Trans-Europe Chess Express ...

For the second time this year Potsdam’s Kaiserbahnhof was the venue of a highly interesting chess event: Trans-Europe Chess Express – Logic meets Logistics, combining a special international rapid tournament with an attractive supporting program. Michael Negele was again on the spot and brought a lot of pictures.

The event had been organized by the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG, German Railways) in cooperation with the DSB (Deutscher Schachbund, German Chess Federation) and the Emanuel Lasker Society (ELG). There was also an informal and short "round table" with DSB president Herbert Bastian dealing mainly with chess in schools and kindergartens. However, a potential cooperation of the German KWA group and the DSB on a "chess culture project" was not discussed in detail, as Mr. Bastian had to leave quite early on Sunday afternoon.

  • Michael Negele has a conversation with Herbert Bastian (Photo courtesy of Harry Schaack, Frankfurt/Main)
  • Round table at the WCh 1910 table - from left: Paul Wagner Wagner (ELG), Michael Negele (KWA), Thomas Weischede (ELG), Rainer Woisin (ChessBase), Dijana Dengler (Münchner Schachakademie), Richard Lutz (ELG / Deutsche Bahn AG), Uwe Bönsch (DSB), Gernot Gauglitz (ELG / UKA = DSB-Sponsor), Dirk Jordan (ZMDI Schachfestival Dresden), Harry Schaack (KARL). At the board Herbert Bastian and GM Stefan Kindermann.
    Photo Copyright © Deutsche Bahn AG / Grit Schwerdtfeger (photographer)
  • Michael Negele in conversation with (from left to right) Dr. Richard Lutz (Chief Financial Officer of the DB AG), Kurt Bodewig (Ex-Minister of Transport) and Thomas Weischede. (Photo courtesy of Harry Schaack, Frankfurt/Main)

One part of the supporting program was the Emanuel Lasker travelling exhibition, organized and presented by the  Emanuel Lasker Society. The exhibition will tour the next two years to be presented in different major cities of German speaking countries, and it is intended to transform the expanded exhibit into a chess museum later on.

  • Anatoli Karpov and Dr. Richard Lutz shake hands.
  • Thomas Weischeide, initiator of the Lasker exhibition, with Michael Negele at the historic chess table with the set specially created for the Vienna part of the match 1910. Both are pointing on a move (h6) Emanual Lasker would never have played. Photo Copyright © Deutsche Bahn AG / Grit Schwerdtfeger (photographer)
Routings and stopovers/destinations of World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker
Routings and stopovers/destinations of World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker - click to enlarge.

Naturally the big Lasker monograph (or its 2nd edition respectively) was an essential issue, but as expected no decision could be brought about. Some of the authors were present: Robert Hübner, Susanna Poldauf, Raj Tischbierek and Christian Wohlfarth, unfortunately co-editor Stefan Hansen couldn’t attend.

Only few more KWA members appeared in Potsdam, apart from GM Raj Tischbierek (who acted as commentator in the rapid and played in the blitz tournament) only Dr. Hans Ellinger (Tübingen) and Bernd Segebarth (Pingelshagen).

Hans Ellinger (on the right) with an (to us) unknown opponent.
Hans Ellinger (on the right) with an (to us) unknown opponent.

Another part of the supporting program was a blindfold simul on 3 boards played by "Philidor" (GM Stefan Kindermann in a historical costume) against three opponents from the auditorium.

  • Susanna Poldauf, Philidor biographer and exhibition curator, interviews Philidor ...
  • … as well as Philidor’s second "Sire de Legall" (ELG chairman Paul Werner Wagner).
  • The blindfold simul – Phildor’s opponents were Dr. Thomas Thomsen, Vaile Fuchs and Kurt Bodewig.
  • Bouquets for the ladies – conférencier Susanna Poldauf, the soprano Barbara Kind and Philidor’s companion "Madame D." (FIDE Master Dijana Dengler).

The complete organization of the event and the social program were stunning, the Saturday evening closed with a fine formal dinner in the track hall (photo below).

The team rapid tournament on Saturday and Sunday (9 teams, each with one "chess legend", 3 young players U16 and 4 railway employees) is very well documented on the sites linked below, so we will limit ourselves here to some pictures.

  • Clash of the chess legends: Karpov vs Timman (1-0) – Karpov scored 6.5/8, without a single loss.
  • Swiss IM Oliver Kurmann lost his game against IM Elisabeth Pähtz.
  • In round 6 Robert Hübner unfortunately lost with the black pieces against Nigel Short.

In the blitz tournament Michael Negele could see "blitz chess from another star", hard to believe how GM Swiercz was destroyed by a little Dutchman.

Raj Tischbierek in his last-round blitz game against one of the youngsters.
Raj Tischbierek in his last-round blitz game against one of the youngsters.

Further impressions of the event and pictures from a short stroll through the city in this gallery (19 photos).

Links:

PS: Moreover Raj Tischbierek’s article "Leuchttürme & Dampfloks" in SCHACH 11/2012 (pp. 60-63, 67-69) is to recommend to our German speaking members, just as the interview with Dr. Richard Lutz (pp. 64-66). Likewise we point to Harry Schaack's article "Stilvolle Züge" in KARL 4/2012, pp. 48-51.

PPS (09/02/2013): Also Jan Timman's contribution "When chess comes to town..." in New In Chess 2012/8, p.100f. partly deals with the Trans-Europe Chess Express event.

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