Olympiad 2010

www.newzealandchess.co.nz

The members of the Olympiad squad are responsible for their own travel costs to the event. At present, there is no sponsorship for them at all. The New Zealand Chess Federation is appealing for donations to help with travel costs. Send cheques, payable to NZCF, to PO Box 216, Shortland Street, Auckland 1010, or make contributions directly to ANZ Bank 01 0535 0073257 00 - please send me an email to confirm you have done this (heligan@newzealandchess.co.nz). Contributors will be listed on this web page.

According to the TWIC website (see link above) FIDE is concerned about the progress of the Olympiad arrangements - specifically, logistics of catering and contracts for food. The TWIC report is based on the Russian article at http://ura.ru/content/khanti/23-07-2010/news/1052117193.html, which has lots of photos of the hotel (and can be translated with Google Toolbar).

Note also that the organisers have provided a (slightly) more informative website at http://www.ugra-chess.com/. Here you can find information about the companies running the charter flights, amongst other things. Keep an eye on it for updates.

NZCF thanks TONY DOWDEN for his contribution to the Olympiad Appeal.

The NZCF selectors have announced that the final place in the NZ Open team to the Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk will be taken by Nic Croad who is currently resident in the UK. The Open team in board order is now:
1. Bob Smith
2. Mike Steadman
3. Nic Croad
4. Daniel Han
5. Gino Thornton

After several withdrawals from the 2010 Open Chess Olympiad team to Khanty Mansiysk the NZCF Council has decided to re-open applications for one place in the Open team for a period of seven days closing at 5:00 pm on Friday, 2nd July. If you decide that you wish to apply please fill in the application form and return to Hilton Bennett (hiltonb@wave.co.nz) by email before the deadline. The successful applicant will be confirmed by Tuesday 6th July.

Download application form here (Word document)

The successful applicant will be required to fund a return airfare from NZ to Dubai (approximately NZ $2350). Charter flights from Dubai to Khanty Mansiysk and return are being provided free of charge by the Olympiad organisers and are scheduled for:
19.09.2010; 12:00 p.m. Dubai - Khanty-Mansiysk
04.10.2010; 12:00 p.m. Khanty-Mansiysk - Dubai (arrive 15:00)
Accommodation (twin share basis) and meals at the Olympiad are provided free of charge by the organisers. Other casual expenses incurred by players are their own responsibility.

If you have any questions relating to this process or the Olympiad, please email Hilton Bennett (NZCF Olympiad Co-ordinator) directly (hiltonb@wave.co.nz).

Unfortunately, John Duneas is not available for the Olympiad. The selectors are considering the situation.

Stephen Lukey is unfortunately no longer available for the Open team for the Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk. His place will be taken by John Duneas, subject to availability.
Revised team: Smith, Steadman, Han, Thornton, Duneas

Shirley Wu is unfortunately no longer available for the Women’s team for the Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk. Her place will be taken by Jennya Charomova, subject to availability.
Revised team: Milligan, Maroroa, Chen, Fairley, Charomova

Open: John Duneas
Women's: Jennya Charomova

Open: Smith, Steadman, Lukey, Han, Thornton
Women's: Milligan, Maroroa, Chen, Wu, Fairley

It is now possible to see who is playing in most of the other teams, at the official Olympiad website:
chess-results.com/olympiad/
although at the moment, many places seem to be occupied by the placeholders Mr or Ms Dummy. There is also a link to the organisers' website, at
www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/index.htm, which (on the hotels link) has an artist's impression of the main hotel, Hotel Olympic.

Hilton Bennett is confirmed as Open team captain and overall New Zealand manager.
Viv Smith is confirmed as captain of the Women's team.

Open team, in alphabetical order:
Daniel Han, Stephen Lukey, Bob Smith, Michael Steadman, Gino Thornton.
Women's team, in alphabetical order:
Eachen Chen, Natasha Fairley, Sue Maroroa, Helen Milligan, Shirley Wu.
Team captains and non-travelling reserves will be announced soon. Board order remains to be discussed.

FIDE has issued a revised version of the official invitation - download it here (pdf document). As far as I can see, the only change is a reduction in the allocated accommodation per team. Previously teams were allocated 2 double rooms and 2 singles, for a team consisting of 5 players and a captain. This has been downgraded to three doubles.

FIDE has issued the official invitation - download it here (Word document).

FIDE has made an important announcement about the Olympiad. See
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4367-important-announcement-about-2010-olympiad.
More information will be made available in the official invitation which they will issue on April 20th.

The New Zealand Chess Federation is calling for 'Expressions of Interest' for the roles of Women's Team Captain and Open Team Captain for the Chess Olympiad which is scheduled to take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 19th September to 4th October 2010. An Expression of Interest is not an application for the role, but will ensure that those who are interested in selection will be informed directly about news and developments related to the Olympiad.

It is expected that information on application for selection will be sent out in mid March to those expressing interest. NZCF intends to finalise selections in early May. It is not expected that these dates will change, but it should be noted that global financial conditions can also affect chess events, particularly in countries that have been heavily impacted such as Russia.

At this stage there are some concerns around the lack of information available about the planning of this Olympiad, but NZCF is following announcements from FIDE and the Russian organisers relating to the Olympiad very closely. If there are any significant changes to the scheduled Olympiad, prospective candidates will be informed.

You can submit an Expression of Interest for the Team Captains roles at the 2010 Olympiad by emailing the NZCF Selection Convenor, Michael Freeman directly (michael.freeman@xtra.co.nz) or by post to NZCF: New Zealand Chess Federation, P.O. Box 216, Shortland Street, Auckland.

The New Zealand Chess Federation is calling for 'Expressions of Interest' from players for both the Open and Women's teams for the Chess Olympiad which is scheduled to take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 19th September to 4th October 2010. An Expression of Interest is not an application for selection, but will ensure that those who are interested in selection will be informed directly about news and developments related to the Olympiad.

It is expected that applications for selection will close on April 16th, allowing players to include the results of major events taking place around Easter in their applications. The NZCF Selection Panel intends to finalise selections in early May. It is not expected that these dates will change, but it should be noted that global financial conditions can also affect chess events, particularly in countries that have been heavily impacted such as Russia.

At this stage there are some concerns around the lack of information available about the planning of this Olympiad, but NZCF is following announcements from FIDE and the Russian organisers relating to the Olympiad very closely. If there are any significant changes to the scheduled Olympiad, prospective players will be informed. Updates to Olympiad information will also be published on this webpage.

You can submit an Expression of Interest in the 2010 Olympiad by emailing the Olympiad Co-ordinator, Hilton Bennett directly (hiltonb@wave.co.nz) or by post to NZCF: New Zealand Chess Federation, P.O. Box 216, Shortland Street, Auckland 1010.

Khanty-Mansiysk lies 2040 km from Moscow in the central part of the West-Siberian plain. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanty-Mansiysk. The town was an oil boom-town but since January 2009 a number of architectural projects have been put on hold due to the recession. Many interesting photos can be found on Google Earth (download from http://earth.google.com/. A useful website with plenty of local news is http://www2.admhmao.ru/english/index.htm. The first frosts of winter usually occur in mid-September, ie we can expect it to be chilly but not severely cold.

The venue has been confirmed as the Tennis Sport Development Centre. This complex has been completed and has subsequently been used for various events. This photo was taken from the FIDE website, http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4180-fide-vice-president-mr-israel-gelfers-visit-to-khanty-mansiysk and shows Honorary FIDE Vice President Israel Gelfer outside the venue.

FIDE has indicated that the organisers will organise charter flights from various cities to Khanty-Mansiysk. According to the organising committee, charter flights from Dubai, Prague, Milan and Munich will be provided and also links from Moscow to Khanty-Mansiysk. It is not clear at this stage whether the charters will fly direct or go via Moscow - the airport at Khanty-Mansiysk cannot handle large aircraft. So far no official announcement has been made. See http://www.admhmao.ru/english/newsE/2009/novem/20.htm for the most up-to-date and extensive review of arrangements that I have found so far.

According to the document mentioned in the previous paragraph, players will be accommodated in the following hotels, which are already established: Taray (52), Yugorskaya Dolina (158), Seven Hills (209), and Misne (16). The numbers in brackets are the numbers of rooms available in these hotels according to travel information sites on the Internet. It seems that several hotels were under construction and were expected to be in use for the Olympiad. However, only one of these (pictured, again from the FIDE visit of Honorary FIDE Vice President Israel Gelfer) is going to be used. It is at present unfinished (and there are six months of winter ahead during which presumably not much will be done). When complete, it will have 850 'apartments' and after the Olympiad it will (according to the link above) be used either as student housing or for 'employees of the budgetary sphere', ie cheap accommodation for workers. Given that the organisers are planning to bring in hundreds of security personnel and temporary staff (translators, etc etc), the amount of available accommodation seems a slight cause for concern.

Players and Team Captains will be responsible for all travel costs incurred in going to and returning from Khanty-Mansiysk. Visas will be required and will cost some tens of NZ dollars. The application procedure for Russian visas requires a letter of invitation from the organisers; these will presumably be issued once the team composition has been declared. Visas may take a while to be issued. We will establish exact details with the Russian Embassy in Wellington nearer the time.

Any new FIDE rules relevant to the Olympiad will be listed here as and when we hear of them.

The zero-default rule will be in operation. If you are not seated at your board at the start of the game (ie when the gong sounds, or whatever the official notification is), you will immediately lose the game. This rule has been applied extremely strictly by FIDE since it was introduced, and has led to some well-publicised incidents, notably at the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden.

Zero-default rule fine. The minutes of the FIDE Congress held in 2009 (available for download from the FIDE website) suggest that a fine of US $100 will be imposed on anyone who falls foul of the zero-default rule. This is for a first offence - the fine will rise for subsequent defaults. It has not yet been confirmed that this will be imposed (obviously it would be wildly unpopular). However, players should note that the NZCF cannot commit itself to paying this fine - if you incur the penalty, it will be your own responsibility.