Suggestions for future Olympiads

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  • Suggestions for future Olympiads

    For those who will be following the Olympiads that are starting on September 21, I propose the following challenge. Identify what some other countries are doing right. I am aware that our financial means are modest and we cannot be compared to the major chess powerhouse. For the sake of this thread, I suggest money issues be not be taken into account. Who knows, some good ideas could help establish a long term plan for improving the conditions?


    Suggestion #1: Hire a coach for both the men and women team. I have read that Khalifman is the coach of the men Russia no3 team. Over the past few months, they have been exchanging over the net. India had a training camp.


    Indians chase elusive medal in Chess Olympiad
    Archiman Bhaduri, TNN, Sep 18, 2010, 02.43am ISTR
    KOLKATA: The Indian men's and women's chess teams will set out to achieve what has remained elusive so far - a medal in the Chess Olympiad.

    Both teams will be leaving for the biennial event, to be held this time in Russia's Khanty-Maniysk, on Saturday. The tournament begins on Tuesday. In the 2008 Olympiad, the Indian men finished 16th and the women were placed 15th in Germany's Dresden. The teams had a solid 12-day training in Kunnur, the men working with Lev Psakhis and the women being under Oleg Romanishin's supervision. Grandmaster Psakhis of Israel had worked with the Indian team in the last Olympiad as well as the World Team Chess event in January this year. "Working with Psakhis earlier helped us coordinate well," Surya Sekhar Ganguly told TOI. "He already knew us and our style well, hence it was possible to work on our strategy better," the Grandmaster said.

    India will once again be without world champion Viswanathan Anand and world No 2 Koneru Humpy, who have both decided to skip the meet. Anand had played in the 2004 Olympiad in Mallorca ( Spain), which was also Humpy's first Olympiad. India enjoyed their best finish in both men's (6th) and women's (9th) sections that time. Harikrishna doesn't think that Anand's absence will affect India's prospects in the fortnight-long tournament. "No doubt we would have been stronger with Anand, but that does not mean we are any less without him," he said. Ganguly echoed Harikrishna's thought. "We are all in good form and ready for the challenge," Ganguly, who had a good outing in the Spanish league recently, said.

    Analysing India's shortcomings in this team event, Hari said: "I think we always make a good beginning but slip in between. We need to maintain the intensity and momentum." It will be an 11-round meet featuring 1,380 players, including 247 GMs, 63 WGMs, 160 IMs, 87 WIMs, 81 FMs and 80 WFMs. Ganguly added that the men's team stands a good chance this year.

    Teams

    Men: K Sasikiran 2681; SS Ganguly 2650, P Harikirshna 2645, GN Gopal 2603, B Adhiban 2516.

    Women: D Harika 2515, Tania Sachdev 2382, Eesha Karavade 2365, S Meenakshi 2336, Nisha Mohota 2332.

  • #2
    Re: Suggestions for future Olympiads

    I think another country that has made almost unbelievable strides in the past 20 years or so is China. It used to be that they had some strong players like Ye Jiaganchuan (sp?) and others, but were by no means a powerhouse. Now they are probably one of the favorites.

    Some of this may just be due to something like population, but they have always had a huge population and they haven't always been a chess powerhouse.

    I don't know if there is any specific reason for these gains, but judging by their improvement in other sports and competitions, I would suspect that they are doing a lot of systematic things to improve their players.

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    • #3
      Re: Suggestions for future Olympiads

      Originally posted by Jean Sasseville View Post
      For the sake of this thread, I suggest money issues be not be taken into account.
      lol

      Ok, why don't we offer Kramnik, Shirov, Topalov, and Anand $10M each to immigrate to Canada?

      The #1 issue for the Olympiad teams is money. We cannot even afford to send an open and a women's team. This is like facing mate in 2 and thinking "if I could just double his pawns I'd have an endgame advantage".

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Suggestions for future Olympiads

        Originally posted by David Ottosen View Post
        lol

        Ok, why don't we offer Kramnik, Shirov, Topalov, and Anand $10M each to immigrate to Canada?

        The #1 issue for the Olympiad teams is money. We cannot even afford to send an open and a women's team. This is like facing mate in 2 and thinking "if I could just double his pawns I'd have an endgame advantage".
        It's not that you are wrong or that I don't agree with you, but it is possible to be more nuanced on this. For example, supposing we did have the money - would it be beneficial to hire some big name to coach? (or any other possible activity). Putting in the effort or process to get 'more money' without some clear idea of what it would be used for or the size of the amount needed or the ultimate goal doesn't seem like a good process to me.

        The problem with saying 'solve the pressing problem first, then we worry about more' (even supposing that we all agree that airfare should be 100% paid for by someone other than the participants) is that once you do say get the problem of paying for airfare out of the way, then the demands start escalating - we need a trainer, pre event camps, per diems, incentives for winning, compensation for time off work.

        What is even the goal of Olympiad team financing? Where along the spectrum of "helping worthy individuals achieve a dream, just go do your best" to "we are spending as much money as we can to get the best possible team and we want a professional team of winners" do we want to be? That is not a well agreed point - compare the debates around the merits of Canada's "Own The Podium" funding for the sports Olympics.

        Personally, I am much more inclined to the former. I would much rather fund a 2nd rank player going for their first time than some clearly better player going for their 4th time even while agreeing that sending the 'best' team is a reasonable objective. Players should expect that while they get help to go, some personal sacrifice and expenditure will be necessary. As for the idea of establishing some strong program to develop a medal winning team a la "Own the Podium", I don't dispute that that kind of thing doesn't work - I'm just not that interested in it, or agree it is the right goal, or care about the results.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Suggestions for future Olympiads

          Originally posted by Nic Haynes View Post
          I think another country that has made almost unbelievable strides in the past 20 years or so is China. It used to be that they had some strong players like Ye Jiaganchuan (sp?) and others, but were by no means a powerhouse. Now they are probably one of the favorites.

          Some of this may just be due to something like population, but they have always had a huge population and they haven't always been a chess powerhouse.

          I don't know if there is any specific reason for these gains, but judging by their improvement in other sports and competitions, I would suspect that they are doing a lot of systematic things to improve their players.
          Nic,
          China is a great example. A huge population and state support helped them to become a powerhouse. Anyone can identify a country, with a population of less than 50,000,000 and no state support, that can be expected to be in the top 25?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Suggestions for future Olympiads

            Originally posted by Roger Patterson View Post
            The problem with saying 'solve the pressing problem first, then we worry about more' (even supposing that we all agree that airfare should be 100% paid for by someone other than the participants) is that once you do say get the problem of paying for airfare out of the way, then the demands start escalating - we need a trainer, pre event camps, per diems, incentives for winning, compensation for time off work.
            I took it as a given that we want to send a team. I'm certainly open to discussing that as well, but the point remains - discussing pie in the sky ideas like having a coach when we have players paying their own way is fantasy.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Suggestions for future Olympiads

              Originally posted by David Ottosen View Post
              I took it as a given that we want to send a team. I'm certainly open to discussing that as well, but the point remains - discussing pie in the sky ideas like having a coach when we have players paying their own way is fantasy.
              I think the premise was to identify what's being done wrong. I don't think relatives of the players should be on the selection committee or team captains.

              Regarding funding for chess, some provinces are giving money from lottery or other funds. The CFC's Chess foundation has money. There is, or was, the charitible status which allows people to funnel their taxation money from the government to the charity of their choice.

              How much money is going for "good work" is always a question. Priorities and so forth.

              Coaches are fine for a bit of polishing and preparing. However, if the idea is to have one coach for 5 players and to turn them from 2400 or 2500 players into 2700 players, it won't happen.

              Another small point. The best team doesn't always win. Sometimes the team which wants it the most wins.
              Gary Ruben
              CC - IA and SIM

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