It’s the day after the FIDE elections and you’ve all probably heard of the complete chaos it quickly descended in to. There were a number of farcical incidents including my favourite of two delegates both claiming to be the President of the Peruvian Chess Federation. I wanted to get up and shout ‘no I’m Spartacus!’.

Ireland also got in on the action being told they couldn’t vote due to some obscure administrative ambiguity. Soon resolved thankfully.

The voting got under way about an hour late resulting in a win and four more years of the Kirsan presidency. For a detailed breakdown of the day www.chessvibes.com is worth reading.

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It was a sweltering Bermuda party the other night. With a capacity of just 1200 the club was soon full and many getting turned away. The club really did not expect this kind of attendance. We did warn them.

The temperature inside was like being led in to an oven on gas mark 4. Or am I just getting old? I didn’t stay too long preferring the cool climate of the less than busy Olympic hotel bar.

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With the election for the FIDE presidency just days away campaigning has stepped up a gear with both candidates politicking and attempting to round up the waverers who have not yet declared their support. From a local view point it seems that Kirsan maintains strong support from the less developed nations whilst Karpov’s camp are relying on Europe and more developed countries.

To give you a short synopsis of their campaigning here are their respective quotes

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It’s a bad day for your intrepid reporter. Ooh my head. You see Eamon Keogh turned up from Ireland last night. Need I say more? However the ‘Buffalo Theory’ now comes in to play. What’s the buffalo theory I hear you cry?

Well let me indulge you with yet another gem of wisdom from my vast archive of useless and possibly incorrect information.

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Our on the spot reporter, Gary, has been a bit distracted of late, filling his boots drinking with pretty much everyone he meets. I got the report below from Gary, yesterday and it sounds like they are having a lively time!

This also coincided with a phone call at midnight yesterday that was reminding me to feed Gary’s fish. It was only then I realised it was 5am Khanty-Mansiysk time! And by the sounds of it the bar was still pretty busy!

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At gingergm we will be doing an ongoing report of the 2010 chess olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk.

We have our own reporter who has already been out there for a couple of days. He is running out of places to drink and people to see, so all you players who are heading that way, hurry up and get over there!

Bottom Board Man’s report from day two of his adventures can be viewed below…

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At gingergm we will be doing an ongoing report of the 2010 chess olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk.

We have our own reporter who has already been out there for a couple of days. He is running out of places to drink and people to see, so all you players who are heading that way, hurry up and get over there!

Bottom Board Man’s report from day two of his adventures can be viewed below…

Read the rest of this entry »

I was sitting in a bar on Moscow’s Mayakovska nursing a pint clasping a return ticket to London and was in a quandary. You see I like Russia. I like it lot and I had only arrived the previous day.

These kind of decisions can only be made with a clear head, a full and exact appreciation of the situation and a coin flip.

Sadly it fell down heads so it was back to London but then after ordering another pint and thinking how a certain Simon Williams would deal with this, it became the best of three.

Khanty Mansiysk was a clear winner and who would dare to argue against the fate of a coin flip? I was now committed. I went back to my apartment to change my flight and book up for KM.

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  The Drunken Knights chess team is an infamous bunch of like-minded players who enjoy playing the game of chess whilst sinking the odd pint.

The main Drunken Knights team play in central London, at The Plough pub, right near to the British Museum. This team is brilliantly run by the charismatic Nevil Chan but just recently, transport bigwig,  Gary O’Grady has started a ‘Surrey Branch’ down in Godalming his home town.

Now this has become quite handy for me as I now live a 2 minute walk away from the home venue. Coincidence you may think? Well kind of I guess…

It was a hard decision leaving my old club Sandhurst, who have made many great steps in improving the status of chess and I must thank Alec (the main man at Sandhurst) personally, for he has helped me out greatly but from a practical point of view, it made more sense to join the Drunken Knights.

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  The Drunken Knights chess team is an infamous bunch of like-minded players who enjoy playing the game of chess whilst sinking the odd pint.

The main Drunken Knights team play in central London, at The Plough pub, right near to the British Museum. This team is brilliantly run by the charismatic Nevil Chan but just recently, transport bigwig,  Gary O’Grady has started a ‘Surrey Branch’ down in Godalming his home town.

Now this has become quite handy for me as I now live a 2 minute walk away from the home venue. Coincidence you may think? Well kind of I guess…

It was a hard decision leaving my old club Sandhurst, who have made many great steps in improving the status of chess and I must thank Alec (the main man at Sandhurst) personally, for he has helped me out greatly but from a practical point of view, it made more sense to join the Drunken Knights.

Read the rest of this entry »