August 15, 2008:

Here WERE the match-ups for Round 1 - I've crossed out the Georgian players.  Anyone who says their absence won't be felt is being disingenuous - but chess politicians are quite good at that.

Who else will bow out?

Susan Polgar reported at her chess blog that she had received information that an American player had withdrawn from the event.  SP did not name the player.  There are three Americans scheduled to play in the event:  IM Irina Krush, IM Anna Zatonskih and WGM Katherine Rohonyan.  I haven't been able to locate any news about this or a press release.

August 17, 2008:

Today I saw this at Chessbase: 

Top US player Irina Krush tells us that she informed FIDE that she wouldn't be going to Nalchik in the beginning of August, before anything started with Georgia and Russia. So the war wasn't her reason for withdrawing, although general safety in the region was. Irina and other ladies sent us some interesting background articles.

I have crossed IM Irina Krush off the player's list (red strike-through).  I support IM Krush's decision 100%.  It is absolutely ridiculous that FIDE decided to stage an important world championship in such an unsafe, unstable area!

August 20, 2008:

Hold on to your hats, chess fans!  Fearless Leader Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has issued a second statement reassuring everyone in the world of chess once again that yes, we are all one big happy family!  Never mind that Kirsan once again totally ignored the point of the initial open letter written by the Georgian women chessplayers, which is their personal safety. Fearless Leader has chosen to act the part of an ostrich and keep his head in the ground. For shame! Shame, shame on Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. He has once again chosen not to do the right thing, the brave thing, the honorable thing.  JHere is the letter published today at Chessbase and Susan Polgar's popular chess blog:

Duh!  How often does it has to be said?  Nalchik is not safe, and Kirsan and all the King's Men cannot guarantee the personal safety of a single one of the chess femmes who would step foot in Nalchik.  

Nalchik has been a focus of ethnic and religious/separatist unrest for years - they're trying to BREAK AWAY from Russia (just like Chechnya).    Attacks and politically-motivated murders are non-stop (here's just recent one example).  

Indeed, the entire region is a powderkeg of religious, ethnic and political strife.  The map, right, is an old one, but it clearly delineates the fault-lines of the Caucasus region formerly under the control of the old Soviet Empire.  

On August 7, 2008, a terrorist attack occurred in Sochi, in the Russian state of Krasnodar Karachai, just to the north of Abkhazia (another break-away Georgian province) that killed two people and injured at least 12 more.  A Grand Prix chess event was taking place at the same time, hosting some of the best male chess players in the world!  Thankfully, the attack was NOT aimed at the playing venue and no players were endangered.  The same article (published in the Moscow Times) also reported that a bomb had exploded in an apartment building in Sochi on July 2, 2008 killing two people and injuring more than 30.  Guess what!  Sochi is the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics!  Gee whiz bang!  

I also learned the following today from Chessbase:

Most Americans have paid scant attention to this region, including me.  It took the Russian invasion and occupation of Georgia to catch my interest!  After doing only a minimal amount of study, it is quite obvious that nowhere in the Caucasus or near the Caucasus is a safe venue to hold ANY kind of competitive sporting event at the moment.

The Russians' objectives also become clearer.  The invasion is intended to send a signal to restive peoples in the region in advance of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, in addition to securing for themselves the oil pipeline that crosses central Georgia and poking a finger in the eye of the West.  Methinks Miniputin has bit off more than he can chew this time - he just doesn't know it yet.  But that has nothing to do with chess which, as we all, has nothing whatsoever to do with politics.  We all just imagined Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972.  

Shame, shame on FIDE and the European Chess Union for taking no steps to secure the safety of the chessplayers.  Shame on you!  

August 29, 2008:

Based on reports from Chessdom.com, Susan Polgar's blog today graphically indicated that a total of five other players (in addition to the six Georgian chessplayers) have declined to appear in Nalchik.  Those additional players are:  Karen Zapata (Peru), Marie Sebag (France), Irina Krush (USA), Ekaterina Korbut (Russia), and Tea Bosboom Lanchava (Netherlands).  On the Round 1 table above, I have crossed out these named in green - Krush was previously confirmed as not attending and was crossed out in red.

64 minus 11 players = 53 players.  Interestingly, Chessdom had reported yesterday that 53 players from 29 countries were participating in the 2008 version of the WWCC, so it should NOT have come as a big surprise to the commentators at Chessdom that, in fact, 11 women failed to show up for Round 1!  They already knew.  So why the "coy" act? 

This is 20% of the chessplayers.  That is a huge amount, no matter what kind of gloss FIDE and the Russians attempt to put on it after the fact!  I expect they figured the women would show up anyway to battle for $450,000 USD, which is certainly a "rich" prize for women chessplayers.  Ironically, the Chess Grand Slam Final takes place in Bilbao 1st-13th September 2008 with six male players fighting for E400,000.  Hello - FIDE - do you see something out of kilter with this?  NAH!  Of course not.