No really.
Saturday August 20, in the very small Spanish village of Hinojosa, in Molina-Alto Tajo district, the Siberia of Spain. In August it'll be a bit warmer than that suggests - and the kick-off's at high noon.
The organiser, one Carlos Faustino Malo, assures us that chess is played in the village bar, and that fifteen hundred spectators are expected: this may, one suspect, have less to do with the spectacle itself than with the gigantic free meal to be laid on for all the visitors.
It's a publicity stunt, basically, to try and raise the profile of the area, one of the most depopulated in Europe, and one not atypical of much of Spain in that many or most of those who still live there are old and retired. (I've travelled through the region several times and it is startling how few people there are, especially if you grew up in the South-East of England.)
According to Público's Strambotic column, it's the second event of its kind - the first having been held in 2012.
There's a normal chess tournament on the day before, and two finalists come back the next day, play on a normal board but have their moves transmitted to two quad-bike riders who, says the story, have the job of moving the thirty tractors and two combine harvesters (representing the kings) on what they claim to be the biggest chessboard in the world.
No, I don't know what happens in time trouble.
[Chessboard image: Público]
FIDE Budget for 2015 is in. Nothing about tractor expenditures.
ReplyDelete160000 EUR above in intakes (largely World Cup slice).
As for expenditures:
160K over in legal costs, 40K in PB meetings, 70K in Prez travel, 60-80K in other travel, 25K in unbudgeted entry fee redemption, 30K in Itwebia, 60K for WCOC, 40K to journalist awards (payback to NRK?), 25K for South koreans in Dubai, 20K in marketing, 25K in SportAccord, 40K in software, 60K on currency conversion, 40K on capital redemption, 25K in electronic board costs (moving, storage, now assessed to renters)
under by 30K in Qual Comm, 20K under in Ethics, 15K in Medical.
Total: 725K over budget
FIDE is due 500000 from Agon at year's end. It's all smooth sailing once that money rolls in!
ReplyDeleteWhat does this mean in the Verification report: Examples of defaulting organisations in our year of account include the Women's World Championship which took place in Ukraine and the forthcoming Olympiad in Baku.
I know what happened with Lviv, that they suspended the Ukrainians until they payed up, but what's up with Baku? Are they screwing FIDE over too? Is it all really going to happen?
Also interesting that FIDE didn't get the 80000 euros from the Berlin Blitz/Rapid (2015) that Agon ran. Hmmm...
If people could possibly comment on topic it would be appreciated: this post is nothing to do with FIDE's finances, which can be commented on, for instance, here.
ReplyDeleteYou know, John Deere makes a chess set!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.greenfunstore.com/John-Deere-Collectible-Chess-Set-MCI6980.html
ReplyDelete"what they claim to be the biggest chessboard in the world."
http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-world-s-biggest-che-game-poibly-by-far
ChessBase article
ReplyDeletehttp://en.chessbase.com/post/engine-chess-on-rural-fields