Fundraising Carlsen simul for Dusan Popovic
Already in April this year it became known that Serbian GM Dusan Popovic was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, and is hoping for a transplant soon. Next Monday, August 11th, Magnus Carlsen will play a fundraising simul on ICC to help him.
On April 11, at the of the Serbian Chess Federation a message was published in which the international chess community was addressed.
As Chessdom reports, several fundraising chess tournaments have been organized since then, in which the entry fees went to Popovic. Now the ICC has organized a fundraising simul by Magnus Carlsen.
The simul will start online on Monday, August 11, 2pm U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (7pm in the U.K. (BST) and 8pm in Norway and central Europe (CET)). Internet Chess Club is offering on eBay 18 seats to play in the simultaneous exhibition. Twelve seats will be sold in a Dutch Auction, and six seats are offered in this listing at a fixed price. Viewing or bidding for a seat is still possible.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand has expressed his support as well:
I was really saddened when I first heard of GM Dusan Popovic's plight. At such a young age, he has to confront a serious health condition that needs a lot of courage and persistence to combat. I wish him all the best. As a chessplayer, we all know what it is to fight. I am sure he will use these fighting skills he would have honed over the chessboard.
While I know Dusan will be receiving unstinting support from his family and friends, I congratulate Magnus Carlsen in stepping forward in his hour of need with his spontaneous and magnanimous gesture to play on the Internet Chess Club to help the cause.
It is also nice to see the next generation coming together for a cause that is far greater than the game itself. It is, as Dusan himself states, to be a "game of life" and I am sure the whole chess community will come together as one to participate and contribute to the fundraising efforts on ICC. For my part, I personally pledge $750 to the fund and urge everyone to contribute what they can on the day.
My prayers, thoughts and best wishes are with Dusan and his family during this time and I am sure, like me, the chess community would all wish to see his return to active duty at the chessboard as quickly as possible.
Regards,
Viswanathan Anand
Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.
Comments
CAL|Daniel
3 years 6 months ago
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good for chessbase then.
semipatz
3 years 6 months ago
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What do you mean, good for Chessbase?
Batista
3 years 6 months ago
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This is the same story that Chessbase refused to publish?
Martin
3 years 6 months ago
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R.I.P Dusan
Marvin
3 years 6 months ago
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If possible, can you get more background information ?
Why is there so much money involved ?
Is there a known donor ?
Janis Nisii
3 years 6 months ago
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I don't know if Chessbase refused to publish this news, but it would be fully understandable.
ICC and Chessbase are competitors and of course they both try not to do favours to each other.
Both Chessbase and ICC are not true journalistic sites: they provide some extra contents such as news, lectures and videos, but I would tag those contents as entertainment, which is their core business by the way.
Still, it's undoubtable that Chessbase has been providing chess news for many years now and it's still one of the sites everyone in the chess world check to know what's going on.
The news about Dusan has been published everywhere (Chessbase included) and many events to support him has been organized.
Magnus on line simul is just one of them and incidentally is of course *also* a pubblicity for the ICC. ICC+Magnus has enough fame and friend-sites to be sure that the event will succeed. IMO there is no need for a competitor site to help them and give ICC some extra pubblicity.
peter
3 years 6 months ago
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It was in the spam box - now back on.
Janis Nisii
3 years 6 months ago
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Test.
(Tried to add a comment but didnt' work. Checked the email notification for the first time, could it be that?)
Janis Nisii
3 years 6 months ago
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Still doesn't work. Is there a number of lines limit?
peter
3 years 6 months ago
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Yes Clifford, this was the reason I took back the story from "published" to "draft" modus in April, and still some questions are left to be answered. But with Carlsen and Anand involved, I had the feeling I had to publish it as a news item, without expressing any support (or criticism btw) to the Popovic fundraising.
Clifford
3 years 6 months ago
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Maybe Chessbase didn't run the story for more honourable reasons - such as they weren't sure about the ethics of supporting raising 70,000 Euros for a transplant from an unknown donor in Russia, which might also be supporting the black market trade in transplant organs, bought or coerced from the donor.
No criticism of Popovic intended here - he's trying to save his own life any way he can.
Ewoud
3 years 6 months ago
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too much ICC an d Chessbase in it -it must be spam ? :)
atheistbishop
6 months 3 weeks ago
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But couldn`t Anand or Carlsen just payed for the damned thing? I mean, they have money.. Why just 750 $ ?
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