The Tromso Olympiad ended earlier today. I will start with a photo from earlier this week of the television in the house the Scottish men stayed in.
What’s the point? That is a snapshot of the five hours of live coverage the main Norwegian TV channel had of the Olympiad each day. Magnus Carlsen is watching his teammate Agdestein. Norway has gone chess mad, or maybe it’s Carlsenmania. If the BBC in the UK had five hours of live chess every day for over a week, there would be rioting in the streets.
For me, the chess in Tromso went surprisingly well,
as I scored 6/9 and gained a few rating points. Since my most recent tournament was London 2012, this is OK. But the main feeling in the Scottish camp is disappointment, as Andrew Greet in the Open team and Elaine Bamber in the Women’s team both had chances to gain norms but both just missed out – Grandmaster for Andrew, and Women International Master for Elaine. Andrew needed a win in Round 10 against a player rated just over 2400, but Japan had no one that high. Perhaps Andrew was affected by this, as he lost and that killed any chance of a Round 11 norm. Elaine had a similar problem. She needed a win in Round 11 against ‘almost anyone’ for the norm, but the 1715 opponent she beat was just too low rated.
Still, it’s only a game. The real tragedy of the final round was the death of a player in the Seychelles team. The gentleman apparently collapsed at his board and could not be saved in hospital. We are in sombre mood.
Andrew played some great chess here, and we will probably post some of it next week, but now does not feel like the time.
R.I.P.
According to BILD *two* people passed away. The first incident was the one you described. The other incident: At 22.30 “a participant from Usbekistan was found dead in his room.”
R.I.P.
By the way, the second case was an Uzbek player playing for the team of players with hearing disabilities, not the team of Uzbekistan.
I heard that this olympiad was the worst one. No airconditioning, spaceless rooms in hotels, everything very expencive,metc. Bad commercial for Norway.
I think calling Tromso the worst is much too harsh. Just for example, Istanbul 2012 was more disappointing, in my opinion. They had promised to hold the event in the lively and fascinating centre of Istanbul, and instead it was in an industrial estate on the outskirts, near the airport.
Re Tromso – the air in the playing hall did get complaints – stuffy in places, while in other places near the entrance there was a strong breeze blowing across the board. Small hotel rooms were also an issue for some, I hear, but the Scottish Open team was in a lovely spacious house, so we have no complaints. Everything was expensive, but the organisers were providing free accommodation and free food, so if you wished you could keep expenses to a minimum.
Plus every local was friendly, the food was excellent, and the scenery was spectacular.