Link to Closing Ceremony at Women's Candidates Tournament

[Hal Bond]

It is now on YouTube. If this link doesn't work you can search FIDE rather than the tournament itself.

I made a few closing remarks, and was told that there would be no translation. In the end the translator did engage with a little help from President Dvorkovich so the speech dragged on a bit.

https://youtu.be/iXuLvYqEIfw

[Aris Marghetis]

Thanks Hal, it was quite well-recorded, and most of it was in both Russian and English. For those more interested in Hal's part, it starts after the 24-minute mark, until the prizes at 33-35 minutes.

[Hal Bond]

Thanks Aris!
The hockey reference seemed to register with Dvorkovich. We spoke at the banquet about Ovechkin finally winning the Stanley Cup with Washington. Apparently he is the best chess player on the Russian national hockey team, and he once played one of the 2100 strength women at the Russian Chess Federation to a somewhat plausible draw. He is probably 1500-1600 if not higher.

[Erik Malmsten]

I imagine that many Russian hockey players played chess in school.

Alex Ovechkin
https://russianmachineneverbreaks.co...ow-grand-prix/

Miroslav Satan
played on travel days
https://thehockeywriters.com/mirosla...ers-and-chess/

Dominik Hasek
travelled with a computer chess game
https://www.thestar.com/sports/hocke...k_feschuk.html

Evgeni Malkin
https://www.sportsnet.ca/magazine/ev...ous-superster/

Pavel Datsyuk
played as a teenager
https://www.nhl.com/news/pavel-datsy...rs/c-285951634

Anson Carter
made the ceremonial first move in game 2 of the Kasparov –X3D Fritz match in New York in 2003
https://weekly-geekly.github.io/arti...761/index.html

Cody Hodgson
Markham Open, grade 4, 1st place trophy to Vancouver/Buffalo/Nashville
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMZi95hScnw
https://nationalpost.com/sports/hock...-cerebral-side
http://www.nhl.com/ice/m_news.htm?id=381335

Yuri Babenko, only 3 NHL games
https://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey...p?player=11463

And one chess site listed the "king" Borje Salming.

Also

Henry Zang in 2016
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/winds...dsor-1.3728135

brains required for hockey
https://www.macleans.ca/society/why-...-in-the-world/