2007 African Championship

In my previous post, Continental Championships and Zonals (2007-Q2), I wondered if the 9th African Games, which starts today in Algiers, is the 2007 African Continental Championship, a World Championship Qualifier.

It turns out that it's not. After a little searching, I found a document with details on the 2007 African Individual Chess Championships. It will be held 31 August to 11 September 2007, at Windhoek, Namibia. • 'The 2007 African Individual Championships is a qualification event for the World Chess Cup 2007, Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. The top six players at the end of the tournament will be the African Qualifiers.'

Continental Championships and Zonals (2007-Q2)

Follow-up to FIDE World Cup Qualifiers (2007):-

8th European Championship: 'The 8th Individual European Chess Championships took place 2-16 April, 2007, in the International Congress Center, Dresden (Germany). 11 rounds Swiss system, 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. Vladislav Tkachiev won the tie-breaks [...] Initially there were 33 qualifiers announced but then this was reduced to 29 as some players had qualified from 2006' [TWIC650 : 'The Week in Chess' by Mark Crowther, no.650]

Zonal 2.3: 'Zonal 2.3 took place in Santo Domingo 29th May-10th June 2007. Lenier Dominguez won the men's event and Maritza Arribas Robaina the women's both from Cuba.' [TWIC657]

Zonal 2.4: 'Zonal 2.4 took place in Sao Paulo 16th-22nd June, 2007. Gilberto Milos took first place on tie-break from Rafael Leitao after both finished on 6/8 but both progress in the FIDE cycle.' [TWIC659]

Zonal 2.5: 'Zonal 2.5 took place in San Luis ARG, 19th-26th March 2007. Diego Flores won with 7.5/9. Juan Pablo Hobaica won a three way playoff for second place.' [TWIC647]

Zonal 3.5: 'The Chinese Zonal 3.5 took place in Shandong, 28th April - 6th May 2007. Bu Xiangzhi won with 7.5/9 a point clear of Wang Yue and Ding Liren. Two players qualify for the FIDE World Cup.' [TWIC659]

2007 Oceania Zonal: (Zone 3.4?); 'IM Zong-Yuan Zhao of Australia proved to be the toast of the 2007 Oceania Zonal when he finished the event with 7/9points to qualify for the world cup to be held later this year.' [http://www.oceaniachess.com]

***

Coming events as listed on the FIDE Calendar 2007:-

American Events: Absolute Americas Continental Chess Championships 2007; Cali, Colombia; 10-Jul-2007 to 20-Jul-2007 • Americas Women's Continental Championship 2007; San Luis, Argentina; 28-Aug-2007 to 7-Sep-2007.

Asian Zonals: Zone 3.2 Championship 2007; Bangladesh.

Asian Events: Asian Individual Championship; Philippines; 18-Sep-2007 to 30-Sep-2007 • Asian Women Individual Chess Championship 2007; Tehran, Iran; 2-Sep-2007 to 12-Sep-2007.

African Events : 9th African Games 2007; Algiers, Algeria; 11-Jul-2007 to 23-Jul-2007 • Is this the African Continental Championship? No other event is listed.

New World Championship Cycle

The FIDE explanation of the new World Championship cycle is not a model of clarity...

Tallinn Presidential Board Maps New World Chess Championship Cycle
http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1388

...The portion of the qualification path relevant to the current cycle (culminating in the Mexico 2007 tournament) and the next cycle (culminating in a 2009 match) is shown in the following diagram.

A couple of important points:-

• The winner of Mexico 2007 becomes the next World Champion (the event should have been shown in yellow).
  
  
• The two qualifying events in 2008 for the 2009 match depend on Kramnik's result in Mexico. This is not shown in the diagram and was not explained well in the accompanying text.

If Kramnik loses in Mexico, there will be two qualification matches:-

• Kramnik vs. winner Mexico
  
• Topalov vs. winner World Cup

The winners of the two matches will meet in the 2009 World Championship match.

If Kramnik wins in Mexico, there will be one qualification match:-

• Kramnik vs. Topalov
  
• Winner World Cup is direct seed

The winner of the Kramnik vs. Topalov match will meet the winner of the World Cup in the 2009 World Championship match.

***

This is all, of course, subject to change. If it holds up, the following cycle (culminating in a 2010 match) is a model for subsequent cyles.

2007 Candidate Matches - Update and Logo

I updated my page on the 2007 Candidates Matches to record the match results and PGN game scores. I wanted to add the logo for the matches, but it's not clear what the official logo was. Both of the logos in the following image were used. Neither is particularly interesting.

The logo in the upper image, used on the playing stage and the player's cards, can be seen in many images from the FIDE site, e.g. Rd 2 Game 1. I couldn't find a nice copy of it, so I cropped one of the FIDE photos. Apologies for its low quality; it was the best I could find.

The logo in the lower image was used on the official site, Globalchess.eu, and on the Chessbase.com site starting with their report Arrival in Elista. It's also not clear if the horse head was designed only for the candidate matches, or will be used for future World Championship events.

Chessbase Interview with Kramnik

Interview with Vladimir Kramnik (end-April; video and transcription) by Frederic Friedel:

• Part 1
  
• Part 2
  
• Part 3
  
• Part 4

2007 FIDE Candidate Matches

I'm keeping track of the Candidate Matches in two places.

2007 FIDE Candidate Matches [About Chess; see also link to ChessChrono]
http://chess.about.com/b/a/257430.htm

Candidate Matches 2007 [Forum]
http://forums.about.com/ab-chess/messages?lgnF=y&msg=2997.1

***

I also added a sidebar link to Globalchess.eu. This is the domain of the Amsterdam outfit that is taking responsibilty for World Championship events, as documented on my previous post Global Chess BV. The domain name was registered only a few days before the matches began, and the pairings for round two of the matches haven't been announced on the site, although they start today. Teething problems?

Global Chess BV

Since my previous post on this blog, dated 1 April, is starting to look like the joke that it wasn't intended to be, it's time to take drastic action. Here's announcing WCC Wednesday.

For many people, Monday is the worst day of the week. For me, the worst day is Wednesday. On Woden's Day, the previous weekend is a distant memory and next weekend, a future dream. It also happens to be my quietest day, when I have the fewest regularly scheduled weekly activities. From now on, Wednesday will be the day I post to this blog. That should guarantee at least one post per week and four per month. Even if the posts are journal entries documenting links, it's better than nothing. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I might even update the World Championship site.

***

I added a new link to the 'Other WCC Sites' sidebar : Chessgames.com • WCC Index compiled by Hesam7, 'I am building a World Chess Championship index similar to what is done by Mark Weeks'. Thanks for the mention Hesam7 (why 7?) and good luck with your project.

***

Of all the events that have occurred over the past two months, the most important is Global Chess BV. Yes, I know the Candidate Matches are taking place, but they are not yet finished. There are so many good news sites. Who needs another, mediocre one? I've always thought of my World Championship site as a reference site, not a news site.

FIDE and Global Chess. Press Release
http://fide.com/news.asp?id=1309
Full text of the press release:

The FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Mr Bessel Kok have met in Dresden to announce formally the commencement of operations of Global Chess BV. The main office will be in Amsterdam where negotiations on space in the MAX EUWE CENTRUM are in a final stage. A branch office in Lausanne is also envisaged. • The first part of the working capital has been transferred to Global Chess BV and this will permit the Company to finalize negotiations with FIDE on a commercial licence agreement. • Upon conclusion of the license agreement, Global Chess will (in cooperation with FIDE) start working on World Class Chess tournaments (including the WCC cycle as from 2008). Global Chess will equally examine investment opportunities in Chess related projects and ventures. • The Chairman of Global Chess BV will be Mr Bessel Kok and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company will be Mr Geoffrey Borg. • Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Bessel Kok [4 April 2007]

Global Chess BV [lots of comments]
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/2007/04/global_chess_bv.htm
'The pro management company planned by FIDE has been formally announced in Dresden by FIDE prez Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the chairman of the new company, Bessel Kok.' [3 April 2007]

Global Chess to operate out of Amsterdam
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3817
'In December 2006 we reported that FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had launched a ten-million dollar company to be run by Dutch businessman Bessel Kok. Now that company, Global Chess, has now taken residence in the Max Euwe Center in Amsterdam. The web site Chess Vibes met with the main Global Chess officers and has provided indepth video interviews.' [27 April 2007]

Head office Global Chess at the Max Euwe Center - interview with Bessel Kok
http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=794&lp_lang_view=en
'ChessVibes had [video] interviews with Bessel Kok and with Geoffrey Borg, about the cooperation with the Max Euwe Center and especially about the plans of Global Chess BV.' [26 April 2007]

Malta Chess Federation President appointed CEO of Global Chess BV
http://www.maltamedia.com/artman2/publish/sports/article_1764.shtml
'Mr.Borg is also currently a Vice-President of FIDE, as well as General Secretary of the Mediterranean Chess Association (MCA). He was elected to the Presidential Board of FIDE in an election held in Torino, Italy in May, 2006. This new appointment is a prestigious opportunity not only for Maltese Chess but also for Maltese Sport in general.' [7 May 2007; more details on Borg's career]

Kok and his wife were also featured on the cover of the May 2007 Europe Echecs. An interview with Kok, offering insights not found elsewhere, was inside (p.15-19).