RR event in US history.  The event is sponsored and organized by the Susan Polgar Foundation in collaboration with the NYC Sports Commission, the office of the NYC Mayor and the NYAC.  2006 New York City Mayor’s Cup Invitational, Date: June 25-26; Location: New York Athletic Club, 180 Central Park South, New York, NY; Directions from www.nyac.org.  The participants are:

* GM Gata Kamsky
* GM Alex Onischuk
* GM Ildar Ibragimov
* GM Boris Gulko
* GM Alex Stripunsky
* GM Susan Polgar

The time limit will be G/25 5 delay.  The Susan Polgar Foundation guarantees all the prizes.

Chess News WORLDWIDE:

The International chess tournament "Aerosvit-2006" takes place 17-28 June in Crimean Foros. Tournament will take place in the sanatorium complex "Foros" located in relic park. Leading grandmasters of the world will take part in this competition - the strongest for all history of the Ukranian chess: Ponomariov Ruslan 2738 UKR, Ivanchuk Vassily 2723 UKR, Rublevsky Sergei 2665 RUS, Grischuk Alexander 2719 RUS, Karjakin Sergey 2661 UKR, Volokitin Andrei 2660 UKR, Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2695 ROM, Areshchenko Alexander 2660 UKR, Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2699 AZE, Harikrishna Pentala 2680 IND, Bologan Viktor 2666 MDA.
The Shahcom Company together with the Ukrainian Company RelayExport will provide live coverage of the games on the site www.relayexport.com/en/chess/chess.html and our site.
The chief arbiter: international arbiter Leonid Bodankin (Ukraine).

Official site: www.aerosvit2006.ukrchess.org.ua

The Dutch Championship takes place 17th June - 2nd July 2006 in Hilversum. Players: Ivan Sokolov g 2676, Sergei Tiviakov g 2669, Loek van Wely g 2655, Jan Timman g 2616, Friso Nijboer g 2584, Erwin l'Ami g 2565, Daniel Stellwagen g 2543, Jan Smeets g 2535, Jan Werle g 2529, John van der Wiel g 2511, Yge Visser m 2480, Jeroen Bosch m 2465.

5th round Standings:

1. Tiviakov, Sergei 2669 4.0
2. Sokolov, Ivan 3.5
3. Van Wely, Loek 3.5
4. Stellwagen, Daniel 3.0
5. Werle, Jan 2.5
6. Nijboer, Friso 2.5
7. Van der Wiel, John 2.5
8. L'Ami, Erwin 2.5
9. Smeets, Jan 2.0
10. Timman, Jan H 1.5
11. Visser, Yge 1.5
12. Bosch, Jeroen 1.0

Official site: http://www.schaakbond.nl/nieuws/nk2006/
Live games: http://www.schaakbond.nl/nieuws/nk2006/livenk.htm

Future Chess:

The International Open chess tournament "Ingulsky bridges" will take place 19th - 30th June in Nikolaev, Ukraine.
Official site: http://www.chessclub.mksat.net/

Traditional Open tournament "White Nights" will take place June 22th - July 1st in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
Contacts: Russia, Saint-Petersburg, B.Koniushennaya st. 25
E-mail: sers8@yandex.ru

First European School Chess Team Championship Tournaments for school chess teams in categories U12,U14 U16. June 20th -28th 2006,Varna,Bulgaria.

Third Open European Festival "The hopes of the world" Tournaments for school chess champions in categories U8,U10,U12,U14,U16. June 29th-July 3th 2006,Varna,Bulgaria.  Contacts: Bulgaria, Varna-9002 rue Konstantin Fotinov -5 Tel+359 52 64 28 77,GSM+359 52 0886025 403

The V International Children Chess Festival Eurika - 64 will take place 19-30 June 2006 in Balchik and Kranevo, Bulgaria.
There will be 4 tournaments in different age categories.
Tournaments A and B - 19-24 June in Balchik.
Tournaments C and D - 24-30 June in Kranevo.
A lot of prizes.
Regulations
Contacts: 9300 Dobrich, bul. Dobrudzha 1,
Todor Spirov, tel. (+359 58) 667 913, (+359 58) 781116
Toma Kirakov, tel. +359 897 429101
E-mail: Аutnt21_dobrich@abv.bg

CZECH OPEN 2006 17th International Festival of Chess, Bridge and Games European Amateurs Championship in Chess Pardubice 13th - 30th July 2006, Czech Republic

World School Teams Championship and European Amateurs Championship in Chess will be held within the frame of the festival CZECH OPEN 2006.
Official site: http://www.czechopen.net

The XXIV International Chess Open of Andorra will take place 8th - 16th July 2006 Tournament Hall: Sports Centre of Serradells in Andorra La Vella. Prizes: EUR 10.000 / 1er. Prize: EUR 2.100. All the prizes are tax-free Valid for the Catalan Chess circuit Inscription Rights: EUR 35/sub16 EUR 20 - Elo +2350 free
Contacts: http://www.feva.ad    http://www.feva.ad
E-mail: openandorra@andorra.ad
FEVA - Tel/Fax: 00.376.867846

The 1st International Open Chess Tournament "Summer Cup 2006" will take place 22th - 30th July 2006 in Olympus Riviera, Greece. The games will take place in the Olympian Bay Hotel**** on the Olympus Riviera, 90 km south of Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. An excellent location on the beach between the Aegean Sea, Litohoro and the legendary Olympus Mountain. There will be 9 rounds. Prize fund: EUR 3500, 1st prize EUR 1000.
Official site: http://www.greekchess.com/cup2006
E-mail: cup2006@greekchess.com

The 9th International Chess Festival Olomouc chess summer 2006 which will be held within the frame of the 6th International Chess Festivals Series CZECH TOUR 2006/2007 will take place 2nd - 10th August 2006 in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Round-robin GM, IM and FIDE tournaments, FIDE open, seniors tournament, open tournament in active chess and blitz tournament are part of the festival.
Contacts:
AVE-KONTAKT s.r.o., Sukova 1556, 530 02 Pardubice, Czech Republic
tel./fax + 420 - 466 535 200
e-mail: j.mazuch@avekont.cz
Official site: http://www.czechtour.net

The XII Veszprem Summer International Chess Tournament will take place 17th - 20th August 2006 in Veszprem city, Hungary. Swiss type open tournament in 7 rounds. The 1st prize 40.000 HUF. Extra prizes: The best player without FIDE rating, the best senior (above 55 year), the best junior (below 18 year), the best woman.
Contacts:
Phone: 36-88-401-400 (only evenings and weekends).
Mobile phone: 36-30-260-9945 (most of the time).
E-mail: szelenyin@freemail.hu (always).

Chess News USA:

Americans for Kirsan: In a remarkable decision by USCF board member Beatriz Marinello this week, she has been nominated and accepted as Fide’s General Secretary [Americas]. Marinello openly supported Kirsan Ilumzhinov against the wishes of the US Chess Federation Board and its members, and now seems to have circumvented USCF’s procedure for a nomination to this post by obtaining it through international support.

President Ilyumhinov, who openly states he has been in a spaceship, [and liked the people he met there], and whose idea of our chess future does not include the idea or practice of democracy, has announced the following group from the Americas.

Americas General Assembly Board

President: Mr. Jorge Vega, Costa Rica
Deputy President: Mr. Silvino Garcia, Cuba
Treasurer: Mr. Allan Herbert, Barbados
**** General Secretary: Ms. Beatriz Marinello, USA
Board Member: Mr. Oswaldo Ceballos, Colombia
Board Member: Mr. Eduardo Mieles, Ecuador
Board Member: c/o Brazilian Chess Federation President

Information source: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1029

USCF Ballot News: One writer in a public newsgroup says that he received a ballot paper, made his 2 allowable votes and returned it to USCF – but he was not entitled to vote!

Follow these links for the US 2006 NATIONAL OPEN Part of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival

2006 US Game 10 Championship - June 19 - Las Vegas

National Open Scholastic Trophy Tournament - June 16 - Las Vegas

Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championships for Girls (under 21) - June 16-18 - Las Vegas, NV

The U.S. Air Force won the 2006 Interservice (Team) Chess Championships with a score of 26.5 points.  The six-round event was hosted by the Navy and held at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida from June 12th to the 16th.  The final totals were:

USAF:   26.5 pts
USN:     20.5 pts
USMC:  18 pts
USA:      12 pts

The Army, usually serious contenders for the Interservice title, fell short this year due to only being able to field three players due to funding restrictions.  However, the three soldiers -- LtCol David Hater, 2LT Arthur Macaspac and MSG Andres Hortillosa -- more than held their own, scoring a total of 12 points for their branch. PS1(SW) Narciso "Bok" Victoria of the Navy finished first overall in the tournament with a final score of +4-1=2.

Chess News WORLDWIDE:

The International chess tournament "Aerosvit-2006" takes place 17-28 June in Crimean Foros. Tournament will take place in the sanatorium complex "Foros" located in relic park. Leading grandmasters of the world will take part in this competition - the strongest for all history of the Ukranian chess: Ponomariov Ruslan 2738 UKR, Ivanchuk Vassily 2723 UKR, Rublevsky Sergei 2665 RUS, Grischuk Alexander 2719 RUS, Karjakin Sergey 2661 UKR, Volokitin Andrei 2660 UKR, Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2695 ROM, Areshchenko Alexander 2660 UKR, Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2699 AZE, Harikrishna Pentala 2680 IND, Bologan Viktor 2666 MDA.

The Shahcom Company together with the Ukrainian Company RelayExport will provide live coverage of the games on the site www.relayexport.com/en/chess/chess.html.  The chief arbiter: international arbiter Leonid Bodankin (Ukraine).  Official site: www.aerosvit2006.ukrchess.org.ua

Good luck accessing the Official site: www.aerosvit2006.ukrchess.org.ua  which was down while the Parrot took a gander.

The Dutch Championship takes place 17th June - 2nd July 2006 in Hilversum. Players: Ivan Sokolov g 2676, Sergei Tiviakov g 2669, Loek van Wely g 2655, Jan Timman g 2616, Friso Nijboer g 2584, Erwin l'Ami g 2565, Daniel Stellwagen g 2543, Jan Smeets g 2535, Jan Werle g 2529, John van der Wiel g 2511, Yge Visser m 2480, Jeroen Bosch m 2465.
Official site: http://www.schaakbond.nl/nieuws/nk2006/

Future Chess:

The International Open chess tournament "Ingulsky bridges" will take place 19th - 30th June in Nikolaev, Ukraine.
Official site: http://www.chessclub.mksat.net/

Traditional Open tournament "White Nights" will take place June 22th - Juli 1st in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
Contacts: Russia, Saint-Petersburg, B.Koniushennaya st. 25
E-mail: sers8@yandex.ru

First European School Chess Team Championship Tournaments for school chess teams in categories U12,U14 U16. June 20th -28th 2006,Varna,Bulgaria

Third Open European Festival "The hopes of the world" Tournaments for school chess champions in categories U8,U10,U12,U14,U16. June 29th-Juli 3th 2006,Varna,Bulgaria
Contacts:  Bulgaria,Varna-9002 rue Konstantin Fotinov -5 Tel+359 52 64 28 77,GSM+359 52 0886025 403

The V International Children Chess Festival Eurika - 64 will take place 19-30 June 2006 in Balchik and Kranevo, Bulgaria.
There will be 4 tournaments in different age categories.
Tournaments A and B - 19-24 June in Balchik.
Tournaments C and D - 24-30 June in Kranevo.
A lot of prizes.
Regulations
Contacts: 9300 Dobrich, bul. Dobrudzha 1,
Todor Spirov, tel. (+359 58) 667 913, (+359 58) 781116
Toma Kirakov, tel. +359 897 429101
E-mail: Аutnt21_dobrich@abv.bg

CZECH OPEN 2006 17th International Festival of Chess, Bridge and Games European Amateurs Championship in Chess Pardubice 13th - 30th July 2006, Czech Republic
World School Teams Championship and European Amateurs Championship in Chess will be held within the frame of the festival CZECH OPEN 2006.
Official site: http://www.czechopen.net

The XXIV International Chess Open of Andorra will take place 8th - 16th July 2006 Tournament Hall: Sports Centre of Serradells in Andorra La Vella. Prizes: EUR 10.000 / 1er. Prize: EUR 2.100. All the prizes are tax-free Valid for the Catalan Chess circuit Inscription Rights: EUR 35/sub16 EUR 20 - Elo +2350 free
Contacts: http://www.feva.ad    http://www.feva.ad
E-mail: openandorra@andorra.ad
FEVA - Tel/Fax: 00.376.867846

The 1st International Open Chess Tournament "Summer Cup 2006" will take place 22th - 30th July 2006 in Olympus Riviera, Greece. The games will take place in the Olympian Bay Hotel**** on the Olympus Riviera, 90 km south of Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. An excellent location on the beach between the Aegean Sea, Litohoro and the legendary Olympus Mountain. There will be 9 rounds. Prize fund: EUR 3500, 1st prize EUR 1000.
Official site: http://www.greekchess.com/cup2006
E-mail: cup2006@greekchess.com

The 9th International Chess Festival Olomouc chess summer 2006 which will be held within the frame of the 6th International Chess Festivals Series CZECH TOUR 2006/2007 will take place 2nd - 10th August 2006 in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Round-robin GM, IM and FIDE tournaments, FIDE open, seniors tournament, open tournament in active chess and blitz tournament are part of the festival.  Contacts: AVE-KONTAKT s.r.o., Sukova 1556, 530 02 Pardubice, Czech Republic tel./fax + 420 - 466 535 200 e-mail: j.mazuch@avekont.cz.  Official site: http://www.czechtour.net

The XII Veszprem Summer International Chess Tournament will take place 17th - 20th August 2006 in Veszprem city, Hungary.
Swiss type open tournament in 7 rounds. The 1st prize 40.000 HUF. Extra prizes: The best player without FIDE rating, the best senior (above 55 year), the best junior (below 18 year), the best woman.
Contacts:
Phone: 36-88-401-400 (only evenings and weekends).
Mobile phone: 36-30-260-9945 (most of the time).
E-mail: szelenyin@freemail.hu (always).

In Memoriam:

June 7th was the 8th anniversary of the brutal murder of Larisa Yudina in the homeland of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

In her last article in 1998, Larisa wrote a story about how psychiatric hospitals in Russia abuse their power. The leader of an advocacy group for invalids' rights had been placed in a mental hospital for five days because she led a hunger strike. The women held a hunger strike because they were protesting not having enough money to feed their children.

Research was also being done at the same time by Larisa on a future article about the embezzlement of budgetary funds into offshore companies.

On 7 June 1998, Larisa met with a source who was supposed to provide needed information for the story on embezzlement.  She did not return.  Her body was found the next day.   She had been repeatedly stabbed, and her body was left in a pond in Elista—the same city as her birthplace.  See also:

http://www.eng.yabloko.ru/Hotissues/Society/Yudina/
http://archives.cjr.org/year/98/5/yudina.asp

            Chess News USA:

The US Olympiad team included six Grandmasters: Gata Kamsky from Brooklyn, New York; Alexander Onischuk from Baltimore, Maryland; Hikaru Nakamura from White Plains, NY; Ildar Ibragimov from Hartford, Connecticut; Gregory Kaidanov from Lexington, Kentucky and Varuzhan Akobian from Los Angeles, California.

In the last round the team crushed the Norwegians 3.5-.5 to catapult into third place. Last round winners were Nakamura, Onischuk and Akobian. The biggest scorer of the squad was Alexander Onischuk, the current U.S. Champion. He won four games and drew six with no losses.

Eighteen-year-old Hikaru Nakamura won his last three games. Among these was a victory over Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk that clinched a victory against Russia, the top seed of the event. It was Nakamura’s first Olympiad.

Gata Kamsky had a solid, plus one first board performance. He held his own in a field that included “super GMs” Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand.

Chess News WORLDWIDE:

Olympiad News
The 37th Chess Olympiad results summary:

Armenia took a quick draw vs Hungary on the last day of the 37th Chess Olympiad to finish at 36 points and win the Hamilton-Russel Cup for the first time.  Silver went to the Chinese who beat Netherlands while Israel sensationally defeated Russia 3-1 only to see USA pass them just at the line as the Americans wiped out Norway 3.5-0.5 on the last day to take a bronze medal.

The women’s team finished in fourth place.  The team included current U.S. Women’s Champion IM Anna Zatonskih (Long Island, New York), IM Irina Krush (Brooklyn, NY), WGM Rusudan Goletiani (Westchester,NY) and WGM Camilla Baginskaite ( Bay Area, CA) Goletiani and Krush were the big scorers for the team.  They both scored plus five.

Medal winners in the women’s section were Ukraine (gold), Russia (silver) and China (bronze).

What a shame that USCF gave up their best chances for a medal by not including highest ranked US woman player Susan Polgar in this event – in the previous Olympiad she had the best score from any country’s participants, and USA brought home a Silver medal – the first medal in their history.

Official site: www.chessolympiad-torino2006.org

MAGISTRAL CIUDAD DE LEÓN 2006

Ciudad de Leon 2006, First Semi-Final
- Anand reaches the final after a hard fight

Ciudad de Leon 2006, Second Semi-Final
- Topalov defeated Vallejo Pons 2½ - 1½

In the first semi-final June 8th number 2 of World ranking and former World Champion Vishy Anand, will play against the young Cuban Lázaro Bruzón, Pan-American champion.  World Champion Vesselin Topalov will face the Spanish Paco Vallejo, in the second semi-final, where the Ambassador of Bulgaria in Spain, Mr. Vassily Takev, will play the first move.  Bruzón and Topalov will have white in their first game.

Press Conference of Vesselin Topalov:

Vesselin Topalov gave a press conference where he explained the motives he has to support the re-elected president of FIDE Kirsan Iljumzhinov, these reasons are basically economical, he thinks chess cannot lose such an important sponsor; his opinion is not shared by most of his colleagues.

He likes the eliminatory system, León is one of the few strong tournaments where it is still maintained, and that this modality is equally fair than a round robin to decide the winner.

He has pleasant memories of León because it was his first top tournament in 1993 after playing only opens during all 1992, when he greatly raised his elo rating.

He also remembers his duel with Kasparov in 1998, played by the advanced chess system, in spite of his loss, which only occurred after the tiebreak.

XIX CIUDAD DE LEON CHESS TOURNAMENT - General

The XIX edition of the Ciudad de León chess tournament will be held from June 8^th to June 12^th of 2006 at the “Junta de Castilla y León” building of León, Spain.

Participants include current World Champion and number 1 of the world, Vesselin Topalov, former World Champion Vishy Anand, number 2 of the World, and two of the most promising young top players, the Spanish master, Paco Vallejo, and 23 years old, Champion of America, Lázaro Bruzón from Cuba.

As usual, there will be 2 semi finals (June 9^th and June 10^th) and a final (June 11^th)

Painting Exposition:  The parallel activities of the tournament will begin today, with a painting exhibition called “The cosmic chess” from Bulgarian artist Valentin Kovatchev; his exhibition will be open from June 1st to June 12th at the Junta de Castilla y León building.

The exposition commences today, June 1st at 7.00 p. m.  The games can be watched live: www.magistral.diariodeleon.es.  This year live commentaries of masters Miguel Illescas and Michael Rahal, from the venue, usually only in Spanish, will be also in English.

To follow the games through a mobile phone: This year the tournament can be followed live with a mobile, the instructions in the official web: www.advancedchessleon.com.

On June 10th the Ambassador of Bulgaria in Spain, Mr. Vassily Takev, will make the inaugural move of the semi-final in which Vesselin Topalov will take part.  On June 11th the first move of the Final will be made by the Mayor of Leon, Mr Mario Amilivia.

The official web sites are www.advancedchessleon.com and/or www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com

Information courtesy: Zenón Franco Ocampos. Press Chief

The 79th Men Saint-Petersburg Championship takes place 2-13 June in M.Chigorin city chess club.
Players: Evgeny Alekseev g 2640, Valery Popov g 2587, Denis Yevseev g 2580, Nikita Vitiugov 2550, Vasily Yemelin g 2520, Sergey Ionov g 2519, Valery Loginov g 2510, Evgeny Solozhenkin g 2508, Pavel Anisimov m 2500,
Vasily Orlov m 2450, Mikhail Zacurdajev 2400, Aleksey Ivanov 2375. The Shahcom Company provides live coverage of the games in the playing hall of M.Chigorin city chess club and internet.  The rounds start at 3 p.m. Moscow time (+3 GMT).

Future Chess:  The International chess tournament "Aerosvit-2006" will take place 17-28 June in Crimean Foros. Tournament will take place in the sanatorium complex "Foros" located in relic park.  Leading grandmasters of the world will take part in this competition - historically strongest ever in Ukranian chess: Ponomariov Ruslan 2738 UKR, Ivanchuk Vassily 2723 UKR, Akopian Vladimir 2706 ARM, Grischuk Alexander 2719 RUS, Karjakin Sergey 2661 UKR, Volokitin Andrei 2660 UKR, Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2695 ROM, Areshchenko Alexander 2660 UKR, Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2699 AZE, Harikrishna Pentala 2680 IND, Bologan Viktor 2666 MDA.

The Shahcom Company together with the Ukrainian Company RelayExport will provide live coverage of the games on the site www.relayexport.com/en/chess/chess.html and our site.  The chief arbiter: international arbiter Leonid Bodankin (Ukraine).  Official site: www.aerosvit2006.ukrchess.org.ua.

These URLs do not appear to be currently operational as of June 6^th, 2006.

Obituary:   Wolfgang Unzicker died of heart failure during a holiday in Portugal on April 20, 2006.

Anatoly Karpov called Wolfgang Unzicker the “world champion of amateurs”. He was born in Pirmasens, Germany, on June 26, 1925, and started to play chess at the age of ten.

Chess News WORLDWIDE:

Fide Election news

First of all, Paranoid Russians!  Moscow Times reported this week:

Russian newspapers have hinted that Western chess federations are plotting to make sure the Russian loses.  In a Komsomolskaya Pravda article Tuesday, Alexei Gulf said the "NATO of chess" – the United States, Western Europe and Turkey – had Russia in its crosshairs.  "Remember," Gulf wrote, "how our figure skater Irina Slutskaya was robbed [of a gold medal] at the Winter Olympics in the same city – Turin."

Result of the election:

Says Scotland’s Fide Representative: "It is well known that in FIDE elections many promises are broken, so no one can be really certain," David Levy said. "But the people who are most genuinely in the know, those on the two election teams, paint a picture of a Kirsan victory.  His guys are all smiles, while those I have seen today from the Bessel camp have an air of doom about them."

Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers said each candidate had 55 to 60 votes "in the bag," but that Latin American federations could tip the scale in Ilyumzhinov's favor. 

While it is normal practice to announce the winner, and to wish him good luck, and so on, The Parrot chooses to announce the loser – and that is you, dear reader, since Bessel Kok’s campaign failed and Kirsan is president for four more years.  Final vote count was 96  votes to 54.

Let us consider the very modest reform proposals which lost – better chess education, normal funding for sports activities, decency and modern management practice.  This was Kok’s platform, and all the Western democracies in Europe, Australia, Canada and the US went for it.  Now the price to continue with Fide is that which we put on those decent set of proposals.  What price decency?

What will follow is the most serious of discussions about a split in world chess, which will not render Fide powerless, since it already has nothing but politics to prop it up.  Instead it will make Fide redundant, since who is prepared to continue paying money and homage to this organization, instead of those things which concern us for the C21st., as Kok represents it, real worldwide chess education, proper and steady sponsorship for chess, a credible world championship basis, and all properly managed by an ensemble cast of people qualified to do so, rather than by the ego of the ruler of a “100% approval democracy.”

There is no possibility of achieving these modest, rational and sensible reforms, and every possibility of another Ilyumzhinov's success in 2010.

Bessel Kok may have suffered from an over identification with the West say some commentators – but this is merely campaign rhetoric, and as Nigel Short has pointed out, particularly African countries have been the losers in terms of chess education and support during the past 5 years.

The Parrot’s sense of the chess political scene is that even conservatives will now conspire to do chess good – and undertake whatever necessary means are required to do what forwards us.

Olympiad News

The 37th Chess Olympiad takes place 20th May - 4th June 2006 in Turin, Italy. Among participants: Anand Viswanathan 2803 IND, Aronian Levon 2756 ARM, Svidler Peter 2743 RUS, Ivanchuk Vasyl 2731 UKR, Morozevich Alexander 2730 RUS, Kramnik Vladimir 2729 RUS, Gelfand Boris 2727 ISR, Adams Michael 2720 ENG, Grischuk Alexander 2719 RUS, Radjabov Teimour 2717 AZE, Bacrot Etienne 2708 FRA, Akopian Vladimir 2706 ARM, Bareev Evgeny 2701 RUS, Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP, Nisipeanu Liviu Dieter 2695 ROM.

 

Leading pairs 12th round June 03 2006:

France 28.5 - 32 Armenia
Czech Republic 27.5 - 28.5 China
Russia 28 - 27.5 Cuba
Israel 27.5 - 28 USA
Ukraine 27.5 - 27 Netherlands
Germany 27 - 26.5 Norway
Dominican Republic 23.5 - 23.5 Italy A
Georgia 26.5 - 26.5 Moldova
Denmark 26.5 - 26.5 Romania
Greece 26.5 - 26.5 Uzbekistan
Slovenia 26.5 - 26.5 Bulgaria
Hungary 26.5 - 26 Iceland
Poland 26 - 26 Slovakia
Spain 26 - 25.5 Turkey
Canada 25.5 - 25.5 India
Belarus 25.5 - 25.5 FYROM
England 25.5 - 25.5 Iran
Azerbaijan 25.5 - 25.5 Vietnam
Sweden 25 - 25 Croatia
Philippines 25 - 25 Switzerland
Qatar 24.5 - 24.5 Brazil
Portugal 24.5 - 24.5 Serbia & Montenegro
Estonia 24.5 - 24.5 Malaysia
Latvia 24.5 - 24 Ireland
Colombia 24 - 24 Kazakhstan
Lithuania 24 - 24 Venezuela
Bosnia Herzegovina 23.5 - 23.5 Austria
Ecuador 23.5 - 23.5 Italy B
Turkmenistan 23 - 23.5 Mongolia
ICSC 23 - 23 Argentina
Albania 23 - 23 Scotland
Mexico 23 - 23 Finland
Egypt 23 - 22.5 Morocco

Official site: www.chessolympiad-torino2006.org

The 79th Men Saint-Petersburg Championship takes place 2-13 June in M.Chigorin city chess club.
Players: Evgeny Alekseev g 2640, Valery Popov g 2587, Denis Yevseev g 2580, Nikita Vitiugov 2550, Vasily Yemelin g 2520, Sergey Ionov g 2519, Valery Loginov g 2510, Evgeny Solozhenkin g 2508, Pavel Anisimov m 2500,
Vasily Orlov m 2450, Mikhail Zacurdajev 2400, Aleksey Ivanov 2375. The Shahcom Company provides live coverage of the games in the playing hall of M.Chigorin city chess club and internet.  The rounds start at 3 p.m. Moscow time (+3 GMT).

Future Chess:

The International chess tournament "Aerosvit-2006" will take place 17-28 June in Crimean Foros. Tournament will take place in the sanatorium complex "Foros" located in relic park. Leading grandmasters of the world will take part in this competition - historically strongest ever in Ukranian chess: Ponomariov Ruslan 2738 UKR, Ivanchuk Vassily 2723 UKR, Akopian Vladimir 2706 ARM, Grischuk Alexander 2719 RUS, Karjakin Sergey 2661 UKR, Volokitin Andrei 2660 UKR, Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 2695 ROM, Areshchenko Alexander 2660 UKR, Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2699 AZE, Harikrishna Pentala 2680 IND, Bologan Viktor 2666 MDA.
The Shahcom Company together with the Ukrainian Company RelayExport will provide live coverage of the games on the site www.relayexport.com/en/chess/chess.html and our site.
The chief arbiter: international arbiter Leonid Bodankin (Ukraine).
Official site: www.aerosvit2006.ukrchess.org.ua

These URLs do not appear to be currently operational as of June 3, 2006.

Chess News USA

Chess Philanthropy?  9^th grade Russian Immigrant student needs $250 to attend chess camp and tournament. Inquiries to TheParrot.

Celebrity appearance by Lennox Lewis last Tuesday:

NEW YORK -- Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis will attempt to go from paycheck to checkmate next week when he takes on all comers in a “speed chess” game called “Chesster.” The event will take place at an online gaming site that claims to host more than one million games per day.

Opponents will have the opportunity to win $1,000 by beating Lewis, who is an avid chess player. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 23. Details are available at the site (which is operated by Midasplayer.com Ltd., London). Free registration is required.

The former champ will hit the marketing canvas on May 22 and 23, doing guest appearances on such shows as ESPN’s Cold Pizza, The Jim Rome Show and Fox and Friends. Support also includes a photo shoot in New York’s Washington Square Park, as well as shout-outs on Lennox’s own Web site.

“For me, playing chess takes the stress away, which is why I enjoyed playing when I was training,” Lennox, who retired from boxing in February 2004, said in a statement. “The sports are similar in that it’s one-on-one, and in boxing, it helped me prepare a strategy to beat my opponent.

“I finished my boxing career as the undefeated champ, and I intend to finish my chess competition the same way!”

Information courtesy http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2006/05/checkmate-lennox-lewis-makes-his-move.html.

Chess News WORLDWIDE

Fide Election news

Mr. Bessel Kok informed the Parrot that he has now arrived in Torino, and has already made a public video. Download your own 30 minute interview.  Go here  for a download of a 30 minute interview with Bessel Kok, GM Nigel Short, and Ali Nihat. But if you can’t do that, here is a brief of the web-cast:  It took my [v. fast] server 3 minutes to download the 30 minute audio/video presentation.  For readers who cannot access the download here below is a brief summary of some main points:

GM Nigel Short: *An open procedure of governance of chess by professional management, not corrupt ineptitude. *Make chess modern sport befitting C21st. *Reform Fide's structure, not a system of back-scratching friends. *No denial of visas to legitimate chess players. *Survey of small countries showed 'utter neglect' of them by Fide. *He asked the question, 'what has Fide done for you in the past 5 years?'

Ali Nihat: *Spoke primarily about lack of sponsorship attained by Fide. *He also acted to relay questions received by e-mail during the interview process.

Bessel Kok: *Predicted the weather! *He said that Fide had 'forgotten their task' and was 'too inward looking.' *He spoke of less ostentation and more results. * His primary slate of ideas comprised: Better chess in the schools, more chess education, better professional sponsorship for the game, better use of chess and technology. *He further addressed a 6-City series of tournaments leading to a super tournament, a format already proved successful for evolving top players.

All 3 Right Move advocates looked relaxed and while Bessel joked about the weather, Nigel grinning throughout. Kok said that he thought his chances were poor some 6 months ago when be became a sort of 'alternative' candidate, but now thought they were better than 50%, and perhaps 60%. Nigel commentated that these seemed like real appreciations of the situation unlike the other campaigns loose talk of 200 federations being on their side.

While the interview had a relaxed and confident tone, its plain that the issues themselves are no joking matter. Very much chess in the future seems to depend on shifting the basis to a professional standard of management aligned with what most chess players express themselves to really want - in contrast to business as usual, which is very little business at all.

People who are interested in the status quo might look at the comparative level of commentary as presented by the pro-Kirsan site.  A new and brief biography of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has not been reviewed by any independent source – so here is a note from the a pro- Ilyumzhinov site:

“This is a passage from the thrilling nonfiction book written by Yuri Vasilyev. The author and the main character, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, know each other for almost 12 years. During the presentation of his book in Turin Yuri Vasilyev said that he knows many chess genius but only one person deserves to be called the best chess organizer, and that is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Vasilyev added that he intentionally made the book short since it meant to be published for the Chess Olympiad 2006 and during the Games people have little spare time to read.”

To paraphrase slightly, but with considerable irony, Ted Hughes wrote:

            There you may see it,

            Our lonely Tartar death,

            Surrounded and dumb like the bound

            Wolf on Tolstoy’s horse.

Olympiad News

Susan Polgar has analysed top performers in the competition.

1 WGM Zatonskih, Anna 2433 USA 0 1 ½ ½ = 2.0/4 - Performance Rating: 2362
2 IM Krush, Irina 2437 USA 1 1 1 ½ = 3.5/4 - Performance Rating: 2593
3 WGM Goletiani, Rusudan 2371 USA 1 1 ½ ½ = 3.0/4 - Performance Rating: 2401
4 WGM Baginskaite, Camilla 2299 USA 1 1 ½ = 2.5/3 - Performance Rating: 2517

For the Us Women’s team Krush and Baginskaite are particularly strong at the moment, with Zatonskih having to take the full force of opponents on board one.

Other other women players performing well, here are other stats showing very high Elo’s, [again courtesy Susan Polgar.

IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2489 (Russia) is performing at 2701 (4.5/5)
IM Peptan, Corina Isabela 2408 (Romania) is performing at 2675
GM Koneru, Humpy 2548 (India) is performing at 2663 (4.5/5)
WGM Muzychuk, Anna 2418 (Slovenia) is performing at 2655

Of the MEN's competition, Here comes Kamsky - as Arnold might say "I'm back!"

GM Kramnik, Vladimir is performing at 2960!!
GM Kamsky, Gata is performing at 2896!!
GM Kasimdzhanov, Rustam is performing at 2895!!
GM Bareev, Evgeny is performing at 2874!!
GM Grischuk, Alexander is performing at 2866!!

Leader results in the Competition:

1 Russia15.5 

2 Armenia 15.5 

3 Netherlands15.0 

4 Uzbekistan 14.5 

5 Bulgaria 14.0 

6  Ukraine14.0