International Chess News Archive
2004
Kasparov wins the 57th Russian Championship Superfinal [27/11/04]
The 57th Russian Championship Superfinal began in Moscow on 15 November
and runs until 27 November. The tournament was originally to have 14 players
but world champion Vladimir Kramnik withdrew citing ill health (read
his statement here) some days before the tournament was due to begin.
At this point Alexander Khalifman was left out of the tournament in order
to make an even number of competitors. Then, at the last minute and despite
attending the pre-tournament press conference, ex-world champion Anatoly
Karpov withdrew citing business reasons. An attempt to restore Khalifman
was turned down by the former FIDE champion as he had in the meantime
undertaken to play in a rapidplay tournament in Estonia. So the tournament
came down to 11 players: Garry Kasparov, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler,
Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Grischuk and six other very strong grandmasters.
Kasparov is hot favourite, especially since he plays White against three
of the other four 2700+ players. Official coverage on www.russiachess.ru.
Time control: 40/100m, 20/50m, all/10m, with 30 second increments throughout.
Final: Round 11 - Garry Kasparov was already
the 57th Russian champion with a round to spare so there was not too much
to play for. Grischuk looked to have good winning chances against him
in the last round but Kasparov's defences held. Elsewhere three of the
tournament's main underachievers, Svidler, Morozevich and Bareev, secured
consolatory wins, but all three stand to lose rating points. Kasparov's
triumph has been richly deserved, particularly since his mid-tournament
switch to the risk-taking, swashbuckling style of his youth. His opponents
have had their chances but not taken them. In the end the expected challenge
to Kasparov simply did not materialise: Svidler and Morozevich in particular
showed very poor form. Scores: 1 Kasparov 7½/10; 2 Grischuk 6;
3 Dreev 5½; 4-7 Bareev, Morozevich, Motylev Svidler 5; 8-10 Epishin,
Korotylev, Timofeev 4½; 11 Tseshkovsky 2½. Download
games • Games
Viewer
Azmaiparashvili Under Arrest [01/11/04]
The closing ceremony of the 36th Olympiad was marred by a disgraceful
incident, the facts of which are hotly disputed by FIDE, on one side,
and the Olympiad organisers and Spanish Chess Federation (FEDA), on the
other. What we do know for definite is that, as of today, GM Zurab
Azmaiparashvili, Georgian federation president and FIDE vice-president,
is locked up in a Spanish prison cell awaiting trial for assaulting a
Spanish security policeman. For FIDE's version of the story, click
here, and for the Spanish organisers' version, click
here. At the closing ceremony Azmaiparashvili was sitting near the
front of the auditorium. At one point he tried to get an important message
through to the officials on stage. His way through was barred by security
officials. At this point there is a vast disparity between the two versions
of the story. The Spanish organisers/federation allege that Azmai head-butted
a security policeman's mouth without provocation. FIDE alleges that Azmai
was set upon without provocation and that he was 'heavily beaten up'.
The Spanish press release, issued after the FIDE press release, alleges
'lies and distortions' in FIDE's account of what happened.
The 44-year-old Georgian is no stranger to controversy
in the chess world. In Strumica (Macedonia) in 1995 there were allegations
that he gained a lot of rating points from a fake tournament. Earlier
this year his part in the organisation of the Women's World Championship
led to vigorous protests from two Georgian women grandmasters alleging
intimidation and verbal bullying (click
here on the ChessBase website). And at last year's European Championship,
one of his opponents mysteriously allowed him to move a different piece
after he had first touched another (any move of which would have lost
immediately) (story
here). Azmaiparashvili went on to win that championship.
Latest on 'Azmai-Gate' (21:00, 01/11/04): Azmaiparashvili
has been released on bail. See the latest FIDE
press release in which they are still placing all the blame on the
organisers.
Chess Olympiad, Calvia, Mallorca 14-31 Oct [01/11/04]
The 36th Chess Olympiad took place in Calvia, Mallorca, Spain. Official
website: http://www.36chessolympiad-daily.com.
And a detailed
statistical breakdown is available here. Latest: Last round
- Ukraine took the gold medals with a 3-1 last round win - their first
ever Olympiad gold medal. Russia were caught by Armenia on game points
but Russia still took the silver medals on tie-break. Armenia were third.
China had already secured the gold medals in the women's competition but
there was a good scrap for the silver - it looks like USA will just pip
Russia to second place. England had a modest win against Macedonia so
finished in their lowest place ever (30th - despite Adams' excellent 10/13
- giving him the bronze medal for board one), Scotland were heavily beaten
by Serbia and Ireland beat Belgium so, not only did Scotland not overhaul
England, they finished below Ireland. Wales fielded a team designed to
give Richard Jones a norm chance against the strongest possible opposition
- a perfectly reasonable plan but it didn't work and they lost heavily.
The England women beat India 2-1 with Harriet Hunt
beating Humpy Koneru to finish on an excellent 9½/13 (4th best
score on board one, TPR of 2558). Jovanka Houska also had a welcome return
to form with 8/13 and made her second full IM norm (over 10 rounds). Thus
England's women finished 8th despite their seeding at no.27. The Welsh
and Irish teams will be pleased with the showing of players such as Abigail
Cast (7½/13), Olivia Smith (8/12) and Hannah Lowry-O'Reilly (7/10,
7th best on board four).
One factor to remember about this Olympiad - the time
limit, which is 90 minutes/all moves with 30 seconds added per move. This
is little more than rapidplay and should be borne in mind when assessing
how teams fared. It favours younger players as exemplified by the winners
who, apart from 35-year-old Ivanchuk, had an average age of about 20.
Just as cricket selectors pick different squads for one-day and test match
cricket, team selectors should perhaps select their teams with the time
limit in mind. Better still, FIDE should revert to a sensible time control.
This 90m/30s stuff is hated by most professional players and produces
second-rate chess for the spectators. None of the arguments for speeded-up
time limits make any sense. It is just intransigence and ignorance on
the part of FIDE, and conforms to Lubosh Kavalek's theory that "tournaments
are organised for the convenience of the organisers". To end on a
positive note - well done to the Calvia website people who did a superb
job from the beginning to the end of the tournament. Bien hecho, amigos!
JS
Rd 1 - England 2½-1½ Turkey, Bulgaria
3½-½ Wales, Scotland 4-0 Hong Kong, Ireland 3½-½
Panama - Women: Puerto Rico 0-3 England, Wales ½-2½
Czech Rep, Ireland 0-3 Moldova.
Rd 2 - Portugal 1-3 Scotland, Croatia 1-3 England,
Denmark 2½-1½ Ireland, Wales 3½-½ Liechtenstein
- Women: Ukraine 1½-1½ England, Bosnia 2-1 Wales,
Kenya 0-3 Ireland.
Rd 3 - England 3-1 Denmark, Scotland 2½-1½
Norway, Ireland 2½-1½ Portugal, Bangladesh 3-1 Wales - Women:
England 2½-½ Moldova, Ireland 0-3 Uzbekistan, Wales 2-1
Tajikistan.
Rd 4 - England 2½-1½ Canada, Scotland 1½-2½
Azerbaijan, Ireland 1-3 Phillipines, Wales 1½-2½ Andorra
- Women: England 2½-½ Slovakia, Wales 1½-1½
Portugal, Ireland 0-3 Finland.
Rd 5 - England 1-3 Poland, Scotland ½-3½
Bulgaria, Ireland 3-1 Guatemala, Wales 2-2 Palestine - Women: England
0-3 China, Wales 1½-1½ Italy, Ireland 1-2 Albania.
Rd 6 - England 3-1 Mexico, Scotland 3-1 Kyrgyzstan,
Ireland ½-3½ Greece, Wales 3½-½ Uganda - Women:
England 1½-1½ Belarus, Wales 2-1 Mexico, Ireland 2½-½
Japan.
Rd 7 - England 1½-2½ Netherlands,
Scotland 1½-2½ Slovenia, Ireland 3½-½ Wales
- Women: England 3-0 Spain B, Wales 1-2 Turkey, Ireland 1½-1½
Puerto Rico.
Rd 8 - England 1½-2½ Hungary, Scotland
2-2 Iceland, Ireland 1½-2½ Latvia, Wales 1½-2½
Pakistan - Women: England 1-2 Lithuania, Wales ½-2½
Spain A, Ireland 1½-1½ Sri Lanka
Rd 9 - England 2-2 Iceland, Scotland ½-3½
Bosnia, Ireland 1-3 Norway, Wales 4-0 Malta - Women: England 1-2
Armenia, Wales 1½-1½ Bolivia, Ireland 1½-1½
Bangla Desh
Rd 10 - England 1½-2½ Vietnam,
Scotland 2-2 Morocco, Ireland 2½-1½ Pakistan, Wales 1-3
Albania - Women: England 2-1 Serbia & H, Wales 2-1 Albania,
Ireland 2-1 IPCA.
Rd 11 - England 3-1 Indonesia, Scotland 3-1 Spain
C, Ireland 1-3 Andorra, Wales 3½-½ Thailand - Women:
England 3-0 Mongolia, Wales 1½-1½ Estonia, Ireland 1-2 Tajikistan
Rd 12 - England 2-2 Belarus, Scotland 2-2 Austria,
Ireland 3½-½ Peru, Wales ½-3½ Belgium - Women:
England 1-2 France, Wales 1½-1½ Bangladesh, Ireland 1-2
Canada.
Rd 13 - England 2-2 Australia, Scotland 3-1 Turkey,
Ireland 2½-1½ Brazil, Wales 2½-1½ Costa Rica
- Women: England 1-2 Hungary, Wales 3-0 New Zealand, Ireland 2-1
Honduras.
Rd 14 - England 2½-1½ Macedonia,
Scotland ½-3½ Serbia, Ireland 2½-1½ Belgium,
Wales ½-3½ Dominican Republic - Women: England 2-1
India, Wales 1-2 Colombia, Ireland ½-2½ Iraq.
Final Standings - 1 Ukraine 39½; 2 Russia
36½; 3 Armenia 36½, 4 USA 35, 5 Israel 34½... 30th
England 31... 43rd Ireland 30... 52nd Scotland 29... 88th Wales 26 - Women:
1 China 31; 2 USA 28; 3 Russia 27½; 4 Georgia 27½, 5 France
25½ ... 8th England 25 ... 52nd Wales 20½ ... 80th Ireland
17½.
Title Norms: British and Irish title norms were
achieved by John Shaw (GM norm, 12 rounds); Jovanka Houska (IM, 11 rounds);
Richard Jones (IM, 11 rounds); and Sam Collins (IM, 14 rounds). A full
list of title norms achieved may be found at http://www.chess21.com
Team order is determined in the first instance by game
points, then by total game points of teams played, only then by match
points.
Kramnik still the Champ [18/10/04]
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) successfully defended his world championship title
in Brissago, Switzerland, by winning his final game against Peter Leko
of Hungary. They played 14 games, with Kramnik retaining his title as
the match ended a 7-7 draw. The final game (Monday) saw Leko exchange
queens at an early stage to try to grovel his way to a draw. Online pundits
were very sceptical of his chances after this and they were proved right
when Kramnik broke through with a few powerful positional thrusts. Thus
Leko's chance of the championship was cruelly snatched away at the last.
Kramnik left it very, very late but we finally saw the sort of chess of
which he is capable. Tim Krabbe makes a mordant pictorial comment on the
play in this match in his chess
diary web page - that said, the last couple of games brought the match
to life.. Kramnik won games 1 and 14 and Leko won games 5 and 8. Score:
Leko 7, Kramnik 6. Download
games • Games
Viewer • Official
Website
The inaugural World Senior Team Championship is taking place at
the Ocean Castle Hotel, Port Erin, Isle of Man (5-12 October). 12 teams
are competing and Viktor Korchnoi is on board one for Switzerland.
Final: Round 8 results and games (PGN/viewer). Israel and Germany
shared the gold medals while Switzerland took bronze.
FIDE World Championship - Kasimdzhanov vs Kasparov [13/10/04]
FIDE (World Chess Federation) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has announced
that the match between FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov and his
challenger, former champion and world no.1 rated player Garry Kasparov,
will take place in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) in January 2005. The prize
fund is US$1.2m. The match will be played over 12 games. The time control
to be used is to be 40/2hrs, 20/1hr, 15m/all with 30 seconds increment
in the last period. In the event of a 6-6 tie, rapidplay/blitz play-offs
will be employed as per the FIDE knock-out world championship. In accordance
with an agreement drawn up in Prague in 2002, the winner of the Dubai
match can look forward to challenging the winner of the current Kramnik-Leko
match in a world championship reunification match.
European Club Cup, 2-9 Oct [11/10/04]
The European Club Cup took place in Cesme, Turkey from 2-9 October. Top
seeds NAO (Adams, Grischuk, Bacrot, Vallejo Pons, Lautier, Radjabov) retained
their title of last year with 12 mps/14 (7 rounds, 6 board matches). Kasparov
played on top board for Ekaterinburg but had an indifferent result: 3/6
with a win against Shirov and a loss against Rublevsky. Nigel Short achieved
a 2761 TPR with 5½/7 for second-placed Bosna Sarajevo. Two teams
from Wales (Cardiff and Nidum Liberals) and one from Ireland (Dublin)
took part. Official website: http://www.tsf.org.tr/ecup2004/ecupmain.htm
Gausdal Classics, 23 Sept - 1 Oct [26/09/04]
The Gausdal Classics tournament is current in progress. There are several
events including a GM tournament, two IM events and a FIDE-rated tournament.
There are four GMs in the top section, including Magnus Carlsen. Harriet
Hunt, Sam Collins and Ian Thompson are playing in the IM-A tournament
while Neil Berry is in the IM-B competition. Official
Website.
36th Olympiad, Calvià, Mallorca (ESP), 14-31 Oct [21/09/04]
Click
here to visit the official Olympiad website. We've previously listed
the British team line-ups in the British
Chess News Round-Up: Aug/Sept 2004 - a reminder that the English team
is 1 Adams, 2 Short, 3 McShane, 4 Speelman, 5 Hebden, 6 Wells, with sponsorship
from Deloitte. This has since been confirmed via a BCF
press release. However, though the press release makes no mention
of the fact, it transpires that Nigel Short won't be available until the
latter stages of the competition. He is in the line-up for the Essent
Hoogeveen tournament in the Netherlands which runs from 17-23 October,
which presumably means that he will not be able to join the England team
until 24 October - the day of the 9th (of 14) rounds in Mallorca.
Fischer vs Deportation: Into the Endgame? [26/08/04]
On 24 August Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa served a deportation
order on former world champion Bobby Fischer, but Fischer's lawyers have
sought to counter this by claiming that a deportation would be a flagrant
violation of Bobby Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection
under Japanese law. Latest
on the Fischer deportation saga (and links to previous episodes).
Earlier... Bobby Fischer to marry Miyoko Watai, acting head of the Japan
Chess Association, according to a Reuters
report... Boris Spassky has written to President Bush, asking if he
can share a cell with Bobby Fischer... click
here... Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was detained by
the Japanese Immigration Bureau at Tokyo's Narita Airport on 13 July for
failing to possess valid travel documents. There is a long-standing US
federal warrant out against him for taking part in the 1992 Spassky match
in Yugoslavia in violation of a US ban. Search
for latest news on Bobby Fischer on BT Yahoo • www.freebobby.org
What's In a Name? [10/08/04]
Steve Giddins picked up on our suggested soubriquet for 'people's champion'
Vishy Anand, and has come up with a few more ideas of his own... "I
notice on your website that you have christened Anand 'Carlsberg', on
the grounds that he is 'probably the best chessplayer in the world'. I
have been thinking of the implications of this for other players. We could
have Vladimir 'Night Nurse' Kramnik, a selection of whose games will undoubtedly
aid a restful night's sleep. Then there's Alexander 'Heineken' Morozevich,
who refreshes the tournaments other GMs don't reach. Amongst our organisers
we have Kirsan 'Remington' Ilyumzhinov - 'I liked chess so much, I bought
the federation'. Gazza's mastery of using chess computers to maximum effect
suggests 'Zanussi' Kasparov - 'the appliance of science', although his
willingness to switch allegiance from FIDE and back again with such regularity
also makes him a candidate for 'Access, your flexible friend'. As for
Shirov, I should imagine that when he played Bh3 against Topalov in that
opposite-coloured bishop ending, someone in the audience must have turned
to a friend and said 'I bet he drinks Carling Black Label!' The possibilities
are endless..."
"Falsify Like A Grandmaster" [09/08/04]
Some Irish cognitive scientists (and chess players) have been taking
a look at what chess players do when they think about what moves to make.
They have come to the following interesting conclusion: "Grandmasters
think about what their opponents will do much more [than weaker players].
They tend to falsify their own hypotheses." Not quite as devious
as it sounds to us non-scientific types. Read the
whole article at the news@nature.com website.
Chess Classic Mainz, 4-8 Aug [07/08/04]
The annual German event features various brands of 'sideshow chess'.
Vishy 'Carlsberg' Anand*, plays an eight-game rapidplay match with Alexei
Shirov; Peter Svidler is playing Levon Aronian for the Gerling Chess960
[shuffle/Fischerrandom chess] world championship; while a 10-round 'shuffle
chess' open (FiNet-Chess960, 5-6 Aug) features many world stars; the 11th
Ordix Open (7-8 Aug) is a strong open tournament. There are other computer/simul
events. Official website: http://www.chesstigers.de/cc/2004/e/default.htm
[* the BCM editor has decided to bestow this soubriquet on the great Indian
player because he is ''probably the best chess player in the world"
- just my opinion, you understand]
Current Major Tournaments [02/08/04]
Dortmund Sparkassen (22 Jul - 1 Aug).
Vishy Anand won the tournament. He beat Kramnik in the second rapidplay
play-off game after both regulation games and the 1st rapidplay game had
been drawn. Both semi-finals came down to pairs of games at a blitz time
limit of 5mins+3secs. Anand beat Leko 2-0, while Kramnik lost his first
game to Svidler before winning the next three to qualify. Other finals:
3/4th place: Leko v Svidler - 5/6th place: Naiditsch v Rublevsky -
7/8th place: Bologan v Karyakin. Preliminary Groups - Grp A: 1
Anand 4/6, 2 Svidler 3½ qualify for the next phase. Grp B: every
game was drawn - Kramnik and Leko qualified after a rapidplay play-off.
Website: http://www.chessgate.de/
Politiken Cup (Denmark) (24 Jul - 1 Aug). Belyavsky,
PH Nielsen, C Hansen, Sadvakasov, etc, played. Final Scores: 1-3
Darmen Sadvakasov (KAZ, 1st on tie-break), Leif Johannesen (NOR), Nick
DeFirmian (USA) 8/10. Magnus Carlsen, PH Nielsen and Eduardas Rozentalis
were among the 10 players on 7½. Website: http://www.politikencup.dk/
North Urals Women's Tournament (Krasnoturinsk,
24 Jul - 1 Aug): Final Scores: 1 Almira Skripchenko (FRA) 6/9, 2-3 Maia
Chiburdanidze (GEO), Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS) 5½, 4-5 Natalia
Zhukova (UKR), Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL) 5, 6-7 Irina Krush (USA), Alisa
Galliamova (RUS) 4½, etc. Website: http://www.northuralscup.ru/tournament_eng.shtml
37th Biel Festival (19-29 Jul). Final Scores:
1 Morozevich 7½/10, 2 Sasikiran 6, 3-5 Pelletier, Bacrot, Ponomariov
4½, 6 McShane 3. Website: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/
The Taiyuan tournament was held in the Shanxi
province of China (17-26 Jul) proved to be an excellent win for England's
Nigel Short. Final scores: Short 6½/9, Ni Hua 5½, Lautier,
Dreev 5, Bu Xiangzhi 4½, Xie Jun, Lputian, Ye Jiangchuan 4, Zhang
Zhong 3½, Xu Jun 3. Website: http://sports.sina.com.cn/z/chess_2004/index.shtml
Bobby Fischer Detained in Japan [16/07/04]
Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was detained by the Japanese
Immigration Bureau at Tokyo's Narita Airport on 13 July for failing to
possess valid travel documents. There is a long-standing US federal warrant
out against him for taking part in the 1992 Spassky match in Yugoslavia
in violation of a US ban. The US authorities have recently stepped up
their action against him and cancelled his US passport. It appears likely
that further steps are under way to secure his deportation to the USA
where he could face federal charges. Via a
website which is friendly to him [beware: some content may be offensive],
the 61-year-old former champion is appealing for political asylum elsewhere.
There is a good summary of the story and links to various news reports
here
on the ChessBase website. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case,
we can all agree that this is a desperately sad state of affairs. The
utter brilliance of Fischer's chess was one of the principal reasons I
took up chess and thousands of chess players of my age group will tell
the same story. As a chess player he was an inspiration to a generation.
For that reason alone, and on behalf of his countless well-wishers in
the chess world, I urge the Japanese and US authorities to treat him with
the utmost sympathy and fairness. He needs help, not punishment. JS
FIDE World Championship, Tripoli, 19 June - 13 July [13/07/04]
The FIDE knock-out world championship is now under way in Tripoli, Libya.
Many of the world's top players are missing for various reasons. Top seeds
are Topalov, Adams, Grischuk, Ivanchuk and Short. Official website:
http://wcclibya2004.com
• Live
Games • Round
1 Results • Round
2 Results • Round
3 results • Round
4 results • Round
5 results • Semi-Final
results.
Latest: Rapidplay, Play-Off 2 - Congratulations
to Rustam Kasimdzhanov, the 2004 FIDE World Champion • view
game • In the end he proved to have the stronger nerve and
despatched England's Mickey Adams in the tense rapidplay play-off much
as he did Ivanchuk, Grischuk and Topalov in earlier rounds. In the second
game Kasimdzhanov imposed himself on the game and put up a solid position
which Adams could not breach. It is a wonderful achievement for the Uzbek
who has come back to show that the 2700+ rating he achieved three years
ago as a 21-year-old was no fluke and that he is a much better player
than his current rating would suggest. He also came through a very tough
draw and was required to beat all four top seeds to get there.
For Mickey Adams' part, the defeat will come as a big
disappointment as it was the best chance he is ever likely to get of winning
a world title. He now has to live with the memory that he was a couple
of good moves away from winning the title in game six, and was also in
a very strong position in the 1st rapidplay game before losing the thread.
Until the final, he had had a superb tournament but he seemed to run out
of energy in the final two days. Leonard
Barden on the end of the match.
Rapidplay Play-Off 1: view
game • more agony for Adams, who was winning out of the opening
but then gradually crumbled before some canny, practical play by the Uzbek
player. Even in a fairly simple, level position Adams subsided into passive
defence and fell apart. As somebody once said, it is not enough to have
a won position, you must also play good moves... now Adams has to win
with black to take the match to blitz games.
Final, Game 6: view
game • An agonising game for both players, who both now appear
shell-shocked and just longing for the match to be over. Once again Kasimdzhanov
took the initiative with White and had Adams on the ropes. However he
missed 21 Nd4 which would have given him a useful edge. As played, Adams
looked relatively safe but played the dubious 25...Be4?! and was soon
in deep trouble losing a pawn. Kasimdzhanov then missed 29 b4 which would
surely have given him good chances of winning and taking the world title.
Then Kasimdzhanov might have been winning had he played 36 Qa8+! Anyway,
he kept an edge with 36 e6 and Adams seemed destined to a long and grim
defence, though with reasonable chances of a draw. Then, a few moves down
the line, Kasimdhanov played 41 Qg8 - within a few seconds, online spectators
and their computers were waking up to the fact this was a huge blunder
as Adams could play 41...Qc6+ 42 Kg3 Qe4!! and win the game and title.
For a few minutes English spectators were celebrating the country's first
world title - but this proved to be premature as Adams, probably relieved
that he wasn't going to lose, failed to find the coup de grace
(admittedly not easy, unless you have silicon for a brain - there are
some precise and hard-to-find follow-up moves). Instead he played 42...Bxf2+
and baled out for a draw. So, the players must turn up again tomorrow
for a rapidplay finale. Before that happens, we should congratulate
both players on a hugely entertaining set of games. Score: Kasimdzhanov
3-3 Adams. Leonard
Barden on game 6
Final, Game 5: view
game • Once again Mickey Adams cashed in the advantage of
the white pieces to level the score in the match. Kasim tried a line of
the Ruy Lopez which Ivanchuk used to get a draw against Kasparov in 2002,
but in which Shirov was hammered in Linares 2004 trying to do the same
thing against Topalov. Adams applied some classic Spanish torture on the
kingside and Black was left without anything much to do and little space
in which to do it. Kasim never looked like getting out of gaol and played
on rather too long. The big problem for Adams now is what to do tomorrow
with the black pieces, after a sequence of four straight wins for white.
And if he comes through that with a draw, the championship will be decided
at faster time limits on Tuesday. Leonard
Barden on game 5
Final, Game 4: view
game • another disaster for Adams, who once again struggled
to hold his game together with the black pieces. In fact he came out of
the early opening not too badly, but from 14...0-0?! onwards he adopted
a dubious plan and things went rapidly downhill. Kasimdzhanov gained a
strong positional plus on the queenside. That said, the exchange sacrifice
with 30...Rxa5 seemed too desperate, too soon. After that a powerful tactic
by Kasimdzhanov (f4!, Rg6, Rxe6!) finished things off. Adams has two more
games in which to recover. Leonard
Barden on game 3.
Final, Game 3: view
game • Adams hit back with a win in 47 moves. A Sicilian
opening in which Adams played a line favoured by Ponomariov, but in which
he added a new idea of his own (10 Qd2!?). He soon established a queenside
pawn majority and Kasimdzhanov's attempts to counter this only resulted
in the loss of a pawn. It might only have been a backward pawn but for
further nervous errors by Kasimdzhanov which cost him a second pawn. Rest
day tomorrow (Friday): Kasimdzhanov has two whites in the remaining three
games, so the match is finely balanced.
Final, Game 2: view
game • a bad setback for Adams, who lost for the first time
in the whole championship. His position out of the opening (a Petroff)
was unconvincing and Kasimdzhanov gradually built up a big positional
advantage. There were a few nervous errors by the Uzbek GM around the
time control which gave hope to the English fans, culminating in a poor
move 40 which should have allowed Adams a golden opportunity to get a
decent position with 40...Nxb5 - but he missed his chance. After that
he subsided and Kasimdzhanov found all the right moves. Leonard
Barden on game 2.
Final, Game 1: view
game • Adams ½-½ Kasimdzhanov, on Adams' proposal,
on the 18th move. A very uneventful game, and one of Adams' three white
games used up to little purpose.
Media Interest: The British media have woken up
to the fact that a British world champion might be crowned in a few days
time (which would come as a welcome relief after the football, cricket
and tennis failures of recent weeks). Here's Stephen Moss writing in The
Guardian on 7 July... "Your
Move, Mickey" - and here's veteran chess columnist Leonard
Barden in the same newspaper on Game
1.
Semi-finals. Play-offs: Just as the championship
seemed to be running in line with the rating list, comes a surprise. Rustam
Kasimdzhanov beat Topalov 2-0 in the rapidplay play-offs to qualify
for the final match against Adams. Topalov's lack of practice at rapidplay,
compared with the Uzbeki, was evident as he rather chanced his arm in
the first game and left his king too exposed to be defensible in the time
available. He made furious attempts to draw level in the second game but
Kasimdzhanov outplayed him tactically. As for the final, Adams may be
the rating favourite but he will have to beware of a player who has eliminated
three of the favourites (Ivanchuk, Grischuk and now Topalov). Game
4 (of 4): Michael Adams secured the draw he needed to proceed
to the final (by 2½-1½). Radjabov tried an unconventional
opening but despite trying for 44 moves, never really looked like getting
anything more than a draw. More good news for Adams (who now gets a day
off): Topalov and Kasimdzhanov will have to play again tomorrow after
their game also ended in a draw. Topalov had a material advantage against
Kasimdzhanov but allowed a perpetual check. Game 3: Radjabov ½-½
Adams. The young Azeri had the English GM on the ropes for most of the
game. Radjabov missed a probable win (26 Rf7!) in time trouble. Radjabov
will have to win with Black on Sunday to stay in the match. Kasimdzhanov
½-½ Topalov, with Kasim having Topa on the ropes for a while
but Topalov finding an active, sacrificial way to secure the half point.
Game 2: Topalov ½-½ Kasimdzhanov, Adams ½-½
Radjabov. Game 1: ½-½ Topalov, Radjabov 0-1 Adams.
The 1st Kasim-Topa draw was very dull (unusually for Topalov) but Adams
expertly exploited an extra pawn sacrificed by Radjabov in the opening.
The finish to this game was very nice.
The time control used in the FIDE World Championship
is the decidedly brisk one of 90 minutes for 40 moves, with 30 seconds
added for each move, and another 15 mins added at move 40. Rapidplay games
are played at 25m/10s, blitz games at 5m/10s, and the 7th game at 6m (White)
v 5m (Black) and White is eliminated if the game ends in a draw. A Greek
chess enthusiast, George Moraitis, has proposed an interesting "Unified
Time Control Theory for 21st Century Chess" which can be read online
at http://moraitis.freewebpage.org/Time-Control.htm
Fischer vs Spassky 1972: The Play [11/07/04]
BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play about the great Fischer-Spassky match of
1972 on Friday 9 July. It can be listened to online for the next few days
at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/friday_play.shtml?focuswin
FIDE Rating List, July 2004 [02/07/04]
FIDE (World Chess Federation) issued its July rating list promptly on
30 June, though the original downloadable
list lacked the names of players from 19 countries - including Russia
- presumably because they owe money to FIDE. But a new download on 2 July
shows that the Russians have been restored to the full list. All the big
name Russians appeared on the separate lists of top players as normal.
The top three are still Kasparov, Anand and Kramnik, but Morozevich has
taken over at no. 4. Michael Adams has moved up to 6th and is now just
ahead of Topalov, his main rival in Tripoli. Nigel Short has lost 26 rating
points after his poor tournament in Sarajevo while 21-year-old Frenchman
Etienne Bacrot has gained 37 points and moved to no.14 in the list. Top
100 • Top
Women •
Top Under 20s • Top
Women Under 20s • Top
English • Top
Scottish • Top
Irish • Top
Welsh.
Petrosian Team vs Rest of the World, 10-15 Jun [15/06/04]
The 75th anniversary of the birth of world champion Tigran Petrosian
(1929-1984) is being celebrated in Moscow with a match between 'the Petrosian
Team' (loosely representing Armenia) and the World. The Petrosian team
has non-Armenians Garry Kasparov (ethnic Armenian), Peter Leko (married
to an Armenian) and Boris Gelfand (Petrosian's star pupil). Also in the
Petrosian team: Vladimir Akopian, Rafael Vaganian and Smbat Lputian, .
Representing the World are Vishy Anand, Peter Svidler, Mickey Adams, Etienne
Bacrot, Paco Vallejo Pons and Loek Van Wely. The match is a 'Scheveningen'
tournament where players meet each of the opposing team in turn. Latest:
Rd 6 was won by the Petrosian Team by 3½-2½ but that was
still not enough to stop the World team winning the match by 18½-17½.
One decisive result in round 6: Vaganian 1-0 Adams. Gelfand tried to win
with R+B v R to square the overall match but Bacrot kept him at bay. Official
website: http://www.cigarclan.com/chess_eng.php
• Crosstable
• Game
Viewer • Download
games.
Women's World Championship, Elista, 22 May - 7 Jun [06/06/04]
Congratulations to 25-year-old Bulgarian grandmaster Antoaneta Stefanova
who yesterday won the FIDE women's world championship in Elista, Kalmykia,
beating Ekaterina Kovalevskaya 2½-½ in the four-game final.
Official website: http://wwcc2004.fide.com.
Happy Birthday, BCF... [07/05/04]
You know how sometimes things seem to lurk in your in-tray for ages and
you never get round to dealing with them? Well, I found this the other
day: "To The Editor of the B.C.M., March 18th 1904. Dear Sir,
May we invite your valuable assistance in giving publicity to the Amended
Draft of Rules of Constitution of British Chess Federation. Yours faithfully,
A. G. Gordon Ross, Chairman. (St. Mark's Vicarage, Swindon, Wilts.)"
Things have moved on a bit since then, but we are happy to oblige. Today,
7 May, is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the British Chess Federation,
at a meeting at the Holborn Restaurant on 7 May 1904. As one (even more
venerable) centenarian to another, BCM wishes BCF a happy birthday. Click
here to check out how they are celebrating.
Vishy Anand - 2003 Chess Oscar [01/05/04]
Russian chess magazine '64'
has announced the results of the 2003 'Chess Oscars', voted for by 358
chess journalists from 65 countries, who were asked to put their ten nominees
in descending order. The winner (for the third time) is Vishy Anand
with 4150 points. Anand was the runaway winner: 232 voters put him in
first place, with the next most first-places going to Kasparov with only
38. In second place on the overall vote was Peter Svidler (2575), 3 Vladimir
Kramnik (2518), 4 Garry Kasparov (2262), 5 Peter Leko (1867), 6 Judit
Polgar (1528), 7 Alexander Morozevich (1381), 8 Viorel Bologan (1359),
9 Nigel Short (539), 10 Evgeny Bareev (535). The yardstick for selection
is performance and achievement in the given year rather than the voter's
view of who is currently best in the world. Hence Kasparov, with only
a handful of long-play chess games played, figures relatively low, while
Peter Svidler, a popular and easy-going figure with an excellent Russian
championship win to his credit, gets in amongst the 'big three' of Kasparov,
Anand and Kasparov. Other places: 11 Shirov 485, 12 Topalov 392, 13 Grischuk
311, 14 Radjabov 278, 15 Malakhov 238, 16 Ivanchuk 189, 17 Adams 122,
18 Ponomariov 110, 19 Gelfand 98, 20 McShane 89.
FIDE World Championship, Tripoli 2004 [30/04/04]
FIDE have announced the list of players who have signed and returned
their contracts to take part in the 2004 world championship in Tripoli
(18 June - 13 July). 115 of the original 128 invitees have agreed to take
part. In terms of quantity, this looks like a success for the World Chess
Federation, but on closer inspection most of the biggest names will be
missing from the line-up. It was hardly any surprise that Kramnik and
Leko should refuse to play as they will be playing their own (unofficial
but sensible) version of the world championship later in the year in Switzerland.
But the credibility of the (official but silly) FIDE competition is badly
dented by the absence of Vishy Anand. Other big names missing are Ruslan
Ponomariov, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Alexei Shirov, Boris Gelfand,
Alexander Khalifman, Judit Polgar and Anatoly Karpov. That means that
not one of the last four FIDE title-holders is in the field - so a brand-new
champion will be crowned in Tripoli.
Amongst those playing in Tripoli are Veselin Topalov,
Alexander Morozevich, Michael Adams, Alexander Grischuk, Vasyl Ivanchuk,
Nigel Short, Vladimir Akopian, Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Luke McShane.
I suppose that, if we Brits momentarily allow patriotic sentiment to blind
us to good sense, there is a chance of a British world chess champion
being crowned. But it is hardly a representative field, with only nos.
5, 7 and 8 of the world's top ten playing. To be fair, these knock-out
competitions provide huge entertainment for online spectators - it is
just such a pity that we have to pretend they are world championships.
Ruslan Ponomariov has written another open letter suggesting
a title reunification match/tournament involving himself, Kasparov, Kramnik,
Leko, Anand and the winner from Libya. Nice idea, but I don't suppose
it will meet with favour from FIDE who seem determined to plough their
own furrow, and ignore suggestions for repairing the rift in world chess.
A few years ago there used to be multiple claimants
to the world championship title, but there now seems to be a stampede
in the opposite direction. Even FIDE's own title-holders recognize the
scant prestige and limited value of the title they have won. After banking
the cheque and updating their CV with the words "world championship
winner", they don't seem in any hurry to repeat the exercise. This
also extends to the women's title, with Zhu Chen announcing that she is
not to defend her title. You can hardly blame her. She is pregnant and
not overly keen to risk her (and her unborn child's) health by playing
in strife-torn Georgia (another highly controversial choice of venues
by FIDE).
4NCL Controversy [30/04/04]
The doyen of UK chess columnists, Leonard Barden, has spoken out in his
Guardian column against the 4NCL rule which allows two teams from
the same club to play in the same division. He writes: "... the
match Wood Green B v Betsson, which the London club's second team won
6-2, diminishes the league's sporting credibility. Wood Green B, which
had not previously fielded a 2430+ player all season, strengthened its
squad for the occasion with three 2500+ GMs on the top boards. Such tactical
ploys have occurred before in the 4NCL, and Wood Green could do it under
the rules because its first team (apart from the mandatory women's board)
consisted exclusively of 2500s. What makes for manifest unfairness is
that neither Guildford nor Betsson have a second team in the top division,
so the ploy is available to only one of the three title contenders. Imagine
the outcry if [Chelsea] Reserves competed in the [English Football] Premiership
and defeated Arsenal! That's what has happened in the 4NCL, and the rules
need revision." Personally I have considerable sympathy for Leonard's
argument. Should the rules be changed? Bear in mind that a blanket ban
on second teams in the top division would adversely affect the Barbican
club, who field two middling-ranking sides in the top division. Maybe
they would have to split themselves into separate teams (called 'Barb'
and 'Ican'?!). Do you agree with Leonard Barden? Any other thoughts? Email
me -
. Further feedback posted
here on 30 April.
Chess Stories in the Press [06/04/04]
The Guardian of 6 April has two different chess stories on successive
pages in its G2 section. The first was a humorous(?) piece about the ending
of compulsory chess classes at the Dr. Emanuel Lasker High School in Ströbeck,
Germany, where they have a chess tradition going back many moons - click
here - and the second was a piece about 'chess boxing', wedged between
stories about David Beckham and Bill Clinton (but nevertheless suitable
for family reading) - click
here for story no.2.
FIDE Ratings, April 2004 [01/04/04]
The FIDE (World Chess Federation) quarterly ratings were published on
1 April. Garry Kasparov is still in first place, but Vishy Anand has regained
2nd place from Vladimir Kramnik. Peter Leko has moved back up to 4th spot.
As regards British players, Michael has gained 19 points and 3 places,
while Nigel Short has gained 18 points and 2 places. Luke McShane has
moved up one place to no. 42 in the world. However, the top of world chess
seems fairly static. If you look back at the top players six years ago,
on the July 1998 list, not too much has changed. At that time the positions
were 1 Kasparov, 2 Anand, 3 Kramnik... 8 Adams... 15 Short - in fact,
exactly the same positions that they occupy in April 2004. Of the players
of 1998, Kamsky, Salov and (to a lesser extent) Sadler have become inactive,
while Karpov has lost some ground, but most of the other big names of
1998 are still there or thereabouts in 2004. Grischuk and Ponomariov are
the only 'new boys' in that time. Has world chess become ossified? List
of Top Ratings, World/UK Countries • FIDE
Web Site
Chess on the TV [22/04/04]
This Friday (23 April at 22:10 on Channel Four, UK TV) there is a TV
programme called Derren Brown:Trick of the Mind featuring the well-known
illusionist, magician and hypnotist, in which he plays chess simultaneously
with nine of Britain's leading chess masters. A trailer for the programme
shows GM Julian Hodgson and FM Graham Lee amongst them. The second link
below has a photo in which can be identified some other well-known players
such as GM John Emms and IM Paul Littlewood. Apparently Brown achieves
his objective of beating/drawing with the majority of them, and then reveals
how he did it. This is not the first time that an illusionist/hypnotist
has challenged the chess world: in 1972 Romark challenged Fischer and
Spassky to a simultaneous match. Most chess players will be aware of one
way this sort of stunt can be made to work, whereby the person giving
the so-called simul plays one game with white and one with black. He then
simply waits for the player playing white to move, and plays the same
move against Black. But how can this be done with an odd number of opponents?
Secretly match the weakest of the nine against a secret super-grandmaster
playing offstage, and use the GM's moves? Maybe it's more ingenious than
that. We'll see tomorrow... Links: C4
Listings • BlueYonder
TV Listing
Melody Amber, Monte Carlo, 20 Mar - 1 Apr [01/04/04]
The 13th Melody Amber tournament is in progress in Monte Carlo. 12 top
players play one rapid and one blindfold rapid game against each other.
Final: Kramnik and Morozevich finished first on 14½/22,
ahead of Anand 13½, Ivanchuk 13, Bareev, Leko 12½, Svidler
11½, Shirov 10½, Topalov 10, Gelfand 8½, Van Wely
7½ and Vallejo Pons 3½. In the rapid Anand was first with
7½/11 ahead of Bareev 7, Kramnik 6½, while in the blindfold
Morozevcih scored 8½/11 ahead of Kramnik 8, Ivanchuk 7. Official
website: http://www.alldata.nl/amber
European Women's Championship, Dresden, 21 Mar - 3 Apr [03/04/04]
The continental women's championship is currently in progress. There
are 12 rounds. Latest: Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) won a tie-break
rapidplay match with Peng Zhaoqin (NED) to take the title after both scored
9½/12. 3rd was Stefanova (BUL) after a tie-break, and 4-6th Slavina
(RUS), Zhukova (UKR), Dzagnidze (GEO) on 8½. Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
(GEO) and Jovanka Houska (ENG) were amongst those who tied for 7-14th
place with 8, an excellent result for both of them - they both qualify
for the next women's world championship competition (Jovanka after a rapidplay
tie-break with Olga Zimina of Russia). Heather Richards (ENG) also did
extremely well to score 7½ for 22nd place on tie-break. Ingrid
Lauterbach (ENG) scored 4½, and Siegrun MacGilchrist (SCO) 2. Official
Website
Reykjavik Rapidplay, 17-21 Mar [21/03/04]
Today (21 March) all eyes were on Reykjavik where Garry Kasparov and
Nigel Short contested the final of the knock-out rapidplay event that
took place there over five days. It was a reprise of the controversial
1993 world championship match which had ended in a comfortable victory
for Kasparov. Final: Kasparov beat Short by 1½-½
to win the competition. The first game was well contested and entertaining:
Short gave up the exchange for a pawn and an attack, and perhaps might
have done better before subsiding. The second encounter did not reflect
well on either player. Short blundered into a lost position in the opening
but Kasparov failed to win despite a three pawn advantage for much of
the game. This was a good example of rapidplay chess being a vastly inferior
product to the real thing. Official Website: http://www.chess.is/reykjavikrapid/english.html
• Follow
the action at the Internet Chess Club . Paths to the final: Kasparov:
½-½, 1-0 v Magnus Carlsen (a close run thing against the
youngster); ½-½, 1-0 vs Timman; ½-½, ½-½
(tie-break 1-0) vs PH Nielsen. Short: ½-½, 1-0 vs
Kristjansson, ½-½, 1-0 vs Aronian, ½-½, 1-0
vs Dreev. Games
Viewer • Download
PGN
Click on the above link for the official press release announcing the
2004 US Championships, which are to be held in La Jolla, California, later
this year. The 64-player event will be hosted for the fourth time by America's
Foundation for Chess (AF4C), this time with the NTC Foundation as co-sponsors,
plus corporate sponsors Chessmaster®. The 12-day competition is likely
to have a $250,000 prize fund.
Linares Super-Tournament, 19 Feb - 5 Mar [05/03/04]
The 21st 'City of Linares' tournament has just finished. Vladimir Kramnik
will have been pleased to have won the tournament and reassert his place
at the top of the game, but overall it was a disappointing tournament,
particularly for the spectators, with only 9 decisive games out of 42.
It was Garry Kasparov's first real tournament since last year's Linares
and the rust is starting to show. He still plays well but he now gets
into serious time trouble and has problems delivering the coup de grace
when his opponents are at his mercy. Perhaps his mind is more on his memoirs
and politicking; and there is a suspicion that he plays merely to maintain
his rating. Peter Leko has established himself as one of the big players
now, and was more than a little unlucky to have lost a game to Kramnik.
With a bit of luck he might have won that game and we would now be saluting
his second Linares title in a row. Of the other players, Radjabov's 6/12
was a remarkable achievement for one so young (he's a few days away from
his 17th birthday). Final: All the last round games were drawn.
Kramnik took a quick draw to be sure of at least a share of first place.
Leko had the toughest pairing and never looked like getting an advantage.
That left Kasparov to try and beat Vallejo Pons. He made an effort but
the young Spaniard kept him at bay. Scores: Kramnik 7/12, Kasparov,
Leko 6½, Radjabov, Topalov 6, Shirov, Vallejo Pons 5. Final
Crosstable • Results
• Download
PGN • Game
Viewer • Official Site: http://www.marca.com/linares/
Cappelle-la-Grande, 28 Feb - 6 Mar [01/03/04]
The annual Cappelle tournament has 572 competitors, led by eight 2600+
players. There do not appear to be any English GMs in the field - or at
least I didn't think so until Mick Norris pointed out that Mark Hebden
is in the field - thanks for pointing that out to me, Mick. Scots titled
players Colin McNab and John Shaw are competing, as are a number of English
amateurs and younger players. McNab has started with 3/3. Ten games
are being broadcast live every day. Official Site: http://www.cappelle-chess.com/
7th Malaga Open, 21-28 Feb [29/02/04]
As an antidote to the coma-inducing chess in progress elsewhere in Andalucia,
readers might like to check out the 7th Malaga International - click
here for website - to remind themselves what decisive games look like.
Pia Cramling, having won the 2003 European Women's Championship at the
notorious FIDE time control (90 mins + 30 second add-ons), fell victim
to its vicissitudes when she lost two games on time on the same day to
players rated in the low 2200s. One of them, Wessex stalwart Mike Yeo,
seemed slightly ashamed to have won his game against Cramling (because
his board position was lost) - but they all count. Final: The winner
was 21-year-old IM Ibrahim Khamrakulov (UZB) on 7/9, ahead of Cifuentes
Prada (ESP), Korneev (RUS), Rodriguez Guerrero (ESP) and Del Rio Angelis
(ESP) on 6½.
European Senior Team Championship, Dresden, 20-28 Feb [29/02/04]
The European Senior (Over 60) Team Championship is currently in progress
in Dresden. Some teams represent nations and others clubs and regions
in this four-board, seven-round competition. German teams dominate, though
there is a very strong squad from the Russian Chess Academy (led by Vasyukov),
and Viktor Korchnoi is playing on board one for Switzerland. There are
three Great Britain teams in the field. Official site/results (in German)
- click
here. Final positions: 1 Germany (Uhlmann, Hecht, Klundt, Malich)
12MP(19GP); 2 Switzerland (Korchnoi, Karl, Vucenovic, Bhend, Hohler) 12(18);
3 Russian Chess Academy (Vasyukov, Shabanov, Chernikov, Kremenietsky,
Bebchuk) 11(19). GB-A finished in 10th place on 8(16) (John Wheeler scored
a very creditable 6/7), GB-B were 26th on 6(12½), while GB-C were
34th on 3(11½).
Bobby Fischer Goes to War... [25/02/04]
This new book, about the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match and its aftermath,
by BBC journalists David Edmonds and John Eidinow, has been out for a
while now and has won some good reviews from the British national press
as well as from BCM. Click
here to find out about the book and/or buy a copy. Now there is a
chance to spend an evening with the authors, who will be giving a talk
about it at Daunt Books, 83 Marylebone High Street, London W1, on Tuesday
16 March at 7.00pm. Tickets cost £3 and include the price of a glass
of wine. Tickets are available from BCM - click
here if you are interested.
FIDE World Championships? [12/02/04]
Daily chess newspaper Chess
Today carries the story that FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has
met with Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafy near Tripoli to discuss the possibility
of the FIDE world knock-out championship being held in Libya in May-June.
The story emanates from the Russian news agency Interfax. But the
FIDE website has nothing on the story.
2003
Gibtelecom Masters, 27 Jan - 5 Feb [05/02/04]
The Gibtelecom Masters was a 10-round swiss tournament, run under the
auspices of the BCF by Stewart Reuben and played at La Caleta Hotel in
Gibraltar. 37 GMs were in the field, headed by Short, Dreev, Epishin,
Speelman, etc. Latest: Round 10 - Short beat Inarkiev to take sole
first place. Other top board games ended in draws. 1 Short 8/10, 2 Ganguly
7½, 3-5 Dreev, Harikrishna, Wells 7, etc. Norms: GM for Bakre (IND),
IM for Howell (ENG), Seel (GER) and Wippermann (GER), WGM for Ghate Swathi.
Download
games (Rds 1-9) • Tournament
table (final) • Official website: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
What They Say About Us... [01/02/04]
It's often amusing, and occasionally infuriating, to read what non-players
have to say about chess. Did anyone else see a recent BBC programme about
estate agents called Property People? One young estate agent described
the house-buying process thus: "It's like a game of chess. [Pause]
I don't play chess, but I think it's got a lot of similarities."
A refreshing variation on the football commentator's cliche - whoever
said estate agents were dishonest? By contrast, last Sunday's (25 Jan)
Mail on Sunday had this review(?) of the Kasparov movie now showing
in London: "As two of my least favourite words are 'chess' and 'computer',
I hardly relished the prospect of Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine
- a documentary about Garry Kasparov's defeat by an IBM machine called
Deep Blue. Despite Kasparov's affable if brattish presence and plenty
of brisk editing, Vikram Jayanti's film failed to cure me of my pet hates.
It really is about as exciting as, well, chess." The reviewer, Jason
Solomons, gave the film a miserly two stars, but we are inclined to award
his review a zero-star rating for mindless prejudice. If you'd like to
give the Mail on Sunday some feedback on this, email them on letters@mailonsunday.co.uk
Kramnik v Leko: Game On? [29/01/04]
The world has been waiting for this match since the summer of 2002, when
Peter Leko won a qualifying competition to challenge Vladimir Kramnik's
world championship title. But now we have news that a Swiss tobacco company
is putting up the money for a 14-game match, to be played from 25 September
to 18 October at a location yet to be decided.
Corus Wijk aan Zee, 10-25 Jan [25/01/04]
The Corus Wijk aan Zee ended, not with a bang but a whimper, as Vishy
Anand drew a quick game in the last round and his two pursuers were unable
to score the wins they needed to finish level with him. England's Michael
Adams came closest, with the faintest of edges for a while, playing Black
against Peter Svidler. Peter Leko had to fight to get a draw against Vladimir
Kramnik. For Anand this was his fourth Wijk success. Final positions:
Anand 8½/12, Adams, Leko 8, Bologan, Topalov 7½, Bareev,
Kramnik, Van Wely 6½, etc. PGN
File • Games
Viewer • Live
Games • Tournament
Crosstable • Official website: http://www.coruschess.com/
Commonwealth Championship, Mumbai, 9-19 Jan [19/01/04]
English grandmaster Nigel Short is the new Commonwealth Champion, having
scored 7½/9 in the tournament held in Mumbai, India. Pavel Smirnov
(RUS) finished on the same score, and had the better tie-break score;
he was adjudged to have won the international tournament but was not eligible
for the Commonwealth title. Humpy Koneru won the Commonwealth Women's
Championship on tie-break from Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi after both scored
6/9. Other scores were Dzhumaev, Niaz Murshed 7, P.Thipsay, Sasikiran
6½, while Stuart Conquest was among those on 5½. Official
website: http://www.venuschessacademy.org/
Australian Championship, 29 Dec - 10 Jan [13/01/04]
Q. What's the best way for an English chess player to win a national
championship?
A. Emigrate. Well, that would seem to be the right answer at the moment,
with IM Gary Lane winning the Australian Championship half a point ahead
of GM Ian Rogers. Gary, as English as Torquay United, is now registered
as an Australian player. He follows in the footsteps of ex-pat GM Joe
Gallagher who switched allegiance to Switzerland some years ago, and then
returned in 2001 to win the British Championship. Official website:
http://www.unichess.org
Kasparov versus X3D Fritz, New York, 11-18 Nov [19/11/03]
Once again, Garry Kasparov is taking on top computer opposition in a
match in New York utilising the latest 3D technology. Games are scheduled
for 11, 13, 16 and 18 November. Final: Game four was drawn. Final
Score: X3D Fritz 2, Kasparov 2. Download
• Play
through in java • Official
website
FIDE News [03/11/03]
Some of the most important items from the 74th FIDE Congress held in
Halkidiki over the past few days: (1) the next FIDE World Championship
will be organized in April/May 2004 as a knock-out competition (no information
as to venue or prize fund. The press release bizarrely refers to the event
as "Men's World Championship 2003"). The winner will play against
Garry Kasparov in June for the title of FIDE World Champion. (2) The Women's
World Championship 2003 will be held in Georgia in May/June 2004 and the
total prize fund will be $450,000. (3) The 36th Chess Olympiad will take
place in Calvia, Majorca from 14-31 October 2004 (and the 37th will be
in Turin in 2006). (4) The inaugural World Major Open Championship will
be organized by the British Chess Federation in Scarborough in August
2004 to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the federation.
Garry Kasparov wins BCF Book of The Year 2003 [20/10/03]
 Garry
Kasparov has been awarded the 2003 British Chess Federation Book of the
Year Award for the first volume of his series My Great Predecessors.
In the photo he is seen being presented with the award by Ray Edwards,
chairman of the BCF Award Committee, at London's Home House on 20 October.
Garry was in ebullient mood and enthused about his Predecessors
project. The English edition of Volume Two is expected at the end of this
month, and Garry is talking about no less than three further volumes
after that. "When I was working on Petrosian, I had to consider Polugaevsky,
then Portisch... and then Gligoric!". Kasparov is clearly excited
about this project and has put a lot of energy into it. He is enjoying
the feedback and corrections that are coming in, and feeding these into
each new edition as they are published round the world.
Order My Great Predecessors (Volume Two) at £25
- see the left side-panel on this page.
The European Team Championship is being held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from
11-20 October 2003. There are 37 men's/open teams and 30 women's teams.
The favourites for gold are Russia, and there are also very strong teams
from Israel, Spain, Ukraine and France. England, Scotland, Ireland and
Wales are fielding teams in the men's/open, and England also have a team
in the women's event. Click on the link to follow the British teams' progress,
and play through their games in a java window. Final:
Russia won the men's event and Armenia the women's. Final results of all
the British teams.
BBC Ceefax Chess - New Page [18/09/03]
BBC Ceefax Chess has moved page to 568 as from a couple of days ago.
It is now on page 568 on BBC TV Channels 1 and 2. Currently there is coverage
of the Russian Championship, won by Peter Svidler a few days ago. For
those of you who don't know, Ceefax is the BBC's television teletext service
available to the UK and also capable of being picked up followed up by
some viewers across the channel. There is coverage of international and
domestic chess, with game scores, a calendar of forthcoming UK tournaments
and useful contact phone numbers for people who want to take up the game.
Kramnik Statement, 8 Sept [09/09/03]
World champion Vladimir Kramnik issued a statement on the world championship
situation yesterday, as follows: "Keeping in mind the current situation
in the chess world I consider it important to state my position."
"At the present time I am engaged with the
preparation for the Classical World Chess Championship match with the
official challenger Peter Leko. We came to an agreement concerning all
conditions and regulations for our match. Now we are at the final stage
of negotiations with the potential sponsor. An official announcement will
follow after signing the agreements."
"Based on my rights from the contract with
Einstein Group PLC I sent a termination document to the company in the
beginning of August 2003. The reason for this was the company’s failure
to fulfill the main contract obligation – organization of the Classical
World Chess Championship match by June 30, 2003. At the moment I do not
have any contractual relations either with the Einstein Group or with
FIDE. I also did not authorize these organizations to hold negotiations
on my behalf. All the announcements concerning my match with Peter Leko
in Buenos Aires are far from reality."
"I regret that the match between Ruslan
Ponomariov (FIDE World Champion) and Gary Kasparov (FIDE challenger),
will not take place. All this leads to a halt of the chess world reunion
that was initiated by the Prague unity agreement."
"I ask all the people who are in charge
of the situation to find a reasonable solution and to put maximum effort
in order to resolve the crisis."
"Let the players play!" - Vladimir
Kramnik
A professional chess union has been formed, called Association of
Chess Professionals. Its first manifestation is a new
website (called Chess Players United) with various items including
a letter of support from world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Its statutes
and parameters have not been fully worked out yet, but on the website
it talks in terms of representing "professional players and also
many people who work professionally in chess: trainers, journalists, computer
programmers, organizers, etc." Its goals: "protect chess players
rights, to improve conditions in chess tournaments, to create a good tournament
calendar and tournament formats." We wish the new organization well
and hope that it can help to resolve the chaotic situation in which top-level
chess finds itself.
Kasparov v Ponomariov Cancelled - FIDE [29/08/03]
FIDE announced today (29 August) that the Kasparov vs Ponomariov match
for the FIDE World Championship has been cancelled. Here is the text of
their press release:
"FIDE delivered the Players Undertaking to World Champion Ruslan
Ponomariov and Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, to sign before August 12, 2003.
Kasparov returned his duly signed contract before the deadline but Ponomariov
signed the contract with reservations.
At the Presidential Board held in Abuja, Nigeria, FIDE reiterated that
the contract shall be signed without reservations and extended the deadline
to August 25, 2003. FIDE again extended the deadline to August 28, 2003.
Without the signature of Ponomariov on the Players Undertaking, FIDE is
unable to move ahead with the planned Match which was due to start on
September 18, 2003 in Yalta, Ukraine.
Since the signing of the Prague Agreement, FIDE has tried patiently to
meet with the recommendations of the players involved. However, as the
governing body of world chess, FIDE will not give in to unreasonable request
or pressure from any player involved in the unification process.
In place of the FIDE World Cup earlier scheduled for December 2003 FIDE
shall organize the World Chess Championship (Knockout) Tournament to determine
the next World Champion and FIDE shall not allow the selfishness of any
one player to cause a hindrance to the unification process as already
scheduled and approved by the FIDE General Assembly in Bled last year.
It is with deep regret therefore, that FIDE has to cancel the Ponomariov-Kasparov
Match. However, FIDE shall endeavour to proceed with the unification process.
A proposal shall be placed to the forthcoming FIDE Congress in Halkidiki,
Greece, 27 October - 3 November, 2003. The winner of the FIDE World Championship
in December 2003 shall be crowned World Champion and he shall play Grandmaster
Garry Kasparov next year. The winner of this match shall then play the
final unification match. In the coming days, FIDE shall give a full account
of its negotiations with the players in the now cancelled Ponomariov-Kasparov
Match."
Politiken Cup - 25th Copenhagen Open, 14-25 Jul [26/07/03]
The Politiken Cup took place in Copenhagen as an 11-round event from
14 to 25 July. The top seeds were Belyavsky (2668), Sakaev (2655), Sasikiran
(2654), PH Nielsen (2636) and England's Luke McShane (2619). Other Brits
in the field included GMs Speelman, Ward, WGM Jovanka Houska and WIM Heather
Richards. Final: Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) finished first
with 9/11; 2-6 A Belyavsky (SLO), L McShane (ENG), M Krasenkow (POL),
T Nyback (FIN), A Jussupow (GER) 8½; Speelman (ENG) was amongst
those on 8 - other ENG players: Ward 7½, Jovanka Houska 7, Heather
Richards 6½, Lappage, Sophie Tidman 5½, Norton, Spanton
5, R.McShane 1½. Official
website • Final
Crosstable • PGN
file of games (complete)
Some very sad news: world-famous chess historian and BCM columnist Ken
Whyld died on 11 July) aged 77. Ken's landmark work was The Oxford
Companion to Chess, which he co-authored with David Hooper in 1984.
Ken was a strong amateur player who won the Nottinghamshire county championship
and took part in the British Championship in 1956. Thereafter playing
the game took a back seat to family life and his career as an IT expert,
but he continued to collect chess books and edit chess publications such
as Chess Student's Quarterly and Chess Reader in the 1950s.
He took over BCM's Quotes and Queries column in October 1978 and
had been talking about how to celebrate his 25 years as columnist. Sadly
that will not now come about, although there will be one last column in
the forthcoming issue. Although Ken and I had been in regular contact
as columnist and editor for over four years, we met in the flesh only
once - two weeks ago at the party to launch the 'Art of Chess' exhibition,
when he came down to London for the day from his home in Lincolnshire.
The photo (left), showing Ken enjoying a flute of champagne, was taken
on that occasion. As well as being hugely knowledgeable about chess, Ken
was a very warm, down-to-earth and generous man, with a gently teasing
sense of humour. It was a privilege and honour to have known him and worked
with him. Any readers who would like to pay tribute to Ken, or share
reminiscences with readers of this site, please email
me. To see readers' tributes (updated
19/07/03), click on the link above. John Saunders.
18th North Sea Cup, Esbjerg, 4-12 Jul [12/07/03]
Luke McShane, Krishnan Sasikiran and Alexey Dreev shared first place
in this category 15 tournament, a full two points ahead of the rest of
the field. McShane and Dreev had a quick draw in the last round while
Sasikiran recovered from his round 8 loss to Dreev to beat Curt Hansen.
This is another superb result from McShane, who has made great progress
in his university gap year. 1-3 McShane (ENG), Sasikiran (IND), Dreev
7/9, 4 C.Hansen (DEN) 4½, etc. In the 'B' Group (category 4), IM
Adam Hunt (ENG) and GM Sergey Kasparov (BLR) came 1st= with 6/9 ahead
of 3-4th IM/WGM Harriet Hunt (ENG) and Christian K Pedersen (DEN) on 5½.
Final
crosstable • Official
website • PGN
file.
Madam Ojjeh About to Make a Capture? Einstein facing Checkmate? [04/07/03]
Today's (4 July) Financial Times (www.ft.com) reports that Madame
Nahed Ojjeh, major chess sponsor, could be about to make a surprise
move to buy ailing company Cordiant Communications - click
here (and background
info on Cordiant). Meanwhile, Einstein Group, the chess-promoting
company with whom she broke off relations last year (after they were tardy
about paying out prize money to the Dortmund candidates) are planning
to go into administration. This applies only to the holding company; other
companies in the group were continuing to trade. Einstein's shares were
suspended from Aim this week because of its failure to file any results
since its interim figures for the first half of 2002. Click
here for Einstein story and here
for the CEO's press release.
World Junior Championship, Azerbaijan, 21 Jun -3 Jul [04/07/03]
The World Junior Championships for U20 (male and female) were held in
Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan. Both tournaments were won by the highest-rated
competitors. 18-year-old Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan (2585g
on the July list) took the men's gold medal with 10/13, ahead of Sergey
Azarov of Belarus (9½) and Alexander Zubov of Ukraine (8½).
England's Craig Hanley started well with 2½/3 but fell back to
6/13. The women's competition was good news for Georgia, in their quest
to find a player of the stature of Gaprindashvili and Chiburdanidze: 16-year-old
Nana Dzagnidze (2446wg) won her first seven games and finished
on 9½/11, way ahead of two players on 7½ - Cristina Calotescu
(Romania, silver) and Zeinab Mamedyarova (Azerbaijan, bronze medal and
sister of the men's gold medallist). Official website: http://www.chess.az/eng/
On 27 June some top chess players set out from Reykjavik, Iceland, for
Narsarsuaq, and then Puilasoq, the playing hall in Qaqortoq. If some of
those place-names look a little unfamiliar, it's hardly surprising - they
are in Greenland. The top players in the line-up for this 9-round rapidplay
(three rounds on 28, 29, 30 June) were Ivan Sokolov (2677), Predrag Nikolic
(2643) and Johann Hjartarson (2634), with England's Luke McShane about
to join the FIDE 2600+ club according to the provisional July FIDE List.
In the end it was the young Englishman who cruised to a remarkable victory
with 8½/9, ahead of Hjartarson (7½) and Nikolic (7). McShane
beat Sokolov in round 4 and Hjartarson in round 6 for a perfect start
of 6/6. On the final day he started with a win against Nikolic, drew with
DeFirmian and beat Oral in the last round. Click on the link to visit
the official website. The fruity Greg Rusedski-type language has
now been toned down and should be safe for all the family...
The UK's top junior player David Howell (12) held the world's
youngest ever grandmaster, Sergey Karyakin (13) to a rapidplay
draw in the courtyard of London's Somerset House on 28 June, in an event
set up specially to publicise 'The Art of Chess' exhibition which
started that day at the Gilbert Collection. This followed Howell's
earlier success in winning a warm-up game on a giant set against top English
GM Jon Speelman on 25 June. Click on the link above for a full
photo-report. London's prestigious Gilbert Collection is host to a
fascinating exhibition telling the story of the 'Art of Chess' from June
28 to September 28. They are showing some remarkable chess sets designed
by Marcel Duchamp, Damien Hirst (see his exhibit, right), Man Ray,
Yoko Ono and many others. That's not all: there will be showings of chess
movies, and various other chess-related happenings.
Harry Potter Plays Chess [24/06/03]
There is just a little bit of chess content in the latest Harry Potter
book - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - released last
Saturday. If you want to look up the three references, they are on pages
457, 630-1 and 762. The first Potter book told us that Harry's friend
Ron was a better player than Harry, and his chess skill played a key role
in the denouement. This time 'wizard chess' is used to fill some rare
free moments when Harry and Ron aren't grappling with giants, or even
more gigantic piles of homework that they have to do (it's tough being
15). Harry's chess education has been sadly neglected. He still talks
about rooks as 'castles' and the following little outburst - "Squash
him, squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot" - said to one
of his 'castles' during a game - seems to indicate that he is not familiar
with the saying that 'pawns are the soul of chess'. But maybe wizard chess
is different from muggle chess...
Enghien les Bains, 13-22 June [25/06/03]
This strong category 17 tournament was played in the spa town of Enghien
les Bains in France. The line-up featured five 2700+ players - Bareev,
Adams, Polgar, Akopian, Gelfand; three French players - Lautier, Fressinet
and Bauer; and the most famous young and old faces of world chess - Radjabov
(16) and Korchnoi (72). Of particular interest was the form of Mickey
Adams, who missed the Corus and Linares events and hadn't played a tournament
since February. He recently moved home to Somerset in the West of England,
though he has still played a fair amount of chess in team matches in the
UK, France, etc. Final Situation: Rd 9 - Bareev secured first place
after drawing with Korchnoi as Adams drew a long game with Akopian. Gelfand
won the only decisive game of the last round, beating Bauer, to finish
3rd= with Polgar. Final Scores: Bareev 6½/9, Adams 6, Gelfand,
Polgar 5½. The official website reported that Korchnoi was the
victim of a robbery on the morning of his game with Adams. Clearly it
put him off his game. Not the first time he has suffered in this way;
I believe there was an incident at a London tournament some years ago
but cannot recall exactly when. Later: Ken Norman tells me it was
during Korchnoi's Candidates' semi-final match with Kasparov in London
in 1983. He's right. Looking it up in BCM (Feb 1984, page 36), I find
it happened at 11.30pm on December 15, the day before the 11th and final
game, and it happened on Tower Bridge. Thanks, Ken. Official website:
http://enghien.free.fr/index.php
• Crosstable
• Results
• PGN
file.
European Individual Championships, Silivri, Turkey, 30 May - 14 June
[14/06/03]
The 4th European Individual Championships are approaching the final rounds
in Silivri, Turkey. The men's/open event is a 13-round swiss event, and
the women's competition an 11-round swiss, both played at FIDE's normal
(i.e. completely ludicrous) rate of 90 minutes for the game plus 30 second
add-ons per move. However, the players seem to be more concerned at the
even more ludicrous rate of $80 per night being charged by the hotel.
So much so that, on 9 June, 187 competitors issued an open letter to the
president of the European Chess Union announcing that it was unreasonable
that they should be expected to stay at the hotel and that the rate is
unacceptable. There are other complaints, including one that the women's
prize fund has been lowered from 44,000 euros to 44,000 US dollars. The
signatories to the letter have threatened to boycott the next European
Championship if their conditions are not met.
More interestingly, more than 50 players attended a
meeting at which it was decided to form a Professional Chess Union. Moves
are underfoot to draft the union's statutes, set up a website and elect
the new union's ruling body. This move (though very far from being a 'theoretical
novelty') is a very welcome and necessary one, as professional players'
conditions have suffered in recent years due to some very unsympathetic
and ill-advised measures taken by the International Chess Federation (FIDE)
as well as by some national federations and other bodies. Though the present
initiative seems to have been triggered by financial considerations, it
is to be hoped that the union will address other vital issues, such as
the restoration of a sensible time control and the abolition of dope-testing.
We must also hope that the union can achieve a true consensus, with individuals
working together for the common good, and not fragment into chaos as has
happened with previous outbreaks of 'player power'.
Tournament scores after the last round (39 players qualify
for the next world championship - if it ever happens): Open (Final):
1 Zurab Azmaiparashvili (GEO) 9½/13, 2 V Malakhov (RUS -
silver medal after tie-break) 9, 3 A Graf (GER - bronze medal) 9, 4-14
Ki.Georgiev, Kharlov, Sakaev, Iordachescu, Kobalia, Sulskis, Sutovsky,
Aronian, Ivanchuk, Galkin, Moiseenko 8½... UK players... (27th)
McShane 8 (qualifies for the next world championship)... non-qualifiers:
Conquest 7, Wells 5, Grant (SCO) 5. Women (final): 1 Pia Cramling
(SWE - gold medal after tie-break) 8½/11, 2 Cmilyte (LTU- silver
medal) 8½, 3-5 T.Kosintseva (RUS - bronze medal after tie-break),
Sebag (FRA ), Socko (POL) 8 ... UK players... Houska 5½, Richards
5, Lauterbach 3½.
Official Website: http://www.tsf.org.tr/english/index.html
The World Championship... The Independent steps in - up to its
neck... [28/05/03]
Well, inevitably, the British broadsheets have cottoned on to the impasse
at the top of world chess. There was an article about Kasparov, Kramnik
and co in The Independent on Wednesday 28 May by someone called
Cahal Milmo - read
it here online. But it contains the sort of cringe-making guff that
non-chessplaying newspaper people tend to write when they get their first
chess assignment. The very first sentence sounds the alarm bell: "For
the game that has challenged generations with the Open Sicilian and the
Helsinki Hedgehog..." - eh? Open Sicilian, OK, but the Helsinki
Hedgehog - that's a new one, isn't it? Maybe, like so many lazy journalists,
this one had come across something of that name on the web. So I tried
typing 'Helsinki Hedgehog' in on Google - and found something. But it
wasn't anything to do with chess - it was all about a project to study
real hedgehogs in Helsinki. That figures. Later on we have a reference
to "... the game, which belies its reputation as a spectator sport
of being a poor second to watching paint dry..." (followed by
another made-up chess opening name). The use of that schoolboy simile
is not likely to endear the writer to the chess world. Later on we have
FIDE's motto Gens Una Sumus being rendered as "We are One
Family". Nearly, but that sounds a bit more like a 'Sly and The
Family Stone' record than correctly-translated Latin. Also - something
that really would be interesting if it were true - "Kasparov,
who now lives in America...". I wonder if GK is being confused
with his manager, who does indeed reside in Florida. It's a pity that
The Independent didn't get a real chess writer - e.g. their chess
columnist, Jon Speelman - to cover the story. But, anyway, you read the
article for yourself while I go and lie down in a darkened room...
Einstein... Emc2 = Zero [27/05/03]
Sadly, the Kramnik versus Leko match for the Einstein world championship
has been put back again. Einstein TV have issued a press release announcing
that their long-awaited link-up with the Hungarian government and other
interested parties had come to nothing. They cited various difficulties
(the Iraqi war, the global economic climate) but they were still trying
to put something together, and in discussions with 'a group of parties'
who were trying to set something up for later in the year.
There is no firmer news of the other big match between
Kasparov and Ponomariov for the FIDE world championship. Given the huge
problems that there have been for the last ten years (and more) in setting
up big-money one-to-one matches, we have to agree with Mark Crowther at
TWIC and his suggestion that a four-player, six-cycle, tournament between
all four candidates would be the best way to resolve the uncertainty.
The situation is similar to the state after World War Two, when an 11-year
gap between world championship matches and a vacancy at the summit was
resolved in a similar way. Only then can one-to-one matches between an
undisputed world champion and an official challenger expect to attract
big-money prizes from sponsors.
The French Really Know How to Live... [27/05/03]
We receive quite a few notices of forthcoming chess events, and put them
on the BCM Calendar - check it out. In
the summer there are quite a lot of attractive open tournaments on the
continent (but precious few in the UK... ho hum). But one of these continental
events had a particularly unusual first prize. It was the Vins du Médoc
Open, in Naujac sur mer (SW France, 29 June - 6 July). Just the title
and place sound pretty good... but wait for this: the winner 'wins his/her
weight in wine'. (Note, I've added the '/her' bit to appease female readers).
I wonder, do they know just how fat some of us chess players can get?
Prospective players should start eating those pies and cakes now, you've
only got a month to reach fighting weight. However, such imaginative prizes
are not always appropriate: we were relieved to see that the 2nd Condom
Open (12-18 July), also in France, would be rewarding the winner with
a more traditional money prize...
I'm a Chessplayer, Get Me Out of Here [17/05/03]
Mark Adams reports that the well-known TV weather girl Sian Lloyd has
just accepted the post of Patron of the Welsh Chess Union. We are told
she is a keen player: the London Evening Standard recently reported
her saying that she often stays up until 4am playing chess with her boyfriend,
LibDem MP Lembit Opik. Sian Lloyd recently featured in the hit reality
TV show "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" in which she volunteered
to be imprisoned in the Australian jungle with other British celebs and
was put through various challenges. She had the distinction (and, in the
editor's opinion, extreme good fortune) to be the first to be voted out
by the public. Click
here to read Mark's report of this - and the news that an international
tournament is being planned for Newport next January - at the Gwent chess
website.
Unity Plan's 'Birthday' [02/05/03]
I hope everyone has remembered to get a birthday card to celebrate Unity
Plan's 'birthday' on 6 May. Yes, it's nearly a year since an expert team
of 'chess obstetricians', led by Yasser Seirawan, brought Unity Plan into
the world in Prague. But, despite the general good will of all parties,
baby Unity is still on the life support machine a year later. A while
back it was announced that Garry Kasparov would play FIDE champion in
Buenos Aires in June for the FIDE leg of the reunification. But now it
has been postponed due to money troubles. Or has it? Mig Greengard at
ChessNinja.com has been trying to keep us posted on what's happening.
Currently FIDE seem to be saying that the Buenos Aires leg is on, but
Argentinian organiser Miguel Quinteros is saying that it's not. I think.
As for the Einstein leg, Einstein's announcement of a Budapest match between
Kramnik and Leko is imminent... but it's been imminent for quite some
time now. But now the Argentinians are starting to talk in terms of hosting
both matches. So that's as clear as mud, isn't it? Perhaps we should rebrand
this the 'Douglas Bader' world chess championships: both legs off, and
still up in the air.
Commonwealth (?!) Championship, Mumbai, India, 19-28 Apr [02/05/03]
The Commonwealth (?!) Championship took place in Mumbai, India. It was
a very strong 10-round swiss event. The reason for the ?! annotation after
the word 'Commonwealth is as follows... a few weeks ago advance information
was sent out relating to this tournament, which included the following:
"... open to all commonwealth citizens or those with five-year residency
- men's, women's, boy's and girl's (U20/18/16/14/12), senior (U60) titles
at stake". Perfectly reasonable. But, on inspecting the list of participants
- see the web
page - I was in for a surprise. Lots of Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan
players, of course, but also quite a number of Uzbekis... a Kazakh...
a Russian... a Chinese player... an Iranian... Vietnamese... Argentinian.
Not even in the wildest empire-building dreams of a Cecil Rhodes would
any of the above be included in the Commonwealth. And how many Brits,
Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, are there in the field? Not a
single one. There is a Cypriot and a South African but no other African
Commonwealth country is represented. An inspection of the tournament regulations
posted on the website (see
here) shows no mention of the eligibility requirement previously mentioned
in the advance information. Baffling. What's going on? Final: Winner
of the Open was Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam with an impressive 8½/10.
Dibyendu Barua won the Commonwealth men's title with 7½,
on the same score as 24-year-old Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi, who
took the Commonwealth Women's Championship. Unlike most other chess championships,
the men's Commonwealth title was strictly interpreted as 'men only' and
was not open to women. Thus Vijayalakshmi received a gold medal for the
women's title, but nothing for her remarkable achievement against all
the other Commonwealth men: she scored more than all of them except Barua.
She was a staggering three points ahead of top Indian woman player Humpy
Koneru. Official website: http://www.venuschessacademy.com/
Brit Bonanza in Budapest! [21/04/03]
Let's face it, British chess has had a pretty thin time of it for the
last year or so. Not only do Brits not win many tournaments, they don't
even win British championships. So it's great to be able to report two
British tournament successes, at the same time, and in the same city...
Budapest. Nigel Short won the highly prestigious 'Hunguest' tournament
(11-20 April, first prize 7,000 euros), set up mainly to provide Peter
Leko with the best possible practice for his forthcoming (we hope) world
title encounter with Vladimir Kramnik. It was Short's best performance
for at least four years and marks the 10th anniversary of his own world
title encounter with Garry Kasparov. Click
here for crosstable.
The second British winner in Budapest was David Howell, who scored
7½/9 in the category 2 First Saturday IM tournament for his first
IM norm. Laszlo Nagy's monthly congress is becoming a favourite way for
British players to get vital international practice, given that opportunities
to play internationally-rated chess in the UK have all but evaporated.
David Howell seems to have been around for ages, but we have to remind
ourselves that he is still only 12. By winning this event Howell became
the youngest westerner to win an IM event and made a TPR of 2563, not
far off a GM result. Click
here for crosstable of the tournament won by David Howell. David was
one of a group of English players who made the trip to Budapest to play
in this event. Honourable mentions for Tim Woodward, who made a
TPR of 2425 in the IM-B tournament, and Neil McDonald, coming back
to form with an 8½/13 score in the GM tournament. Full details
of this and other 1st Saturday events - http://members.chello.hu/firstsat/0304/index.htm.
Download
Hunguest in PGN • Download
1st Sat in PGN
Coincidence? [30/03/03]
One topic of great interest in the last year or so has been
Peter Leko's remarkable transformation from drawmaster to risk-taker.
A major factor in this upswing in his fortunes is the presence of his
new second - and father-in-law - Arshak Petrosyan. But what precisely
is the secret of their new training method? Well, it could just be coincidence,
but I spotted that a soccer player called Leko scored the final goal in
Croatia's 4-0 hammering of Belgium in yesterday's European Championship
qualifying match - and one 'A Petrosyan' scored the late winner for Armenia
in their 1-0 defeat of Northern Ireland. England's World Cup squad played
chess between soccer matches last year, and maybe this training technique
works the other way around.
Kasparov's Outburst
... At the prizegiving at Linares it was reported that Garry Kasparov
had a major tantrum because Radjabov was awarded the 'most beautiful game'
prize for his win against Kasparov. The prize was voted on by journalists
at the tournament. According to David Lladá of El Mundo
(reported at www.jaque.tv), when the result was announced
at the prize-giving, Kasparov was incredulous: he stormed up to the podium,
took the microphone and told the audience: "I don't think this is the
best game of the tournament. It has been chosen solely because it was
the one game I lost, and I consider this to be a public insult and humiliation".
Having left the stage, he launched into a heated argument with the press.
"It's the greatest insult that you have made me in my life! It's an insult
against me, and against chess! Do you consider yourselves chess journalists?
If you believe that that was the most beautiful game played in Linares,
you are doing a lot of damage to chess with your columns and articles.
Radjabov was completely lost in that game!". He then left in high dudgeon.
Radjabov's mother was present in the room, recording the scene on a camcorder.
Kasparov's mother was also present and asked Mrs Radjabov to stop filming.
Over at the ChessBase website (article) they condemn Kasparov's misbehaviour
at the prizegiving but seem to be agreeing with his basic argument that
the Kasparov-Radjabov was the wrong choice - that it "was awarded to this
game because Garry Kasparov was on the losing side and a 15-year-old was
on the winning side." But, surely, every aspect and circumstance of a
game are relevant to the selection of the 'most beautiful game', not just
the purity of the moves. For my part I utterly disagree with ChessBase's
argument. The Kasparov-Radjabov game is likely to be remembered as long
as the D.Byrne v Fischer game of 1956. As to possible alternatives, frankly
I have already forgotten nearly all the other games played at Linares.
In my view, if the journalists had chosen any other game, it would have
been an insult to the intelligence of everyone who cares about chess.
Do you agree or disagree? ... read
what visitors to this website have had to say.
Hrokurinn Chess Festival, Iceland 2003, 18-27 Feb [28/02/03]
A category 15 tournament has
just been held in Iceland. Top seeds were England's Michael Adams and
Spain's Alexei Shirov, while Korchnoi, I.Sokolov, Macieja, and Luke McShane
were also in the field. Final: Alexei Shirov won with an impressive
7/9. Macieja did well as did England's promising youngster Luke McShane,
not to mention the world's oldest promising youngster, Viktor Korchnoi.
Michael Adams had a disappointing tournament, scoring only +1 and finishing
below England's other representative. Another surprise was the poor showing
of Etienne Bacrot who finished adrift of the field with only 3½.
Scores: Shirov 7/9, Korchnoi, Macieja 6, I.Sokolov, McShane 5½,
Adams 5, Bacrot 3½, Stefansson 3, Gretarsson 2½, Kristjansson
1. Official website: http://icechess.com/Hrokur2003/index.php.
Reunification: Kramnik Speaks Out & Ponomariov Signs Up [14/02/03]
Well, will there be a unified world championship or not? Most
of us would hope for the answer "yes", but for one reason or another it
probably won't all happen this year. Mikhail Golubev's excellent 'Ponomariov-FIDE
Crisis' page (http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/crisis.htm)
brings us up to date on where the various parties stand. There is an extract
from an interview with Kramnik (originally published in Shakhmatnaya
Nedelya, No 7, 13.2.2003) in which he expresses sympathy with the
plight of his rival world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, having witnessed
the "absolutely unwarrantable" pressure placed on Ponomariov by FIDE during
the Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament. In the same circumstances Kramnik thinks
he would have behaved in a similar way to Ponomariov. Kramnik: "When
one sees that all terms are dictated by your adversary in the world championship
match and that all organising structure also takes his side, everybody
would hate it. I believe this to be the main reason why the problems with
the match originated... I do not know who is right and who is wrong. Maybe,
everything happens through no fault of Kasparov and it is just the FIDE
officials who wish to oblige him." He is scathing about the prospect
of Ivanchuk playing as a substitute for Ponomariov: "The main trouble
with the FIDE is that it does not follow clear rules. Everything gets
mixed up. The FIDE begins to act not as the worldwide professional chess
body but as a private sponsor keen to see this or that match... Everything
that has happened until now is frightening. The exclusion of Ponomariov
from the world championship [would be] just ridiculous as it would mean
the dead failure of FIDE."
Latest: Ponomariov has signed an agreement with
FIDE according to Mikhail Golubev's latest report. Ponomariov met with
representatives of FIDE (including President Ilyumzhinov) and the Ukrainian
Chess Federation in Moscow on 12/13 February. Ponomariov was handicapped
by not being allowed to have his personal representatives present, and
there were no interpreters (a significant part of the discussions were
in English). Golubev: "It seems that, in accordance with the signed
declaration, Ponomariov withdrew his demands (draw odds, FIDE time control)
and in exchange was somehow assured that the Ponomariov-Kasparov and Kramnik-Leko
matches would be organized according to the same formula. The final decisions
regarding the Ponomariov-Kasparov match (official contract, etc) would
be taken after the Linares tournament." There seems to be a contradiction
here: Ponomariov has signed away the right to draw odds - but we are led
to believe that this regulation does apply in the Kramnik-Leko
match.
Kasparov versus Deep Junior, New York, 26 Jan - 7 Feb
[08/02/03]
Garry Kasparov played the computer program Deep Junior in a
six-game match in New York, sponsored by FIDE and with the involvement
of x3D Technologies (who sponsored his pre-Xmas rapidplay match with Karpov).
The prize fund was $1m, with Kasparov receiving $500,000 just for appearing
and the rest of the money split 50-50. Final: Game Six was a draw,
so the match was drawn 3-3. The final game saw some fairly cagey play.
Kasparov tried a thematic exchange for two pawns sacrifice but then judged
he didn't have enough to win so accepted a draw offer. Final Match
score 3-3.
DEEP JUNIOR - Kasparov,G (2847) [B92]
FIDE Man-Machine WC New York USA (Game 6), 07.02.2003
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 e5 7 Nb3 Be7
8 0-0 0-0 9 Kh1 Bd7 10 Be3 Bc6 11 Bf3 [11 f3 a5 12 Nd2 a4 13 Nc4 b5
14 Nb6 Ra7 15 Nbd5 Lutz,C-Gallagher,J/Biel 1996/(½-½, 26);
11 Nd5 Nbd7 12 f3 Nxd5 13 exd5 Ba4 14 Qd2 h6 15 Qb4 Bxb3 16 axb3 Qc7 17
c3 Bg5 18 Bg1 Oll,L-Wojtkiewicz,A/Tallinn 1998/1-0 (37)] 11...Nbd7
12 a4 b6 13 Qd3 Bb7 14 h3 Rc8 15 Rad1 h6 16 Rfe1 Qc7 17 g3 Rfd8 18 Kh2
Re8 19 Re2 Qc4 20 Qxc4 Rxc4 21 Nd2 Rc7 22 Bg2 Rec8 23 Nb3 Rxc3!? (Giving
up the exchange for two pawns, so not too risky) 24 bxc3 Bxe4 25 Bc1
Bxg2 26 Kxg2 Rxc3 27 Ba3 Ne8 [If 27...Nc5 28 a5! opens up the position
in favour of Deep Junior's rooks] 28 f4 ½-½
Gibraltar Chess Festival, 28 Jan - 6 Feb
[07/02/03]
Stewart Reuben reports on this new event which took place
in Gibraltar. The ancient Greeks used to refer to Gibraltar and its opposite
African headland as 'the Pillars of Hercules'. Rather appropriately, two
pillars of the Greek chess community (as well as the Commonwealth) bestride
the straits of Gibraltar this morning: Greek Cypriot Vasilios Kotronias
and Greek resident (and olive grower) Nigel Short shared first prize in
the inaugural GibTelecom Chess Festival, and each takes home £3,250.
Scottish IM John Shaw achieved his first GM norm. Leaders: 1-2 Kotronias
(CYP), Short (ENG) 7½/10, 3-4 Palac (CRO), Shaw (SCO) 7, etc. PGN
file (complete), results, prize-winners and crosstable.
Campomanes Goes to Jail? [07/02/03]
Tim Krabbé's Open Chess Diary (click
here) has the story that former FIDE (World Chess Federation) President
Florencio Campomanes received a prison sentence in the Philippines on
5 February for "failure to account for government funds." See also at
The Philippine Star website.
Bermuda GM Tournaments, 25 Jan - 5 Feb [06/02/03]
Two very strong 12-player GM tournaments took place in Bermuda. Final:
GM-A (cat. 15) tournament - 1 Giovanni Vescovi (BRA) 8/11, 2 Peter Svidler
(RUS) 7½, 3 Tomasz Markowski (POL) 7... GM-B (cat. 10) tournament
- 1 Daniel Fridman (LAT) 8/11, 2 Nakamura (USA) 7½ (3rd and final
GM norm), 3 Eugene Perelshteyn (USA) 7. Subject to official ratification,
Hikaru Nakamura has beaten Bobby Fischer's 44-year-old record for being
the youngest American to qualify for the grandmaster title, at the age
of 15 years and 58 days.
Congratulations to Nakamura - but before anyone
gets too excited about this, and at the risk of seeming a wet blanket...
it's a completely meaningless record. A newly-bottled 2003 grandmaster
does not have the heady bouquet of a full-bodied 1958 vintage grandmaster
(or perhaps even the delicate fruitiness of a 1958 IM). Around the time
when the FIDE rating list was introduced (1970), there were something
like 63 active grandmasters in the world, and perhaps another 22
or so who were retired or inactive grandmasters. On the January 2003
FIDE rating list there are no less than 751 active grandmasters
(and an incredible 1,923 IMs). It's time to forget about titles,
which now only serve to impress non-chessplayers and boost FIDE's coffers.
Like TV, chess is now a 'ratings game'. And, until we see a 15-year-old
establish a rating of about 2630, then in practical terms Bobby Fischer's
achievement of 1958 will remain in a class of its own. Karyakin could
do it - he has still has well over 2 years to get there... Official
website: http://www.bermuda.bm/chess
65th Corus Wijk aan Zee, 10-26 Jan [27/01/03]
This year's Corus tournament featured nearly all of the world's top players,
except for Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko and Michael Adams. The main interest
- before the tournament - was to see how world champion Vladimir Kramnik
fared after a long lay-off from long-play (and human v human) chess, and
also to see how FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine would
cope, given the fraught state of his negotations with FIDE about the terms
of his forthcoming reunification semi-final with Kasparov. Final:
In the end it was not about Kramnik and Ponomariov, but former world champion
Vishy Anand and world top female chess player, Judit Polgar. They both
went through unbeaten to occupy the top two positions in a very hard-fought
tournament. Nothing much changed in the last three rounds, though Ivanchuk
had a morale-boosting victory over his fellow countryman Ponomariov -
whom he might be about to replace in the unification semi-final match.
Loek Van Wely also came through the test with his reputation much enhanced
- he beat Kramnik in the round before last. There was also a very interesting
Wijk 'B' tournament, won in spectatcular style by Zhang Zhong of China
with 11/13 - a TPR almost as good as Anand's in the top section. 15-year-old
Daniel Stellwagen of Netherlands also impressed to finish 2nd= with a
10-round GM norm. Peter Acs of Hungary however was rather disappointing
and he might not be the world-beater that he looked the last time he played
in the Netherlands. Karyakin turned 13 during the tournament and had another
solid result, finishing 5th. Final Scores: 1 Anand 8½/13,
2 Judit Polgar 8, 3 Bareev 7½, 4-8 Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Kramnik,
Shirov, Van Wely 7, 9-10 Radjabov, Topalov 6½, 11-12 Karpov, Ponomariov
6, 13 Krasenkow 4½, 14 Timman 2½. Official website: http://www.coruschess.com/
and live play at the Internet
Chess Club
US Chess Championships, 9-18 Jan, Seattle [20/01/03]
This year's US Championships took place in the Northwest Rooms, Seattle,
and was sponsored by America's
Foundation for Chess for the third year running. The total prize fund
for the nine-round swiss event came to $250,000. Click on the link for
detailed news. Final: Talk about 'Sleepless in Seattle' - the editor
promised himself an early night but then got hooked on Shabalov-Akobian
which was the last game to finish after other top-board games ended in
draws. It was 3am before I got to bed. A draw would have left a ten-way
tie but either player could take the title if he won. Shabalov took a
lot of chances and was two pawns down for not too much at one point. But
he found ways to confuse the issue and the younger player cracked in time
trouble. Shabalov jumped in to win queen and pawn for rook and bishop
but even then it wasn't over. Akobian had a potential fortress set-up.
But Shabalov found a way to infiltrate, first his king and then his queen,
to sew up the win. Congratulations to Riga-born, Pittsburgh-resident Alexander
Shabalov on winning his first outright US Championship (he tied for
the title in 1993 and 2000). Click
here to enjoy the Shabalov-Akobian game with brief notes in a java window.
Final Standings: 1 Alexander Shabalov 6.5/9; 2-8 Gregory Kaidanov,
Alexander Goldin, Boris Gulko, Joel Benjamin, Alexander Ivanov, Alexander
Stripunsky, John Fedorowicz 6/9. Three players - Jennifer Shahade, Irina
Krush and Anna Hahn - tied on 4½/9 for the US women's championship
and played off. The play-off resulted in a win for 26-year-old Anna
Hahn who like Shabalov originally hails from Riga in Latvia.
Ponomariov versus FIDE... and Kramnik [18/01/03]
Chess grandmasters are quite used to giving simultaneous
displays, but it can be tough when one of the games you are playing isn't
chess. Kasparov had just such a problem a few weeks ago when he was trying
to grapple with his old foe Karpov as well as take on the First Bank of
Israel over a rather large sum of money which they said he owed them (I
wonder - was this what was bugging him in London 2000 when he lost to
Kramnik?).
Now FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov is trying
to play chess in Wijk aan Zee whilst at the same time argue with FIDE
over the terms of his forthcoming match with Kasparov to decide who meets
Kramnik or Leko in the long-awaited world championship reunification match.
What seems to be at stake now is the right of the official
FIDE world champion to have direct input into the negotiations for the
reunification series. Last May in Prague Ponomariov had to leave it to
FIDE to do his negotiating for him, whereas his adversary Kasparov was
at the table to argue his corner in person.
Now Ponomariov wants to have his say. Whatever one thinks
of his specific demands (that draws odds should apply in the event of
a drawn match, and that the new FIDE time limit of 90 minutes/all plus
30 secs should be used), one can have more sympathy for his general view
that conditions not should be imposed upon him without a due period of
negotiation; that everything should be out in the open and agreed upfront.
He was due to sign a contract (more of an ultimatum) with FIDE on 10 January
but the deadline has passed with (as yet) no consequence.
But he's doing better than Kasparov did in his Karpov/Israeli
Bank simul. Ponomariov managed to beat Vladimir Kramnik in his second
round game, despite the presence of FIDE hard-men Makropoulos and Azmaiparashvili
in Wijk to hassle him over the FIDE contract. You may not agree with all
of Ponomariov's arguments with FIDE, but you have to admire his courage
in adversity.
Latest: Follow the war of words via the
excellent Chess
in Ukraine website. FIDE have now responded to Ruslan Ponomariov's
latest missive and seem to be on the verge of replacing Ponomariov with
Ivanchuk in the semi-final match. Mikhail Golubev is suggesting a procedure
for rescuing the original match.
Madame Nahed Ojjeh Breaks with Einstein [14/01/03]
When we talked about Ponomariov having off-board problems during his
game with Kramnik, maybe the 'Classical World Champion' had his own worries.
The other leg of the reunification series now has its own problems...
Press Release from NAO CHESS CLUB, Paris, 14th January 2003
Mrs. Nahed OJJEH, President of NAO Chess Club, has
decided to break all relations with the Einstein group.
Since its creation, NAO Chess Club and its president
Mrs. Nahed OJJEH have been seeking the development as well as the reunification
of the world of chess. In that spirit, in July 2002, to guarantee the
success of the "Candidates Tournament", first phase of the reunification
process, Mrs. OJJEH put up a prize-fund of 300,000 Euros. The Einstein
Group, in charge of the event, did not respect its engagement. It did
not pay out the whole sum allocated to the players for the tournament.
Some participants, among them Evgeny BAREEV and Boris GELFAND, were not
paid. For the past four months, NAO's inquiries have remained unanswered
by the Einstein Group. The Einstein Group claims it is not responsible,
giving false excuses. This is both scandalous and unacceptable. These
carry prejudices to the players and discredit the world of chess. The
NAO Chess Club and its President cannot be responsible for such behaviour
and in consequence have decided to break all relations with the Einstein
Group. NAO CHESS CLUB
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