ChessWatch

2-3-2006
Chronicle of Shame

I just took a look at the new "semi-monthly online e-zine" Chess Chronicle, which boasts that Vassily Ivanchuk writes for it (though I didn't notice any actual contributions from him), and also features many, many annotated games. It also features an in-depth interview with Peter Svidler, which also appears (by permission from Chess Chronicle) on the ChessBase site. But what really catches your attention is the "We are sad and we are sorry!" headline in which the editors apologize, having become aware that one of their features was plagiarized from other sources. On further digging, I see that this 'zine is affiliated with Pakistan Chess Player , which was itself often charged with plagiarism some years ago. By the enthusiasm of their apology, I think that the editors are trying to say, "hey, it ain' t happening here," a worthy sentiment.

Historically, plagiarism was part of the seamy tradition of professional chess, once upon a time. It has always been a difficult scramble to make a living at chess. Publication is one way to make money, but research is time-consuming. Stealing content was long common. The Internet has made it more difficult and more obvious.

In recent years, I saw an article by a well-known GM that was translated right out of an old classic Russian book by someone else when I was working in Moscow. No one but me seemed taken aback by it, and it was, in fact, published as the work of the undeserving GM.

It is of course commonly known that errors in analysis have been copied, in some cases for decades, before someone noticed, say, a mate in one. I saw a charge that one of the Kasparov books on his great predecessors had such an error, and I wasn't surprised.

Like many other members of other occupations (see the film L.A. Confidential, which covers police corruption) professional chessplayers have partly emerged from a lawless past. One of the creative sources of today's chess, Evgeny Sveshnikov, has long argued that game scores should be coprighted, so that word about his innovations didn't become widespread quite so quickly. I long wondered whether he wanted to spring the same old traps on us unsuspecting amateurs, decade after decade. Fortunately, his attempt to slow the spread of information didn't succeed.

I think that we should be understanding about the sins of our chess parents. Understandably, chess greats didn't relish the fate of Samuel Reshevsky, for example, who had a "real job" as an accountant while pursuing chess immortality. Luckily, demanding crazyman Bobby Fischer came along, and now conditions and fees have improved.

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1-29-2006
Long Live the Kings

Viswanathan Anand of India managed to win his last game at this year's Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament and tie for first in this incredibly strong tournament with Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria., who was held to a draw by another kind of king, the draw king Peter Leko of Hungary. This feels to me like a bigger event than just one strong tournament -- this may be the rainbow-mark of the new chess world that has emerged after the retirement of Garry Kasparov -- a dual reign by the two new kings of world chess. Maybe they have or will award tie-break points at Wijk -- I don't care about that; it always seems highly artificial to me. Let a photo finish remain a photo finish.

Any other final result would have been a kind of tragedy for Anand, who certainly played well enough for a solid first. And Topalov -- somehow, this is just the expected result for him. Anand had to beat Boris Gelfand of Israel, in what some ICC kibitzers described as a weird game. True, but Anand often wins such games.

As for the rest of the players -- the results seem to have been ordained by divine chess justice, each right in its own way. Sergey Karjakin's defeat by Vassily Ivanchuk in the last round doesn't diminish his rising star. Michael Adams' high standing confirms that he still stands in the shadowlands of Olympus, just off the throne room. Gata Kamsky's poor results confirm that you can't just take a long vacation from world chess and resume at the top. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will hopefully take this rude introduction to elite chess and it will fuel a better try next time. This was a tournament worthy of its reputation, and for Wijk, that's saying something.

Out of the Past

Time warp, anyone? That's how it felt today when I went to the essential chess site TWIC (The Week In Chess) and began reading about Bobby Fischer in Japan, and other flashes from the past. Then I noticed that it was dated from August, 2004. I'm sure it will quickly recover, but it was a fun episode of time traveling for a moment there. (Update: It's back to normal now.)

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1-28-2006

A Day of Walk-Throughs

The greats at Wijk were not particularly in fighting moods today, not especially surprising, since it has been a grueling tournament. All the games were pro-forma walk-throughs except for the walkover that my underdog favorite, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, provided Gata Kamsky. The Chess.FM commentary crew pointed out that Mamedyarov hadn't had much time to prepare for Wijk, since he was a last-moment substitute for Vladimir Kramnik, who had another bout of sickness. Apparently Kramnik has had early-onset arthritis for some time, bad news for him and for world chess. Mamedyarov had many spectacular results at lower levels, and I hope that he returns to top chess with a vengeance.

Tomorrow Peter Leko has White against leader Veselin Topalov and the second-place Viswanathan Anand has White against Boris Gelfand. Assuming Leko achieves a draw, the Anand-Gelfand game is the main hope for a change in the standings. Vassily Ivanchuk against the youngster Sergey Karjakin will be another game to watch; Ivanchuk would love to climb in the standings, and Karjakin is another young phenomenon the chess world loves to follow. (Photo below from FIDE site.)

1-27-2006

WijkWatch

Webcasters Bill Pascall and John Fedorowicz were in fine fettle on Chess.FM today, as Round 11 was packed with action and confusion, especially during Ivanchuk-Topalov, in which Ivanchuk spurned a drawish situation to launch into head-spinning (and head-scratching) complications on the queenside. A lot was riding on this game, because a loss by Topy would probably have allowed Anand to reach him at the top of the tournament standings with only two rounds to go. When the smoke cleared, it was a draw anyway.

In the other critical game, Anand-Tiviakov, Black's unusual 3...Qd6 in what some call the Scandanavian Defence got Black a draw against Anand's energetic attempts to snuff him out. The Leko-Mamedyarov game was mainly noteworthy for the final position, as Black's desperate attack is clearly useless against the Queen-duo.

Black: (Mamedyarov): I uh, resign.

Welcome to the big leagues, Mamedyarov!

Sergey Karjakin continues to impress with an easy-looking win vs Ivan Sokolov's Open Ruy. It was good to see Gata Kamsky notch a win over Loek van Wely -- Van Wely, fresh from beating Peter Leko, sac'd his Queen for almost-sufficient compensation. The other games were less eventful. The easiest way to play through these games is to "finger live" from ICC's BlitzIn chess interface and then click on "finger Corus06". On that screen, you will see the "liblist Corus06" link, which gives you all the games played in the tournament so far.

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1-26-2006

Media Tip

Speaking of brave new worlds (see below), you can see an interview with Garry Kasparov from 1994 on the Charlie Rose show online, via Google Video, here. I just watched the first two minutes or so, because I was too cheap to plunk down the $.99 for the whole interview. It was great to see Garry at his chess prime, though he was obviously upset at having lost a Rapid game to Vladimir Kramnik. Pay for it, maybe you'll get to see a demonstration game of Kaspy vs Charlie. I'll pass.

It's a Brave New World

The battle for world chess supremacy in the wake of the retirement of Garry Kasparov seems clearer now -- it's a two-man Battle of the Demigods between Viswanathan Anand of India and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria -- strange to see no Russians at the top. At the latest mega-tournament, Corus Wijk aan Zee, Topalov leads with 7.5 after Round 10, but Anand is only half a point back with two rounds to go. Friday is a good day for Anand to strike back -- he has White against Sergey. Tiviakov, while Topalov plays Black against Vassily Ivanchuk. The two chess behemoths meet on Saturday, which will be an exciting contest, probably ending in a draw. Chess.FM is covering Wijk, of course.

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1-9-2006
The Return of ChessWatch

Welcome to the 2006 ChessWatch. Since there has been such a lapse in posting, almost all the earlier content has been vacuumed away. Expect a steady stream of chess info to be arriving here. As usual, the emphasis is on currency and fun, and reader input is essential. Email me at geneven@chessclub.com with your requests and comments.

--Gene

 

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