Report One: Opening Ceremony by Malcolm Pein in Bahrain

Frederic Friedel of ChessBase holds the falcon that won the white pieces for Fritz in game one. He and the world champion face His Highness Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain. Photo © Dagobert Kohlmeyer

No its not that Scot again - sorry to his 100s of fans out there. I am used to wearing a lot of hats but now that our regular columnist is decamping from Edinburgh to Seattle in search of weak coffee and strong baseball I am now doubling, nay tripling as Match Director of the ‘ Brains in Bahrain’ match, Daily Telegraph chess reporter and now TWIC correspondent. In the ninth and tenth century your ancient TWIS (The Week in Shatranj) reporter would have been regularly in the Arab world watching the great Shatranj players of the day playing in the court of the Caliphs of the Arab empire. However, after spreading the game to Europe via Spain the Arab empire retreated and so did Shatranj leaving the Europeans to develop the game of chess.

Now the Bahrainis want to play catch up and they have the enthusiasm and the resources to do it. The three week long struggle between Kramnik and Deep Fritz is sponsored by the General Organisation of Youth and Sport in Bahrain and held under the patronage of the King of Bahrain Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa

This match was originally supposed to have taken place a year ago but the September 11th attacks forced its cancellation and the subsequent decline of Braingames who (dis) organised the last Classical World Championship match forced another delay. Einstein TV took over and as their chess advisor I was presented with the less than joyful position that nearly three quarters of the budget had been spent already. I wonder who could have done that ?

However thanks to the generosity of GOYS enough money was found to get a full TV crew out here and organise an arbiter a commentary team of Nigel Short, Julian Hodgson, Danny King and the overworked writer. We have all been put up in the splendour of the Gulf Hotel and there is so much food. I was still in awe of it until we were taken to the Royal Meridien Hotel for the Opening ceremony.

Photo of inside of the Gulf Hotel - not bad eh! Photo Mig Greengard

This was lavish, the Royal Meridien was the original venue and it is even more beautiful than the Gulf Hotel. There were four Government Ministers, lots of Ambassadors and too many members of the Royal Al Khalifa family to count. The event was held on the croquet lawn and as the band struck up the Bahraini national anthem I noticed the camouflaged commandos in the bushes around the lawn and the sharpshooters on the roof. The Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa was about to make his entrance.

There was some traditional dancing from local children and then Kramnik was welcomed to Bahrain by the Crown Prince who presided over an elaborate ceremony to determine the colours. Two Bahraini falconers and their birds decked out in white and black stood under two curtained canopies. The Crown Prince pointed to one and the curtain was drawn to reveal that Kramnik would be black in the first game.

Frederic Friedel spoke for ChessBase and Vladimir Kramnik spoke for mankind. I liked the two closing quotes:

Friedel - "May the best entity win".

Kramnik- "Chess is an intelligent game presented and staged from an intelligent land for intelligent people all over the world" the words of Max Euwe.

The birds were very well behaved and Frederic even held one. Phew it was hot, at least 40 degrees but the drinks kept coming.

Vladimir Kramnik, His Highness Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain and Frederic Friedel of ChessBase. Photo © Dagobert Kohlmeyer