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ARMENIA ROLLS OUT RED CARPET FOR EUROPEAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
The Voice of Russia
March 4 2014
By Elina Kazaryan and David Kerans
YEREVAN (VR)-- The Oscars in Hollywood had no monopoly on ceremony last
night, as Yerevan, Armenia staged a spectacle of its own to mark the
opening of the European Individual Chess Championship (EICC). This is
the 15th EICC, an event which attracts over 100 grandmasters because
it is a stepping stone to the World Championship. The top 23 finishers
in the EICC will qualify for the 2015 Chess World Cup, with the top
two in that event gaining entree to an 8-man Candidate's Tournament
in 2016 that will determine the challenger in a World Championship
match at the end of that year.
0Chess occupies an extraordinary place in Armenian culture, thanks to
the legacy of 1960's World Champion Tigran V. Petrosian and a golden
generation of grandmasters who have won three of the last four chess
Olympiads (the championship for national teams, held in even-numbered
years). Further, Armenia is the first nation to include chess as an
obligatory school subject, so it is no accident that Yerevan put on
a memorable show to kick off the EICC.
0Radio VR's Elina Kazaryan was at the National Academic Theatre of
Opera and Ballet for the event.
The ceremonies began without any official speeches. A military band
played the Armenian national anthem, followed by a documentary film
about the legendary world champion Tigran Petrosian. He would have
turned 85 in this year, and the Armenian Chess Federation is devoting
the EICC to his memory. Colorful costumes and choreography followed,
in an impressive vocal-ballet performance titled "64 by 32", which
drew parallels between decisions in life and in chess.
0As regards the tournament itself, a huge contingent of 53 players
from Russia are competing in Yerevan, but Armenia has even more
entrants, about 80. Overall, 263 players are involved, from 27 European
countries. They will duel over 11 rounds, with the winner taking home
20,000 Euros.
0Fedoseev, one of the young guns
0Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev from St. Petersburg (but
now living in Moscow) is an outsider in the EICC picture, but he
has only just turned 19, and is still developing as a player. He
has had great success at the junior level, including victory at a
European Junior Championship, but says he hasn't set himself the goal
winning the EICC. He was very impressed with the opening ceremonies
in Yerevan, and said he simply wants to show his top level of play in
the tournament. Elina Kazaryan had the opportunity to inquire about
his mood and preparation for the EICC.
0
0
Download audio file
0
0Kazaryan: Have you prepared a lot for this tournament in particular,
do you have a second with you?
0Fedoseev: No, I can't say I have prepared in any special way. And I
am only now leaving junior chess to play in senior events, so for the
moment I have some helpers, but I don't have the luxury of bringing
a true second with me here. So I've come alone, and hope it turns
out well.
0Kazaryan: Is the EICC the top event in your calendar for this year?
0Fedoseev: Absolutely, for me this is the most important event I've
entered in recent years, and I hope I can show everything I am capable
of here.
Kazaryan: Does the Russian Chess Federation help you in various ways?
0Fedoseev: The federation does help me, yes. I have a good relationship
with them; they have been assisting me since 2011, in fact, and it
has helped me to secure the successes I have achieved so far. I
really appreciate that the federation helps young players. For
the EICC, however, I didn't ask them for any help, I paid my own
way entirely. This is a senior event, after all, not a junior one,
and being under age 21 I am still a member of the national junior
team. So I didn't feel comfortable asking for any assistance.
0Predictions, anyone?
0Top observers of the chess scene are just as careful as Fedoseev
about identifying clear favorites for the EICC, as Vice-President
of the Armenian Chess Federation Ashot Vardapetyan explained to
Elina Kazaryan.
Kazaryan: How would you characterize this tournament, for the chess
public, for the specialists, and for the players?
0Vardapetyan: Well, you know, official tournaments like this one are
always different from unofficial ones. Unofficial ones can be very
interesting in their own right, of course, but official tournaments
which lead to a world championship are special. The players aren't
just playing for a title or a monetary prize. Here they can stamp
their ticket towards the next stage of the world championship. Every
serious grandmaster wants to play in this kind of tournament, alongside
well over a hundred grandmasters, and many of the very strongest
women players too. Obviously this is a real holiday of chess. And
it is a holiday not just for Armenian chess fans, not just for the
young developing players of Armenia. It is a chess holiday for the
participants themselves. This is exactly where they want to be.
Kazaryan: Can you offer any predictions on the outcome?
0Vardapetyan: Oh, I have to say it is very difficult to predict
who will rise to the top here. At the moment Etienne Bacrot {from
France} has the highest rating of all here, but I think there are 14
grandmasters with ratings above 2700, the elite or super grandmaster
level. So there are quite a few favorites. But it is a Swiss system
tournament {players at the top of the standings play each other
each round, but no one ever faces the same opponent twice}, which
is always tense and exciting. So we'll wait until the leaders emerge
from the pack.
Jobava, perhaps?
0But we have an inkling that the talented and mercurial Baadur Jobava
could be ready to break through. Jobava is not just the greatest player
Georgia has ever produced, but has demonstrated a very high ceiling:
he has beaten world champion Magnus Carlsen twice, against only one
defeat, and won the individual gold medal at the 2004 Olympiad. He
finished 3rd and 2nd at consecutive EICCs in 2009 and 2010, and comes
to Yerevan fresh off a victory in the Bronstein Memorial tournament
in Minsk, Belarus. He must be full of confidence.
But so are many of the top contenders.
0The tournament commenced Monday, and in his first game, against
lower-rated Vilka Sipila, Jobava allowed an exchange of Queens but
opened up the board for what played out like a long hunt against his
opponent's King. He allowed Sipila to send a pawn within one square
of promotion to a new Queen:
Jobava
0But Jobava's next move, 42.Rc6, extinguished the threat {if
42...a1(Q), 43.Bf6+ and 44.Rxa1}, and he went on to deliver checkmate
on move 62.
0Vladimir Fedoseev also won his first game, over lightly regarded
Nathan Birnboim. So, a good start for Jobava and Fedoseev...
http://voiceofrussia.com/us/2014_03_04/Armenia-rolls-out-red-carpet-for-European-Chess-Championship-0953/
From: Baghdasarian
The Voice of Russia
March 4 2014
By Elina Kazaryan and David Kerans
YEREVAN (VR)-- The Oscars in Hollywood had no monopoly on ceremony last
night, as Yerevan, Armenia staged a spectacle of its own to mark the
opening of the European Individual Chess Championship (EICC). This is
the 15th EICC, an event which attracts over 100 grandmasters because
it is a stepping stone to the World Championship. The top 23 finishers
in the EICC will qualify for the 2015 Chess World Cup, with the top
two in that event gaining entree to an 8-man Candidate's Tournament
in 2016 that will determine the challenger in a World Championship
match at the end of that year.
0Chess occupies an extraordinary place in Armenian culture, thanks to
the legacy of 1960's World Champion Tigran V. Petrosian and a golden
generation of grandmasters who have won three of the last four chess
Olympiads (the championship for national teams, held in even-numbered
years). Further, Armenia is the first nation to include chess as an
obligatory school subject, so it is no accident that Yerevan put on
a memorable show to kick off the EICC.
0Radio VR's Elina Kazaryan was at the National Academic Theatre of
Opera and Ballet for the event.
The ceremonies began without any official speeches. A military band
played the Armenian national anthem, followed by a documentary film
about the legendary world champion Tigran Petrosian. He would have
turned 85 in this year, and the Armenian Chess Federation is devoting
the EICC to his memory. Colorful costumes and choreography followed,
in an impressive vocal-ballet performance titled "64 by 32", which
drew parallels between decisions in life and in chess.
0As regards the tournament itself, a huge contingent of 53 players
from Russia are competing in Yerevan, but Armenia has even more
entrants, about 80. Overall, 263 players are involved, from 27 European
countries. They will duel over 11 rounds, with the winner taking home
20,000 Euros.
0Fedoseev, one of the young guns
0Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev from St. Petersburg (but
now living in Moscow) is an outsider in the EICC picture, but he
has only just turned 19, and is still developing as a player. He
has had great success at the junior level, including victory at a
European Junior Championship, but says he hasn't set himself the goal
winning the EICC. He was very impressed with the opening ceremonies
in Yerevan, and said he simply wants to show his top level of play in
the tournament. Elina Kazaryan had the opportunity to inquire about
his mood and preparation for the EICC.
0
0
Download audio file
0
0Kazaryan: Have you prepared a lot for this tournament in particular,
do you have a second with you?
0Fedoseev: No, I can't say I have prepared in any special way. And I
am only now leaving junior chess to play in senior events, so for the
moment I have some helpers, but I don't have the luxury of bringing
a true second with me here. So I've come alone, and hope it turns
out well.
0Kazaryan: Is the EICC the top event in your calendar for this year?
0Fedoseev: Absolutely, for me this is the most important event I've
entered in recent years, and I hope I can show everything I am capable
of here.
Kazaryan: Does the Russian Chess Federation help you in various ways?
0Fedoseev: The federation does help me, yes. I have a good relationship
with them; they have been assisting me since 2011, in fact, and it
has helped me to secure the successes I have achieved so far. I
really appreciate that the federation helps young players. For
the EICC, however, I didn't ask them for any help, I paid my own
way entirely. This is a senior event, after all, not a junior one,
and being under age 21 I am still a member of the national junior
team. So I didn't feel comfortable asking for any assistance.
0Predictions, anyone?
0Top observers of the chess scene are just as careful as Fedoseev
about identifying clear favorites for the EICC, as Vice-President
of the Armenian Chess Federation Ashot Vardapetyan explained to
Elina Kazaryan.
Kazaryan: How would you characterize this tournament, for the chess
public, for the specialists, and for the players?
0Vardapetyan: Well, you know, official tournaments like this one are
always different from unofficial ones. Unofficial ones can be very
interesting in their own right, of course, but official tournaments
which lead to a world championship are special. The players aren't
just playing for a title or a monetary prize. Here they can stamp
their ticket towards the next stage of the world championship. Every
serious grandmaster wants to play in this kind of tournament, alongside
well over a hundred grandmasters, and many of the very strongest
women players too. Obviously this is a real holiday of chess. And
it is a holiday not just for Armenian chess fans, not just for the
young developing players of Armenia. It is a chess holiday for the
participants themselves. This is exactly where they want to be.
Kazaryan: Can you offer any predictions on the outcome?
0Vardapetyan: Oh, I have to say it is very difficult to predict
who will rise to the top here. At the moment Etienne Bacrot {from
France} has the highest rating of all here, but I think there are 14
grandmasters with ratings above 2700, the elite or super grandmaster
level. So there are quite a few favorites. But it is a Swiss system
tournament {players at the top of the standings play each other
each round, but no one ever faces the same opponent twice}, which
is always tense and exciting. So we'll wait until the leaders emerge
from the pack.
Jobava, perhaps?
0But we have an inkling that the talented and mercurial Baadur Jobava
could be ready to break through. Jobava is not just the greatest player
Georgia has ever produced, but has demonstrated a very high ceiling:
he has beaten world champion Magnus Carlsen twice, against only one
defeat, and won the individual gold medal at the 2004 Olympiad. He
finished 3rd and 2nd at consecutive EICCs in 2009 and 2010, and comes
to Yerevan fresh off a victory in the Bronstein Memorial tournament
in Minsk, Belarus. He must be full of confidence.
But so are many of the top contenders.
0The tournament commenced Monday, and in his first game, against
lower-rated Vilka Sipila, Jobava allowed an exchange of Queens but
opened up the board for what played out like a long hunt against his
opponent's King. He allowed Sipila to send a pawn within one square
of promotion to a new Queen:
Jobava
0But Jobava's next move, 42.Rc6, extinguished the threat {if
42...a1(Q), 43.Bf6+ and 44.Rxa1}, and he went on to deliver checkmate
on move 62.
0Vladimir Fedoseev also won his first game, over lightly regarded
Nathan Birnboim. So, a good start for Jobava and Fedoseev...
http://voiceofrussia.com/us/2014_03_04/Armenia-rolls-out-red-carpet-for-European-Chess-Championship-0953/
From: Baghdasarian