Before last Christmas, Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament concluded successfully in Pukou District. Nanjing offered the world a "surprise". Soon after, an inspiring "gift" was given to Nanjing at the arrival of the spring festival. Good news came from the recent annual conference of the Grand Slam Chess Association held in Holland that on February 1st, Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament beat competitors Seattle, USA and St. Louis, Argentina and was successfully admitted to the Grand Slam Association. So in the following 5 years, grandmasters from all over the world will gather in Nanjing every autumn to play chess games. What's the meaning of joining Grand Slam? Our reporter interviewed related persons to disclose the whole story of this incident and interpret the future tournament structure.
Admitted into the Grand Slam Association by Unanimous Vote
In the end of 2008, proposed by Robert A. Mundell, the "Father of Euro" and Nobel Prize laureate, Pukou, Nanjing succeeded in hosting the 2008 Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament and drew the attention of chess fans worldwide with its player lineup and high level. The coverage of many national and international media also made Pukou and Nanjing the focus of the world at that time! A series of reports made by 39 professional websites home and abroad including the renowned chessbase.com and 228,000 pages of search results on Google both boost and validate the great influence of this event and also paved the road for Grand Slam application.
On early morning of February 1st, Beijing Time, the Grand Slam Chess Association held the voting in Wijk aan Zee, Holland to admit new members. Finally, Nanjing triumphed over Seattle, USA and St. Louis, Argentina by unanimous vote, and became a Grand Slam chess tournament. Nanjing Municipal Government and the Chinese Chess Association jointly entered the Grand Slam Chess Association. Thus, Nanjing becomes the only city in China that hosts top Grand Slam chess tournament.
Tian Hongwei, Deputy Director General of Foreign Affairs Department, Chinese Chess Association, Chess & Cards Administration Center, General Administration of Sport of China witnessed the voting on that day. The whole process was very smooth. She said, "Silvio Danailov, director of the Grand Slam Chess Association has conducted comprehensive assessment to the tournament in Nanjing. Its prize, rank, reception and operation have been reported to the Grand Slam Association as equaling the qualifications of super international tournaments. FIDE officials also agreed that even though it was the first grandmaster tournament held by Nanjing, it has already influenced the international chess world. During my stay in Wijk aan Zee, I find almost everybody knows Nanjing."
Nanjing Taking Initiatives to Show Itself to the World
The successful process of Grand Slam application indicates Nanjing's ambition of communicating with the world and becoming the city of wisdom through high-end competitive sports.
"The grandmaster chess tournament is more than a sports game to Nanjing," said by Dong Wei, Secretary-general of the organizing committee, standing member of the CPC Pukou District Committee and Director of Publicity Department, Pukou District, during the tournament of last year. "We need to establish good communication between Nanjing and the rest of the world through a high-end tournament. Hopefully, the invitational tournament will provides us with the chance that can facilitate Nanjing's development toward an internationalized metropolitan."
Why does the Grand Slam Association favor Nanjing? From Dong Wei's point of view, alongside with the support of our national power and the solid foundation laid by last tournament, the initiative of Nanjing and even Pukou is a more important reason. FIDE did not have to choose a Chinese or eastern city. Nanjing wins because it is now an international Nanjing and it has stepped onto the world arena."
This tournament was merged into international super events at the closing day and the organizing committee submitted the Grand Slam application at the same time. Soon, two discs recording the organization of the tournament and historical and cultural features of Nanjing were sent to the directors of the Grand Slam Chess Association in Holland. Owing to those vivid images, the directors see our delicate designs with originality of integrating the western and eastern culture, especially the draw ceremony featured by cloud-pattern brocade of Nanjing. They also see the venue decorated by wood carving screen and red doors and players wearing Chinese tunic suits. What impresses them most is the determination of Nanjing and Pukou Government regarding joining the Grand Slam: Zhu Shanlu, Secretary of the CPC Nanjing Committee attended the closing ceremony and introduced Nanjing to the directors, expressing Nanjing's great zeal for joining the Grand Slam. As the host place, Pukou has started planning for upgrade during the time of tournament by inviting experts to discussions and meeting the directors.
Nanjing's impact on the international arena is being strengthened through hosting the chess tournament. It is worth mentioning that on the cover of the famous chess magazine New in Chess (Issue 1, 2009), there's the picture of Secretary Zhu Shanlu presenting the trophy to Topalov, the champion at the closing ceremony of Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament. Besides, there are detailed reports covering this event in this magazine. It is reported that, as an important piece of news, Nanjing's joining the Grand Slam will be the leading article in its next issue.
Wisdom Enlightening the Future of Nanjing
After joining the Grand Slam Chess Association, Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament becomes another grand slam tournament besides Corus Chess Tournament, Linares Chess Tournament, M-Tel Masters Sofia and Final Chess Master Bilbao. In another word, it is a super tournament among the top 5 of the world; first in Asia and the only one in China. At present, journalists all over the world are looking forward to it. According to Tian Hongwei, during her last stay in Wijk aan Zee, all European chess journalists she met knew about Nanjing. "Many people told me they had read reports about the successful tournament with high level and good organization in Nanjing. They all extended their wishes to come to Nanjing and some of them already tried to learn saying "Nanjing" in Chinese."
Then, what kind of new opportunities will the Grand Slam bring to Nanjing's development under the economic crisis? Dong Wei, Secretary of the organizing committee said, "Joining the Grand Slam will bring us 3 opportunities. In virtue of the top-level tournament, we can boost the development of cultural industry, sports industry and tourism, accelerate industrial structure adjustment during the economic downturn and develop pillar industry; we can improve international popularity rapidly with low cost, enhance Nanjing's influence and participate more in communication, cooperation and development with other cities in the world; we can also demonstrate the economic development, civilization improvement of Chinese cities and even the confidence of China in development to the world through eastern culture, Chinese features and local culture."
Grand Slam chess tournament enjoys general popularity in the west. There are more than 400 million chess fans all over the world and it is highly recognized by 162 FIDE member countries. Taking the Corus Chess Tournament, Holland as an example, it has been held for more than 60 sessions. Wijk aan Zee is located along the west coast of Holland. There are only 4000 permanent residents in the town but every year, around 400,000 chess fans and media swarming into this place to watch chess tournament. Wijk aan Zee is known by the world for the annual international chess event and the development of its service industry and tourism are hence greatly advanced. "The Grand Slam will not only enhance the popularity of its host city, but also bring benefits to economy and culture. Nanjing will hold the tournament during the October golden week when the city is very beautiful and market is prosperous. So the event will surely facilitate the rapid development of tourism related industries in Nanjing", said by Dong Wei.
As far as how to operate the tournament in the following 5 years, Dong Wei said that Pukou District had setup a “Tournament Operation Management Office” and the operation planning was in process. But we can foresee that, as the first high-end chess tournament of Nanjing, it will facilitate the popularization of chess and intelligence sports in China. We’ll strive to make chess become a cultural concept that can be accepted by the masses in China through schemes and packaging. The core of our planning is to integrate traditional Chinese culture with international cultures to fully reflect the spiritual connotation of eastern culture. Dong Wei disclosed that, “We’d like to hold the opening and closing ceremony of the tournament at some sight spots of Nanjing, such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, the Confucius Temple or the Chaotian Palace. These places will be known by the world in this way.” Besides, there are plans to establish a mature commercial system and a world class operation system. By combining sports event, economic and cultural activities, chess will become the driving force to Nanjing’s development and the spark of wisdom will be shining more brightly in Nanjing.
The organizing committee announces that Nanjing will hold the Grand Slam tournament consecutively in 5 years and the fixture is set during September 27th to October 9th every year. The tournament will adopts double round robin where 6 grandmasters (with Elo rating of above 2700) will play against each other during 11 days.
Source: Yangtze Evening Post
