After a Prague taxi driver tested positive for coronavirus, the Czech government restricted gatherings of more than 100 people.
There are nearly 300 players in the team tournament, where three of our teams are competing.
The organizers announced today that the fifth round will be played in smaller rooms and no “visitors” will be allowed.
Fifth round went without any issue in the “partitioned” mode.
We are preparing for our 6th round opponents.
We hope that tournament completes on schedule, but I won’t be too surprised at this point if there are more announcements.
NM Mikhail Koganov, TEAM USA TOO
Team USA 3 - 4 Brothers forfeited 6th round and left today,citing family emergency at home.
Team USA 1 is currently occupies 1st place.
Team USA TOO is currently 5th on the tie-break, but facing the toughest challenge so far: Lasker chess club from Germany with four grandmasters.
It seems that with a new announcement made by US President, the most prudent thing is to go back home ASAP.
We likely to forfeit round 7 and just go home before the flights suspension from Europe is in force.
Mikhail Koganov
Good luck Mikhail. And good luck getting home to all of you. When the President announced the travel ban from Europe, many of us thought about our teams in Prague immediately.
I have sent a notification to organizers / tds and we are leaving Prague in haste.
Hope to make home safely!
Mikhail
The event has been shortened to 7 rounds and is over. All US teams are figuring out how to get home.
USA-1 took clear first place with a 5 minute tied match against Iceland. For those counting, that’s a three-peat.
All four players from Team TOO managed to get back home just fine.
We proud of Team #1 for doing so well and providing the inspiration to other American Chess Seniors.
Without Team #1 , there would be no Team TOO.
Welcome Home!
Sorry I did not post any updates, I’m glad Mikhail Koganov has posted some results to this forum.
When we left to go to Prague, there were no cases of the corona virus in that country. Nevertheless I had relatives and friends advising me not to go. By now there are plenty of cases, travel restrictions, etc. I am embarrassed that I gave the appearance of being reckless. But I don’t think anybody at the tournament fell ill, so all’s well that ends well. I am now voluntarily doing “self-quarantine”.
USA Too finished with 4 wins, 1 loss, one tie match. We lost to England (all-GM team), tied with Russia Women; both exciting matches. It was good to reconnect with USA 4 Brothers, two of whom I had met in 1981 when they lived in Hong Kong, and one of whom I had met at the 1987 New York Open.
As an older guy, I have been playing less and less, and had lost a lot of chess strength, particularly since 2010. But when this opportunity came along, I couldn’t resist. Maybe I would even play next year. I wonder if we could organize a USA team for the 65+ section; I am over 65 myself, but my teammates were not, so I played with all those kids in the 50+ section.
Glad to see you made it back safely.