I hope someone knows so I finally let this issue go and maybe save what little respect for him that I have after this. LOL now I want him to lose the WC in 2012 more than ever 
OLYMPIAD - FINAL Standings - Men's Section
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Oct 3, 2010
0
#22
Oct 3, 2010
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#23
Reb wrote:
ChessMarkstheSpot wrote:
Reb - you're right about Karjakin. I would shudder to think the results that Ukraine would have if he was playing for them. Probably would've been a lot easier for them and not so close in the standings.
About Anand, this really bothers me a lot. He is the World Champion and ranked #3 in the world behind Topalov. Now I was rooting for Topalov in the WC match in Sofia, despite his cheating image he has on him, but Anand missing this event, hopefully for some serious reason, really, to me, brings a small dark cloud over him. I might be pushing this a little too far, but it just irks me. I do hope though nothing serious happened and it was just about the money as usual.
-Mark
Yes, it could very well have been the money. India is a poor country and Anand would expect to be paid ofcourse and not just his expenses. The entire German A team didnt come due to money so its very possible thats why Anand didnt come too. He is a professional and the world champion, if his country cant afford to pay him why play ? If Spain will pay him perhaps he should consider playing for Spain instead , that is if he misses playing team chess in the Olympiad. Its also possible that he simply doesnt like team events ? Does anyone know ?
He plays in the Bundesliga
well, indeed he just played in two matches
ooo yeh...cool
Reb wrote:
The entire German A team didnt come due to money so its very possible thats why Anand didnt come too. He is a professional and the world champion, if his country cant afford to pay him why play ?
Exactly. All the professional athletes in the Olympics get paid. You don't think world champion Michael Jordan would have played in the olympics without getting paid, that kind of thing is absurd... oh,erm, nevermind.
Well we can say that Israel won because almost all the best chess players are from there,they just live in different places (like Kasparov or Karpov)
Oct 3, 2010
0
#27
Either case, money or not, worn out or not, he should've at least been there to support the team. He didn't even release a statement or anything telling people he wasn't gonna be there, he left it open for speculation, and obviously, we're gonna speculate.
-Mark
Oct 3, 2010
0
#28
Israel got lucky because they won the tie-breaker, so they snuck in the back door, but yes, a lot of great chess players come from there. Karpov is Jewish? I never knew that LOL. I know Kaspy is, didn't know Karpy was too.
Loomis wrote:
Reb wrote:
The entire German A team didnt come due to money so its very possible thats why Anand didnt come too. He is a professional and the world champion, if his country cant afford to pay him why play ?
Exactly. All the professional athletes in the Olympics get paid. You don't think world champion Michael Jordan would have played in the olympics without getting paid, that kind of thing is absurd... oh,erm, nevermind.
If chess professionals made the kind of money that Michael Jordan made they probably would be much more willing to play for free once in awhile. Surely you dont think they do ? To compare chess professionals to the top pros of sports like soccer, football (USA), baseball and basketball is ridiculous. On top of that not everyone is as "patriotic " as you might wish them to be so they might not feel obligated to play for their country.
I bet Anand makes more money playing chess than most of the participants in the athletic olympics, including many professionals. Let's take a different popular olympian -- Apolo Anton Ohno makes approximately $1.5M a year. Is this so much more than what Anand makes? Meanwhile, Anand is not helping popularize his sport by skipping the olympiad, I don't see how that's good for business.
If Anand doesn't want to play because he doesn't care to represent his country, that's his business, I've never suggested otherwise. I do find wanting to be paid to participate in an amateur event to be kind of silly.
Oct 3, 2010
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#31
How much did Anand get for defending the World Title in Sofia? I don't think it is stated on the Anand-Topalov.com site. At least I didn't see it anywhere. At least out of good faith he should've been there. He needs fifty grand just to make a cameo? LOL
Loomis wrote:
I bet Anand makes more money playing chess than most of the participants in the athletic olympics, including many professionals. Let's take a different popular olympian -- Apolo Anton Ohno makes approximately $1.5M a year. Is this so much more than what Anand makes? Meanwhile, Anand is not helping popularize his sport by skipping the olympiad, I don't see how that's good for business.
If Anand doesn't want to play because he doesn't care to represent his country, that's his business, I've never suggested otherwise. I do find wanting to be paid to participate in an amateur event to be kind of silly.
The Olympics and the chess Olympiads are billed as " amateur events " but everyone knows the truth. If they were really amateur events no professional would be allowed to participate. But they do participate and are allowed to . Tell me , do you really think Kramnik or any of the Russia1 team played for free ? I doubt it and I imagine if Anand was offered what Kramnik probably got to play he would have played. ( Anand would have won more than 2 games too.... ) Same goes for any of the top teams.... I bet all of them were paid to play so why should the world champion play for free ? In any event, this argument is pointless since we dont know why Anand didnt play but the money problem IS why the best Germans didnt play and you can read the Open letter explaining their position from GM Naiditsch on Polgar's blog/website I believe.
Oct 3, 2010
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#34
I've just looked at the official site again and a couple of unrelated things jumped out:
(1) There were *3* Russian teams ???! E.g. I see (EDIT: Dmitry Jakovenko) listed as the #1 board for Russia 3.
(2) Carlsen did not even make it into the top 20 of board #1 performers. England's own Michael Adams was #20 (hurrah!)
Oct 3, 2010
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#35
Nick, there were 5 Russian Men teams
and Mags NOR Hammer made it to top 20 board status
NickYoung5 wrote:
I've just looked at the official site again and a couple of unrelated things jumped out:
(1) There were *3* Russian teams ???! E.g. I see Sergei Rublevsky listed as the #1 board for Russia 3.
(2) Carlsen did not even make it into the top 20 of board #1 performers. England's own Michael Adams was #20 (hurrah!)
There were actually 5 Russian mens teams and 2 womens teams for a total of 7 teams for Russia ! Incredible isnt it ? Just imagine if some other host country tried to pull such a stunt ! 
Oct 3, 2010
0
#37
yeah, like the U.S., imagine the international incident that would create LOL
ChessMarkstheSpot wrote:
yeah, like the U.S., imagine the international incident that would create LOL
Except for Nakamura the US team is another Russian team , same for Israel but with NO exception on their team.
Oct 3, 2010
0
#40
ChessMarkstheSpot wrote:
Nick, there were 5 Russian Men teams
and Mags NOR Hammer made it to top 20 board status
http://www.ugra-chess.com/boardprizes.php
I can't see him in this list. Though it is possible I am looking at something other than what I think I am look at
@Reb. Imagine if players were forced to play for their country of birth ... there might easily be 10 Russian teams! (EDIT: Ahh, I see others pointed this out while I was composing the post)
Reb - you're right about Karjakin. I would shudder to think the results that Ukraine would have if he was playing for them. Probably would've been a lot easier for them and not so close in the standings.
About Anand, this really bothers me a lot. He is the World Champion and ranked #3 in the world behind Topalov. Now I was rooting for Topalov in the WC match in Sofia, despite his cheating image he has on him, but Anand missing this event, hopefully for some serious reason, really, to me, brings a small dark cloud over him. I might be pushing this a little too far, but it just irks me. I do hope though nothing serious happened and it was just about the money as usual.
-Mark
Yes, it could very well have been the money. India is a poor country and Anand would expect to be paid ofcourse and not just his expenses. The entire German A team didnt come due to money so its very possible thats why Anand didnt come too. He is a professional and the world champion, if his country cant afford to pay him why play ? If Spain will pay him perhaps he should consider playing for Spain instead , that is if he misses playing team chess in the Olympiad. Its also possible that he simply doesnt like team events ? Does anyone know ?