Mainz 2009: We are not looking for short term commitments

Chess Classic Mainz 2009 The 2009 Chess Classic will take place from July 27 to August 2 in the Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centre, Hilton Hotel in Mainz, Germany. The event includes tournaments and Opens in traditional and Random Chess, with stars like the current World Champion Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian of Armenia, strong Russian junior GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and top German GM Arkadij Naiditsch. Schedule below.

Ordix Open 2009

In 2007 the Chess Classic ORDIX Open attracted 762 participants to become the world’s biggest tournament. At that time it was the world’s biggest open. This year’s ORDIX Open, which will take place from 1st to 2nd August, 320 players have already registered, among them 75 GMs, plus a number of IMs and FMs. As far as quality is concerned the tournament already tops the record year 2007. The best ten players have a fantastic Elo average of 2716, and the top 20 can still boast of a 2695+ average. Currently, the highest rated player in the field is Vugar Gashimov with 2740, followed by Grischuk, Etienne Bacrot, Gata Kamsky, Shakh Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura, David Navara, Viktor Bologan, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, and many more. Here's an interview with the sponsor.

Interview: Short term commitments are not what we are looking for

Wolfgang Kögler is CEO of the ORDIX AG, 16 year sponsor of the Chess Classic Mainz and the company giving the Rapid Open its name. A successful cooperation, which will again bring hundreds of chessplayers from 27th July to 3rd August to Mainz to visit the Chess Classic and to play in the ORDIX Open, the world’s biggest and strongest chess tournament, which will take place 1st and 2nd August. Harry Schaack spoke with the businessman about parallels between chess and business, commitment, service and a high class product.

Wolfgang Kögler: No, definitely not. But one year ago I promised to support the tournament and I will keep this promise. Today, I would probably decide somewhat differently.

Sponsor Wolfgang Kögler, right, with tournament organiser Hans-Walter Schmitt

The crisis first of all affected the motor industry and its suppliers and the machine building industry. We happen to have only few contacts to these fields. Unlike others we are thus fortunately not that much affected. Our order situation is still okay. If I wanted to be heretical, I might add: because we work for banks, which were bailed out by the government. And the banks do not stop their IT-projects, because these projects are too important.

That’s right. But this development began a couple of years ago. It has nothing to do with the crisis. A while ago you could still rely on handshake-agreements, but nowadays even contracts are not always kept or they are "improved“ afterwards.

One should not take the comparison too far. But competitive sports – and I think chess is one – and economics do indeed have things in common. To successfully lead a company is a kind of competitive sport. Chess focuses on the individual, but in a company things depend on teamwork. Even though a strong personality at the top is not bad, in a company interaction is more important.

Well, I wished some managers would think as much as chessplayers (laughs).

In general, consistency is something which distinguishes us. In the work with our customers we are very steady, which in itself signalizes reliability. This approach to our work obviously is reflected in our long term support of the ORDIX Open. Short term commitments are not what we are looking for.

Such things make you happy. I do not know whether there’s potential for further growth. However, this is not the primary goal of our sponsoring. It is a huge tournament, people from many countries come to Mainz and all over the world people hear about the ORDIX Open. That is fantastic, but this success is not only due to the money we give, but also due to the efforts of the Chess Tigers team organizing the event. The joy of the volunteers transpires to the entire event.

We did not have a concrete, measurable benefit. However, our support is pretty clear and straightforward and this is no absolute must. We wanted to establish a brand and to make the name of ORDIX better known in an environment, in which not only IT-people move. We hope that maybe the one or the other wants to find out more about ORDIX and about what our company does. Which in turn might yield results.

Yes. I like to give money to fields, where I feel my contribution might change something. For me, it is more satisfying to get a direct feedback from the person I gave the money to. And I can more easily see what is done with it. In minority sports I can also more easily support amateur sport and junior sport, which are dear to me.

When Hans-Walter Schmitt asked, whether I would like to support the Mini-Open as well, I immediately agreed. He just hit a nerve. I always look forward to this tournament.

It is good that we offer something for everyone. But the top level chess is necessary to attract the many others. I think every amateur is happy to have an opportunity to play against the top players.

While there is a good ratio of professionals and amateurs in the ORDIX there are too many amateurs in business. The „class“ should actually have prevented a crisis such as we have now. Unfortunately, too many just look for short term profit.

Yes, for instance last year. I like it there: the rooms are dignified, grandmasters explain the games in entertaining fashion, and there is good food and good wine.

No, I never did. At university I used to play regularly for some time. I know the rules and if a commentator explains the characteristics of the position I can even follow the high-class games well. The computer evaluations, now common at the Chess Classic, also help a lot.

The Chess Classic is a great event. It offers so much. Not only to chessplayers but to whole families. You can leave the „little ones“ in the children’s club where a number of educators take care of them. This allows you to focus on the games. The Gourmet Club is also to my taste, because I like good food. Another advantage of this festival might be that the games reach their crucial point quickly and you thus see a lot of highlights. This is certainly very attractive for visitors. The Chess Classic is a quick-decision-event – another parallel to our IT-business. In IT, slow people won’t get far.

I am generally interested in sports and I follow the top chess events, last year, for instance, the World Championship in Bonn or the Olympiad in Dresden.

Yes, but only in connection to the Chess Classic. 16 years ago Hans-Walter Schmitt introduced Vishy Anand to me and said that this one could really go far. To be honest, at that time I was rather skeptical. However, I see things differently now (laughs). At the opening ceremony, the Champions Diner, I once sat at a table with Vladimir Kramnik and we had a very entertaining conversation. I enjoy contact with the top players on such occasions.

One or two members of our staff played in the Open and in the simultaneous event. They were rather taken with it. We also publish regular reports on our website.

The most important innovation was to move from Frankfurt to Mainz. The ambience of the Rheingoldhalle by far surpasses everything the tournament had in Frankfurt. Since then the event had a fixed place and surrounding. This was not the case in Frankfurt. I think this is good for the whole event. Being close to the Rhine and downtown Mainz is also attractive. I would even say: if the event had not moved to Mainz, it might no longer exist by now.

It simply worked. Two people, who others might occasionally be somewhat uncomfortable with, met. The chemistry between us was simply right.

A personal highlight was the winning ceremony of the Mini-ORDIX Open, where I gave the prizes to the winners. It was moving to see how the sometimes very small children stumbled on stage. Moreover, I think it’s satisfying that we increased our value for the event over the years. We have never been the biggest sponsor. But some other sponsors no longer exist today or they quickly stopped their commitment because they had no long-term concept.

• More information about ORDIX

Schedule of events

Links Official web site: in German and in English Event overview Detailled schdeule in PDF: Part one + Part two Daily schedule of events in PDF Registration: FiNet Chess960 Open ORDIX Open Mini FiNet + Mini Ordix Accommodation ChessBase reports Chess Classic 2002, 2003 Chess Classic 2004 + the Carmen Kass story Chess Classic 2005 Chess Classic 2006 Chess Classic 2007 Chess Classic 2008 Chess Classic 2009