ARMENIAN FILMMAKER SEEKS JEWISH VIEWERS
By Shayndi Raice
Jewish Advocate, MA
June 5 2006
Franchot Lubin (left) and David Davidian produced a film on the
Armenian genocide.Cites connections between Nazi genocide of Jews
and Turkish genocide of Armenians.
The Armenian genocide might not seem like a Jewish issue, but it should
be according to Armenian filmmaker David Davidian, who has submitted
a DVD on the genocide to the 2006 Boston Jewish Film Festival.
According to Davidian, producer of “The 1915 Turkish Genocide of the
Armenians” and director of the Genocide Archive Project, the Holocaust
and the Armenian genocide are closely related. In 1939, Hitler told
his generals that they should not be worried about world condemnation
for murdering millions of Jews because nobody remembered what happened
to the Armenians. Davidian also suggested that many of the techniques
used by Hitler were in fact copied from the Turkish genocide of the
Armenians. Death marches, round-ups, and marking Armenian homes were
all trademarks of the Turkish genocide, said Davidian.
“There are philosophical and actual connections,” he said. “The
[Armenian] genocide was the first state-sponsored genocide against its
own citizens. The second was Hitler. World governments ignored it as
an internal problem. These things, even if denied, can’t be ignored
because when they’re ignored it encourages someone else to do it.”
Davidian produced the film with director Franchot Lubin, who had
previous experience collecting survivor testimonies while working
for Steven Spielberg’s “Survivors of the Shoah” documentary. The two
filmmakers documented accounts of Armenian genocide survivors who live
in the Boston area today, some more than 100 years old. In addition
to the submission to the Boston Jewish Film Festival, which will
take place this fall, the two men have sent their film to hundreds
of U.S. Congressmen as part of an education campaign.
“If the world did something about it in 1915, there would have been
much less of chance of Hitler doing what he did to the European Jews,”
said Davidian.
Although the film does not seem to have an easily apparent Jewish
theme, Sarah Rubin of the Boston Jewish Film Festival said that while
films must be relevant to the Jewish community, “We do stretch the
envelope.”
While she could not comment on the film’s chances of being chosen
for the festival, she added: “There are times when there might seem
to be something that isn’t strictly Jewish themed but we program it
in because there’s a clear connection.”
s_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=1327

SENATOR MAY LOSE SEAT IN AIRLINE BRIBERY CASE
The Moscow Times, Russia
Itar-Tass
June 6 2006
Combined Reports
Senator Levon Chakhmakhchyan faced expulsion from the Federation
Council on Monday after security agents said they caught him with a
$300,000 bribe in a sting operation.
Chakhmakhchyan was the latest politician to be targeted in what
appears to largely be a jockeying for power in the run-up to the 2008
presidential election. Authorities are portraying the shakeups as a
drive against corruption.
State-run television prominently broadcast footage Monday of
Chakhmakhchyan, from the republic of Kalmykia, being questioned on
Friday after agents from the Federal Security Service detained two
associates and accused them of carrying a black briefcase containing
the cash.
Chakhmakhchyan, who was at the Moscow offices of an airline with his
associates, was released because of his parliamentary immunity, the
Prosecutor General’s Office said. Channel One television identified
the airline as Transaero on Sunday.
Prosecutors said the two associates of Chakhmakhchyan had sought to
blackmail a businessman to avoid a negative report on his company’s
activities by the Audit Chamber, the country’s main financial watchdog.
Prosecutors identified the two suspects as Igor Arushanov, the chief
accountant of the Association of Russian-Armenian Business Partnership,
and Armen Oganesyan, an Audit Chamber official.
Chakhmakhchyan is the president of the association, and Oganesyan is
his son-in-law.
Chakhmakhchyan has denied wrongdoing and denounced the incident as
a provocation.
Transaero spokesman Sergei Bykhal declined to comment Monday, citing
the ongoing investigation.
Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov ordered the Kalmykia
legislature to recall Chakh-makhchyan as its senator, council
spokesman Vladimir Yeremenko said. That would strip Chakh-makhchyan
of his immunity.
Kalmykia’s president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, supported Mironov, saying
local legislators should honor his request, Interfax reported.
A half-dozen prominent regional politicians have been forced out of
office in recent weeks.
After being detained last week, Volgograd Mayor Yevgeny Ishchenko
was charged Monday with abuse of office and engaging in illegal
business activities.

CHEAPENING PEACEKEEPING
By Alexander Golts
The Moscow Times, Russia
June 6 2006
No good deed goes unpunished, as they say. For more than 10 years,
Russian peacekeeping troops have prevented the renewal of hostilities
in the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and
Transdnestr. Now we are hearing calls for them to withdraw. Belgian
Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht has said that the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, which he chairs, is prepared to
allocate up to 10 million euros ($12.9 million) to cover the removal of
Russian troops from Transdnestr. Georgian lawmakers have threatened to
declare the mission in South Ossetia illegal. And Ukrainian Defense
Minister Anatoly Gritsenko has said that GUAM — an alliance that
includes Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova — should develop
its own peacekeeping force. Considering that the hot spots in the
Commonwealth of Independent States (apart from Nagorno-Karabakh)
are all monitored by Russian troops, Gritsenko’s comments amount to
a call for their withdrawal.
Russian leaders have responded with righteous indignation. “Our
peacekeepers are a bone in the throat of one side in these conflicts,”
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said recently. “Endless provocations
and dirty tricks have been directed against the peacekeepers. I have
spoken about this many times in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Our
soldiers will carry out their mandate until political solutions and
agreements are in place.”
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov maintains that the attacks on
peacekeepers in South Ossetia are the result of Tbilisi’s intention to
resort to force to resolve the conflict there. Top Russian officials
insist that the peacekeeping missions can legally remain in Georgia and
Moldova even against the will of the governments of these countries.
Tbilisi and Chisinau consistently argue that the Russian military is
using the peacekeepers to pursue its own interests in the region. The
leaders of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdnestr have repeatedly
called for their self-proclaimed states to be absorbed into the
Russian Federation. South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity has even
taken his case to the Russian Constitutional Court.
For its part, Moscow has adopted a provocative stance. A Foreign
Ministry spokesman has observed that, where Georgia is concerned,
only negotiations can make this a reality, and that the South Ossetian
position was based on the right of national self-determination. This
when Russia has been handing out passports to South Ossetian
residents for years. Passions on both sides have reached the point
where missions originally intended to prevent armed conflict could
lead to the outbreak of war.
All of these self-proclaimed republics appeared as the result
of conflicts initiated by the leaders of newly minted Soviet
successor states. They sought to secure power with victorious wars
that inevitably devolved into the murder of civilians, widespread
atrocities and defeat. Russian peacekeepers were deployed to separate
the warring factions and to stop the killing.
Regulation of the conflicts did not follow, however, because the
parties involved did not try to reconcile. The self-proclaimed
republics believed the peacekeepers had been sent in to preserve
their independence. Tbilisi and Chisinau took the opportunity to
accuse Russia of violating their territorial integrity. In the CIS,
reconciliation efforts never go anywhere, in large part because of
the position adopted by Moscow. President Vladimir Putin was telling
the truth when he said recently that Russia had no intention of
annexing neighboring territories. Moscow is simply exploiting existing
conflicts because before these countries can integrate into European
institutions they must settle their internal disputes, so the best
way to keep them out of the European Union and NATO is to keep those
conflicts simmering.
Moscow feels no obligation to influence the leaders of these
republics to push them toward a compromise. On the contrary, the
Kremlin’s actions have created the illusion that Russian guns will
always protect the status quo in these would-be states. Abkhazia,
Transdnestr and South Ossetia have turned into criminal-controlled
enclaves, and Georgia and Moldova have appealed to the international
community for help to secure the removal of Russian peacekeepers from
their territory.
The Russian peacekeeping experience offers an important lesson:
Such missions can only succeed when they are disinterested. When a
country such as Russia sends its peacekeepers into conflict zones, its
goal must be to prevent bloodshed, not to pursue ulterior political
motives. Moscow has given in to this temptation, and in so doing has
cheapened a noble undertaking.
Alexander Golts is deputy editor of the online newspaper Yezhednevny
Zhurnal.

THE SUPERPOWERS CLASH
by Malcolm Pein
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
June 5, 2006 Monday
ARMENIA took an unassailable lead in the 11th round of the Chess
Olympiad at Turin by defeating the Czech Republic 3-1 and are 3.5
points ahead with just two matches to play. Armenia should coast home
now and the battle will be for the minor medals. The world number
three, Levon Aronian, won after the remarkable intermezzo 11.Nf7!
with the point 11…Kxf7 12.dxe6+ and Bxb7 winning material.
L Aronian – D Navara
37th Olympiad Turin
Queen’s Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 f5
8.Qc2 Bf6 9.Ne5 d5 10.cxd5 Nxc3 11.Nf7! Qd7 12.Bxc3 Bxd5 13.Bxd5 Qxd5
14.e4! fxe4 15.Nxh8 Nc6 16.0-0 Ke7 17.Rae1 Rxh8 18.Rxe4 Rd8 19.Rfe1 Rd6
20.Rf4 g6 21.h4 Rd7 22.h5 Bxd4 23.hxg6 hxg6 24.Qxg6 Ne5 25.Qf6+ 1-0.

HOW A CADBURY OUTRANKS A BLAIR OR A BECKHAM
By Beth Hale
DAILY MAIL (London)
June 5, 2006 Monday
SOCIAL climbers don’t need to keep up with the Joneses any more ñ
it’s the Pakenhams and Cadburys they have to worry about now.
The names are among the most socially exclusive in Britain, along
with others such as Fortescue, Weiner and Wastie.
Researchers have just finished ranking the standing of 25,000 surnames.
And their findings reveal that while parents can give their child a
first name to make them appear more highbrow, there is no escaping
a downmarket surname.
The study shows that former Posh Spice Victoria Adams took a step
down the pecking order when she married footballer David Beckham.
Her maiden name outranks 61 per cent of the population, while Beckham
tops just 29 per cent.
And Elizabeth Hurley’s surname reveals that she is at heart a
middle-class girl made good with 52 per cent of the population having
a more high status name.
Several leading politicians have outshone the more lowly origins of
their surnames.
Blair is outranked by 86 per cent of the population and Brown fares
little better, being exceeded by 72 per cent.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett’s family name does better,
coming higher than about half the population. Much has been made of
the higher-class roots of Eton- educated Conservative leader David
Cameron, but still more than half the nation has a higher status name.
As for the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, only 42 per cent of the
population have a higher ranking name.
The research team at University College London have put their findings
online after studying and cross-referencing 46million census documents.
Members of the public can log on to to
discover the origins of their family name. The 12-month, £45,000
project-examined patterns of population movement, social mobility and
cultural identity. It also tracked the distribution of 25,000 surnames
in the 1998 electoral register and compared it with the 1881 census
to chart how people had moved around the country.
Professor Richard Webber and his team ranked names by using the
electoral roll to calculate their frequency in different postcodes,
taking into account employment levels, educational attainment,
financial data and health statistics for each postcode.
They then took an average status for each name from postal districts
across the country.
It emerged that names of Jewish and Armenian origin are among the
top rank.
The results showed that the top 1 per cent of names are dominated
by a mixture of traditional English names with those of more recent
immigrants.
Some upper-class sounding names such as Grosvenor which is the family
name of the Duke of Westminster have become so well- distributed around
the country that they come nowhere near the top of the status tree.
Professor Webber said: ‘People don’t choose their children’s surnames
but inherit them, so most English names are fairly evenly distributed
between higher and lower status areas.
‘But if you look at names that originated from other countries,
they tend to settle in either high or low status areas.
‘So there are a lot of Jewish and Armenian names at the top, and
Ghanian, Vietnamese and Bangladeshi names at the bottom.’
For many people, first names are a more obvious indicator of social
status.
So if you are looking for a high status title for your daughter,
call her Camilla or Elspeth.
If you have a son, name him Giles or Benedict.
And if appearances are important, then avoid Toyah, Wayne or Dwayne.
Professor Webber said: ‘The difference in class of first names is
much greater than for surnames.’
–Boundary_(ID_sXaph6Gv+EvaOctv7vAd1w) —

BUSH WILL BRING TOGETHER ALIYEV AND KOCHARYAN
by Sokhbet Mamedov
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 1 June, 2006, p.6
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 5, 2006 Monday
OVERTURE IN THE PROCESS OF SETTLEMENT OF THE KARABAKH PROBLEM IS TAPPED
BY WASHINGTON; A regular meeting of the heads of the two countries
which are in the conflict is planned to take lace at the beginning
of next week in Bucharest, during the summit “The Black Sea is for
partnership and dialog”.
The West doesn’t give up attempts to reconcile Presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia, Ilkham Aliyev and Robert Kocharjan, and to get from them
effective steps in settlement of the problem of Karabakh. A regular
meeting of the heads of the two countries which are in the conflict
is planned to take place at the beginning of next week in Bucharest,
during the summit “The Black Sea is for partnership and dialog”. The
fact that both Aliyev and Kocharjan will take part in this event
is confirmed in the process of the visit of the delegation of these
countries – co-chairmen of the Minsk group of OSCE, the corresponding
declarations were made by Head of MIA of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamedyarov
and Press-secretary of the President of Armenia Victor Sogomonyan.
It is interesting that the mission of mediators was reinforced
with Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Grigory Karasin,
Under-secretary of state of the USA Daniel Fried and Adviser to the
President of France on international questions Pier Morel. Commenting
upon the results of the meetings, which took place, Elmar Mamedjardov
reported to the journalists that this time mediators had some “new
ideas” concerning settlement of the conflict of Karabakh. Though,
mediators, as well as official figures of Azerbaijan and Armenia
preferred not to plant the details of these proposals.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan mass media states that according to the results
of the meeting in Baku and Yerevan “the mediators were able to find
a way to some compromise”. Special attention is paid to the fact
that the overture in the process of settlement of the conflict is
tapped step by step by Washington, which together with the partners
in the Minsk group of OSCE is intended by any means to solve the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 2006. This aim was confirmed in the
felicitation to Ilkham Aliyev concerning the Day of the Republic on
the 28th of May in Azerbaijan by President of the USA George Bush.
(…)
According to the opinion of Baku analysts, “impatience” of President
Bush is a hint to some agreements, which were achieved during the
negotiations in Washington. In Baku, it is not excluded that this
is all about some American preferences in return to signing the main
principles of the peace settlement of the conflict.
The wish of Washington to make the process more intensifying
is accounted for by two reasons. First of all, petrol pipe
Baku/Tbilisi/Dzheikhn has already started operating, and the USA
together with the other countries of the West want to exclude any
opportunity of destabilization of the situation in the region, to
say nothing of starting battle-actions. Secondly, peace in Southern
Caucasia is necessary for the USA taking into consideration the real
perspective of using this region for pressure on Iran.
According to the information, which appeared in press, Baku and Yerevan
were suggested to sign an agreement, which was based on the methodology
“step by step”. It is possible that it will be about stage-by-stage
liberation of the territories which had been occupied around Nagorny
Karabakh, and about return of forced emigrants to the territories of
their former houses, as well as about creation of a system of security,
which will guarantee impossibility of renewal of military actions with
engagement of peacekeeping forces and demilitarization of the region,
restoration of the economic relations and communication between the
sides of the conflict. As far as the status of Nagorny Karabakh is
concerned, the solution of this problem will be delayed.
To what extent the participation of the USA in this process concerning
Karabakh will be effective, only the Azerbaijan-Armenian meeting will
show, which will take place in Bucharest. (…)

MTS TO BE GOING TO PURCHASE 90% STAKE IN LARGEST ARMENIAN GSM-OPERATOR
RIA OREANDA
Economic News
June 5, 2006 Monday
Moscow. OREANDA. The largest Russian cellular company in the CIS –
Mobile Telesystems (MTS) made an application on purchase of 90 %
stake in the largest Armenian GSM-operator ArmenTel from Greek
telecommunication group OTE.
OTE has got 90 percent of shares of ArmenTel at the international
competition in the end of 1997, having received also a monopoly on
granting telecommunication services within 15 years.
According to ACM-Consulting by the beginning of 2006 ArmenTel has been
serving more than 321,000 subscribers. The second cellular operator
of Armenia – VivaCell – serves approximately 300,000.

RUSSIA SNUBS BLACK SEA SUMMIT AIMED AT COOPERATION
Agence France Presse — English
June 5, 2006 Monday 4:29 PM GMT
Nine countries of the Black Sea region promised on Monday to cooperate
more closely in order to foster prosperity and solve the region’s
“frozen conflicts” at a Bucharest summit snubbed by Russia.
Most countries from around the eastern European sea were represented
by presidents or senior ministers, but Moscow sent only its ambassador
to Romania.
Romanian President Traian Basescu spoke of the challenges facing the
region before his counterparts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Moldova and Ukraine, along with top ministers from Bulgaria, Turkey
and Greece.
The issues ranged from energy security and international crime to the
unresolved conflicts in secessionist regions of former Soviet states.
“We want to send a strong message to the world about our willingness
to address the lack of security in the region,” Basescu said in a
speech opening the event.
But Russia’s absence was all the more conspicuous for the fact that
Moscow holds the key to resolving some of the region’s issues.
“No cooperation process in this region would be complete without
Moscow’s participation,” Basescu said, adding that he expected a more
positive response from the Russians later on.
However Russia’s representative did not sign the summit’s joint
declaration, which called for more consultation among the countries in
the region to foster “sustainable development” and “closer cooperation
with the European Union institutions”.
Diplomatic sources said Moscow did not wish to encourage the
initiative which it viewed as a rival to the Organization of the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation, founded in 1992 but yet to deliver
any concrete results.
Washington, on the other hand, is very interested in developing ties
with the region and sent to Bucharest Jack Crouch, a former ambassador
to Romania who is now deputy national security advisor to President
George W. Bush.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Robert Kocharian and Ilham
Aliyev, took advantage of their presence in the Romanian capital
to restart their talks over the tricky issue of Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan whose status remains unresolved
since a bloody war in the early 1990s.
But after an initial meeting behind closed doors on Sunday, the
leaders’ positions did not appear to have shifted. Kocharian insisted
on “the Armenian people’s right to autonomy” while Aliyev defended
the need to “respect Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity”.
Terry Davis, the Council of Europe’s secretary-general, also attended
the summit and praised the Black Sea countries for wanting to speed
up regional development. He added that he would “firmly support”
those countries that wanted to join the EU.
“The world is ready to welcome the Black Sea tigers,” he said, but
added that “for them to show their teeth, words are not enough.”
Countries bordering on the Black Sea include Turkey, Bulgaria,
Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia, as well as the breakaway region
of Abkhazia.

CHESS PIECE: TURIN MOVES
by Bobby Ang
BusinessWorld
June 5, 2006 Monday
2006 Turin Chess Olympiad
Men’s Olympiad
20 May 2006 – 04 June 2006
Top Standings as of Round 11 (of 13)
1. Armenia (Aronian, Akopian, Asrian, Lputian, Sargissian, Minasian),
32.0/44
2-3. China (Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Pengxiang, Wang Yue,
Ni Hua, Zhao Jun), France (Bacrot, Lautier, And.Sokolov, Fressinet,
Vachier- Lagrave, Bauer) 28.5/44
4-5. Russia (Kramnik, Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich, Bareev,
Rublevsky), USA (Kamsky, Onischuk, Nakamura, Ibragimov, Kaidanov,
Akobian), 28.0/44
6-9. Czech (Navara, Hracek, Babula, Laznicka, Kalod, Cvek), Ukraine
(Ivanchuk, Volokitin, Karjakin, Eljanov, Moiseenko, Efimenko), Cuba
(Bruzon, Dominguez, Nogueira, Arencibia, Delgado, Quezada), Israel
(Gelfand, Smirin, Sutovsky, Avrukh, Huzman, Mikhalevsky), 27.5/44
10-11. Netherlands (Sokolov, Tiviakov, Van Wely, Nijboer, Van den
Doel, L’Ami), Germany (Naiditsch, Jussupow, Gustafsson, Luther, Lutz,
Graf), 27.0/44
Total of 150 teams participating
Armenia defeated the overachieving Czechs 3-1. Aronian’s spectacular
victory over David Navara is annotated below. They are 3.5 points
ahead of the second placers with two rounds left. Barring a disaster
of cataclysmic proportions we should soon be proclaiming Armenia
as the new no. 1 country of chess. The steady point production of
Aronian (6/9 on top board), Akopian (8/10) and the incredible Gabriel
Sargissian (he played in every round and scored 9/11) seems to indicate
an inevitable advance to the throne.
The way I see it the battle is confined to the silver medals. India
is the second seed but was taken out of medal contention by a 1-3
thumping delivered by the Israelis. Anand, although performing at a
2674 level, can perhaps be considered as a bit of a disappointment.
He beat FM Batchuluun (2303) in the second round but then slowed with
seven straight draws.
The Russians are still in contention but have not shown their best –
they have already lost thrice – to the Dutch, French, and Americans.
The last was the most vexing – Grischuk had a mating attack against
Nakamura but blundered grievously several times and it was he who
had to resign.
I am betting on France to take the silver and Russia the bronze. The
Frenchmen would be a most deserving medalist – they have yet to lose
a match and have defeated the Russians and Chinese in their individual
set- to.
The Philippines is still at no. 36 with 25.0/44. We had a chance to
climb up the score chart but a rather heavy loss to the Netherlands
in round 11 kicked us back down the standings. For a chance at a
decent finish we need 30 points, so in the last two rounds we have
to pick up 5 points. We accomplished this two years ago with 2.5-1.5
victories Hungary and Yugoslavia, two powerhouse countries. We’ve done
it before and can still do so now. Picking up from where we left off
last Friday, here is the round- by-round of the Philippines:
Rd 10. Philippines routed Malaysia 3.5-0.5. Paragua, GM Joey and
Dimakiling defeated Mas, Jonathan Chuah, and Nazreen Anas. Eugene Torre
was held to a draw by FM Lim Yee Weng. The Malaysian top board Mas
was coming off a nice upset win over Viktor Korchnoi in the previous
round, but Mark stopped him dead on his tracks. I knew GM Joey would
defeat Jonathan. During the 1999 Asian Team championship the Malaysian
second board requested for and got some private tutorials from Joey,
and his hero- worshipping was bound to prove a stumbling block.
Rd 11. We lost to the Netherlands 1.0-3.0. GM Joey has played perhaps
hundreds of games with Van Wely on the Internet Chess Club, and knew
that he could beat Van Wely, so, even with Black, he essayed a very
sharp line of the Nimzo-Indian. Problem is, he was insufficiently
prepared and did not respond correctly to the Dutchman’s theoretical
novelty. The loss followed quite quickly. Darwin Laylo had the
advantage in the opening vs Nijboer but overreached in his attempts
to win. Nevertheless, he made Nijboer work for the point, only giving
up after the 114th move.
FIDE elections
The incumbent, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov beat Bessel Kok for the FIDE
presidency by a wide margin (96:57). As many of you know Ilyumzhinov is
the President of the Kalmyk Republic, one of the 21 Russian republics,
administrative units with the greatest amount of autonomy within the
Russian Federation.
On the other hand Bessel Kok is a Dutch millionaire currently residing
in Prague. He was the creator of the SWIFT system for transfer of
funds between banks and later on served as the head of the Belgian
commission in charge of telecommunications (BELGACOM).
During their respective campaigns President Ilyumzhinov highlighted
the personal commitment he has made to chess, including injecting
his personal money of more than $20 million for prize funds of
tournaments. Bessel Kok ran on the basis of his proven professional,
managerial and organizational skills.
While the big margin of victory could have surprised some people,
I knew that Ilyumzhinov was unbeatable. Under the FIDE statutes each
member- nation was entitled to one vote, in other words Russia with
156 grandmasters and US Virgin Islands with only three rated players
(take note: I said rated, not titled) are given equal weight come
election time. Everyone knows that the small countries/federations
usually go along with the incumbents.
World Computer Championship
The World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) was also held in Turin
as a side-event.
Final Top Standings
1. Junior, 9.0/11
2-3. Shredder, Rajlich, 8.5/11
4. Zappa, 7.5/11
5-7. Spike, Diep, Jonny, 6.5/11
8-9. Crafty, Ikarus, 6.0/11
10-12. IsiChess MMX, Delfi 4.6, Chiron, 5.5/11
Total of 18 participants
The heavy favorite to win was Rajlich, which is actually Rybka (its
author is IM Rajlich), the new chess engine that has been making
waves and was highly touted as the strongest ever in chess history.
Zappa, being the defending champion, also was regarded as a favorite.
Shredder, of course, had won the championship so many times that no
one would have been surprised if it came out on top.
Instead, the hyper-aggressive Junior program rolled to victory with
7 wins and 4 draws. Junior is an Israeli program written by Amir
Ban and Shay Bushinsky. It started off its career as a positional
engine with a boa constrictor style, but starting the 6th edition
they made a conscious effort to move it towards aggressive play by
giving greater weight to mobility, piece activity and opponent’s king
safety factors. The result is games like this:
Junior – Uragano 3D [B33]
14th WCh Comp Turin (10), 31.05.2006
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 Nf6
8.Bg5 Be7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Nc4 Nd4 11.Nd5 Bg4 12.Qxg4 Nxc2+ 13.Kd1
Nxa1 14.Ncb6 Rb8 15.Bd3 Bg5 16.h4 Bh6 17.Ke2 Nb3 18.axb3 0-0 19.Bc4
Kh8 20.g3 Qe8 21.Rd1 Rd8 22.Qh5 Qc6 23.Kf1 Qc5 24.Kg2 Qc6 25.Qg4
Qe8 26.h5 f6 27.b4 Qf7 28.Qf5 Qe8 29.Bb3 Qf7 30.Rd3 g6 31.hxg6 hxg6
32.Qh3 Qh7 33.Rd1 Rf7 34.Rh1 f5 35.exf5 Rxf5 36.Ne7 Kg7 37.Nxf5+
gxf5 38.Qh4 Re8 39.Nd5 1-0
Count on me to buy the latest Deep Junior version from Chessbase!
And now what you have been waiting for, our featured game. I was
watching this online and can attest to the general gasp of disbelief
when Aronian …. oh, just play it over – worth your while!
Aronian, Levon (2756) _ Navara, David (2658) [E17]
37th Olympiad Turin ITA (11), 02.06.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 f5 8.Qc2
A move order trick. Normal is 8.d5 first and after 8…Bf6 then
9.Qc2. Navara did not think it made any difference. Wrong.
8…Bf6?! 9.Ne5!
With White not having played d4-d5 the long diagonal is still open
and Black’s knight on e4 is pinned against his bishop on b7.
9…d5 10.cxd5 Nxc3?
It is understandable that Black wanted to get rid of the long diagonal
pin, but now he gives Aronian an opening. To be fair, I was watching
the game online on the Internet Chess Club and no one there, including
several GMs and IMs, noticed anything amiss.
11.Nf7!!
Now that everybody notices 11…Kxf7 is impossible because of 12.dxe6+
Kxe6 13.Bxb7.
11…Qd7?
In the comfort of our study we notice that Black’s only move here is
11…Qc8! to defend the b7-bishop. Navara, of course, has just been
shocked by 11.Nf7 and is not in a good frame of mind.
12.Bxc3
With chagrin Black discovers that since the bishop on b7 is still
vulnerable, the white knight remains taboo.
12…Bxd5 13.Bxd5 Qxd5 14.e4! fxe4 15.Nxh8 Nc6 16.0-0 Ke7 17.Rae1
Rxh8 18.Rxe4 Rd8 19.Rfe1 Rd6 20.Rf4 g6 21.h4 Rd7
Protecting the c7 pawn before capturing on d4, otherwise the white
queen can take Qxc7 with check.
22.h5 Bxd4 23.hxg6 hxg6 24.Qxg6 Ne5 25.Qf6+
Black either loses his queen via 25…Kd6 26.Rxd4 or his king if
25…Ke8 26.Qf8. 1-0.

ARMENIANS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST MOSCOW KILLINGS
Agence France Presse — English
June 5, 2006 Monday 2:22 PM GMT
Around 100 people demonstrated outside the Russian embassy to Armenia
on Monday demanding an end to a string of racist killings in Moscow
of people of Armenian origin.
Activists at the demonstration led by the Armenian Helsinki Committee
waved placards marked “Stop fascism” and handed over a message for
the Russian ambassador saying that racist groups were acting “under
the protection of Russian state structures”.
Six people of Armenian origin have been killed in racially motivated
attacks in Moscow this year, the activists said.
“There is an ideological vacuum in Russia at the moment due to the
failure of democratic principles and values,” said the Helsinki
Committee’s chairman, Avetik Ishkhanian. “Several forces are trying
to fill this vacuum with nationalist ideology and they need to be
stopped”.
This Caucasus country has had close ties with Russia since the Soviet
Union’s 1991 collapse but they have been strained in recent months,
partly due to attacks on Armenians in Russia.
In the latest such attack a 19-year-old was stabbed to death on a train
on May 25 by a group of young people who shouted “Glory to Russia”,
a lawyer representing members of the Armenian community said.
Another activist, Arsen Kharatian, said it was time to re-evalute
the commonly held belief that Russians could do no wrong.
“It’s necessary to free ourselves of the stereotype of the Russian
who one can’t speak out against … Both Russia and Armenia should
fight at state level against racism,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress