Tuesday Coffee
Tuesday Coffee
Good morning, Tuesday! We are well into week 29, with 167 days left until the first of January, 2018. This year’s summer playing season is packed with tournaments taking place all over the place, impossible to keep up with but I can guarantee you that there is LOTS of great chess being played! Stay tuned for dozens of examples in my upcoming ‘5-second tactics’ blog entries…
Wei Yi dominates in Danzhou !
Probably the most interesting tournament played the last month or so. Five top chinese superstars against four elite Europeans and the top Vietnamese player. Le Quang’s result is especially impressive because he was undefeated. Of the top 6 positions, there was only one European…a sign of the future of chess, no doubt! European chess can no longer compete with what is happening in Asia…one needs only to see what is happening with the Teams championships to understand the trend. What is more, the Chinese National Team is easily the youngest of the top-20 countries.
How did we get here? It was only in 1978 that China competed for the first time at the Olympiad, and most commentators of the day laughed. But steady progress was helped by a disciplined approach by the Chinese Federation, encouraging its top players to retire at age 30 and become trainers for the up and coming youngsters. Follow that up with the economic boom that China has been experiencing for the past decade, and today China organizes countless tournaments and team-events, providing ample opportunity for its most talented players. Every year new faces are appearing…there is simply no way for the west to stop China from soon winning every major international title in the chess world!
What ever you may think of socialism, it gets results when backed by smart money and solid investment. Add to the fact that Vodka is not very popular in China, and we are going to see China dominate chess in a way that the USSR could have only dreamed of.
2017 Canadian Open
Congratulations to Aman Hambleton and Razvan Preotu for tieing for 1st place in the Canadian Open over the weekend. I understand that the games might be published one day…but don’t hold your breath.
To be continued…