Magnus Carlsen

Yesterday, about half the players, seconds and accompanying persons joined the interesting excursion to Balaklava near Sevastopol.
Courtesy of the organisers we had an excellent English speaking guide in addition to the Russian speaking.

As a major Black Sea marine base with access to the Mediterranean sea, Sevastopol held such importance during the second world war that the most numerous man-to-man battle of the war took place at the Sapun ridge sheltering the city from the south. The Germans captured Sevastopol in 1942 but in May 1944 two red army regiments conquered the ridge and finally managed to end the German seize.


Our guide, Shirov and Nisipeanu in front of the war artilleri weapon exhibition.

Afterwards we visited the diorama (a physical war scene model with a painting behind giving a vivid impression of the terrible battle) up at the ridge, and later the Balaklava harbour nearby. 

Both Balaklava and Sevastopol served as Soviet submarine bases during the cold war, but it remained a deep secret that the chalkstone mountain next to Balaklava harbour also housed atomic bomb proof submarine repair and storage facilities.



On top of the hill to the left there was a chalkstone quarry, and the activities and noise in the quarry facilitated the secret building of the cavern submarine facilities from 1953 to 1961 and the subsequent use until 1991.  
Although a depressing monument of the cold war, one could not fail to be impressed by the size and engineering of the facilities, with several 10 tons leaden doors shielding the interior, a capacity for 8 large submarines and the support of 3000 people for a month in case of a nuclear attack.
The atomic nuclear war heads stored in the submarine base was sold back to Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.




Remnants of 14th century Genovese fortresses at the entrance of the Balaklava harbour.

We were told that Sevastopol itself was in a state of somewhat chaos as they celebrate their 225th anniversary both yesterday and today, but it might be the object of next year's excursion instead. 

Yesterday two photographers from a major US news paper visited Foros and Magnus spent a (too) long session posing for a portrait.        

In the evening we saw the Swedish football team lose on extended time against Spain.
They might still qualify, but need to avoid a loss against the Russians later this week. 

Today Magnus has black against D.Nisipeanu, Rumania. They have played three classic chess draws in the past (in 2004 and 2006). Lets hope it will be an exciting game!

Henrik Carlsen,
Foros, June 15th, 2008