Press conference with the International Committee “Silent Chess”

KARLOVICH: Dear ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome our guests, the President of the International Committee “Silent Chess” Mr. Michelle Visco and the General Secretary of the Committee Mr. Rafael Pinchas. We are all aware that chess is also played among deaf people. So, we would like to know more about your committee and it’s activities.

VISCO: The International Committee "Silent chess" was founded in 1949 in Denmark. There were four founders of the Committee: Norway, Denmark, Finland and Holland. The President of the Committee was from Holland and in 1953 he organized the first World Chess Championship for deaf chess players.

Effective immediately, Presidents of all national chess federations will have access to the tournament hall. Please apply at the accreditation desk to receive your updated accreditation badge.

Round 3 of the World Chess Olympiad began the clash of intellectual titans when the higher rated teams were pitted against each other. Many matches could have swayed in either direction and the close contests made it a delightful joy for chess fans.

The defending champions, Ukraine, squeezed out a victory against Israel from a very suspicious situation. GM Ruslan Ponomariov was clearly worse against his Israeli counterpart GM Maxim Rodstein, but the former World Champion somehow turned the tables after the first time control and managed to win the game.

GM Boris Avrukh ground down GM Pavel Eljanov, but GM Andrei Volokitin showed no mercy against GM Evgeny Postny. With Ivanchuk and Gelfand drawing on the top board, Ukraine won the match by 2,5-1,5.

KARLOVICH: Dear ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome our new guests: the representatives of the National Women’s team of India: GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Eesha Sanjay Karavade and IM Tania Sachdev and their Captain GM Kunte Abhijit.

In the third round against Armenian team you managed to gain victory, notwithstanding the fact that the opponent’s team is quite strong. My first question is to the captain: how the tournament is going for the team so far and how was the preparation to the Istanbul Olympiad?

ABHIJIT: The match was extremely interesting for us, we had very good opening. Actually we expected a bigger margin, still we are satisfied with the result we have. After all, it’s only a third round, we have 8 rounds ahead. As to the preparations I’m quite satisfied with the work we had done.

Anastasiya KARLOVICH: Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce our first guest today GM Alexander Ryazantsev, the Russian women’s national team coach. And my first questions to Alexander are how does he feel here in Istanbul, does he like the organization of the Olympiad and what are his impressions in general. And whether he has had a chance to walk around Istanbul.

Alexander RIAZANTSEV: Good afternoon. My impressions in general are good. If there were some difficulties in the first day connected to food or transportation to the playing venue (we had to wait in a queue for the bus), but already next day the organizers managed to overcome them. The playing hall is excellent. There is enough light, the hall is big enough. I think the participants feel comfortably there. As far as the chance to go around Istanbul is concerned, so far I did not manage, but I hope I will do it one day to go sightseeing.