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Re: Norway Super Tournament
Round Eight
Friday, May 17, 2013
Dirk Jan and Simen are the commentators as usual. They are back at the hotel in Sandnes.
Both players and commentators are tired as you will see further on. Nakamura, Svidler and Anand all said that there were times today when they just could not think.
May 17 is Norway’s National Day. The celebrations are for the signing of the Constitution on May 17, 1814, making it an independent nation. The Napoleonic Wars were on then and England attacked the Danish fleet. Norway was in union with the Danes. Sweden was with the English and Napoleon sent no help so Norway ended up under the control of Sweden.
In any event, everybody is in the streets on this holiday. There are parades and people are waving flags.
It was a free day yesterday. The players and organizers went for a ride in two speedboats. At one point, Vishy Anand was at the steering wheel of one of the boats.
Dirk Jan said that while the boat was speeding along at 60 km an hour, all he could hear was the remembrance of James Bond music.
Thinking about it, there seemed to be speedboats in several Bond movies. The ones that come to mind are Roger Moore in Live and Let Die, being pursued in the Louisiana bayous, Sean Connery at the end of From Russia with Love, with Tatiana and there might have been one too in The Spy Who Loved Me. Perhaps readers will forgive all the non-chess references today and supply the Bond actor and the event.
++++++++++
Three girls come in. They are wearing the long dresses from their Confirmation. These are in black with embroidered shawls. There is lots and lots of silver jewelry. You get the dresses when you are fourteen years old but there are things built in to them so as you grow, you can still wear them when you are older. The black material is wool and is very warm. The girls are in second high school grade and 18 years old. When they graduate they wear red overalls.
The russefeiring is a traditional celebration for Norwegian high school students in their final spring semester. Students that take part in the celebrations are known as russ. The russefeiring traditionally starts on 1 May and ends on the 17th of May. Participants wear the red coveralls and drunkenness and public celebration are features of the period.
++++++++
Dirk Jan says that Hikaru and Teimour first met one another in 1996 at the world Under-10 Championship. Young Teimour fully exploited his extra year and beat him. Since then, all games have been draw.
Try not to remember this fact since it will turn out to be incorrect.
++++++++++
Some students come in from the parades - three girls and a boy. They all have on the red coveralls. They have been wearing them for a month and are not allowed to wash them. In front, there is a pouch with a Norwegian flag on it. Next week come the exams.
Wang Hao was quite taken with this fashion and wanted to buy red overalls but they are not for sale. They are specially ordered and then jealously guarded by the owners forever.
++++++++
Elisabeth Faret, a member of the organizing committee, comes in. She works on hockey and chess organization. She says that there are 600,000 to a million people watching the games on-line. It was hard getting sponsors at first but when they were assured of a huge international audience, they became enthusiastic. It would seem to me that this would be the ideal way to sell such an international tournament in Canada to Canadian sponsors.
++++++++
Hammer appears to be ahead in his game with the World Champion. Anand has sacrificed three pawns. Jon Ludvig says that today he will get a result or die trying. From move 20 on, the positions are very tactical. This would be the ideal game to show to younger players and to ask what move do they think is going to come next.
+++++++
Topalov-Aronian is a draw after 41 moves. Levon says that the National Day in Armenia is September 21st. (It commemorates the restoration of the Republic of Armenia in September 21, 1991, after 70 years of Soviet rule.)
His main worry now is getting enough sleep, since the round tomorrow starts three hours earlier.
++++++++++++
Wednesday’s quiz had to do with smoking. These days smoking has lost its appeal. How many of the participants in this tournament are smokers?
Somebody said Nakamura was a smoker but gave it up. (untrue). Someone else wrote that Svidler must be a smoker since he is a Russian. He told Dirk Jan that he never touched a cigarette in his entire life.
The answer is none. None of the participants smokes. The winner of the NIC sub is from Istanbul, Turkey. Somehow this surprised me since Turkish tobacco has world renown and I would have thought that a Turkish national would say that they all smoked!
It is clear that Dirk Jan is running low on questions.
This is the new one:
Today’s tournament is the first super tournament on Norwegian soil. The World Cup is coming up later this year in Tromsø, Norway and next year the 41st Chess Olympiad will be held there.
In which year was the Norwegian Chess Federation founded?
+++++++++
A wild game ends with Radjabov losing the thread of the game and then losing to Nakamura. Teimour is having a rough stretch and so is taking a break after this tournament. Nakamura is playing in the Grand Prix in Thessaloniki.
Hikaru says that he has a plus score today and tomorrow he plays Jon Ludvig Hammer. Dirk Jan talks about a song from the past, If I were a Hammer by Trini Lopez. It came out in 1963 and Hikaru doesn’t know it nor does most of the audience. This is not surprising since the song is If I had a Hammer. This hammer song seems to show the separation of chess-playing generations!
Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam has an amazing memory for chess history. The magazine he edits is outstandingly successful. I have great respect for the man.
He asks Hikaru the first time he met Teimour Radjabov and I think he answers that it was 2004 or thereabouts. Dirk Jan mentions that Under-10 Tournament and Hikaru says, “I believe you are thinking of my brother, who played Gashimov and Radjabov in Minorca”. Check the first initial.”
Dirk Jan says, “I only check the first initial when I am writing about the Polgars!”
So Dirk Jan got it wrong and a viewer writes in that he got Trini Lopez’s song name wrong too. This is why I said at the first that both players and others are very tired at this time in the tournament.
Hikaru has a chess-playing brother, who has given up chess now. Hikaru’s older brother is Asuka. The game cited is from the WCH U10 1996 in Cala Galdana, Minorca. The boys winner that year was Pendyala Harikrishna from India.
Tomorrow’s early game doesn’t have Nakamura worried. He tells us to go for a run, have breakfast and then watch the games! He doesn't say that he will do that, but that we should.
++++++++++
They have another guest. The adventurer Lars Monsen sits down with the guys. He crossed Canada by foot in three years.
I remember a wonderful short film called the Railrodder, in which Buster Keaton crossed Canada in a one-man, open-top rail vehicle. I have heard of people who want to make the trip by car going from Atlantic to Pacific, stopping at as many Tim Horton’s as possible along the way. But Monsen walked and dog-sledded in Winter and went by canoe in the Summer across northern Canada in two years, seven months from Kaktovik to Goose Bay. The trip was filmed and made into a documentary.
The most notorious man in Norway is Magnus Carlsen, the second-most notorious is evidently Hans Olav Lahlum – the chap in the video, falling off the stool. Third-most notorious is Lars Monsen.
He has talked to a black bear in English. He likes to start his morning with a cup of coffee and chess on the Internet. His handle on the ICC is norsegrizzly. He is just here to watch the tournament. The last chess book he read was 1.d4. (by Boris Avrukh?)
His next project is trying to build up a dog team to go to the Iditarod in Alaska.
(Lars) The dogs have to be really strong. You start with 14 dogs and half of them should be leaders so that they can go in front. They have to have good paws, appetite and fur and not fight with other dogs. The sex is 50-50 with the females in front and the males in back. The ones that get to the finish lines are usually females. I lost a dog once to wolves in Canada. I always have a weapon with me when I sleep. This is a guard against wolves and bears especially. 99% of the bears will run away but the 1% are killers.
I have had 300 to 350 encounters with bears and I have only had to kill one – a Polar bear. I explained the situation to the authorities after and they were satisfied. The black bear and the grizzly are the most dangerous. Don’t keep food in your tent. If you fish, don’t wipe your hands off afterwards on your trousers. The bear will sniff you out.
++++++++
Karjakin finally resigns against Svidler. Carlsen resigns too against Wang Hao, so now there are effectively three people fighting for first place. Now when did the two leaders resign in the second to last round recently?
At the press conference at the end, one of the organizers presents Wang Hao with a pair of red coveralls. She had two pairs made by mistake and so is giving the larger pair to him. He beams with pleasure.
++++++++
Let’s see. Nothing written above that isn’t directly related to chess. No opinions given beyond those of the commentators. Good. Post it.
Round Eight
Friday, May 17, 2013
Dirk Jan and Simen are the commentators as usual. They are back at the hotel in Sandnes.
Both players and commentators are tired as you will see further on. Nakamura, Svidler and Anand all said that there were times today when they just could not think.
May 17 is Norway’s National Day. The celebrations are for the signing of the Constitution on May 17, 1814, making it an independent nation. The Napoleonic Wars were on then and England attacked the Danish fleet. Norway was in union with the Danes. Sweden was with the English and Napoleon sent no help so Norway ended up under the control of Sweden.
In any event, everybody is in the streets on this holiday. There are parades and people are waving flags.
It was a free day yesterday. The players and organizers went for a ride in two speedboats. At one point, Vishy Anand was at the steering wheel of one of the boats.
Dirk Jan said that while the boat was speeding along at 60 km an hour, all he could hear was the remembrance of James Bond music.
Thinking about it, there seemed to be speedboats in several Bond movies. The ones that come to mind are Roger Moore in Live and Let Die, being pursued in the Louisiana bayous, Sean Connery at the end of From Russia with Love, with Tatiana and there might have been one too in The Spy Who Loved Me. Perhaps readers will forgive all the non-chess references today and supply the Bond actor and the event.
++++++++++
Three girls come in. They are wearing the long dresses from their Confirmation. These are in black with embroidered shawls. There is lots and lots of silver jewelry. You get the dresses when you are fourteen years old but there are things built in to them so as you grow, you can still wear them when you are older. The black material is wool and is very warm. The girls are in second high school grade and 18 years old. When they graduate they wear red overalls.
The russefeiring is a traditional celebration for Norwegian high school students in their final spring semester. Students that take part in the celebrations are known as russ. The russefeiring traditionally starts on 1 May and ends on the 17th of May. Participants wear the red coveralls and drunkenness and public celebration are features of the period.
++++++++
Dirk Jan says that Hikaru and Teimour first met one another in 1996 at the world Under-10 Championship. Young Teimour fully exploited his extra year and beat him. Since then, all games have been draw.
Try not to remember this fact since it will turn out to be incorrect.
++++++++++
Some students come in from the parades - three girls and a boy. They all have on the red coveralls. They have been wearing them for a month and are not allowed to wash them. In front, there is a pouch with a Norwegian flag on it. Next week come the exams.
Wang Hao was quite taken with this fashion and wanted to buy red overalls but they are not for sale. They are specially ordered and then jealously guarded by the owners forever.
++++++++
Elisabeth Faret, a member of the organizing committee, comes in. She works on hockey and chess organization. She says that there are 600,000 to a million people watching the games on-line. It was hard getting sponsors at first but when they were assured of a huge international audience, they became enthusiastic. It would seem to me that this would be the ideal way to sell such an international tournament in Canada to Canadian sponsors.
++++++++
Hammer appears to be ahead in his game with the World Champion. Anand has sacrificed three pawns. Jon Ludvig says that today he will get a result or die trying. From move 20 on, the positions are very tactical. This would be the ideal game to show to younger players and to ask what move do they think is going to come next.
+++++++
Topalov-Aronian is a draw after 41 moves. Levon says that the National Day in Armenia is September 21st. (It commemorates the restoration of the Republic of Armenia in September 21, 1991, after 70 years of Soviet rule.)
His main worry now is getting enough sleep, since the round tomorrow starts three hours earlier.
++++++++++++
Wednesday’s quiz had to do with smoking. These days smoking has lost its appeal. How many of the participants in this tournament are smokers?
Somebody said Nakamura was a smoker but gave it up. (untrue). Someone else wrote that Svidler must be a smoker since he is a Russian. He told Dirk Jan that he never touched a cigarette in his entire life.
The answer is none. None of the participants smokes. The winner of the NIC sub is from Istanbul, Turkey. Somehow this surprised me since Turkish tobacco has world renown and I would have thought that a Turkish national would say that they all smoked!
It is clear that Dirk Jan is running low on questions.
This is the new one:
Today’s tournament is the first super tournament on Norwegian soil. The World Cup is coming up later this year in Tromsø, Norway and next year the 41st Chess Olympiad will be held there.
In which year was the Norwegian Chess Federation founded?
+++++++++
A wild game ends with Radjabov losing the thread of the game and then losing to Nakamura. Teimour is having a rough stretch and so is taking a break after this tournament. Nakamura is playing in the Grand Prix in Thessaloniki.
Hikaru says that he has a plus score today and tomorrow he plays Jon Ludvig Hammer. Dirk Jan talks about a song from the past, If I were a Hammer by Trini Lopez. It came out in 1963 and Hikaru doesn’t know it nor does most of the audience. This is not surprising since the song is If I had a Hammer. This hammer song seems to show the separation of chess-playing generations!
Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam has an amazing memory for chess history. The magazine he edits is outstandingly successful. I have great respect for the man.
He asks Hikaru the first time he met Teimour Radjabov and I think he answers that it was 2004 or thereabouts. Dirk Jan mentions that Under-10 Tournament and Hikaru says, “I believe you are thinking of my brother, who played Gashimov and Radjabov in Minorca”. Check the first initial.”
Dirk Jan says, “I only check the first initial when I am writing about the Polgars!”
So Dirk Jan got it wrong and a viewer writes in that he got Trini Lopez’s song name wrong too. This is why I said at the first that both players and others are very tired at this time in the tournament.
Hikaru has a chess-playing brother, who has given up chess now. Hikaru’s older brother is Asuka. The game cited is from the WCH U10 1996 in Cala Galdana, Minorca. The boys winner that year was Pendyala Harikrishna from India.
Tomorrow’s early game doesn’t have Nakamura worried. He tells us to go for a run, have breakfast and then watch the games! He doesn't say that he will do that, but that we should.
++++++++++
They have another guest. The adventurer Lars Monsen sits down with the guys. He crossed Canada by foot in three years.
I remember a wonderful short film called the Railrodder, in which Buster Keaton crossed Canada in a one-man, open-top rail vehicle. I have heard of people who want to make the trip by car going from Atlantic to Pacific, stopping at as many Tim Horton’s as possible along the way. But Monsen walked and dog-sledded in Winter and went by canoe in the Summer across northern Canada in two years, seven months from Kaktovik to Goose Bay. The trip was filmed and made into a documentary.
The most notorious man in Norway is Magnus Carlsen, the second-most notorious is evidently Hans Olav Lahlum – the chap in the video, falling off the stool. Third-most notorious is Lars Monsen.
He has talked to a black bear in English. He likes to start his morning with a cup of coffee and chess on the Internet. His handle on the ICC is norsegrizzly. He is just here to watch the tournament. The last chess book he read was 1.d4. (by Boris Avrukh?)
His next project is trying to build up a dog team to go to the Iditarod in Alaska.
(Lars) The dogs have to be really strong. You start with 14 dogs and half of them should be leaders so that they can go in front. They have to have good paws, appetite and fur and not fight with other dogs. The sex is 50-50 with the females in front and the males in back. The ones that get to the finish lines are usually females. I lost a dog once to wolves in Canada. I always have a weapon with me when I sleep. This is a guard against wolves and bears especially. 99% of the bears will run away but the 1% are killers.
I have had 300 to 350 encounters with bears and I have only had to kill one – a Polar bear. I explained the situation to the authorities after and they were satisfied. The black bear and the grizzly are the most dangerous. Don’t keep food in your tent. If you fish, don’t wipe your hands off afterwards on your trousers. The bear will sniff you out.
++++++++
Karjakin finally resigns against Svidler. Carlsen resigns too against Wang Hao, so now there are effectively three people fighting for first place. Now when did the two leaders resign in the second to last round recently?
At the press conference at the end, one of the organizers presents Wang Hao with a pair of red coveralls. She had two pairs made by mistake and so is giving the larger pair to him. He beams with pleasure.
++++++++
Let’s see. Nothing written above that isn’t directly related to chess. No opinions given beyond those of the commentators. Good. Post it.
Comment