(636) CHESS OLYMPIAD CALVIA (SPAIN) 2004 FINAL STANDINGS

On November 05, 2004 Roberto Hernandez printed the Final Standings of 2004 World Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain. THE FOLLOWING IS THE FINAL STANDINGS OF 129 PARTICIPATING NATIONS:

Source: www.fide.com

(219) HOW INDIA BECAME A WORLD CHESS POWER

HOW DID INDIA BECAME

A WORLD CHESS POWER

MANY ASSUME India's success in chess is a natural consequence of their large population, just as China, Russia and the United States.

But come to think of it, if that is the case, then India should be successful in many sports which they are certainly not. For example, India got its first Olympic gold medal only recently in Beijing (in shooting).

India boasts 20 Grandmasters (GM), 8 Woman Grandmasters (WGM), 61 International Masters (IM), and 17 IWMs.

India hold the World Girls U-20 title, has won numerous medals in the World Youth and Asian Youth Championships.

GM S. Ganguly is the reigning Asian Champion, and, to top it all, the World Champion, Viswanathan Anand, is from India.

To find out the reason for their success, Casto Abundo, Deputy President of Asian Chess Federation, interviewed All India Chess Federation (AICF) Hon. Secretary D. V. Sundar at the AICF office in Chennai, India:

Q: To what do you attribute the success of India?

A: We hold many children's tournaments. Every week there is a children's tournament going on in one part or another of our 30 states. The 5 most active are in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kamataka, Maharashta, West Bengal. These states are historically good in producing chess players.We have many children's tournaments, alternating age groups Under -18 and 16. The AICF insists that all tournaments give certificates to all children. Not only children are encouraged but specially their parents.

Q: You concentrate on the development of the youth. But what more do you do?

A:We motivate organizers to hold rating tournaments. We have over 80 rated tournaments. Swiss Opens rated by FIDE. Many players are motivated to get a FIDE rating.

Q: I see that after playing in children's tournaments, the next stage is joining FIDE rated tournaments.

A: We organized our national age group championships one year ahead of the Asian and World Youth Championships. Mentally, that player who wins has a year to prepare. Aside from the traditional chess States, we have developed chess in Goa, Delhi, Orissa, Assam and Jharkhand. Kerala now organizes 5 to 6 rated tournaments every year with 150 to 300 participants each. Rajasthan organizes 2 or 3 tournaments every year. We are creating a mass appeal for chess.

Q: After you creat a mass chess base of players, how do they become so good to win so many medals?

A: We have a coaching program. Many coaches motivate children to take up chess. They teach them in their homes. We have man coaching academies. In Chennae alone we have 30 Academies for levels from beginner to mid-level and rated player. They alternate teaching children for 2 days, mid-level in the next 2 days and the advanced level for the next 2 days. These Academies operate independently of the AICF. We have grassroots level coaches who go to schools and teach chess. Schools employ these coaches. Schools and Sports are under separate government agencies. Players above 2300 look for a better coach. The AICF lets each State Association gather their 10 best players and we send them a coach at our expense.

Q: Please explain the organization of the All India Chess Federation.

A: The AICF is composed of 31 states Association with voting rights. Each can send 2 delegates to the General Assembly. Therefore there are 64 members.They elect 14 members from 14 different States, to a 15-member board including are President. The officers are a President, six Vice Presidents, six Joint Secretaries, one Hon. Secretary and one Treasurer. Finally, we have 4,500 registered players paying 200 rupees per year. They receive a montly magazine. A school sponsors the printing costs and we post to all members. Our office has a staff of 6 people -- one accountant, one magazine editor, 2 senior staff for the day to day activities, one staff for player registration and one rating officer. We estimate that we have 200,000 tournament players throughout India.

Q: What are your other sources of fund?

A: Chess in India has the advantage of requiring minimal infrastructure which is one of the reasons the game is flourishing. You only need a chess set. Organizers of rated tournaments pay 15,000 rupees ($300) to AICF and 10% of their prize fund. International tournaments pay 150,000 rupees ($3,000). We have around 3 GM tournaments per year. National Championships and age group championships pay 50% of the entry fees, much more for Special entry for extra players. For international travel of our players we received around $300,000 from national and state governments for air tickets and board and lodging. For invited players who are hosted, the government pays. The gold medalist gets this right. Silver and bronze receive assistance. Others participate on their own. Players benefit from the government system of Sports Reservation in Higher Education and Employment, a sports quota for players with national and international certificates. For trail travel, the government grants a 75% discount for sportsmen, including coaches and managers. You can find of all this in our website www.indianchessfed.org When players win international titles, the government gives munificent bonuses, $6,000 for GMs, $2,000 for IMs, $2,000 for Asian titles. Many are also entitled to choose their coach and are allowed 3 trips to tournaments abroad funded by the government. Coaches also get awards along with the medal winners. The government supports hosting of international tournaments in India. For foreign stints, the government supports us with foreign coaches. Then we have 12 Institutional Members who give jobs to chess players, GMs and IMs. For example, the Petrolium Sports Board has players whose job is to play chess. Once a year they have to represent the company in the National Team Championship.

Q: This is interesting. How do you convince them to become Intitutional Members?

A: The print media in India has wide circulation and chess is well publicized. Companies want to ride on the publicity for chess. We have also have had for the last 3 years a daily chess show on TV.

Q: What now are your goals?

A: We want to have 12 more GMs in the next 3 years. But we try to help our neighbors also. I want Nepal and Sri Lanka to develop GMs as well. We regularly invite them and Bangladesh to join tournaments in India, free of charge.

Editor's Note: Their neighbors and others too can follow the example of India --- here chess is second in popularity only to cricket and it is not because of the size of their population, but because of good organization.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

Tia Belau Newspaper

Pages 13 & 15

Volume 19

Issue 13

March 29-April 04, 2010

CHURCH HISTORY:

1. Apostolic (1st Watch)

2. Papacy (or Dark Ages) 2nd Watch

3. Reformation (Martin Luther King) 3rd Watch

4. End Time (4th Watch)

WORLD HISTORY:

1. Ancient

2. Medieval

3. Renaissance (Revival of Learning)

4. Modern Age or New Age or Atomic Age

(The first atomic bomb was dropped in August 06, 1945 and the second one in August 09, 1945)

(218) ANAND RETAINS WORLD CHESS CHAMPION TITLE

ANAND RETAINS

WORLD CHESS

CHAMPION TITLE

India's Viswanathan Anand has retained his world chess championship crown in a cliffhanger final game win over his challenger, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

Vishy, as he is popularly known, seemed to have lost the upper hand in the match and was expected to fight hard for a draw with the black pieces in the last game to take the match into tiebreaks.

Anand employed the rock-solid Lasker Defence of the Queen's Gambit and quickly defused any aggressive intention from Topalov and won in 56 moves.

It soon become very crystal-clear that the defending champion was playing for a win, and his adversary obliged with a blunder to allow him to give up a pawn in exchange of a bewildering attack.

Topalov barely made it on the first time control, but Anand was not to be denied, and Topalov, confronted with imminent danger and complete annihilation, finally realizes that he had no choice but to desist from resistance and head-bent tendered his unconditional surrender.

This fantastic match comes to a fitting end, with no tiebreaks needed. The two protagonists deserve much praise for their huge contribution to this exciting match.

Anand won his 2nd consecutive world championship match against two former world champions, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Topalov.

Kramnik is the only player who defeated retired former world champion Gary Kasparov in the Classical World Chess Championship in 2000 with 2 wins, 13 draws and no losses.

The next championship cycle to decide who will challenge Anand for the title will feature the loser of this match (Topalov), Gata Kamsky, runner-up in the 2009 qualifiers, Boris Gelfand, the winner of 2009 World Chess Cup, Lev Aronian, the winner of Grand Prix Series, his runner-up (to be announced), Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik, the two others highest rated players, and finally, a wildcard chosen by the organizers (to be announced, he must have a rating of above 2700).

Chess.com commentator GM Magesh Panchanathan has his say in his post-game analysis: To all our readers, there is only one thing that can be said about today's game, "Who would have imagined this? Topalov, the second highest rated player in the world ended up playing a move that deserted all logical chess ideas. It was very difficult to believe what had just happened on the board as I saw him play exf5 followed by fxe4 without even taking much time on his clock.

Unfortunately, a world championship match takes a big toll on one's nerves and till the last game, it looked like Anand was the one who was feeling the pressure more.

After taking the lead and maintaining it by half time, Anand looked like he was sliding a bit, particularly games 8, 9 and 10 looked bad from the result and psychological point of view from him.

Topalov on the other hand was consistently pushing and pushing each game and he even managed to win one and survive a completely lost game to reach this final game of the match.

Eventually it looks like Topalov had all his pressure saved up for the big occasion.

By the end of the opening, Topalov was slightly better, but he was facing some active counterplay from Anand. One should give credit to Anand for playing very active in the last game, I am sure this was an impact of his other black games where he kept going back into extremely passive positions and suffered quite a bit.

Once Topalov made his fatal mistake, there was no looking back for Anand. He finished off the game with clinical precision.

I wanted to share one funny comment from strong Spanish Grandmaster Miguel Illescas, who was commenting for Internet Chess Club. Towards the end he said, "Topalov is actually waiting for Anand to accidentally knock his king down, so he can claim that he won."

It would be an interesting way to win a World Championship match.

HERE ARE THE MOVES OF THE MATCH-CLINCHING GAME: White - Veselin Topalov (2805) vs. Viswanathan Anand (2797) World Chess Championship Round 12 (May 11, 2010)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 0-0 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Be2 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 nd7 13. 0-0 b6 14. Bd3 c5 15. Be4 Rb8 16. Qc2 Nf6 17. dxc5 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 bxc5 19. Qc2 Bb7 20. Nd2 Rfd8 21. f3 Ba6 22. Rf2 Rd7 23. g3 Rbd8 24. Kg2 Bd3 25. Qc1 Ba6 26. Ra3 Rb7 27. Nb3 Rc7 28. Na5 Ba8 29. Nc4 e5 30. e4 f5 31. exf5? e4 32. fxe4? Qxe4+ 33. Kh3 Rd4 34. Ne3 Qe8 35. g4 h5 36. Kh4 g5 37. fxg6 Qxg6 38. Qf1 Rxg4+ 39. Kh3 Re7 40. Rf8+ Kg7 41. Nf5 Kh7 42. Rg3 Rxg3+ 43. hxg3 Qg4+ 44. Kh2 Re2+ 45. Kg1 Rg2+ 46. Qxg2 Bxg2 47. Kxg2 Qe2+ 48. Kh3 c4 49. a4 a5 50. Rf6 Kg8 51. Nh6+ Kg7 52. Rb6 Qe4 53. Kh2 Kh7 54. Rd6 Qe5 55. Nf7 Qxb2+ 56. Kh3 Qg7 (White resigned)

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez

Tia Belau Newspaper

Pages 13 & 15

Volume 19

Issue 20

May 17-23, 2010

(217) ANAND RETAINS 2012 TITLE

ANAND VS. GELFAND

Viswanathan Anand of India, left, defending World Chess Champion, succesfully retained his title by outwitting Boris Gelfand of Israel in their World Chess Championship match last month. Anand grew up in Baguio City Philippines with his father, who worked there for many years.

ANAND RETAINS 2012 TITLE

THE 4^th game of the tiebreak brought a tangible advantage for Challenger Boris Gelfand, who needed to win with the black pieces to stay in the match. But World Champion Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand kept things under control and found a very neat solution to the problems. With a draw, the World Champion won the tiebreak 2.5-1.5 and keeps his title.

The World Chess Championship is being staged in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow between the current World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and the winner of the Candidates tournament Boris Gelfand of Israel. The match is over 12 games and lasts from May 11-30. The prize fund is US$2.55 million, the winner getting 1.53 million (60%), the loser getting 1.02 million (40%).

Anand won the title for the 5^th time. This is also a hat-trick in classical matches for Anand, who won the tournament format in 2007 in Mexico. When FIDE switched to match format he defeated Vladimir Kramnik in 2009 in Bonn, Germany and then won against Veselin Topalov in 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria. This win against Gelfand is his 3^rd match win in a row.

Today, when it mattered most, the “Speed King” was at his tactical best be it in attack and defence. “It was a tough match and I am too tense now to feel anything more than a sense of relief,” said the 42-year old after the game.

Speaking on Anand’s win in Moscow, Mr. Rajendra S. Prawar, Chairman of sponsor NIIT, said,“I heartily congratulate NIITMind Champion Viswanathan Anand for retaining the World Chess Champion title. Anand’s 5^th world championship win – is a FIDE record and a milestone in the history of chess. Anand’s fighting spirit, perseverance and determination to overcome any challenge will surely inspire youngsters in India to embrace the game of chess. NIIT remains committed in promoting chess in schools in India, through the NIIT MindChampions’ Academy, our joint project with Anand.

The 12-game match has resulted in a 6-6 deadlock, and the tie breaks were needed to decide the title. In the first game of the rapid, where each player had 25 minutes on the clock with a ten-second increment for every move. Anand defended nicely with the black pieces, once again opting for the Slav Defence. The game ended in a draw after 32 moves.

However there was excitement with Anand wielding the white pieces in the 2^nd game. It was once again the Sicilian Rossolimo which saw Anand playing a novelty on the 7^th move. Once again the queens were exchanged rather early and thereafter it was a tactical battle between the minor pieces. Anand did appear better and won a pawn in the middle-game. Thereafter in an intense battle, Anand played fast and Gelfand found himself on the losing side after 77 moves.

Anand looked in trouble in the 3^rd game but wriggled out with a draw. The Indian GM, who needed just a draw in the 4^th game, played solidly to earn the vital half point after 56 moves.

NIIT MindChampions’ Academy is a joint initiative of NIIT, a leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s larget IT Trainer, and World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, to initiate young minds into the world of chess. Established in 2002, the Academy has fostered over 11,000 chess clubs with more than one million students as its members, in schools across India. GM Viswanathan Anand has personally travelled across India, spreading the message for enhancing thinking skills by learning chess and motivating the school students. NIIT MindChampions’ Academy conducts an annual event for the academy’s members. The Academy provides teaching learning material on chess, which includes computer-based tutorials, video based mentoring by Viswanathan Anand, chess software, puzzles and a database of games.

Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 12-13
Volume 21
Issue 41
June 25, 2012