About the Competition of Nations at Dresden

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.