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| Round 2 Men top board pairings |
This traveler takes us to Shenzhen, China, which is where the 2011 World University Games are taking place over the next week or so. Included as a sport is chess (!), which takes place from August 15 until August 21. Unfortunately, no one is representing the United States (where are you Sam Shankland or Robert Hess?). There are about 150 male and female participants in this event. China decided to send out its big guns for this tournament, sending 5 out of its top 8 players to this event, including most of their Olympic team. Wang Hao (2718), Wang Yue (2709), Li Chao (2669), Ni Hua (2662) and Zhou Jianchao (2636) are the 5 that are representing China. In fact, these 5 are the top 5 seeds on the men's side. Armenia also sent some of their top collegiate players, all in the Top 10 (Andriasian, Grigoryan, Melkumyan) who are all in the lower 2600 range, and those 3 are seeded 6//7/8. By contrast, the top guy from Russia, Aleksandr Rakhmanov (2585) is ranked #50 in Russia. Most of the other top chess-playing countries either did not send anyone, or sent collegiate players either with no titles or lower titles (i.e. not a GM).
The venue is fantastic at the Shenzhen Convention Center. Tickets were reasonable, at 30 rmb per person (that's around $4.50 in US Dollars). The audience was full of kids and their parents, probably around 100 people. That was interesting because there's a province-wide Grade Level tournament going on in the city of Shunde, about a 2 hour drive away which started on August 11. The Grade Level tournament is a grueling event, 7 days, and if I'm not mistaken, 17 rounds. Chess is really growing in China, especially in Shenzhen, where there are a couple of renowned schools that offers chess in their daily curriculum.
Security is very tight, with dozens upon dozens of volunteers directing traffic and making sure the audience is in line. We were allowed entrance into the playing hall only after 15 minutes had gone off the clocks, and we could only stay for 15 minutes once we were in the playing hall. In a funny side note (well, funny to me at least), the China team was decked out in white and blue with the red flag emblem. Imagine that, the China team wearing red, white, and blue. I think Chairman Mao is rolling in his grave right now. UPDATE 08/19/2011 00:50 SZ time: Stupid me, I was focused so much on the men's list that I didn't even notice that a girl near and dear to the Bay Area was playing. Former Bay Area resident, WGM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, is playing in the tournament representing Mongolia. And Meg's in 1st place after 6 rounds, with 2 more days to go.
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