Chess, culture, music, football: Highlights from the Olympiad’s free day
The only free day at the Chess Olympiad offers a perfect opportunity to rest, recharge, and gather thoughts before the second half of the tournament. It’s also a wonderful chance to explore Budapest and participate in various chess activities. The day was filled with chess events across the city. In the morning, filming for Juga’s unreleased chess song, “Queen Trap,” took place at the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts. Juga, renowned in the chess world for her hit songs with chess themes, embarked on an ambitious project to highlight the best female chess players and women in chess roles—organizers, streamers, photographers, and arbiters. Participants included Alexandra Kosteniuk, Pia Cramling, Jovanka Houska, Natalia Zhukova, and many others. This artistic project, in collaboration with the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess, will result in a short music film to be released on Juga’s channels. During the filming, a heartwarming moment occurred when Jorge proposed to Maria, and she said yes. Both play for Panama’s national teams at the Chess Olympiad. They met and bonded over chess when Maria moved to Panama from Venezuela. This beautiful moment can be seen on the @fidewomen Instagram channel, with the witty comment, “The queen got trapped.” Judit Polgar’s Global Chess Festival opened at the National Gallery. Over the past ten years, it has become a must-attend event, offering a full-day family experience centered around chess. The festival features games, workshops, chess tournaments, and more. This year’s festival patron is Ernő Rubik, the famous Hungarian inventor known for the Rubik’s Cube. Judit Polgar played a simul against eight communities, featuring creators and representatives from various fields. The legendary Polgar sisters—Susan, Sofia, and Judit—held a popular autograph session. Argentine chess prodigy, 10-year-old Faustino Oro, an international master with a 2434 FIDE rating, also visited the festival and participated in the activities. The festival will continue on the second day with the Educational Chess Summit at the Intercontinental Hotel. While many chess players explored the city, world champion Ding Liren and challenger Gukesh D had a significant engagement—a photoshoot and filming session for the upcoming World Championship match in Singapore. Their paths may cross again soon, as they could face each other on the chessboard in the highly anticipated India vs. China match in Round 7! After the photoshoot, the world champion headed to the football field to participate in a friendly football tournament for chess players. Many Olympiad participants joined in, divided into six teams: Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Hungary, and FIDE. After intense matches, Team Europe emerged victorious, with the Americas finishing second, Asia third, and FIDE fourth. The highlight of this wonderful day was a concert by chess grandmaster and Hungarian legend Lajos Portisch. At 87, he still sings opera arias. From 6 pm, he performed German, Italian, and Hungarian opera arias at the Petőfi Museum of Literature. Written by WGM Anna Burtasova Photos: Michal Walusza, Mark Livshitz and Mihály Nagy Official website: chessolympiad2024.fide.com
Opera and chess – Lajos Portisch celebrated 45th Chess Olympiad with an aria evening
Lajos Portisch, the legendary Hungarian chess player who was awarded the title of the Sportsman of the Nation, held an aria evening on the free day of the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad, on September 17 at the Petőfi Museum of Literature. The grandmaster’s aria repertoire was accompanied by a unique painting, as Antti Favén’s world-famous work The Chess Players was also on display. In addition to his Olympic and National Athlete titles, the 87-year-old international grandmaster has won nine Hungarian championships and has come close to the individual world championship final on several occasions. He has sat at the chess board 260 times in 20 Chess Olympiads, scoring a total of 176.5 points. Last year, he was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame, along with Judit Polgár. But Lajos Portisch, also known as the Hungarian Botvinnik, has another passion besides chess: singing. On September 17, the versatile, veteran athlete’s unique heroic baritone voice was on display to a wider audience at an aria recital in the Károlyi Palace’s Ceremonial Hall, the seat of the Petőfi Museum of Literature. The artist-player performed arias from operas by Mozart, Wagner, Puccini, Verdi, Leoncavallo, Erkel, Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. Lajos Portisch could not have sung in an unconventional setting: the imposing Ceremonial Hall of the Károlyi Palace is itself capable of evoking the world of cultural salons, but the unique evening was made complete by Antti Favén’s painting The Chess Players. The artwork, a true rarity in the history of art and sport, was provided by the Nemes Gallery. The painting is one of the most influential works of the Finnish artist’s Paris period and also the largest chess-themed painting in the world. It depicts a scene from everyday life at the Café de la Régence in Paris. The café was already a centre of French chess in the 18th century, and it was a must for any chess player visiting the city. Through a friend, Antti Favén was introduced to the café by American chess master Frank Marshall, where he made sketches of visiting celebrities and sketched on paper the scenes around the chess tables in quick sketches. The Chess Players isFavén’s summary composition, which he composed based on his decades of experience in the chess circle. The work features legendary players such as Siegbert Tarrasch, Frank Marshall, David Janowsky, Amos Burn and Ossip Bernstein. The event was organized by the National Event Management Agency in cooperation with the Petőfi Museum of Literature and the Nemes Gallery, FIDE (International Chess Federation) and the Hungarian Chess Federation. Photos: Mihály Nagy