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Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Another Chess GM in Visa Problem: Ju Wenjun Stranded in Gibraltar
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Here is the latest update via Guardian on Chinese GM Ju Wenjun's plight in Gibraltar after the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival. We hope the visa problem is resolved as soon as possible and the Chinese GM can go home.
Chinese chess grandmaster stranded in Gibraltar after being blocked from UK
Women's world No 15 Ju Wenjun refused permission to board flight to London as she did not hold a transit visa
Ju Wenjun, a Chinese chess grandmaster, has been stranded in Gibraltar after being denied permission to pass through the UK. Photograph: Zeljka Malobabic
A top Chinese chess player has found herself stuck between the Rock and a hard place after an airline refused to allow her to board a flight to London following a tournament in Gibraltar because she did not hold a transit visa to enter the UK.
Ju Wenjun found herself stranded after taking part in the 11th annual Tradewise chess festival held in Gibraltar, having travelled there on 19 January via London from Hong Kong on a British Airways flight. However, when she went to board her return flight to China via Heathrow on 1 February, the day after her 22nd birthday, she was denied entry onto the flight.
"I don't have a UK transit visa and they let me board (in Hong Kong). When I arrived in the UK, I told them I was going to play in Gibraltar at the Tradewise festival. I showed them my airline ticket and they let me pass through. They let me show my tickets and my invitation," said Ju on the telephone from Gibraltar.
Ju is a grandmaster, ranked No 15 in international women's chess and No 3 in China. The
tournament organisers, who have been rallying on her behalf, said she has been told she must send her passport to the UK to be issued a transit visa and then have it sent back to Gibraltar. But Ju doesn't understand why she should have to go through this when she was allowed to pass through the UK in January on her way to the chess tournament.
"I don't want to send my passport to the UK. It takes time, and my parents are worried about me," she said. "I hope this will end soon."
Gibraltar Chess Festival: Vassily Ivanchuk, Le Quang Liem Short Draw Creates Discussion
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012 Hi everyone,
There is an interesting chess report about the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Tournament via Chessdom.com: The event is already in the seventh round and some of the most exciting games are being played. One of the top encounters of the day is the game between the top seeded Vassily Ivanchuk and the co-leader Le Quang Liem. Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem played an exchange variation of the Slav defense. At move 14 the players shook hand for a draw. That would have been perfectly fine, if there were not rules in Gibraltar expecting players to complete 30 moves.
This is not the first case of under 30 moves game in Gibraltar. It has happened earlier at lower boards and the players were given the option to start over the game or they were forfeited.
A similar situation occurred with Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem. In live commentary Simon Williams and Irina Krush reported that after a discussion with the arbiters and the organizers, they were given the option to replay the game.
Update 17:53 CET Simon Williams and Irina Krush report in the Gibraltar live commentary that Le Quang Liem has actually gone to his room.
Update 18:05 CET Stewart Conquest in now in the commentary room giving an update in the next minutes…
Update 18:10 CET GM Conquest updated on the situation, “The initial problem started when Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem agreed to a draw and signed the score sheet without the presence of an arbiter. Therefore, no one warned them not to agree on a draw as it is forbidden before move 30. So they just went to their rooms.”
He continued, “We had a long talk with them and they stated that even though the rule is mentioned in the regulations, it was never announced before the rounds. And they are right about that, so tomorrow we will make the reminder to all players at the start of the round.”
A politically correct situation was reached, leaving the score as draw. GM Conquest said, “It is like a first warning and we do not want to upset the players”. He also added, “The great news is Ivanchuk has agreed to give a master class for the audience at 9 o’clock local time”
The official website of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2013 can be accessed at this link.
Tradewise Chess Fest in Gibraltar: Top Seeds Stumble
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2013 has begun. Here is the official report by John Saunders about how some excellent chess has already been played in the first two rounds humbling some top seeds: Early rounds of big opens rarely produce major surprises, as the top half of the draw tends to murder the bottom half in cold blood. But this year’s Gibraltar Masters produced a couple of shocks in the first round as the two highest rated competitors, former Gibraltar winner Vassily Ivanchuk and world championship runner-up Gata Kamsky, were held to surprise draws by amateur players in the first round as the players got down to business at the Caleta Hotel.
In the second round there was a bigger shock as three times Gibraltar winner Nigel Short succumbed to 40-year-old Spanish IM Ismael Teran Alvarez (photo), who is ranked only 72nd in the Masters line-up. Five of the other top seeds, Michael Adams (England), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), are amongst the 45 players still on a 100% score.
Nigel Short holds the record for the most Gibraltar Masters titles (three) and he had only previously lost two games in the 53 games he has played in his six visits to the tournament, so his defeat came as a big surprise. Nigel refused to make any excuses and admitted he couldn’t explain his poor play in this game.
Vassily Ivanchuk, 43, is through to the last eight of the World Chess Championship qualifier to be held in London in March but in round one he couldn’t make any impression on Hristos Zygouris, an untitled 38-year-old amateur player ranked 90th in Greece. Ivanchuk allowed an early exchange of queens but found he could not make progress against solid play from his opponent, agreeing a draw on move 31. Chucky may have been fractionally worse when the point was split but the Caleta Hotel bar was echoing with the opinion that a certain young man currently playing in the Netherlands would not have agreed a draw before move 231.
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress R7 - Great games girls play
Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Have you read our earlier report on the happenings during the seventh round at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress 2011 here at www.chessblog.com? Here are some nice games from the same round. Enjoy.
You can run the moves in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress 2011 R7 - chess by candlelight, Ivanchuk holds on to lead
Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
What men do at candlelight dinners
when no pretty girls show up!
Hello everyone,
Funny captions aside, it was chess by candlelight because of a chess commentator's curse! We're not saying that... John Saunders -webmaster for Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress - is.
Games were interrupted for over an hour during the seventh round at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress 2011 cause of a power outage. At 7.45pm clocks were stopped as players (still playing nearly five hours into their game) remained seated at their boards in near darkness as the emergency lights in the hotel came into operation. Hotel staff and arbiters found torches and candles quickly. But play resumed only after 9pm when the electricity was restored.
Of course, it was all Stewart Reuben’s fault, says John Saunders, in his report. After all, on Sunday tempted fate by making a joke about “rainbow stopped play”, didn’t he? It was the curse of the chess commentator, whereby all predictions and whimsical observations inevitably come back and kick you in the teeth. Stewart, who is the UK’s most experienced tournament director, tried to deflect criticism but he was impaled on the iron logic of IM Jack Rudd who told him: “[the electricity outage] could be deemed an act of God - so you were responsible.”
Yesterday’s audience enjoyed some excellent fare, with various distinguished guests appearing alongside regular commentator GM Simon Williams. Stuart Conquest, Ray Keene, Paco Vallejo Pons and Nigel Short all provided illuminating commentary, and Irina Krush came in for the evening session.
The Gibraltar Masters is not all about super-GMs and top ten women stars only. It provides the opportunity for sub-2200 rated players to show that they can score points against more exalted opposition. Several players in this category have good scores but we’ll single out just two. Philip Wheldon, 2106, of England is on 4½/7, having drawn with IM Eesha Karavade and defeated GM Juan Manuel Bellon. More impressive still has been Paul Szuper, 2174, of the USA, who in his last four games has drawn with IM Gaponenko and GM Ikonnikov, and beaten WGM Pogonina and GM Lemos for a score of 5/7.
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress 2011 - Interview with GM Short plus great video
Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Here is a nice interview with the creative Grandmaster Nigel Short about the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Open.
The first title holder of the Gibraltar international chess festival in 2003, former British Champion, GM Nigel Short, is once again back on the Rock participating in the festival for the fourth time. Nigel also won in 2004, and on his third visit came a close second.
After a break of a number of years he has returned to compete in the Tradewise Chess Festival 2011... as he puts it for the "good weather" but also because he believes that from modest beginnings the festival has now become the foremost open tournament in the world.
"The Gibraltar Festival has grown tremendously. It has never been a weak tournament even in the first year. From modest beginnings, and from the first year, great efforts were made to bring some top players. It is now the foremost open tournament in the world. Everybody agrees Gibraltar is the best opens around," he says.
Nigel, who like many players around the world has closely followed the growth of the festival, which he acknowledges has gone from strength to strength, says: "It has built up slowly, and there continues to be a steady increase in numbers with very strong players."
Is he surprised with the success of the Festival in Gibraltar? "No. I am not surprised with its success because it has good organisation, and the people behind the event are very enthusiastic about it. That combination coupled with good sponsors, providing you can continue to improve on the event, then it all comes together to be what it is today, a very impressive event." Is he back to win back the Gibraltar title again? Nigel, who says he is of course out to win the 2011 Gibraltar Master, and even though at the time of releasing this press release was leading the board, believes he has, "a very long shot for winning this tournament, and I say that as someone who has, in my three years here, won it twice, and come second, once. The tournament has improved and there are some really top class players, and there are a lot of them." A nice video from the tournament.
The musician in the video is Maria Yarur from Chile, who is playing in the Amateur competition.
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