1.
Batumi
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Batumi is the second largest city of Georgia, located on the coast of the Black Sea in the countrys southwest. Much of Batumis economy revolves around tourism and gambling, but the city is also an important sea port and includes industries like shipbuilding, food processing and light manufacturing. Since 2010, Batumi has been transformed by the construction of modern high-rise buildings, Batumi is located on the site of the ancient Greek colony in Colchis called Bathus or Bathys – derived from the Greek phrase βαθύς λιμεν bathus limen or βαθύς λιμήν bathys limin meaning deep harbor. Under Hadrian, it was converted into a fortified Roman port, from 1010, it was governed by the eristavi of the king of Georgia. In the late 15th century, after the disintegration of the Georgian kingdom, Batumi passed to the princes of Guria, de Thoisy was taken captive and released through the mediation of the emperor John IV of Trebizond. In the 15th century in the reign of the prince Kakhaber Gurieli and they returned to it in force a century later and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Georgian armies at Sokhoista. Batumi was recaptured by the Georgians several times, first in 1564 by prince Rostom Gurieli, who lost it soon afterwards, in 1723, Batumi again became part of the Ottoman Empire. It was the last Black Sea port annexed by Russia during the Russian conquest of that area of the Caucasus, in 1878, Batumi was annexed by the Russian Empire in accordance with the Treaty of San Stefano between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Occupied by the Russians on August 28,1878, the town was declared a port until 1886. It functioned as the center of a military district until being incorporated in the Government of Kutaisi on June 12,1883. Finally, on June 1,1903, with the Okrug of Artvin, it was established as the region of Batumi, the expansion of Batumi began in 1883 with the construction of the Batumi-Tiflis-Baku railway and the finishing of the Baku-Batumi pipeline. Henceforth, Batumi became the chief Russian oil port in the Black Sea, the town expanded to an extraordinary extent and the population increased rapidly, from 8,671 inhabitants in 1882 to 12,000 in 1889. By 1902 the population had reached 16,000, with 1,000 working in the refinery for Baron Rothschilds Caspian, in the late 1880s and after, more than 7400 Doukhobor emigrants sailed for Canada from Batumi, after the government agreed to let them emigrate. Canada settled them in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, during 1901, sixteen years prior to the October Revolution, Joseph Stalin, the future leader of the Soviet Union, lived in the city organizing strikes. Kemal Atatürk ceded the area to the Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union on the condition that it be granted autonomy, when the USSR collapsed in 1989, Aslan Abashidze was appointed head of Adjaras governing council and subsequently held onto power throughout the unrest of the 1990s. Whilst other regions, such as Abkhazia, attempted to break away from the Georgian state, Abashidze exploited the central governments weaknesses and ruled the area as a personal fiefdom. In May 2004, he fled to Russia because of protests in Tbilisi sparked by the Rose Revolution. Batumi today is one of the port cities of Georgia
2.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
3.
FIDE
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It is usually referred to as FIDE, its French acronym. FIDE was founded in Paris, France, on July 20,1924 and its motto is Gens una sumus, Latin for We are one people. As of 2015, FIDEs president is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Ilyumzhinov suspended some of his authority at a December 6,2015 Presidential Board meeting, at which Deputy President Georgios Makropoulous received these powers, following the statutes. FIDEs most visible activity is organizing the World Chess Championship, and most particularly the Chess Olympiad and it is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the supreme body responsible for the organization of chess and its championships at global and continental levels. Since 1980 FIDE is a member of UNESCO, FIDE oversees few other tournaments, although other top-level events, almost without exception, respect FIDE rules and regulations. It defines the rules of chess, both for playing games and for the conduct of international competitions. The international competition rules are the basis for local competitions, although local bodies are allowed to modify these rules to a certain extent, FIDE awards a number of organisational titles, including International Arbiter, which signifies that the recipient is competent and trusted to oversee top-class competitions. It also awards Master and Grandmaster titles for achievement in problem and study composing and solving, Correspondence chess is regulated by the International Correspondence Chess Federation, an independent body that co-operates with FIDE where appropriate. The proposed FIDE budget for 2016 lists 2.73 million dollars in expected income, mostly for tournament registration, entry fees, in 2015, the latter two were replaced by the World Cup rights as a source of funds. For 2014, the largest expenditure is combined staff costs of the Athens, Elista, unexpectedly high legal costs were third on the list, just ahead of presidential travel. In April 1914, an initiative was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1920, another attempt to organize an international federation was made at the Gothenburg Tournament. Alekhine, Bogoljubow, Maróczy, Réti, Rubinstein, Tartakower, the only match played under those rules was Capablanca vs Alekhine in 1927. On July 20,1924 the participants at the Paris tournament founded FIDE as a kind of players union, in its early years, FIDE had little power, and was poorly financed. FIDEs congresses in 1925 and 1926 expressed a desire to become involved in managing the world championship, FIDEs third congress, in Budapest in 1926, also decided to organize a Chess Olympiad. The invitations were, however, late in being sent, with the result that four countries participated. The winner was Hungary, followed by Yugoslavia, Romania, in 1927, FIDE began organizing the First Chess Olympiad during its 4th Congress in London. The official title of the tournament was the Tournament of Nations, or World Team Championship, the event was won by Hungary, with 16 teams competing. In 1928 FIDE recognized Bogoljubow as Champion of FIDE after he won a match against Max Euwe. e, including the requirement for a purse of at least $10,000
4.
Chess
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Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a chessboard, a checkered gameboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. Chess is played by millions of people worldwide, both amateurs and professionals, each player begins the game with 16 pieces, one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. Each of the six piece types moves differently, with the most powerful being the queen, the objective is to checkmate the opponents king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a players pieces are used to attack and capture the opponents pieces, in addition to checkmate, the game can be won by voluntary resignation by the opponent, which typically occurs when too much material is lost, or if checkmate appears unavoidable. A game may result in a draw in several ways. Chess is believed to have originated in India, some time before the 7th century, chaturanga is also the likely ancestor of the Eastern strategy games xiangqi, janggi and shogi. The pieces took on their current powers in Spain in the late 15th century, the first generally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. Since 1948, the World Championship has been controlled by FIDE, the international governing body. There is also a Correspondence Chess World Championship and a World Computer Chess Championship, online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players. There are also many variants, with different rules, different pieces. FIDE awards titles to skilled players, the highest of which is grandmaster, many national chess organizations also have a title system. However, these are not recognised by FIDE, the term master may refer to a formal title or may be used more loosely for any skilled player. Until recently, chess was a sport of the International Olympic Committee. Chess was included in the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games, since the 1990s, computer analysis has contributed significantly to chess theory, particularly in the endgame. The computer IBM Deep Blue was the first machine to overcome a reigning World Chess Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997, the rise of strong computer programs that can be run on hand-held devices has led to increasing concerns about cheating during tournaments. The official rules of chess are maintained by FIDE, chesss international governing body, along with information on official chess tournaments, the rules are described in the FIDE Handbook, Laws of Chess section. Chess is played on a board of eight rows and eight columns. The colors of the 64 squares alternate and are referred to as light, the chessboard is placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player
5.
Tbilisi
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Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon. The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis. It was, however, the city of Eastern Georgia/Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade. Tbilisis favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgias/Iberias capital, in the year 627, Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies entered the town under Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslan. In 1122, after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60,000 Georgians and up to 300,000 Turks. After the battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State, from 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy and a well-established social system/structure
6.
41st Chess Olympiad
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The organiser was Chess Olympiad Tromsø2014 AS on behalf of FIDE. A total number of 1,570 players participated at the Olympiad, the number of participating teams was 177 from 172 countries in the open section and 136 from 131 countries in the womens section. The main competitive events were held at Mackhallen, the Chief Arbiter of the event was Greeces International Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos. The reigning World Champion, Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, was one of the eight official ambassadors and he also played as a member of one of the Norwegian teams. China won the section of the tournament for the first time. Chinese Yu Yangyi, playing on three, and Georgian Nana Dzagnidze, playing on board one, were the most successful players in the open and womens section. The event was also the last competitive tournament for Judit Polgár, the strongest female player in history. Playing as a player for Hungary in the open section, she won a silver medal with her team and recorded four wins, one loss. There were two cities bidding to host the event, Albena and Tromsø, the bidding procedure, which was held in 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk, lasted several days, in the end the Norwegians won by a 95–47 vote. In May 2014, it was announced that the budget for the Olympiad would cost 15 million NOK, the organisers requested additional funding for the Olympiad apart from the 75 million NOK that were already secured, but the Norwegian government did not approve it. Then, they sought sponsorships to cover the expenses. In June 2014, the Norwegian parliament approved an additional 12 million NOK for staging the event, the Administrative Director of Chess Olympiad Tromsø2014 AS was Børge Robertsen. Chairman of the board was Henrik Andenæs, but later he was replaced by Herman Kristoffersen, the playing venue was Mackhallen, which is situated in downtown Tromsø. Mackhallen is the site of the worlds most northerly brewery, Mack Brewery. The tournament was played in a Swiss system format, the time control for every single game was 90 minutes per 40 moves, with addition of 30 seconds per move and 30 minutes after the 40th move. It is allowed once again for a player to offer a draw at any time during the game, a total of 11 rounds were played, in which every team played with four of their players against another team. Every team was allowed to nominate one reserve player, teams were ranked according to the match points won in every round. In case of number of match points by two or more teams, the tie-breaker was decided by applying,1
7.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
8.
Garry Kasparov
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From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world No.1 for 225 out of 228 months. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013, Kasparov also holds records for consecutive professional tournament victories and Chess Oscars. Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at age 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov and he held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. In 1997 he became the first world champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls and he continued to hold the Classical World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. In spite of losing the championship, he continued winning tournaments. Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005, after which he devoted his time to politics and he formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration and policies of Vladimir Putin. Kasparov blamed official obstruction for the lack of available space, although he is widely regarded in the West as a symbol of opposition to Putin, he was barred from the presidential ballot. The political climate in Russia reportedly makes it difficult for opposition candidates to organize and he is currently chairman for the Human Rights Foundation and chairs its International Council. Kasparov is a frequent critic of American professor emeritus of Russian studies, Stephen F. Cohen, Kasparov and Cohen participated in a Munk Debate in 2015 over the issue of reengaging or isolating Russia, with the audience siding with Kasparovs argument of isolating Russia. In 1997, he obtained Bosnian citizenship, in 2014, he obtained Croatian citizenship. He lives in New York City and travels often, Kasparov was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union. His father, Kim Moiseyevich Weinstein, was Russian Jewish, and his mother, Kasparov has described himself as a self-appointed Christian, although very indifferent. Kasparov first began the study of chess after he came across a chess problem set up by his parents. His father died of leukemia when Garry was seven years old, at the age of twelve, Garry adopted his mothers Armenian surname, Gasparian, russified as Kasparov. From age 7, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, Makogonov helped develop Kasparovs positional skills and taught him to play the Caro-Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queens Gambit Declined. Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7 points of 9 and he repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8½ of 9. He was being trained by Alexander Shakarov during this time, in 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk. He had been invited as an exception but took first place, Kasparov has repeatedly said that this event was a turning point in his life, and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career
9.
Chess Olympiad
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The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation, the use of the name Chess Olympiad for FIDEs team championship is of historical origin and implies no connection with the Olympic Games. For the 1924 Olympics an attempt was made to chess in the Olympic Games. While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris, FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20,1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad. FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London, the Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II, since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years. Chess is not recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee, the tests were first introduced in 2002 under significant controversy, with the widespread belief that it was impossible to dope in chess. Research carried out by the Dutch chess federation failed to find a single performance-enhancing substance for chess. Players such as Artur Yusupov, Jan Timman and Robert Hübner either refused to play for their team or to participate in events such as the Chess Olympiad where drug tests were administered. All 802 tests administered at the 2002 Olympiad came back negative, however, in the 36th Chess Olympiad in 2004, two players refused to provide urine samples and had their scores cancelled. Four years later, Vassily Ivanchuk was not penalized for skipping a drug test at the 38th Chess Olympiad in 2008, in 2010, a FIDE official commented that due to the work of the FIDE Medical Commission, the tests were now considered routine. In November 2015, FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced they are working with WADA to define, each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad. Each team is made of up to five players, four regular players, initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible. At first team seeding took place before the competition, later certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted. The trophy for the team in the open section is the Hamilton-Russell Cup. The cup is kept by the team until the next event. The trophy for the womens team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup in honor of the first Womens World Chess Champion. The 2010 Olympiad was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the 2012 Olympiad was held in Istanbul, Turkey, the 2014 Olympiad was in Tromsø, Norway. The 2016 Olympiad was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in addition to competition, each Olympiad also gives opportunities for associated cultural activities
