13 Rounds in Turin

A couple of months ago FIDE canvassed the opinion of member federations on the Turin organisers' proposals to reduce the number of Olympiad rounds from 14 to 13.

In this communique, post San Luis, FIDE agreed with the organisers' proposal. It seems that most federations apparently supported the decision. Quite surprising! Surely excising one whole round is a drastic decision especially considering that it may affect standings and norm posibilities. Also, did not the Italians take into account their own holidays? It would be interesting to know which nations supported the Turin organisers' proposal.

What was the NCFP position? What about the ACF? And the USCF (for our American readers)?

Young and Old Tied

Max Fuller, 3-time champ, and young gun Andrew Bird finished their 2005 NSW title campaigns on 7/9 each. Thus they go into a play off sometime later this year. For Fuller, it surely is an outstanding performance especially considering his recent experiences in health matters as the NSWCA informs us. I'm going to make a bet that Fuller will win the play-off. If you haven't met Max, then you're missing out on something. He is a fine gentleman and great story teller. Go Max!

But I had absolutely no idea that Andrew Bird only took up chess 8 years ago! At the rate this guy's going, he could very well be a titled player in no time. Then I can say, "hey, I beat that guy". Yep, I did, years ago, when he was much weaker. All the best to Andrew.

Enter Queenstown 2006

Organiser of the Queenstown 2006 tournament wishes to remind everyone that tomorrow, 31 October, is the last day on which to enter the tournament at a lower price of NZ$150. From 1 November, you need to add another NZ$30. So enter now. Details can be found here.

From the list of latest entries, it looks like an Australian invasion spearheaded by GM Rogers. This really is set to be an exciting event right in the heart of the aventure capital of the world!

See you there.

$100K Sponsorship

David Cordover of Chess Kids, has recently announced what they claim to be sponsorship in the amount of $100,000.

"Wow", was my first thought. I had no idea they made so much money. I think I might have to switch careers.

Now no doubt there will be some sceptical readers. And many of them will want an itemised list of payments (Melbourne's David Beaumont has done just that). Fair enough I say. After all, chess, 5 zeros and a dollar sign are rare company - at least in the local scene.

But at least Mr Cordover gets to the point:

We hope that through our support and involvement with the chess community we will be rewarded with a stronger and more active chess community as well building the Chess Kids brand and customer loyalty for our business and our franchisees. We hope also to secure a greater market share and improve profitability for our shareholders to be able to increase our support of chess in the future.

Did he say "shareholders"? I've gotta get me one of them stocks!

Strongest Chess City

From 31 October to 11 November, the World Team Championship will be held in the Israeli immigrant town of Beer Sheva. There is no more appropriate a place for such an event. Beer Sheva has a higher percentage of grandmasters per capita than any other city in the world.

This reputation began with Eliahu Levant - the ex chess coach of the Spartak Chess Club, in Leningrad.

Read Stephen Farrell from The Times Online.

Kasparov in Court

But the chances of Gary playing in Mtel is unlikely given his political ambitions. Moscow Times reports that the former World Champion has "filed a case against the Russian government at the European Court of Human Rights over alleged irregularities during State Duma elections in 2003".

Says Kasparov:

People in Russia do not believe courts. For them, Strasbourg is often the only hope. They hope that somewhere out there is an institution that will help them.

Poor Gary. I can't help thinking: with a single careless blunder, he could very well end up in the cross-hairs of his enemies. I hope not! But how tragic that will be? Good luck to him I say.

An Interview with Topalov

Hardly a day goes by when Veselin Topalov is not featured by the Sofia News Agency. Yesterday, they had an interview with their latest favourite son. Here, the San Luis winner tells us that he is "definitely very aggressive".

When asked what his favourite piece was: "My favourite pieces are my own pieces - no matter black or white. The ones I have left to play with - those are my favourite".

And for next year's MTel, the organisers have invited the now retired Gary Kasparov.

Drama Queen

While my good mate Peter Parr has set his eyes on the NSWCA, my other mate, Brian Jones, seems to have well and truly set his sights on the bigger fish - the Australian Chess Federation. The attacks so vicious that ACF webmaster, Paul Broekhuyse, could do no better a defense than to call Mr Jones a "drama-queen".

I think to myself, what has BJ been eating? In the last few days he has delivered blow after blow that has basically sent the ACF officialdom reeling. Take this uppercut:

I am accusing it [the ACF] of being secretive beacuse (sic) it does not having (sic) the ability to be productive and to easily communicate with the chess world.

Followed up with this left hook:

The Council appears to have developed into a talking shop for State reps, many of whom have little high level business experience.

And there you have it: the Australian Chess Enterprises could one day be running the Australian Chess Federation. It all begins with this.

Hail The King

In Bulgaria, they now call Veselin "The Chess King". This week, he was met by the country's Members of Parliament and received a brand new Volvo S40. I suppose any day now they'll probably also give him the keys to Sofia!

And speaking of the Bulgarian capital, it is possible that it will be the next battleground for the next Championship.

Smarts Through Chess

New Fed Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, is an intelligent man. I mean this guy could very well be the patron saint of Asian students - you know, that mob who have their faces stuck in books 24/7.

Ben graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and, four years later, finished his doctorate at MIT. All this was followed by teaching stints in a couple of Ivy Leagues and NYU. So how do you suppose he got there?

Says the Christian Science Monitor:

As a child, he honed his analytical mind by playing chess and studying Hebrew at the local synagogue. He was just "an outgoing and well-rounded" kid growing up in the small town of Dillon, S.C.