by Lakhdar Mazouz

In the big and beautiful facilities of the Al Ain Sport arena, many people have gathered to witness the start of the first Asian Club Championship.

Long before the start of the Competition, a friendly and joyful atmosphere could be noticed: players and officials happy to meet again and to greet each other, pleased to exchange views, remembering past events they experienced, moving tirelessly around the hall. In the gallery, spectators, mostly wearing traditional white gowns, most of them teenagers, filled the seats, thrilled by the event, surely busy talking and speculating excitedly about the competition.

Outside the hall, in Al Ain city, a town ambitioning to establish itself as a leading Sport City, and apparently very much succeeding, inhabitants were active doing their usual routine. The temperature was very pleasant, almost Mediterranean and the sun was shining, with not a single cloud in the blue/white sky. No trace of the fog that surrounded the region was to be seen.

Simply wonderful conditions for a Chess Competition.

This Championship is organized under the patronage of Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of Abu Dhabi Sports Council. Of course, this Event would not have taken place without the constant efforts and energy provided by Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Shakhboot Al Nahyan, President of the Asian Chess federation.

30 Clubs from 24 Asian countries are competing for the Championship. A real success, knowing that the idea of staging this event is a mere 2 months old.

Which Club will be crowned Champion? Al Ain Chess Club, with the best average Elo, seems to be the favorite. But, some Clubs, like Fajr Shams (Iran), Qi Yuan, (China), Tagaytay Chess (Philippines), have also good chances.

Parallel to the Championship, two seminars will be organized. One devoted to Arbitration, the other one to training. Many Asian Federations are eager to participate to these seminars, especially as they will be headed respectively by P.NiKolopoulos and A. MiKhalchichin, both of them well known as expert in their field.

/ taken from www.fide.com /

Results and standings

The votes have been tallied and Turkey won the 2012 bid to host the Chess Olympiad. The final count was 95 for Istanbul (Turkey), 40 for Budva (Montenegro), and 1 no vote.

It will be held in Istanbul in 2012. Mr. Ali Nihat Yazici, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, in a press conference with me 2 nights ago, promised that it will be the best Olympiad ever! In addition, Mr. Yazici added that Turkey will have about a 10 million Euros dedicated to the 2012 Chess Olympiad.

/ posted on Susan Polgar's blog /

Interestingly, Turkey and Mr. Yazici's win was by far easier than his recent struggle to retain TCF presidency. Congratulations Turkey and the whole chess world keeps its fingers for your success. Knowing of your passion and hospitality we rest assured you are able to meet highest standards and host exciting event.
On the other hand, it's been second time in a row when Montenegro lost the Olympiad run (2010 went to Russia). Obviously world's youngest independent state needs a third strike and they certainly deserve their place in the history. Go Montenegro!

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Olympiad Medal Watch - who can win which medal?

The rest day before the early-morning last round (10:00 CET) is a good moment to summarize top teams' chances on grabbing medals. In the open section, Armenia, Ukraine and China have leaped forward after winning the penultimate round. Gold and silver-medalists from the 2006 Turin Olympiad, Armenia and China, will conveniently match eachother in the last round to directly participate in the medal distribution. And while Armenians are holding the destiny in their own hands, as the win will certainly bring gold medal thanks to superior additional criteria compared to Ukraine, China has to win to secure "at least" bronze medal. Would there be more, it pretty much depends on the results of Ukraine and Israel.

Ukraine is paired against the storming USA, who were already written-off by the AP journalist. Win guarantees at least silver, while 2-2 tie will be at least bronze - or silver if Israel doesn't win, or gold if in addition China knocks Armenia down. Turin-bronze USA can take bronze if: Armenia beats China, USA beats Ukraine, Israel loses to Netherlands, Russia-Spain finishes in 2-2 and 26 points in the first tiebreak of Netherlands somehow vanish (which includes too many other teams as variables).

Israel is well positioned thanks to the fantastic first tiebreak and they could even claim gold if they win and both Armenia and Ukraine lose. Win in any case brings at least bronze. Russia can still climb on the stage if they beat Spain, Israel loses (or draws, but then it will be tight on TB2) and China doesn't win. Netherlands is in similar position, but they also need Russia not to win.

Women section

In the women section, the 9th-seeded Poland is alone on the top with one round to go. This fantastic result can appear surprising only to those who don't know the fantastic friendship and spirit inside this team. Even in the individual tournaments, as we witnessed in Nalchik, Polish women would closely follow and provide moral support to their compatriots. Poland is paired against Ukraine, seeded 2nd, and is enjoying the luxury of being in commanding position. Draw against Ukraine would be gold unless Georgia beats Serbia, in which case Poland takes silver (TB2). Even a defeat, which they probably don't even think of, might be a bronze, but only if Russia and USA don't win, which wouldn't really be a safe bet.

Ukraine will defend 2006 Olympiad gold if they beat Poland. In case of a draw, they win silver if Georgia-Serbia is also tied, otherwise it will be a bronze. Georgia is adding steam as the tournament progresses, having signed four consecutive wins, three of which were maximum 4-0. If they win tomorrow, and Poland draws, this will be the first team gold medal since 1996, when China took over. If Poland-Ukraine is decided, a win is certain silver. A draw against Serbia significantly complicates matters, as USA might surpass them with the unpredictable TB2.

Serbia has no other choice but to beat Georgians if they want a medal. If, in addition, Poland outplays Ukraine, that would be a silver, otherwise a bronze is guaranteed. Draw brings bronze only if Ukraine loses, and USA and Russia don't win. USA and Russia could win and sneak in for a bronze if Ukraine loses, but Russia also has weaker tiebreaks and they need USA not to win against France.

/ taken from Chessdom.com /

Ho Meng Wei of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) made history by playing his debut Olympiad game at 7 years, 11 months and 12 days. He has broken previous documented record by more than 3 years.
Unfortunately he lost his first game in round 2 vs M.Siban of Suriname.

It has to be stressed that Chinese Taipei was only admitted to FIDE back in 2004 and has virtually no chess tradition. There are just 19 rated players (the top one is merely 2165) and Meng Wei is one of them rated 1550. So far he had played in three FIDE rated tournaments, the first one was V Open Int. Ayuntamiento in Pontevedra, Spain where (at six!) he had scored 2.5/8. He also took part in the recently concluded World Youth Chess Championship in Vietnam, but he did poorly scoring just 4.5/11 in U8 Open section.

So far Meng Wei scored 0/2 in Dresden and is sill looking for his first spoils.
Ho Meng Wei's Olympiad card
Ho Meng Wei's FIDE ID (where he incorrectly appears as Ho Men-Wei)
Interview on the official Olympiad site mentioning Meng Wei

Only two weeks after Vishy Anand became World Champion in Bonn, we are going to witness another big chess event in Germany. The start of the 38th Chess Olympiadhas been given at the opening ceremony in Dresden today. The hall looked impressive, full of representatives of a record number of participating nations and a crowd of journalists.

Very similar to the Beijing Olympics model, the Olympiad in Dresden started at 8:08. One after the other on the scene came singers, cheerleaders, ice skaters, drum bangers, and many more performances. Every country in the Dresden Olympiad was represented by German school children in the Opening Ceremony. All of the children who carried the flags and country names are chess players who qualified to be at the opening ceremony through a series of tournaments.

The FIDE President Kirsan Ilymzhinov could not attend the opening ceremony. As many Russian sources informed his car was involved into a car accident on the way to the airport. The reports state that Mr. Ilymzhinov did not suffer important injuries. The Chessdom team wishes him a fast recovery.

/ taken from www.chessdom.com website /

Official results site
Mig Greengard's The Daily Dirt Chess Blog
All ChessBase.com reports
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The Chess Drum. Black players at the Olympiad