Comments on: 3rd FIDE World Cup officially opened

By: Erevnitis

Erevnitis — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:03:08 +0000

@Thomas: You are a stubborn fella aren’t you? All opening ceremonies are a total waste of money. They are also booooooriiing. In Khanty-Mansiysk they didn’t spare a couple of hundred dollars (maybe less) for 2-3 persons to enter chess moves for the pgn files. Every dollar counts. And YES I would have ignored the ceremonies if you and the other one (test on November 21st, 2009 10:19 pm) did not try to compare chess with opening ceremonies for god shakes.

I’m out.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:19:20 +0000

@Erevnitis: No, but I have seen opening ceremonies at other sports events such as Olympic games or major football events. Those might even be expensive because major stars are performing (the likes of Kylie Minoque, Nelly Furtado or also Pavarotti) – in Khanty-Mansiysk, I guess the local artists happily performed for free in front of an international audience. In any case, it is not just a weird idea of Ilyumzhinov …. .

What’s the problem?
- for the players (if attendance is compulsory) it is a small sacrifice given that even first-round losers get an “appearance fee”of 4,800$
- for chess fans: You can simply ignore it if you want – Peter Doggers chose to show some photos and write a few words, but you and others are in no way obliged to read everything here or elsewhere … .

It would be different if, and only if there was a direct causal relationship between the opening ceremony and failure of the live transmission yesterday – but this is both very unlikely and very hard to prove.

By: Erevnitis

Erevnitis — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:23:26 +0000

@Thomas: It’s totally irrelevant if opening ceremonies are creative. This is a chess event, all other creative activities are out of place. Have you ever seen chess games played before other activities?

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:59:29 +0000

@Erevnitis: Maybe there is also creativity and, at least for some people, pleasure in opening ceremonies. Whether you like them, any or all of them, is another story.

As far as money is concerned: I would be surprised if costs were even 1% of the total budget of the tournament …. I wonder if the artists even got an “appearance fee”. But I agree with steven that a reliable live transmission is more important than a colorful opening ceremony!

By: Harry

Harry — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:07:00 +0000

He is playing in the upcoming tournament in London with Kramnik, Carlsen etc.

By: Pam

Pam — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:31:44 +0000

Where is Nakamura?

By: Erevnitis

Erevnitis — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:28:48 +0000

Chess not useful?! What are you talking about? Chess is a creative game, from which we derive pleasure. Opening ceremonies are a waste of money.

By: test

test — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:19:09 +0000

Why are people here complaining about the opening ceremony? You didn’t have to sit through it did you?

This one looked pretty nice judging by the pictures. Of course I have no idea about the music.

One could say that they are not “useful” (depending on your approach), but so are a lot of things in life, chess included.

By: nick burrows

nick burrows — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:01:35 +0000

I follow chess mainly for the varied & colourful opening ceremonies we see around the world. Aren’t the costumes beautiful! Hooray to Kirsan and his wonderful appreciation of the art of ceremony.
Illuminating the drab, practicality of chess witha sense of importance and meaning ;O)

By: John O

John O — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:49:14 +0000

Kamsky won and the minor upset I picked was correct: 58 1-0 Akobian, Varuzhan USA 1-0 Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS