The World Team Championship will be held in Astana Kazakhstan, beginning in 2 weeks. Altough not as prestigious as the Team Olympiad, the fact that only the top 10 teams are invited means that it is a more rigorous test. This year, however, it seems the USA has had trouble getting it’s top players to participate. Part of the problem is that the event is wedged in between the ST Louis CC “Championship Showdown” which concludes this weekend, and the US Championship, which begins on March 20. Was there also trouble getting financial sponsorship?
USA
Dariusz Swiercz GM, 2655 (8th ranked in US)
Alex Onischuk GM, 2647 (9th)
Samuel Sevian GM, 2642 (11th)
Aleksandr Lenderman GM, 2637 (12th)
Zviad Izoria GM, 2603 (15th)
China, Russia and Azerbijan are sending powerhouse teams.
There is no such thing as a men’s team. There is an open team and a women’s team.
FIDE did not schedule this event until very. very late. We got final scheduling on this event less than 4 weeks ago. By that time our top players had made other commitments. And this year our national championship is also a zonal championship which qualifies players for the world championship cycle. So it is not surprising that folks did not choose the team championship. We have had this problem before.
In many other countries members of the national chess team are basically government employees. They tend not to have the same scheduling issues as we do. Also our travel challenges tend to be more significant. We need more time between events due to the long travel times and large time differences.
US chess has expressed our concerns about last minute scheduling by FIDE to the new FIDE administration. Part of the problem for FIDE has been struggles with sponsorship money and issues with venues. I think the new FIDE president is working to get events scheduled further in advance. I doubt they fix this problem very soon as they have the financial issues as well as cultural issues to overcome.
With four weeks notice it’s a wonder we were able to put together a team at all. At what point might we have decided not to send a team at all? That’s not a slam on the players we are sending, mind you. But if the best we could have fielded had been, say, five players rated 2500-2550, might we have skipped it altogether?
As it is, it is really not a bad thing that we are able to send this mix of veterans and youngsters who will have a tough time cracking our team with the influx of talent from recent years. How is a young star like Sam Sevian going to crack our current Olympiad lineup?
Very short lead times not only make it hard to get team members, it increases our travel costs significantly. It also can create issues with travel documents like visas. And it’s not just players. It’s also the support team.
Of course, you are correct, but please understand that the first USCF rated tournament in which I ever played was the Greater Boston SchoolBOY Open, which was not directly intended to exclude any girls, since girls didn’t play chess 50 years ago. If you can forgive my sexism, I will forgive your ageism.
I understand the change in culture. Around half of our members at young ages are female. The percentage drops as age increases.
But it is important to understand the open teams are indeed open. Anyone can qualify on merit. That issue comes up in discussing prize funds. It is a major reason for differences in amounts as female players basically have two opportunities. Of course others argue differently.
