The Patriotic Thread

[Joseph]

The Armenian chess players continue to celebrate victories in the Chess World Olympiad in Turin. In the ninth round the Armenian national team beat Ukraine 2.5:1.5. Levon Aronyan, Vladimir Hakobyan and Karen Asryan tied, whereas Gabriel Sargsyan played wonderfully and gained a point thanks to which the total score was in favor of us.

Armenia tops the list with 26.5 points. In the tenth round we will play with China. The latter beat Georgia 4:0 and is currently in the second place with 25.5 points.

Armenian Chess Players Set To Win Turin Olympiad

Turin, June 1, Armenpress: Armenian male chess played prevailed yesterday over Chinese team scoring 2.5-0.5 in the 10th round of the World Olympiad in Italian Turin. Now with 29 points Armenians are set to win the first place. Armenians played versus all their major rivals and in general nothing extraordinary is expected.
The Chinese team comes now second with 27 points, and the Russian team are third with 26.5 points after beating Ukraine 3:1.
Vladimir Hakobian celebrated his victory in the Armenian team meeting with China and provided his team's win.

[Joseph]

Armenian Chess Players Set To Win Turin Olympiad

Turin, June 1, Armenpress: Armenian male chess played prevailed yesterday over Chinese team scoring 2.5-0.5 in the 10th round of the World Olympiad in Italian Turin. Now with 29 points Armenians are set to win the first place. Armenians played versus all their major rivals and in general nothing extraordinary is expected.
The Chinese team comes now second with 27 points, and the Russian team are third with 26.5 points after beating Ukraine 3:1.
Vladimir Hakobian celebrated his victory in the Armenian team meeting with China and provided his team's win.

Olympiad R12: Armenia leads, China or Russia for Silver
04.06.2006 There is little doubt that Armenia will take Gold at the 37th Olympiad in Turin. With one round to go, the team is 2.5 points ahead of China, which is half a point above Russia. Second seed India has dropped to 33rd place after Vishy Anand lost to Pascal Charbonneau, almost 300 points below him. In the women's section, Ukraine is two points ahead of the field and virtually assured of Gold.




The Olympiad is in its final round, which begins tomorrow, Sunday, at 10 a.m. In the evening there is a closing ceremony, and on Monday everyone leaves Turin. This means that we will most likely only report on the final standings before our departure, and use the remaining time to collect as much material as possible. Hopefully we will be able to provide some picture report, stories and reflections after we have returned to our home base.

Turin 2006: After round twelve

Armenia drew France 2:2, with all games drawn. China defeated the Czech Republic, which is having a bad strech. Russia defeated Cuba 3:1, with Kramnik, Grischuk and Morozevich winning and Peter Svidler losing. This reduced the lead of the Armenians to 2.5 points, but with just one round to go there is little chance that they will miss their Gold medal. Israel scored a 2.5:1.5 victory over the USA, with Kamsky losing to Gelfand and Nakamura beating Sutovsky. The USA is now in place 7-9 (with the Netherlands and Bulgaria). Vishy Anand lost to Pascal Charbonneau of Canada, rated almost 300 points lower than him. With the team result 1.5:2.5 number two seed India now occupies a dismal 33rd

[Gavur]

Chess Olympiad, Gold to the Armenia

http://www1.chessolympiad-torino2006.org/sungam/infoturni/men_rank_13.htm

Silver to the China and Bronze to the USA


Chess Olympiad closed today at Oval Lingotto in Turin

Armenia won the gold medal, second place for China and third for USA.

Unexpected the exclusion of Russia from the podium: the Russian team lost in the last round against Israel.

In the women tournament, victory for the Ukrainian team, followed by Russia and China.
WOMEN TOOK THE 8TH PLACE
The Armenian women's team in the last round of the 37th World Chess Olympiad tied with Ukraine 1.5:1.5. The latter took the gold medal of the Olympiad. The Armenian team took the 8th place with 24 points.

The names of our players are – Lilit Mkrtchyan, Elina Danielyan, Nelli Aghinyan and Siranoush Andreasyan, coach – Arsen Eghiazaryan.

By the way, the Armenian women's team was the 7th with its rating in the Olympiad.

[Joseph]

http://www1.chessolympiad-torino2006.org/sungam/infoturni/men_rank_13.htm

Silver to the China and Bronze to the USA


Chess Olympiad closed today at Oval Lingotto in Turin

Armenia won the gold medal, second place for China and third for USA.

Unexpected the exclusion of Russia from the podium: the Russian team lost in the last round against Israel.

In the women tournament, victory for the Ukrainian team, followed by Russia and China.
ladies, Arménie occupies a very beautiful 5th place

Victory Of Armenia In Chess Olympiad
Turin: The Armenian men and the Ukrainian women made history by taking their maiden gold in the Chess Olympiad, the game's premier team competition.
China emerged as the team of the Olympiad by winning medals in both sections. In the Open section, China took the silver, its first-ever medal while as defending champion in the ladies category, the team followed Ukraine and Russia into the medal bracket.

Armenia, winner of the bronze medal in 1992, 2002 and 2004, was worthy of the gold after being the only undefeated team in the field of 148 teams.
Favorite Russia was knocked out of the medal bracket after losing to Israel 1-3 in the final round. This result, coupled with China's victory over Netherlands and USA's whipping of Norway pushed Russia to the sixth place, its worst in decades.


The results:

Open: Armenia (36) drew with Hungary (32.5) 2-2;
China (34) bt Netherlands (31) 2.5-1.5;
Russia (32) lost to Israel (33) 1-3;
Bulgaria (32) bt France (32) 2.5-1.5;
USA (33) bt Norway (29.5) 3.5-0.5;
Ukraine (32) bt Poland (30) 3-1;
Spain (32) bt Denmark (30) 3-1;
Cuba (30.5) drew with Georgia (31) 2-2;
Italy 'B' (28.5) lost to India (29.5) 1.5-2.5 (Niccolo Ronchetti lost
to K.Sasikiran; P. Hari Krishna bt Daniele Vocaturo; Sabino Brunello bt Surya Shekhar Ganguly; Sandipan Chanda drew with Denis Rombaldoni).

Standings:

1. Armenia, 2. China, 3-4. USA and Israel, 5. Hungary, 6-10. Russia,
France, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Spain. 30-35. India, Norway, Brazil, FYROM, Canada and Italy.

Women:
Ukraine (29.5) drew with Armenia (24) 1.5-1.5;
India (23) lost to Russia (27.5) 1-2
(K. Humpy drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk; D. Harika drew with Tatiana Kosintseva; Swati Ghate lost to Nadezhda Kosinteva);
China (27.5) bt Belarus (22.5) 2.5-0.5;
Germany (23.5) drew with USA (24.5) 1.5-1.5;
Poland (22.5) lost to Georgia (24.5) 0.5-2.5;
Hungary (24.5) bt Greece (22.5) 2.5-0.5;
Czech Republic (24) bt France (22.5) 2.5-0.5;
Philippines (22) lost to Slovenia (24) 0.5-2.5;
Cuba (23) drew with Vietnam (23) 1.5-1.5;
Mongolia (21) lost to Netherlands (24.5) 3-0.

Standings: 1. Ukraine, 2. Russia, 3. China, 4-7. USA, Hungary, Georgia and Netherlands, 8-10. Armenia, Slovenia and Czech Republic. 11. Germany, 12-17. India, Bulgaria, Romania, Vietnam, Cuba and Latvia.

[Joseph]

Vic Darchinyan

DARCHINYAN KOS MEXICAN TO RETAIN TITLE
Grantlee Kieza

Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
June 5 2006

VIC Darchinyan is a little man with a huge punch and yesterday
Australia's world flyweight champion showed it on the world stage,
knocking out previously unbeaten Mexican Luis Maldonado in Las Vegas.

Australia's best fighter stunned the crowd at the Thomas and Mack
Centre, trading heavy shots with the rugged Mexican before finally
overwhelming him in the eighth round to retain his IBF flyweight title.

When referee Joe Cortez rescued Maldonado from Darchinyan's relentless
onslaught it was the Mexican fighter's first loss in 35 starts.

The undefeated Darchinyan scored his 26th win and his 21st KO. All
five of his world title bouts have ended inside the distance and he
looks a good chance to emulate his friend Kostya Tszyu in unifying
all the world titles in his 51kg weight division.

Both fighters promised fireworks and both delivered, trading heavy
shots in the opening three rounds until Maldonado was cut above the
right eye in round four.

Darchinyan, a Sydney Olympian, dropped the Mexican in round six and
although Maldonado bravely fought back, he was taking a beating when
the referee intervened midway through round eight.

The bout was scheduled as the main supporting bout to the third war
between lightweight stars Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo. But
after Castillo failed to make the weight for the bout, Darchinyan's
title defence was elevated to the main event on a huge pay per view
card throughout the world.

"It was a great chance to show the world my power," Darchinyan said.

"I put on a good show and hopefully this win against a very good
Mexican opponent will give me more fans. I hope my supporters in
Australia liked what they saw because I have many more world titles
to win.

"I feel I can beat the champions now in three more weight classes
all the way up to super-bantamweight if I have to."

Darchinyan's trainer Jeff Fenech implored Australian boxing fans to
support the Armenian-born southpaw who has much more success attracting
fans overseas.

"We just saw 30,000 people turn up to see Anthony Mundine-Danny Green
in a non-title fight that no one outside Australia could care less
about," Fenech said.

"Vic Darchinyan is an outstanding, undefeated world champion who has
crushed everyone put before him. He deserves to get recognition as
a global boxing star."

[Gavur]

Sarkisian Basks In Armenian Chess Glory

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2006/06/F3EAD246-CA78-43CD-936F-DFE76E397F00.asp

By Ruzanna Stepanian

Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian reveled in the limelight early on Tuesday as he presided over the triumphant return home of Armenia’s national chess team that swept to a historic victory at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin.

Armenia, bronze medalist of three previous Olympiads, won the game’s most important team competition, which drew to a close on Sunday, for the first time in its history. Its six top grandmasters, led by the world number three Levon Aronian, were the only undefeated team among 148 participating nations and finished far ahead of tournament favorite Russia.

The Armenian players and their coach Arshak Petrosian received a hero’s welcome as they arrived at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport shortly after midnight. They were greeted there by Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, most members of his cabinet, as well as top police and army generals.

“We’ve made history,” Petrosian told reporters accredited for the welcoming ceremony by the Armenian Defense Ministry. “This is a great achievement for Armenian chess. We are very happy to have achieved that result.”

“We were anxious, happy and cheerful. It was great,” said Gabriel Sargsian, the youngest member of the Armenian team. The 19-year-old grandmaster’s strong performance at Turin -- 8 wins in 13 games -- proved crucial for the overall Armenian victory.

The Olympic champions then headed to the city’s Freedom Square where more than a thousand people waving national red-blue-orange flags and chanting “Armenia! Armenia!” gathered to cheer them. The celebration, featuring speeches by senior officials and performances by Armenian pop singers, was broadcast live on state television.

Sarkisian, who also heads the Armenian Chess Federation, stayed with the Armenian players in the northern Italian city throughout the two-week tournament and received plaudits for their performance. Senior officials close to him claimed that he played a major part in the victory.

“There is no question about that,” said Deputy Defense Minister Artur Aghabekian. “It is essential for any team to have a leader. A good leader is half of victory.”

Another top army general, Yuri Khachaturov, went further, suggesting that Sarkisian also take over Armenia’s national football team that boasts far more modest achievements. “If we elect Serzh Azatovich chairman of the Football Federation, we’ll become [football] champions,” he declared.

But Sarkisian, himself a keen chess fan, was more humble in taking credit for the victory at the latest Chess Olympiad. Asked by RFE/RL whether he thinks his constant presence had a positive impact on the Armenian players, he replied: “Why are you asking me? Ask the guys whether or not it had.”

“I just helped them expose their talent,” he added.

Few observers doubt that Sarkisian, who is widely regarded as President Robert Kocharian’s preferred successor, will use the Armenian chess success for his reputed presidential ambitions. For a man associated by the Armenian opposition with vote rigging and government corruption, the Turin victory was a rare moment of personal triumph and Sarkisian made the most of it.

“I want to sincerely assure you that your support from Yerevan was the most important thing for the guys,” he told the jubilant crowd in Freedom Square. “This was only our first major victory. More victories lie ahead.”

Sarkisian is expected to be a key player not only in the 2008 presidential ballot but also parliamentary elections due next year. But he has yet to name the political party or alliance with which he will contest the polls. The powerful defense chief laughed loudly when a reporter told him about a new joke circulating in Yerevan which says that he will cobble together and lead an electoral alliance of chess players for the 2007 vote.

(Photolur photo: Sarkisian, center, and Armenian chess players posing for a photograph at Zvartnots airport.)

[Gavur]

'Anna Kournikova of chess' sparks violent feud

(Filed: 06/06/2006)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/06/uchess.xml

A British chess grandmaster may face action from the game's ruling body for throwing a punch at the world No 3 at the World Chess Olympiad.

Danny Gormally hurled himself at Levon Aronian, the best player in Armenia, in a Turin nightclub, sparking a bizarre tit-for-tat feud with between the English and Armenian teams.

But in an extra twist, the fight was inspired not by professional rivalry, but romantic jealousy.

Gormally apparently attacked Aronian after he saw him dancing with Arianne Caoili, an attractive 19-year-old Australian known as "the Anna Kournikova of chess".

The Briton was said to have previously met and been emailing Caoili, and could not bear to see her with an opponent.

Gormally, 30, from Durham, is ranked sixth in Britain, and subsequently left the Olympiad early of his own volition.

Allan Beardsworth, the English team captain, said: "The bottom line is this is just a little incident in a nightclub where unfortunately Danny probably had a drink too many and obviously saw someone dancing with a girl he liked and either hit or tried to hit them."

Gormally, he said, was "gutted" when he awoke the following morning to realise what he'd done: "He knows he shouldn't have done it and knows he wouldn't have done it normally."

Gormally and Mr Beardsworth apologised to the Armenian delegation and their star player the morning after the incident, but while the apologies were being accepted, some of Aronian's teammates waded in with their fists.

Once they were told that Gormally had already said sorry, the Armenians apologised for their retaliatory attack.

"It was all very friendly," Mr Beardsworth said.

The English team subsequently came 19th in the biennial tournament, up from 2004's 30th place. The Armenian team won the tournament.

Mr Beardsworth said that a captain's report would be sent to the English Chess Federation, and that he would be "surprised if the ECF didn't do something".

[Gavur]

GM gets punched for dancing with Fil-Aussie chesser

Wednesday, June 07, 2006


She was a regular fixture in the sports pages of local and national newspapers before she moved to Australia, where she now resides.

Aside from her skills on the 64-square board, Filipino-Australian Arianne Bo Caoili was a press favorite because of her comely looks and flashy attire.

In this year’s 37th World Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy, where she played on board three for the Australian Women’s team, Caoili, who holds the rank of Woman International Master, was again in the spotlight, albeit away from the checkered board.

This after two grandmasters fought to get her attention during a party held for the participants of the competition.

Upset

During the Bermuda party, Caoili danced with Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian, the world’s No.3-ranked player, which upset England’s board-four player GM David Gormally, who is reportedly a suitor of Caoili.

Apparently feeling bad that he was left out, Gormally threw a punch on the face of Aronian, which started a commotion. Although the punch did not inflict much damage, the Armenians were furious over the incident.

To prevent the conflict from escalating, the English delegation sent Gormally back to England.

Commenting on the incident, former world championship challenger and England’s second-board player GM Nigel Short said in his column for the Guardian: “Danny is clearly wrestling with demons of his own. When the entire hall rose for a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for the victims of the Indonesian earthquake, England’s fourth board remained slouched in his chair.

“Suffice it to say that he lost miserably. While everyone can be excused the occasional poor result, bad form combined with bad attitude is less easily forgiven.”

Caoili created a sensation when at 13 she became the youngest top-board player for the Philippines during the 34th World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey in 2000.

Aronian led his Armenian team to the title in the 150-team tournament. (JAF)

[Gavur]

I will never look at my chess set the same way again...

[Gavur]

How dare you take my queen?

Britain



The Times June 06, 2006



By Rajeev Syal and Raymond Keene

Battle of the chess grandmasters as leading England player 'attacks' rival over dancefloor move



Arianna Caoili, Australia No 3 - described as the Anna Kournikova of chess

FOR one British grandmaster, his rival had made a move too far. Danny Gormally, one of Britain’s leading chess players, allegedly attacked the world No 3 at an international tournament for dancing with a beautiful Australian player.
Levon Aronian, leading light of the Armenian chess scene, was apparently punched and shoved, and ended up on the floor during a party at the recent Chess Olympiad in Turin.

He had been spotted jiving with Arianne Caoili, 19, an Australian grandmaster known as the Anna Kournikova of the chess world. Mr Gormally was known by team-mates to be fond of her.



But the next day, after the England captain apologised to the Armenian team, the repercussions continued. When Mr Gormally went out for a coffee with friends, he was attacked by a group of young Armenian players seemingly bent on revenge for their star player.

The unseemly events are expected to lead to an urgent inquiry by the English Chess Federation into Mr Gormally’s behaviour. He was advised to leave the tournament early to avoid further confrontation.

Allan Beardsworth, the England captain, said that drink appeared to play a part. “Danny seems to have punched Aronian for innocently dancing with a girl that he liked. The following day, there was a retaliatory incident. It is a shame, and something that we will have to look into properly,” he said.

The Olympiad is held every two years between 150 international teams and brings together the world’s best players. While the tournament went badly for Mr Gormally and the England team, the Armenians eventually won.

The party was held four days ago at a nightclub called “Hiroshima Mon Amour”. Mr Gormally, 30, from Durham, spotted Ms Caoili, with whom he had struck up an e-mail relationship, according to colleagues. They are also known to have met in London.

Ms Caoili, a child prodigy of Filipino descent who has ambitions of becoming a professional singer, was dancing “energetically” with Mr Aronian. She is ranked No 3 in Australia. Mr Aronian, 23, often referred to as a future world champion, is adored in his country where chess is the national sport.

For Mr Gormally, the sight of the pair dancing was apparently too much — but his actions were unjustified, according to Mr Beardsworth. “I have spoken to several people who were there, and there is no doubt that Danny was in the wrong. Aronian is a lovely guy and at the very peak of his national sport. I have been told that he is treated like David Beckham at home,” he said.

The England team’s management was informed of the incident and held an impromptu meeting. By 11am the next day, it had apologised to the Armenian team leader, who also happens to be the country’s defence minister. There is no suggestion of any criminal inquiry.

Mr Gormally was informed, and hoped that the incident was over. However, when he went out with friends for a coffee, he was spotted by young chess players from Armenia. “They set upon Danny — he was hit several times. Luckily, one of the team-mates with Danny could speak Russian and managed to calm them down,” Mr Beardsworth said.

Denis Jessop, president of the Australian Chess Federation, said that he may launch his own inquiry. “I have heard that an incident took place and that Aronian was thumped and that it was over Arianne.

“I am not surprised at anything that chess players do. It is not the first time that there’s been an argument at a chess tournament and people have hit each other,” he said.

Mr Gormally, 30, a professional player, declined to comment from his home, where he lives with his parents. On asked why he had been sent home, he replied: “It’s personal. It’s nothing to do with you.”