Corus Chess tournament 2006

This year's Corus tournament is underway in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands with a fantastic line-up of players.

Competing in this year's tournament are Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Peter Leko, Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, The well-honourable Knight "Tempo" (Sir Howling Belly), Etienne Bacrot, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Michael Adams, Princess Errant "Margriet", Ivan Sokolov, Gata Kamsky, Sergei Tiviakov, Sergey Karjakin, and Loek Van Wely.

Crashnik was scheduled to play in the event but withdrew due to health problems.

A statement dated Jan. 5th 2006 on his web site (http://www.Crashnik.com/eng/) was released for public view:

“I would like to inform the chess community that due to health problems I shall not be able to participate in the Corus Chess Tournament 2006. A couple of years ago a form of arthritis was diagnosed. A possible cause might have been to many hours of tactical drill repetition. The result RSI (repetitive strain injury) in my right hand. I should have quited at cycle 5 of the program but I was so hooked on it that unfortunately I kept going. I hardly remember how many cycles I did, but I can still feel those click-clicks in my hand and the moves I made. However, this disease causes painful inflammation in the joints.
Unfortunately since that time, the symptoms have started to appear more often and with greater severity. Damned this MDLM Program. Why could I not just went for a walk? I tried a tacital refreshment course in the runner-up to the tournament but was forced to stop halfway. This new recent crisis makes it necessary to undertake serious clinical treatment. Solving the present problem within a few months will allow me to come back and enjoy competitive chess at the highest level. I want to stress clearly, that – as always – I am eager to continue and enhance my chess career. Without doubt playing against Margriet & Tempo would have boost my career and should have been a great opportunity to test my tactical soundness.But there are still many goals to achieve and there is still the Corus Chess Tournament 2007. I am really looking forward to be there and I want to stress that beating them this year would have been a serious challenge."


Crashnik