Hi everyone. I just got home tonight, late, so I'm not writing anything, but here are some pictures from Edmonton International and the US Open in Dallas. Thoughts /games/ hilarity from the delegates meeting is coming soon. I'm off to NJ for the next US Chess School tomorrow, so expect some photos/stories from there too.
Edmonton International
GM Alex Shabalov plays Cranium. He's good at the music and pop culture questions, but his ability to model in Cranium clay is extremely disappointing.
GM Jesse Kraai drinks Apple Medley
GM Josh Friedel, fierce
GM Alexander Moiseenko
GM Surya GangulyUS Open, Dallas
Alex at park, drinking problem
Matt Perry had a great tournament
IM Michael Mulyar, happy to be on board one
Phil Irwin
Alex and Yermo at park Friday afternoon. I figured out why these two are such close friends: complementary talkativities.
WFMs Chouchanik Airepetian and Bayaara Zorigt
IM Daniel Fernandez
IM Daniel Fernandez and WIM Lorena Zepeda
US Open Champion IM Enrico Sevilliano 
15 comments:
Great pictures, though I'm really eager to hear about the delegates meeting. Glad you're there so the rest of us don't have to be.
Did you get to the Grassy Knoll?
Drinking problem:
2 hands
1 mouth
Nice pics... quick point though Liz.
It's interesting to note how for months now the US press has been remarking Friedel as a 'GM'. He's is not a GM- he's an IM, and a GM elect. This seems to reflect the desperation of the US press to garner home grown titled players. In England we are not that desperate- we know it can take ages for a title to be ratified, but then we do have a lot of home grown talent ;)!
Josh Friedel is a GM elect but he is just waiting for the official ratification which is only a matter of time. Let me here you name some young English chess professionals that have played 30-50 fide rated games a month for over the past two years. Josh's rise to the top is definately inspirational and based on hard work. It sounds like someone is jealous here.
Lol... this is turning out to be a posting binge for me.
I'm not 'jealous' at all- Friedel himself seems to be an alright guy.
Would he a GM without heavy sponsoring though... not yet at least.
There are actually very few English proffessionals because there is so little money in the game here- even the sponsorship our top young players have got recently is much lower than Friedel's.
Still... off the top of my head young English players who've played a lot of games...
Nick Pert, David Howell, Gawain Jones, Stephen Gordon, Simon Williams...
All are GMs, or GMs elect before Friedel.
When Luke McShane took one gap year off to play chess 'proffessionally' he beat top GMs and was easily in the top 50 in the world. If there was enough financial incentive to keep playing he'd probably be 2700 or over by now.
Hope that shows the talent gap for you :).
I like how I can just post photos with brief captions and it generates controversy.
lol you listed all GMs no Gm elects as you claim where is the new talent? Give me a player who plays 30-50+ games a month. I did not think you could produce that. You can make up excuses one after another. The bottom line is you have no argument here.
Who cares...where are the hot pics of Vicary!
daniel fernandez is an IM.
what country would not count a gm-elect as a gm? it's just a fide rubber stamp anyway.
not much money in chess regardless, i think anyone can agree with that. and how many IMs are GM strength without the rating due to lack of travel funds and entry fees?
personally i really enjoy stories like Jesse Kraai becoming GM at a later age. any kid can go become an IM if parents are putting food on the table...adults have to work and put in the time which makes it more impressive.
thanks rj-- fixed.
lol at suggesting that friedel has had heavy sponsoring.
- greg
V quick post... Stephen Gordon is still an IM... I heard that he got his norms in British Championship 07 but FIDE is adept at slowing things down.
Quickly checked Friedel's games... another error from 'Mr annoymous' (no name no credibility :)) although he has played a decent amount of games every three months.
The term 'GM elect' is a subjective one... it's more accurate to simply call Friedel an IM (which is what he is) unless the title is ratified.
I think I was lured in by American hyperbole to say 'heavy sponsorship' but relatively it is heavy to practically every other player of similar strength in the world. How much sponsorship do the top young Russian players get?
What happened to Shabba's arm?
Once again Mark you have no argument here. Whatever you are trying to say whether Friedel is weak or not GM strength its all wrong. Friedel has clearly proved himself in top level play. He has worked incredibly hard at chess and deserves some credibility. He has a good score against GM Nakamura and by the way he is more talented than any English player you could ever produce :-) Nice try though weasle
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