Ivanchuk’s mouth cap
11 November 2009, 21.00 CET | Last modified: 9:51 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Videos
When Vassily Ivanchuk appeared in the playing hall for his round 5 game against Magnus Carlsen, almost all participants of the Tal Memorial couldn’t resist a smile. This unique moment, just before the games started, was captured and uploaded to YouTube.
The following video shows the start of the 5th round in Moscow. At the end Ivanchuk is briefly interviewed – visitors who master the Russian language are welcome to add a translation in the comments!
Update: as Amos writes us, the clip is from the “Chess Review” program that runs on the NTV-Sport TV channel.
First Vassily is asked about the solid opening variation he used in the game and says that he wanted to place the emphasis of the battle on the middlegame, but the game quickly transposed to the endgame and a draw is a logical result.
Them he is asked about his mask – if he was afraid to catch the virus from Magnus. Ivanchuk answers that “Well, yeah… I was kinda told that Aronian got ill after the game against him… So I decided… In any case.”
At last he is asked about his play in the tournament and he answers that there are still four round to go and a lot can happen.
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Sluit ook lekker af, die mondkap. En denkt hij dat hij een paar meter verderop wel veilig is voor ronddwalende virussen?
I thought the video was pretty funny, but I’m not sure it would make people laugh in Ukraine. There seems to be some kind of swine-flu hysteria there:
“Swine-Flu Panic in Ukraine: Crisis or Political Ploy?” (Time)
http://tinyurl.com/yaz5dfm
This clip is from the “Chess Review” program that runs on the NTV-Sport TV channel.
First Vassily is asked about the solid opening variation he used in the game and says that he wanted to place the emphasis of the battle on the middlegame, but the game quickly transposed to the endgame and a draw is a logical result.
Them he is asked about his mask – if he was afraid to catch the virus from Magnus. Ivanchuk answers that “Well, yeah… I was kinda told that Aronian got ill after the game against him… So I decided… In any case.”
At last he is asked about his play in the tournament and he answers that there are still four round to go and a lot can happen.
Thx Amos!
Very funny that you all find this very funny. The photo of Ivanchuck and the starting picture of the video actually show why in chess it is very sensible to wear a face mask: it prevents hand to mouth contact.
While face masks do not offer full protection against aerosol bacteria and viruses, in chess they are very useful as chess players touch the pieces and their faces all the time.
Hm. The first thing Ivanchuk did was shaking Carlsen’s hand.
Haha Peter i was just about to ask, did they shake hands. Seems a bit strange shaking hands but wearing mouth mask, or did he wear gloves also?
Can you get a 0 for not shaking your opponents hand out of fear for swine flu?
visit japan. people there are actually courteous enough to wear the face masks when they get sick so as to not infect everyone else. it is a very common sight to see… why is everyone so amazed by this?
Well, I’ve actually just moved to Japan. I’d say that about 5-10% of the people are wearing masks here. It really is an amazing sight. And it’s everywhere: downtown, in the suburbs, in the streets, in the buildings, in their cars. I doubt they’re all sick. Now I feel ashamed when I sneeze.
Could it be that Ivanchuck isn’t feeling to well himself, since he also had the cap on the next game he played.