(1405) CHESS IN SCHOOL IN TURKEY -- THE BEST!!! (TBN-July 24, 2017)

BRIGHT FUTURE TO TURKISH CHESS YOUTH

                    In the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, they fielded in 3 teams as host nation. A nucleus of young Turkish chess players in the 3^rd team had a photo session with me and teammate Elizabeth Manuel. The staggering Chess in School program in Turkey resulted in them hosting their 2^nd Olympiad after the 2000 hosting. They plan to bid again for 2020 WCO but the best host ever, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia won the bidding during the 2016 WCO in Baku, Azerbaijan.

                                                 (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)

CHESS IN SCHOOL IN TURKEY -- THE BEST!!!

DURING the Asian Chess Summit held in Al Ain, UAE from August 28-Sept. 01, 2016 a report by Oceania Chess Confederation President Paul Spiller was circulated during the informal OCC meeting in the 2016 World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan on Sept. 07 at the luxurious Fairmont Hotel.

http://palau-chess.blogspot.com/2016/12/1314-informal-meeting-of-o-c-c-members.html

                The Oceania representatives who attended that summit were: New Zealand: Paul Spiller, Grant Kerr & Nigel Metge; Australia: Gary Wastell; PNG: Shaun Press & Stuart Fancy; Nauru: Ulrike Vogel; Guam: Roger Orio; Solomon Islands: Jamie Kenmure

                THE PHENOMENAL SUCCESS OF CHESS IN SCHOOL IN TURKEY WAS EMPHASIZED BY Ali Nihat Yazici, the Turkish Chess Federation President:

             Ali Nihat Yazici spoke on how he built a successful Turkish Chess Federation and the phenomenal success of the Chess in Schools program in Turkey.

            The aim of chess was seen as a beautiful educational tool that will make us better citizens. Two aspects of the brains improvement can be influenced by chess – the logical and visual aspects.

             Chess develops mathematical problem solving by 15 – 20%. Ultimately the benefactors of a successful program are the children, federations, government, chess professionals and sponsors.

                Growth in the Turkish federation climbed from 300 in 2001 to a staggering 415,000 by 2014. Certified trainers increased from 1,400 in 2005 up to 74,000 by 2016 with 5,000,000 learning chess in Schools. Some key aspects of this success included a “Golden Children Program” rewarding young players who achieved the milestones of first GM under 14, under 16 and under 18.

                24,000 Schools now have a chess elective course in Turkey. Success is based on a pyramid structure involving Schools, Clubs, Chess Professionals and Government. [Turkish Federation receives a 3 million Euro budget from the Government per annum].

                FIDE Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Borg, who visited Palau twice in 2014, presented the “Chess and Marketing” topic. He stressed that Marketing in Chess required a respected brand [i.e. having a product that somebody will pay for].

 http://palau-chess.blogspot.com/2014/01/2-day-visit-to-palau-by-geoffrey-borg.html

http://palau-chess.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/geoffrey-borg-is-back-conducted-fide.html

                The estimated global population of chess players is 600 million, skewed towards male

[69% in the USA and 66% in the UK] and 55% of players are in the 16 – 34 age bracket.

                FIDE was recognized by the IOC in 1999 and currently has 181 member countries, one of the largest sports federations in the world. Values associated with chess as a brand are “sophisticated”, “smart” which can be used to attract potential sponsors. Important aspects when organizing tournaments were highlighted as:

                Following up with sponsors after an event

                Chess casting, Organize sponsor events, Hold press conferences, special events, dress up the    venue, award special prizes and have souvenirs.

With regard to chess within smaller federations, it was recommended to start a pdf magazine and in order to attract sponsorship include all the relevant numbers of chess players within a country including all junior players.

                Solution to last week’s puzzle No. 4421: 1. …Qe1+!! 2. Bxe1 Rxe1+ 3. Rf1 Rxf1#

                This week’s puzzle No. 4422: Black to move and mates in 3 (Solution next issue)

Sources: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez

                 Tia Belau Newspaper

                 Pages 9-10

                 Volume 26

                 Issue 58

                 July 24, 2017

                 Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)

                 The Beginning of Chess in Palau

                 By Roberto Hernandez

                 Soon to be published as a book

                 Music and Me by Roberto Hernandez

                 Tia Belau Newspaper

                 March 15, 2012 --April 18, 2013

                 http://palau-chess.blogspot.com

                 April 25, 2013 -- July 25, 2017

                 The History of Chess in Palau

                 By Roberto Hernandez

                 June 09, 2002--July 25, 2017

(282) OPENING CEREMONY (ISTANBUL OLYMPIAD)

2012 World Chess Olympiad

OPENING CEREMONY

27 August

WOW HOTEL

PROGRAM

* Entry of The Turkish Flag

* Moment of Silence

* Raising the Flag and Turkish National Anthem

* The Ones Who Passed Away

* Art Show

* Entry of Flags of Countries

* Ceremonial Speeches

Ali Nihat Yazici

(Director of the Organizational Committee)

Dr. Kadir Topbas

(Mayor of Metropolitan Municipality)

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

(FIDE President)

Suat Kilic

(Minister of Youth and Sports)

* FIDE Flag

* Color Drawing for the Pairings

* Sportsmen's Oath

Trainer's Oath

Arbiter's Oath

Symbolic Move by the Minister

Caucasia is a cultural mosaic built by different communities with many common cultural values. Caucasian people, who are also one of the important elements of the Anatolian region, managed to reflect their dances, music, customs and traditions until today.

SANAT GOSTERISI

ART SHOW

Turkey is a cradle of civilizations, a singel nation with all its differences and an area which became the native country of many different etchnical groups.

We have designed a well-disciplined show to reflect our cultural and environmental wealthiness especially about Istanbul, which we have put forward during the candidateship process of the 2020 Olympics.

A visual show involving the whole Turkey was enriched with modernized folk dances and local instrument solos.

Halay Duet

Halay is a kind of folk dance which is performed by people in East, Southeast, Central Anatolia and Curukova regions during ceremonies and fests. It has taken its shape of today with the affect of the Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri and Assyrian cultures. It is a dance performed hand-to-hand or shoulder-to-shoulder.

Horoni

The dynamic Black Sea Horon reflects the shape of the character of the local people and their cultural basis. Horon will always tell and make us remember the culture and people of the Black Sea, sometimes with its bagpipe sound swelling through bodies as a cry of freedom in foggy uplands, sometimes with its kemancha sound wistful but with an energy growing out of the body, sometimes with its reed pipe sound becoming a lyrical story and sometimes with its sound of shawm and drum turning into an ecstatical ritual.

Zeybek/Seymen

The Zeibek establishment continues to exist with its original cultural values in the Aegean region and in the regions nearby. Besides having the general Aegean character, the Zeibek dances reflect feelings like braver, courage and justice. It has special relationships with the Seymen Character in the Central Anatolian region as well as other dance in the Aegian region.

Balkan Danslari

The Balkan region which is located in the east of Europe and west of Turkey have many common values in both ethnical and cultural aspects with Anatolia. Besides many communities who immigrated from Balkans to Anatolia, manu Turani communities who had to come back live in different regions of Turkey and they continue to live their cultural life and perform their cultural practices.

BEFORE ENTERING THE WOW HOTEL CONVENTION CENTER IN ISTANBUL FOR THE OPENING CEREMONY OF 2012 WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD, PALAU TEAM MEMBERS MENANDRO MANUEL, ROBERTO HERNANDEZ AND BERNARDO GARCIA POSE AT THE ENTRANCE.

PALAU CHESS TEAM CAPTAIN JAMIE KENMURE, 2ND FROM LEFT, JOIN THE TOP 3 PLAYERS OF PALAU. HE JUST FINISHED ATTENDING THE TEAM CAPTAINS' MEETING (TECHNICAL MEETING) 30 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE OPENING CEREMONY.

OCEANIA CHESS CONFEDERATION PRESIDENT BRIAN JONES OF AUSTRALIA JOIN THE GROUP WITH ELIZABETH MANUEL, MENANDRO'S WIFE AND PALAU'S TEAM HEAD OF DELEGATION. BRIAN TOOK SOME SHOTS OF PALAU CHESS TEAM MEMBERS FOR HIS AUSTRALASIAN CHESS MAGAZINE FEATURES.

FROM LEFT, MENANDRO MANUEL (FIDE RATING 1924) --BOARD 4; BERNARDO GARCIA (1663) -- BOARD 3; ROBERTO HERNANDEZ (1875)--BOARD 1; AND JAMIE KENMURE -- TEAM CAPTAIN.

A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE USA NO. 1 AND WORLD'S NO. 7 HIKARU NAKAMURA TO HAVE A PHOTO LIKE THIS BEFORE THE START OF THE OPENING CEREMONY OF 2012 WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY.

DANCE NUMBERS BY TURKISH DANCERS (Traditional/Modern)

ANOTHER DANCE NUMBER BY LADY DANCERS JOINED LATER BY MALE DANCERS.

3RD NUMBER WITH DIFFERENT BACKGROUND.

WITH A MUSLIM MOSQUE BACKGROUND THIS TIME.

PARADE OF FLAGS --- ALPHABETICALLY.

HALF OF THE FLAG PARADE IS AT THE RIGHT SIDE.

THE PALAU FLAG. AT LAST, PALAU CAN PARTICIPATE NOW! IT HAS 4 PLAYERS ON THE OPEN DIVISION, A TEAM CAPTAIN (AUSTRALIAN) AND A SWEDISH DELEGATE.

PALAU'S BOARD 1 PLAYER ROBERTO HERNANDEZ AND TEAM CAPTAIN JAMIE KENMURE OF AUSTRALIA.

MORE CLOSE-UP SHOT OF PALAU FLAG.

RIGHT TO LEFT -- MENANDRO MANUEL AND BERNARDO GARCIA.

HALF OF THE FLAG CARRIERS TO THE LEFT.

HALF OF THE FLAG CARRIERS TO THE RIGHT.

161 FLAGS, 161 COUNTRIES.

PALAU IS RATED 145TH.

Speech - 1

Speech 3--

Speech --2 by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumshinov.

Key people of 40th World Chess Olympiad.

Flag carriers of FIDE flag.

Gens una sumus -- We are one family.

Speech - 4 Prime Minister of Turkey and Mayor of Istanbul.

One more shot before getting out of Wow hotel convention center.

(232) ISTANBUL HERE WE COME (Without Tito) TBN-July 9, 2012

THANK YOU, MR. ALI NIHAT YAZICI
     Mr. Ali Nihat YAZICI, the President of Turkish Chess Federation, has exempted the 8-member Palau Chess Team Delegation to the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey from paying 100 Euros for accreditation and transportation fee aside from providing players and captain pocket-money of 70 Euros. Thank you so much, Mr. Ali Nihat YAZICI.



I  STANBUL HERE WE COME (Without Tito)

There are good news and bad news. Which one you want to know first?  Okay, bad news first… Tito Cabunagan, one of the committed team members of Palau Chess Team to Istanbul Olympiad, will skip this 40^th World Chess Olympiad. In his email to all members of the team, Tito noted:

“Hello Guys, I have a big problem. The Japanese JICA Study Team is coming on August 15, 2012. They will be here for one month. Their main purpose is to finalize the grant aid of 2x 5000 KW generators for Aimeliik Power Station. I’m the only Technical person who can assist them in their study.

I have just completed my documents for Visa application. Anyway, I will reserve that for Norway in 2014.

Good luck to all of you guys.       Tito
The good news is about an email from Mr. Jan Berglund, Palau’s Delegate in 2008, 2010 and 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia and Istanbul, Turkey respectively. It is dated June 30, 2012 and it read as follows:                    Dear Mr. Hernandez, I am spending some time in Greenland for the time being. Unfortunately, I have extremely small possibilities to use internet here. But, I managed to get an hour in tonight. I studied your correspondence with me lately and want to clarify something that struck me.

 Maybe you remember signing a request to become a CACDEC nation in the highest category when we were in Khanty-Mansiysk? I handed it in two copies, one to one of the FIDE treasurers and the other one to the chairman of CACDEC. They both promised me orally that there was no problem with that. They would both see to that it was going to be granted.

 So, following your debate about the 100 Euro, I got surprised. What had happened? Therefore I contacted my friend Ali in Turkey. This is what he pointed to me – see below! If you cannot open the link I can tell you that Palau is mentioned in the link as one of the nations that DO NOT have to pay this Euro 100 – for our 8-people delegation. However, if there are any accompanying people, outside these eight, they must pay.

I’ll be back when I have better possibilities with internet access, but I thought this was extremely relevant information to pass on as quickly as possible. Best wishes, Jan

THIS IS WHAT ALI NIHAT YAZICI POINTED OUT:  After a relevant research on the GDP per capita, concerning the FIDE affiliated federations, the Turkish Chess Federation came to the following conclusions and decisions: 1. Based on the request of FIDE Developing Commission, the organizers of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad will pay to each listed federation the amount of 70 Euros as pocket- money for each player and captain.

Listed Federations

2. Above this, the Turkish Chess Federation decided to help those federations that face financial shortage, by excluding all the members of the delegations (players, captain, chief of delegation, delegates, accompanying persons, etc) from their obligation of paying to the organizers the 100 Euros per person obligatory fee for accreditation, transportation, etc. This exemption is valid for participants staying in official hotels.

As organizers of Olympiad we hope to see all our friends having good conditions in Istanbul. On behalf of TCF, I want to ask to FIDE by respecting this research attached to this announcement, to check and revise CACDEC federations.     Gens Una Sumus        Ali Nihat YAZICI

There is one good thing to know, the new General Manager of Palau Royal Resort, Mr. Masahiro Fujita, has granted the annual leave applied by Roberto Hernandez to participate in the Istanbul, Olympiad. When Hernandez represented Palau in the 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship in Australia and 2010 World Chess Olympiad in Russia, he brought 100 PRR brochures in each occasion to promote Palau and PRR. He will do the same in Turkey.

This is the composition of Palau Chess Team –Team Captain is Jamie Kenmure of Australia, the same team captain of Palau chess team in Russia; the Delegate is still Mr. Jan Berglund; Head of Delegation is Elizabeth Manuel, wife of Board 4 player Menandro Manuel, Geodetic Engineer (Surveyor) of Surangel and Sons; Board 1 will be Roberto Hernandez, Musician of PRR; Board 2 (still to be decided if Mohammad Manik Hossain can make it) and Board 3 is Bernardo Garcia, I.T. Manager of Palau Pacific Resort.

If Manik could not make it, Elizabeth will play on Board 2. The couple (Menandro and Elizabeth) will tour Europe after the Olympiad. They will spend 5 days in touring Italy, France and Germany and back to Istanbul on their way back to Manila.

They take advantage of this golden opportunity to tour Europe after getting 15 days of free full accommodation by participating in the Olympiad. This may be a motivation to others to spend a few extra days in Europe than to have a longer vacation in their country or LOOKING FORWARD TO 2014 TROMSO, NORWAY WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD IN NOVERMBER.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

              Tia Belau Newspaper

              Pages 12 &13

              Volume 21

              Issue 45

             July 09, 2012