Simutowe in Norway!
GM Bartosz Socko battling GM Amon Simutowe
at the Artic Chess Challenge in Norway.
Amon Simutowe is in Norway after competing in the African Championship in Libya. He mustered a +1, but was not among the top six qualifiers for the World Cup. However, things are looking well for the Zambian as he has been getting some badly-needed invitations. As a newly-minted Grandmaster from Africa, he attracts attention to the field and is certain to make an impression.
Unfortunately, Simutowe missed the first round because of a late flight and not only earned a loss, but was then paired with top-seed Bartosz Socko, Grandmaster from Poland. According to the official website, Simutowe gained some good chances in a sharp Sicilian but Socko was able to hold on and draw the game. That has to be a good result considering the disastrous first round. (see game, video)
The venue appears to be very pleasant and GM Susan Polgar and husband FM Paul Truong are also visiting. The is adequate coverage at link below with photos, videos and reports!
Official Site: https://arcticchess.org/2009/
Photos/Videos: https://www.arcticchess.org/2009/ENG/video_photo.html
ChessBase:https://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5603
I think Simutowe’s Nh5-g7-f5 manovre was interesting. The treatment in this variation is not usual. Black tends to wathc his second rank and often plays for Be7-f8-g7 and Nbd7-f8 holding h7.
Interesting.
We also need balanced reporting here, There are more than 5 South Africans ,2 Kenyans someone from Mozambique playing in the same tournament.Why Simutowe and Simutowe alone here? Daaim move on man .Simutowe will not win that tournament you must know by now.
Re: Darren Porter,
I really dont think Shabazz is suggesting that Simutowe will win the tournament. He is just giving him the coverage that he DERSEVES! Why dont you give us the names of the other players (South Africans), so that we get to know how they are doing. Shabazz is there any chance of you giving us the full interview that you did with the self-made African GM?
Lwanyeka I have to give you a tip on analysing the interview,do not pick up the questionable bits about thechessdrum prophet Simutowe.Speaking ill of the prophet on public domain is punished by public stoning.
Robson is big!!Natural talent ,will get better and better no doubt if he works with a renowned player ,say Bareev ,Agdestein and he will reach 2700 in no time.
Shabazz,
Thanks for the interviwew-its kind of you. So should I follow Darrens advice? Ok, personally I knew Simutowe was never going to be on the top six (At the Africa Individual). I dont remember the last time he qualified (coz he also failed in 2005 & 2007). I dont know why the guy fails to beat Egyptians! I didnt even bother to find out the result after he played El Gindy because I knew Simutowe was not going to win the game. Hope he finishes strong in Norway nonetheless.
An impressive play by IM Ray Robson over GM Allan Rasmussen. Wow!
Thanks for the coverage i dont see the European Assizes events too much, i know they have so much things to say. Wel Done!! Peace.
Finally some balanced reporting (after heavy prompting)am loving this!
Okay people, I just have to admit that I have followed this interesting dialogue between Daaim and Darren from the begining. Sometimes, I have even laughed my a.. off because of how witty these comments are. I perfectly understand where Daaim is coming from though – the hard work of maintaining a website/blog along with other endeavors of life is tough. I also edit a chess website, so I know what it takes to do this. Its very difficult. Most people don’t know the amount of work that one puts into each article that appears on the website. So when one gets criticized for not writing something right or maybe made some grammatical errors and so on, its very painful.
On the other hand, Darren did a good thing by pointing out that there are some other Africans taking part in the tournament that ought to be given coverage. That is okay, but I am sure Daaim would not have left them out if he has the right info (complete and accurate info if you will) on those chess players to do a through writing at the beginning of the tournament. No doubt he has some interest in Simutowe as they have been friends for a long time and Simutowe is just making his debut in the international chess scene as a new GM and we are all sort of wondering how he will perform against other GMs, but Daaim’s track record has shown that of a fair and balanced Journalist.
Case in point. We just witnessed the African individual event in Libya. Did anyone notice how information came out in trickles until much later? A lot of details don’t come out right away and we report whatever we have the first time until much later. I am sure that was what Daaim did here just as it was done in the African Individual event. He has now added the coverage of more players of the African decent in the Norway tournament and this is a good thing. My hope is that anyone who is in possession of some valuable information about some event and the participants (including pictures) should make them readily available to those who wish to publicize the event as soon as possible
and not ridicule their efforts. Its hard enough to find relevant chess news about African chess players these days and we should support the efforts of those who are taking the time to make them available to us on a regularly basis. My one cent.
Daaim,
Do not get disheartened by the negative comments of some, you are doing a marvelous job for chess!! From that photo of three gentlemen I recognised my president in the middle. His name, Tshepo Sitale (post #22)
Daaim if you are a man ,get sponsorship for Chess and stop blogging too,Chess nees sponsors anything else is secondary .If you want to report or help with website ,wire the passwords or give me admin rights.You could froth and vent with false accussations but as usual I will not enter any argument with no substance .
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.-Arthur Shopenhauer.
Okay Daaim and Darren, Its time we head to the white house. President Obama is waiting for you at the Rose garden with cool beers for the needed peace summit. Cant we all just get along? Enough for now gentlemen. The sun will definetly come out tommorow. Lets look towards that. Peace.
Exactly my point Daaim. The discussion has shifted to this unfortunate back and forth argument about something else and we need to get back to the title of the thread and in a respectful manner too.
The question is are the 12 South African players based in South Africa or in Norway? If they are based in south Africa and they actually traveled en masse for this tournament, then that is a much bigger news right there. As you know by now, we have been trying to expose a lot of local Nigerian chess players to top level tournaments outside of Africa and it has not been easy sponsorship wise. So this is a good thing to see that it can be done with proper planning.
“By evidence of all the typos and grammatical errors, there is no way I would let you get within three feet of my keyboard.”
Stop! LOL
My father once told me, if you gave someone a free check and told them they didn’t have to work . . . they would complain and ask it it anyway they could get direct deposit instead of picking it up every week.
First, GM Simutowe is of great interest to most of the readers in my humble opinion. There are only three “black African GM’s,” so any coverage of them is highly appreciated. We should support these guys through anyway we can. The article is titled Simutowe in Norway…. not Africans in Norway. Period.
Second, there is no way anyone can appreciate running this site ALONE. I run a blog and a group on chess.com and it’s extremely time consuming! I couldn’t imagine being a professor and running this site alone. Picking someone to “help” with the site isn’t an easy task … especially if your wanting to control the quality.
Third, this is a unique site. I laughed when I read an accusation of Daaim not covering other Africans. I would guestimate about 98% of the outstanding players here would have no coverage and all if it weren’t for this site! It’s simply a laughable suggestion and not worthy of any merit. (Sorry Darren).
On a sidenote, Anand is going to be in Botswana
https://www.chess.com/news/vishy-anand-to-visit-botswana-7039