China leads in the Taiyuan Scheveningen
7/21/2006 – There is a very strong tournament under way in Taiyuan, China. Two teams of six players each are facing each other in a double round Scheveningen. After ten rounds the Chinese team (average Elo 2628) is leading the "rest of the world" (2638) by 32.5 points to 27.5. In spite of our thumbnail: the game they're playing is chess. Big pictorial report.
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The Taiyuan Scheveningen is being staged from July 10th to 22nd 2006, with a prize fund of US $18,000. The tournament is a double round Scheveningen, with two teams of six players each. One team consists of Chinese players, the other is a "Rest of the World" team consisting of two Russians, a Georgian, an Armenian, a Hungarian and a Brazilian.
Taiyuan,
the "Dragon City", is an ancient capital, originally constructed
in 500 BC, and rebiilt in 562 AD. It has a long history and in ancient times
was an important military town. The oldest existing building is the Temple
of Goddess, which was originally built in the 11th century. Taiyuan is a city
bounded on three sides by mountains, and the Fen River, a tributary of the
Yellow River, flows from north to south through the city. The population is
about 2.93 million people. At present, Taiyuan is one of China's heavy industrial
cities and account for more than half the national coal mining output. China's
launch site for launch of polar orbiting satellites, Taiyuan Satellite Launch
Center (TSLC), is situated 280 km from Taiyuan City (the head office of the
launch center is located in the city itself).
The tournament
After ten of a total of 12 rounds China leads in this tournament by 32.5 points to 27.5. The top scorers are Baadur Jobava of Georgia, with 6.5/10 and a 2732 performance, and Bu Xiangzhi of China with the same score and a 2742 performance. Ni Hua, Zhang Pengxiang and Wang Yue all have 2700+ performances so far (2714, 2706 and 2704 respectively). At the bottom of the table we find Zhang Zhong of China and Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil, with 2.5/10 each and performances of 2452 and 2442.
Current standings (after ten rounds)
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Picture gallery
Bu Xiangzhi, 20, 2664, China, vs Dmitrij Jakovenko, 23, 2667, Russia
Ni Hua, 23, 2607, China, vs Baadur Jobava, 22, 2651, Georgia
Wang Hao, 16, 2610, China vs Ferenc Berkes, 20, 2601, Hungary
Zhang Zhong, 27, 2639, China vs Giovanni Vescovi, 28, 2619, Brazil
GM Karen Asrian, 26, 2635, from Armenia
GM Bu Xiangzhi, 20, 2664, China
GM Ni Hua, 23, 2607, China
GM Artyom Timofeev, 21, 2657, Russia
GM Wang Hao, 16, 2610, China
Mass simultaneous exhibition
The players prepare to meet the Chinese youth in a mass simul
GM Bu against the youngest and strongest Chinas has to offer
Dmitrij Jakovenko and a pre-teen opponent
Zhang Zhao at work
Wang Hao, not very much older than his opponents
Ni Hua has to work hard in some of his games
Soccer match
Posing in front of an appropriately named club before an international
soccer match
Chess players tend to love football and play it with zest and vigor
No head butting in this game, and no name calling either
All pictures by courtesy of the official web site
