Corus: Jan 20th

Today is my first full day in Wijk aan Zee and as one emboldened as a member of the press corps! I woke up refreshed from the very quiet night in this very quiet town, then went to walk to the beach. Along the way I met the Team Captain for the Chinese players Wang Yue and Hou Yifan. I didn't catch her name but we had already met twice yesterday and we walked and talked about chess in China and the USA. She had heard that chess was not doing well in the USA, I confirmed that. She also said the US government made a mistake by not supporting Bobby Fischer and subsequent chess clubs that sprung up like weeds in the US. In China, the government pays the coaches and I believe subsidizes the players. This woman's paid full time job was to manage the team on all international trips. (I didn't ask what that involved.) You is 15 years old and I asked if she has fun playing at these events or does she take it seriously. She said she enjoys herself up until the game starts and then she gets very serious. And she said that Hou is very smart and acts very adult already. I need to speak with her again because I gotta ask about those hair clips!

After my walk, I stopped for brunch at a hotel. There was Alexander Morozevich and his second four tables away. They are very relaxed, joking, and speaking French! (Later I learned that for most Russians, French is their second language due to their long historical roots.) As they finish their food, they go off for a seaside walk about an hour before the game today. As I am leaving, I see that Rustam Masimdzhanov is sitting alone just behind me, very deep in thought sipping some tea.

This is a cozy little town, eh?

At the tournament, I basically tossed my personal game away so I could enjoy the top grandmasters at work. Of course, for the first three hours, they ALL sit, stretch, pace around, stare, make faces, ... stare some more, pace, sip something ... and occassionally they make a move. I took a bunch of pictures but so far they are on film and they will be posted a bit after I get home. Maybe I'll get a couple in today before my last battery dies.

So these installments of my reports, as you might guess, will be lacking information about the actual chess playing. I am not good enough to do that justice. And I will be doing installments as I don't know how often and for how long I'll be able to grab an internet connection in the press room. When I do report, I want to convey the personal side of being here, whatevr that may be. So enjoy that if it appeals to you.

Here are my first impressions of some of the players:

Vasily Ivanchuk is a tall and impressive person, dressed in black suits each day. He walks around most of the time, making a variety of faces, and tetering back and forth as he walks.

Teymour Radjabov reminds me of a young Paul Simon. He might be 5’4” and is not skinny (like many other players are here I have noticed).

David Navara appears to be a very timid soul. He walks around looking down, cautiously moving past people. He also is squinting most of the time.

Fabiano Caruana is simply looks a skinny kid with glasses.

Similar to Ivanchuk, Nigel Short does a lot of walking, looking around, and contorting his face. He is tall and slightly hunched over, even as he walks.

Krishnan Sasikiran, the top player in the B group, dresses in traditional Indian clothing. With such regal looking clothing and penetrating eyes, he leaves a very strong first impression.

Magnus Carlsen and Gata Kamsky have been disappointing for me - they sit at their boards a lot and stare, and haven’t done anything worth commenting on thus far. Yawn.

Levon Aronian on the other hand is dressed in a WILD shirt and he is very animated in his facial expression, yet he also looks so bored or aloof. In his game today with Carlsen, he sacrificed a knight for 2 pawns and that drew a large crowd of the other GM’s to check it out.

Let me leave this instalment at this. More to come.

This is Phil Ferguson, Live From Corus, for ENYCA