The Turkish Chess Federation has announced the official teams for the Chess Olympiad 2012. The host country chooses a mix of strength and youth, looking for both good result in the competition and development in the coming years. In this lines, the A team is experience and youth (average age 23 years) the B and C teams are named “Turkey 2016” (average age 15,8) and “Turkey 2023” (average age 8,2 for boys and 10,2 for girls).
Here is an article by Elisabeth Paehtz, who presents the details of the Turkish teams.
Article by Elisabeth Paehtz
On behalf of the Turkish Chess Federation I am honoured to announce the host teams for this year’s Chess Olympiad that will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 27th August until 9th of September. As is well known, the host nation reserves the right to send 3 teams to represent their country in what we hope will be the greatest and biggest chess event of all time.
In the past ten years, under the wings of its enthausiastic, chess loving president Ali Nihat Yazici, Turkey has invested a lot of money and energy in support of the development of children’s chess. Frankly speaking, I have yet to see any other chess federation come anywhere near to matching this.
Thus I would like to introduce to you our strategy both for this year’s Chess Olympiad, and for the coming decade.
As already mentioned, Turkey will be represented in this competition by 3 Open and 3 Women’s teams. Those teams were selected by the Turkish Chess Federation and their executive board members after carefully considering the suggestions of well-known chess experts and trainers such as GM Efstratios Grivas, GM Mikhail Gurevich and GM Adrian Mihalcisin.
Priority, when selecting their nominations, was to see all three teams as a unity. After that, the Turkish Chess Federation considered the following:
1. To have one strongest team possible.
2. To look ahead and choose young teams, for the future of
Turkish chess.
For these reasons the names of the second and third teams are – along the lines of COLOSSAL YOUTH!
Let me finally introduce the teams:
Open Category
Team Turkey ‘Man’, coached by GM Estrafatios Grivas consists of 5 young and experienced GMs with the goal to take a place among the Top 15.
|
Board |
Name |
Rating |
Age |
Others |
|
1 |
GM Dragan Solak |
2586 |
32 |
Turkish Champion 2012 |
|
2 |
GM Alexander Ipatov |
2561 |
19 |
Newcomer! |
|
3 |
GM Baris Esen |
2568 |
26 |
World Cup 2011 participant |
|
4 |
GM Mustafa Yilmaz |
2536 |
20 |
Just received the GM-title |
|
5 |
GM Emre Can |
2461 |
22 |
One of Turkey’s biggest hopes |
Age average: 23,8
Rating average: 2543
Women’s Category:
Team Turkey ‘Woman’, coached by GM Adrian Mihalcisin consists of 2 young experienced WGMs and 3 promissing talents with the goal to take a place among the Top 20.
|
Board |
Name |
Rating |
Age |
Others |
|
1 |
WGM Kubra Ozturk |
2296 |
20 |
Turkish Woman Champion 2012 |
|
2 |
WGM Betül Cemre Yildiz |
2336 |
23 |
3rd Place at World Junior Ch 2010 (girls) |
|
3 |
WCM Emel Kaya |
1992 |
19 |
3rd place at World School 2010 (girls u17) |
|
4 |
WCM Kardelen Cemhan |
1941 |
16 |
3rd place at Balkaniad Junior Teams 2010(Under 14) |
|
5 |
Ezgi Menzi |
1916 |
14 |
2nd place at European School 2011 (Under 13 girls) |
Age average: 18,4
Rating average: 2096
Open Category:
Team 2016 ‘BOYS’, coached by GM Mikhail Gurevich, is Turkeys ‘golden child’ and biggest hope for 2016.
Consisting of 5 very young and spirited boys as well as medal holders of several International Youth competitions
|
Board |
Name |
Rating |
Age |
Others |
|
1 |
IM Burak Firat |
2428 |
19 |
1st place at World School 2010 (Under17) |
|
2 |
FM Cemil Can Ali Marandi |
2351 |
14 |
European Youth Champion 2011-2010-2008 |
|
3 |
CM Vahap Sanal |
2277 |
14 |
2nd place at European School 2011 (Under 13) |
|
4 |
CM Batuhan Dastan |
2272 |
15 |
1st place at World School 2011 (Under15) |
|
5 |
CM Cankut Emiroglu |
2253 |
17 |
1st place at European School 2011 (Under 17) |
Age Average: 15,8
Rating Average: 2316
Woman Category:
Team 2016 ‘girls’, coached by IM Yakup Erturan, are Turkey’s ‘golden girls’ and biggest hopes for 2016. Consisting of 5 very young and spirited girls as well as several medal holders of National and International Youth competitions.
|
Board |
Name |
Rating |
Age |
Others |
|
1 |
WCM Selen Sop |
2000 |
18 |
3rd place at Balkaniad Junior Teams 2010(Under 16) |
|
2 |
Büsra Arig |
1864 |
19 |
3rd place at Turkish Women Championship 2012 |
|
4 |
Hilal Ozturk |
1830 |
15 |
Shared 2nd place at Turkish Youth 2011 ( under 14) |
|
5 |
Ayca Aksoy |
1720 |
12 |
1st place at European School 2011 (girls – Under 11) |
Age Average: 15,8
Rating Average: 1853
Before I get to our last selected team I should not forget to mention here, that the year 2023 has a very special meaning for Turkey. The Country will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a Republic, and all measures have been taken to showcase Turkey as a modern western society – as the founder of the the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk instructed.
Open Category:
Team 2023 ‘preschoolers’, coached by GM Kivanc Haznedaroglu is Turkey’s ‘rough diamond’ and biggest hope for 2023. Consisting of 5 very talented young preschoolers with the goal to gain as much experience as possible.
|
Board |
Name |
Rating |
Age |
Others |
|
1 |
Emirhan Tarlabasi |
1743 |
9 |
2nd place at World School 2010 (Under7) |
|
2 |
Kagan Aydincelebi |
9 |
1st place at Turkish Youth 2012( (under 9) |
|
|
3 |
Ahmet Utku Uzumcu |
8 |
1st place at Turkish Youth 2012( (under 8) |
|
|
4 |
Ekin Baris Ozenir |
1548 |
8 |
2nd place at European School 2011 (Under 7) |
|
5 |
Isik Can |
7 |
1st place at World School 2012 (Under7) |
Age Average: 8,2
Woman Category:
Team 2023 ‘preschoolers’, coached by GM Georg Mohr is Turkey’s ‘rough diamond’ and biggest hope for 2023. Consisting of 5 very talented little poppets with the goal to gain as much experience as possible.
|
Board |
Name |
Rating |
Age |
Others |
|
1 |
Cagil Irmak Arda |
1584 |
11 |
3rd place at World Youth 2011 (under10 – girls) |
|
2 |
Cigdem Onur |
1614 |
11 |
2nd place at European Under 8 -2009 |
|
3 |
Sude Hereklioglu |
1602 |
10 |
1st place at European School 2011
(Under 9 – girls) |
|
4 |
Duru Okuyaz |
1453 |
10 |
3rd place at European School 2011
(Under 9 – girls) |
|
5 |
Defne Sade |
9 |
1st place at Turkish Youth 2012 (girls -under 9) |
Age Average: 10,2
Some of you may be shocked by these selections, especially because of the very young average age of team 2023. Some others may be angry or upset that they are not a Turkish national team member this year, even though having the right for participation according to their national ranking. Personally speaking, I think it is a big and brave step by the Turkish Federation. I fully support the idea and even feel a bit of jealousy that those young kids get such a great and unique opportunity! I remember that I played my first National Team event as a 12 year old girl in the Elista Olympiad of 1998. At that time our national trainer was attacked terribly for taking such a decision, especially after I scored just 1 out of 7!
Nowadays I regret that my Federation is not so adventurous anymore, maybe out of fear of public reaction, or maybe because we simply cannot compare ourselves with Turkey, regarding chess development and support. But for me there is only one conclusion: That’s the way to go!
Elisabeth Paehtz
