The Chess Olympiad 2008 which was held from November
12th to 25th in the Saxon capital could set a record by the participation
of 152 countries, it was the first event of that kind in Germany after
a long lean period of 38 years – many chess friends will have only
vague memories of Siegen 1970 (if at all): at that time a Bobby Fischer
had still competed at the top of the US team who has already gone now
to Caissa’s happy hunting-grounds ...
So after the Wroclaw trip some of our KWA aficionados had stayed in Dresden
in order not to miss such a rare event. We won’t try here to add
a further report to the numerous existing ones which could only turn out
even less exhaustive. The interested reader will find extensive material
on relevant web pages and in chess magazines, moreover the first books
about this major event will be not long in coming – the first German
one is supposed to come out in the course of this month (January 2009).
It’s rather our matter to document - with some picture galleries
- the presence of the KWA in Dresden, to pass a few occasions in review
and to transmit several impressions to those members who couldn’t
be in Dresden. In addition we give a link to a series
of articles from DNN-Online, i.e. "Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten"
from 14/11/2008 (partly in German, partly in English; pdf file, 2.7 MB).
Our introductory gallery
(with 31 photos) provides first pictures of the venue and some shots of
the lively opening ceremony which offered – apart from the obligatory
welcoming speech [by Florencio Campomanes] – a varied programme
with music, ice-dancing and acrobatics.
The second
series (21 photos) mainly consists of snapshots which resulted from
outside the tournament hall, moreover a few outdoor shots of Dresden.
A third
gallery (28 photos) gives a (quite incomplete) impression of the supporting
programme, naturally several chess dealers with their books, chess articles
and software supplies come to the fore here. We have also included some
pictures of Manfred Mädler’s talk show on November 14th in
the City Libraries ("World Trade Center", Freiberger Str. 35):
the central theme was the book called "Ticken Schachspieler anders?"
["Do have chess players a different mentality?"] – of
course the author Vera Jürgens joined the talk, but besides Dr. Stefan
Hehn (tournament doctor of the DSB) and Konrad Zanger (a former GDR tennis
pro; today an amateur chess player who participates in many senior tournaments)
also our go-getting member Michael Negele was one of the talk guests.
Our fourth
photo selection (with 23 shots) illuminates a further event important
for us, taking place on November 15th: an advance presentation of our
Lasker biography which couldn’t brought to a close (as initially
scheduled) after several years of project work, but now it seems that
its publication can be realistically predicted (at the end of 2009). You
may find further details and first excerpts from the book as well as an
order for subscription at the web
site of the Emanuel Lasker Society.
After all a last
gallery shows (12) pictures of a closing dinner at Eckberg Castle
where some famous "chess legends" appeared as well.
|
