Chessboard Battles in the Holy City
By Yochanan Afek
”Everyone should visit this special city at least once in his lifetime”
says GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of the European Chess Union. “Combining
it with a chess event of such standard would make this visit a unique and
memorable experience!”
The four in the front are real! They are Peter
Gokhbat, Zurab and Marina Azmaiparashvili, Moshe Slav
Azmaiparashvili, accompanied by his wife, ended on Sunday morning a short
visit in Israel to follow closely the intensive preparations for the European
Individual Championship. The highly prestigious tournament, open to all,
will be staged in hotel Ramada on February 23rd – March 8th 2015 by
the municipality of Jerusalem and the Israeli Chess Federation under the
auspices of the ECU.
In a bazaar: NM Peter Gokhbat is a leading
youth trainer in Jerusalem, but also a
professional tourist guide. Moshe Slav is the Chairman of the Israeli Chess
Federation
The two day visit included working meetings with Moshe Slav, GM Emil Sutovsky,
President of the Professional Chess Association and with Amiram Kaplan,
chairman of the organizing committee as well as excursions in Jerusalem
and to the Galilee. Himself a former champion of the continent (Istanbul
2003) he was content with the significant progress being made by the organizers
in all aspects of the preparations. In an interview to GM Ram Soffer for
the ICF website, he invited all 54 European federations to encourage the
participation of their players in the championship. He added that he had
immensely enjoyed his short excursion in the streets and famous historic
sites of Jerusalem, finding life in the Israeli capital fairly normal and
safely run. The full interview may be seen here courtesy Alexander Nesterovsky
and Shaul Weinstein:
The tournament will be played in 11 Swiss rounds, however the participants
will enjoy for the first time two free Saturdays, when there will be guided
excursions in the Holy City as well as to the wonders of the Dead Sea. The
championship is open to all players representing the European federations
regardless of their title or ratings. A prize fund of minimum 120,000 Euros
is offered, as well as plenty of opportunities to obtain norms (and double
norms!) for international titles in each of the last three rounds. The biggest
special attraction is nevertheless the free ticket to the World Cup which
is secured for the top 23 players in the final standings.
The registration process is speeding up with leading entries, at the time
of writing these lines, being Russian Evgeny Alekseev and Ukrainian Pavel
Eljanov, both respectable members of the 2700+ world’s supreme club.
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the European prestigious
chess championship to be held for the first time by the historic spiritual
centre of all monotheistic religions. The official closing date is January
31st 2014, however those who register until December 20th would still enjoy
a discount in the hotel fares.
Some pictures from Jerusalem
Panorama view of Jerusalem (scroll right and left using scoll bar)
The Old City wall (from inside), above Damascus
Gate
The Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion, Jerusalem,
Old City
The Windmill, with the King David Hotel in
background
The Jerusalem light train the city center
Massada,
where in the first century BCE 960 Jewish zealots held out for over a year
against Roman occupation and were finally
overcome by 15,000 Roman troops who breached the fortification.
The Dead Sea with salt deposits, nymph
Floating on the briny waters (34% salinity)
427 metres or 1,401 ft below sea level
Biking in the Negev Desert
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