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Kasparov wins first World Cup of Rapid Chess
Cannes, France - Garry Kasparov proved once again that no matter how many other people have world titles, he still seems the clear candidate to be called the world's strongest player. Another convincing victory, though in an event that suffered from being staged at the same time as the traditional Melody Amber.
In the Girl Stars Trophy Russian WGM Alexandra Kosteniuk recovered from a 0-2 start to beat 15-year-old French WIM Marie Sebag 3½-2½ with a victory in the final game. In the final day's blitz match Kosteniuk won 5-1. The young ladies were the conduit for FIDE's fashion debut, wearing the new black and white Olympic uniforms.
Weekend results:
Sunday FINAL:
Garry KASPAROV - Evgeny BAREEV: 1½-½:
½-½, 1-0
*****
Saturday Semifinals:
Alexander GRISCHUK - Garry KASPAROV 1-3
½-½, ½-½; Tie-break: 0-1, 0-1
Judit POLGAR - Evgeny BAREEV: ½-1½
0-1, ½-½
*****
Friday quarterfinals:
Vladislav TKACHIEV - Garry KASPAROV: ½-1½
½-½, 0-1
Etienne BACROT - Evgeny BAREEV: ½-1½
0-1, ½-½
Alexander GRISCHUK - Mikhail GUREVICH: 4-3
0-1, 1-0; Tiebreak: 0-1, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0, 1-0
Judit POLGAR - Michael ADAMS: ½-1½
½-½, 1-0
Kasparov was a convincing winner, though Tkachiev made some token gesture of pressing a bit with white in game one, it was smoothly match over when Kasparov got the advantage of the first move.
France's other hope, young Etienne Bacrot, went out after a business-like performance by the experienced Russian. A somewhat panicky effort led to endgame torture in the first game as white, and though Bacrot managed to mount a bit of pressure as black in the return game, it never looked nearly enough.
Top seed Michael Adams will probably lose a lot of sleep, after this match. The decisive game looked resignable for Polgar, who was a pawn down, bound, gagged and under attack. Somehow, Judit got a finger loose, then a hand, then an arm ... suddenly she was free and a flustered Adams was battered senseless by the energy escapees tend to muster.
Grischuk-Gurevich was a titanic struggle with the aggressive wonder-boy constantly on the verge of elimination. When the players finally staggered offstage, Grischuk stabbed the air with his arms in jubilation. This was one of those classic duels where one cannot help but mourn for the gallant loser, who deserved a kinder fate. Grischuk's drawing of the white pieces for the final, sudden death game was perhaps the real margin of victory.
*****
Day Two:
The top favorites went through, but there were plenty of surprises as well. The French duo of Tkachiev and Bacrot gladdened local hearts with strong preformances in Group B to edge out Kasdzhanov and huge favorite Alex Morozevich, who was sent home early in embarrassing fashion.
Group A was dominated by Kasparov who gleefully dispatched Bareev and Lautier (seconds of Kramnik, who unseated Kasparov at the BGN world title match). Judit Polgar had to sneak through via tie-break, which she won convincingly over Svidler and Lautier. So the French had to settle for two players in the quarterfinals, but fans of the world's strongest woman player will be well satisfied.
| Group A play-off |
Heat 1
Svidler - Polgar ½-½
Lautier - Svidler 0-1
Polgar - Lautier 1-0
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Heat 2
Polgar - Svidler 1-0
Svidler - Lautier 0-1
Lautier - Polgar 0-1 |
*****
Day One:
Kasparov took charge in Group A, and Bareev and Polgar have also looked reasonably impressive. And if these four are to go forward, who will be the unfortunate one to miss the lucrative boat? Local hero Joel Lautier, who started very well before being derailed by Kasparov? Wonderboy Grischuk, who must be a public favorite? Or friendly Peter Svidler, looking to elbow his way back into the world elite once again?
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| Mikhail Gurevich
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| Photo: FFE
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In Group B Belgium's ex-Russian superman Mikhail Gurevich bucked the odds by shoving his way into clear first place. Favorite Adams has been solid and is usually a sure thing in big money events, the faster the better.
Youngsters Kasimdzhanov and Etienne Bacrot have their hands on the final qualification spots, and should beware of speed king Vlad Tkachiev. And if the creative Morozevich exits at the first hurdle, the event will surely be a greyer place ...
Full tables for preliminaries:
While the sad decision to arrange this event in conflict with the traditional Melody Amber tournament of rapid and blindfold chess does no one any favors, it is a testimony to the amount of talent in the game that both tournaments remain attractive.
It would obviously have been nice to have the FIDE world champion Viswanathan Anand (India) and BGN champion Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) here as well as pretender Alexei Shirov (Spain) at the very least.
To make up for much of the world elite remaining faithful to Amber, this FIDE event compensates with an interesting blend of nationalities and the ever-popular magnets Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar. And we cannot forget the highest rapid chess player in the world, England's Michael Adams - though in the tables below the conventional Elo ratings are used.
Preliminary Groups:
| GROUP
A - World Cup of Rapid Chess, Cannes 2001 |
Total |
| Garry Kasparov |
2849 |
Russia |
* |
1 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
5½ |
| Evgeny Bareev |
2704 |
Russia |
0 |
* |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
4 |
| Peter Svidler |
2696 |
Russia |
½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
0 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
3½ |
| Alexander Grischuk |
2676 |
Russia |
½ |
0 |
½ |
* |
1 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
4 |
| Judit Polgar |
2675 |
Hungary |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
* |
½ |
1 |
1 |
3½ |
| Joël Lautier |
2653 |
France |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
1 |
1 |
3½ |
| Boris Gulko |
2642 |
USA |
½ |
1 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
* |
1 |
3 |
| Christian Bauer |
2618 |
France |
0 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
* |
1 |
| GROUP
B - World Cup of Rapid Chess, Cannes 2001 |
Total |
| Michael Adams |
2745 |
England |
* |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
5 |
| Alexander Morozevich |
2742 |
Russia |
½ |
* |
0 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Mikhail Gurevich |
2693 |
Belgium |
½ |
1 |
* |
1 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
5 |
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
2692 |
Uzbekistan |
½ |
1 |
0 |
* |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
4 |
| Jiangchuan Ye |
2672 |
China |
0 |
½ |
0 |
½ |
* |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Vladislav Tkachiev |
2671 |
France |
½ |
1 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
* |
0 |
1 |
4½ |
| Etienne Bacrot |
2618 |
France |
0 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
* |
½ |
4½ |
| Hicham Hamdouchi |
2541 |
Morocco |
0 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
* |
2 |
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