The "Swiss" Championship?
Something Chess Today is calling the Swiss Championship is underway, and after 6 rounds Korchnoi and Gallagher - both Swiss - are tied for second with 4/6, half a point behind Pelletier - also Swiss - and Kosteniuk. Huh? (What's the old joke - visit Russia, before Russia visits you?) Kosteniuk is a Russian citizen: she plays there all the time, represents them in team events and is a member of their federation. So a Russian championship, sure. She can't play in the U.S. Championship - rightly - but it would at least make some sense if she did: she lives with her American husband in Miami, Florida. But what could possibly justify her playing in the Swiss Championship? Maybe a French or German-speaking reader can go to the tournament site and explain what's happening. If this really is the Swiss Championship, I know I'd be pretty upset if I had been the qualifier for the 10th spot, only to have it given away to someone who doesn't even live in my country.
Anyway, let's turn to the chess. The end of the fourth round game Korchnoi-Kurmann makes for an interesting little exercise.
White has just played 49.Be3-b6, and Black resigned. But why? If the players had light-squared bishops, or if everything was moved in a file, there would be nothing to think about. But remember the problem of the wrong-colored bishop and pawn combination; if Black can give up his bishop for the b-pawn, it's a draw. There are stalemate tricks, too. On the previous move, 49.Kxc7 would be stalemate, and there are other stalemate constructions too (e.g. White's bishop on the diagonal somewhere from h2 to a7, and then Black plays ...Bb6, when Kxb6 would be an instant draw).
Of course, it is a win, but see if you can figure out how White finishes the job against feisty defense from Black. I managed to work it out for myself against a chess engine, but it took several minutes before I was able to overcome the ring-around-the-rosies problem and put Black out of his misery.
A solution is here.
Reader Comments (13)
Mrs.Kosteniuks husband owns a swiss passport.
The tournament homepage doesn't help, but some googling confirms and expands on Ivapatzer's suggestion:
"The Russian-born current female world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, married to a Swiss and since one year also holding a Swiss passport ..."
translated from German, http://www.suedostschweiz.ch/newsticker/index.cfm?id=44625
The archive of Kosteniuk's homepage mentions that she already played the Swiss championship back in 2003 - apparently without a Swiss passport, did she already have her Swiss husband at the (then) age of 19?
The Swiss Chess Federation also shows her as being member of 2 Swiss clubs: Trubschachen and Lausanne Le Joueur. They also give an address in Lausanne for her.
Mark Crowther voices his surprise too; here his comment from TWIC about the championship: "Chess legend Viktor Korchnoi competes as does Yannick Pelletier and Alexandra Kosteniuk (the latter raises some eyebrows she is given as representing the club of Trubschachen)."
Thanks. It still seems extremely unfair to me, but it is an explanation.
Dennis, while I tend to agree with your point, the other (sunnier!?) side of the story is that Kosteniuk's presence might lead to more media attention, both nationally and internationally. Would you and/or TWIC and Chess Today have mentioned the event if not for Kosteniuk, scandal or not? And with so little information available, it is even possible that qualifier #10 voluntarily surrendered his spot for Kosteniuk.
Maybe Korchnoi can (and does!?) complain that Kosteniuk is stealing attention from him? At least the Swiss link I gave is entitled "World champion Kosteniuk challenges Swiss elite", followed by "Alexandra Kosteniuk is the undisputed star of the Swiss Chess Championships" - slightly unfair to a living chess legend!?
I agree, Thomas: the attention gained by the participation of the wife of an ex-pat is far more important than allowing the person who actually qualified to play. Who gives a rip about merit, hard work, and actually being at least a resident if not a citizen of the country whose championship you're playing in? By the way, I wouldn't agree that it was his spot to give - if he wants to throw it away, then #11 should have it.
As for the publicity, yes, both TWIC and Chess Today would have mentioned the event, because that's part of their mission. I might have too, as a Korchnoi fan. Of course, that's silly of me, because Korchnoi was only a world championship runner-up, while Kosteniuk is the world champion and, as such, obviously the most important player there. She's only the fourth highest-rated player in the tournament, but they should fix that too, if it helps with the publicity. Give her an extra 100 rating points.
Dennis, is there any reason to believe there are qualifiers? Perhaps the organizers just choose who they want to compete.
Dennis, as I wrote before I "tend to" agree with you - certainly also regarding Korchnoi. You may be right that (some) chess pages would have covered or mentioned the event anyway, what about mainstream media? After all, Kosteniuk isn't just "the wife of an ex-pat" (whom the Swiss still consider Swiss), but very much hyped by herself and others. [I do not quite understand the hype around her and wouldn't even consider her the most beautiful female chess player, but that's a matter of taste ...]. Anyway, isn't it mostly a Swiss affair? Are there any Swiss around on this blog who could give their personal or the general Swiss view on this?
Icepick: It's a challenge and pleasure for me to search around the Internet using my knowledge of German ,:) . The tournament site mentioned the "Führungsliste", apparently national Swiss ELO. I managed to find it on the Web:
http://www.swisschess.ch/schachsport/fl/query.php?special=ch&Limit=100
Kosteniuk is actually #8 on this list, so apparently she did play in some events in Switzerland. Most of the participants are within the top 20, but IM Huss is only #83 (according to another source, he qualified by finishing 3rd in last year's event). Missing from the tournament is #2 Vadim Milov - according to yet another source he has serious problems with the Swiss federation and fellow players. And #1 (also absent) is, for whichever reason, Fabiano Caruana who, among other things, plays for the Swiss club Winterthur SG.
In the light of this, it seems that Kosteniuk actually did qualify, rather than receiving a random wildcard? And Caruana could have played but has other commitments or wasn't interested?? Maybe because Korchnoi (with all due respect for him, cf. above) was rather rude to him in the past?
Korchnoi isn't any more Swiss than Kosteniuk. And Gallagher is English, right?
Schroedinger: You're mistaken about both Korchnoi and Gallagher. Neither was born there, but Korchnoi has been a citizen for almost 30 years and Gallagher has represented them in Olympiads and other international team events for 13. This is not the same thing as a Russian who lives in the U.S. playing in their national championship.
Thomas: It seems insane to me that they could let Caruana play for them as well! But if these crazy rules are what the majority of Swiss professional players want, I won't be more Catholic than the Pope by objecting.
But if these crazy rules are what the majority of Swiss professional players want, I won't be more Catholic than the Pope by objecting.
Okay, when have profesional players ever had a say in how the chess world is run?
Rarely. My "if" was meant in the traditional sense, to wit, it means if. I'm not at all assuming that this really is the case - I simply don't know.
Only Swiss citizens can participate in the top tourney (with 10 players), and Kosteniuk has been a Swiss citizen for a year or so. Milov is a Swiss citizen as well, but as someone pointed out, he's ... well ... "special".
Caruana is not a Swiss citizen, so he wouldn't be allowed to participate in the top tournament. He could, however, participate in the "main tournament", which is open to everyone. If I am not mistaken, you don't even need to be a member of the Swiss chess federation. This is a first this year, though. Not quite sure why they decided to open the tournament.
I think it's a pity, though, that chess becomes more and more professional at club level... there are a lot of mercenary GMs these days in the top teams here in Switzerland. But that seems to be the status quo in many European countries.