Ivanchuk & Wife Mugged At Gunpoint
This apparently took place as they were leaving the hotel on their way to the airport from Sao Paulo to Bilbao. It has been suggested that the thieves thought Vassily Ivanchuk had won the tournament, as it was well-publicized locally, and assumed they would make a big score. A complication is that his wife's passport was also stolen, and Ivanchuk has said that he would not play unless his wife could make it to Bilbao with him. (According to this report, that situation has been resolved.)
Hopefully they catch the donkeys that did this and give them a passport with a long-lasting visa to jail. On the plus side, at least Ivanchuk came out of this better than Artur Yusupov did back in the early 1990s, when he was actually shot by burglars in his Moscow apartment and was fortunate to survive.
(HT: Brian Karen)
Reader Comments (2)
Great press for a country that is going to host the Soccer World Cup and the Summer Olympic Games.
Rio and Sao Paolo have huge favelas and a lot of street crime. Kidnappings are pretty common too. I'm glad to hear he and his wife weren't hurt.