The 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain will go down to history as something that was impossible for the last quarter of a century; the Russian mens team did not win and was surpassed by one of the successors to the Soviet chess school, Ukraine. The Russian team, which had the same score as the Armenian team, took second place by external factors.
The last time the Soviet mens team did not win the gold at the Chess Olympiad was in 1978. At the time, the loss was explained by the absence of Anatoly Karpov who at the time was engaged in the battle for the crown with Viktor Korchnoy in Bagio.
Now, ironically there are similar reasons. Several players were not on the Russian team because they were competing in individual chess tournaments. Vladimir Kramnik, who would have been useful on Yevgeny Bareevys team, defended his title as Classical World Chess Champion against Peter Leko. Garry Kasparov, who has worked individually with the Great K, Anatoly Karpov, for a long time was not on the team.
The three Alexanders (Morozevich, Grischuk, and Khalifman) were the leaders of the team in their absence, losing at the most inopportune moment to their main competitors-the Ukrainians and the Bulgarians. It is likely that all of them saved their strength before the super final of the Russian championship in Russia, which is expected to feature Kasparov and Karpov.
However, maybe the uncertainty in the chess world played a part. Kramnik, right in the middle of the Olympiad, reminded everyone that chess had not become a professional sport, as had been promised in Prague two years ago. The classical chess world champion and the Association of Chess Professionals, which he supports, have come out in favor for a fixed system for the world title with a compulsory match against the reigning champion. Kramnik has challenged FIDE to adopt these principles and Kaspartov, who has agreed to a match for the FIDE crown with Rustem Kasymjanov with $1, 200,000 up for grabs.
The FIDE leadership is unlikely to meet Kramnik and his team halfway in these conditions. This mean that the second Kasparov vs. Kramnik match is unlikely to take place, even though chess fans around the world are waiting for this encounter.
If this scenario in Russian and world chess, mean that the sensational result of the 36th Chess Olympiad may become a routine event for Russians?
MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti Sports Observer Mikhail Smirnov)
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