Final Round 2 19th July 2002

JUST SAY NAO!

Press Conference

WITH a major chess tournament of this stature taking place in Dortmund, it’s inevitable that the odd celebrity or two will pop in for a visit just to get their mug shot in the local rag. Only last week I discovered quite by accident that an ‘old comrade’ of mine, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, would be in Dortmund on Friday - and his official visit was going to be just 100 meters away from the playing hall at the Westfalenhallen.

So what were the chances do you think of hijacking Tone and have him pop in for a Royal visit? I thought the chances were good – after all, wasn’t this the same PM who was patron of the original Braingames World Championship match held in London nearly a couple of years ago, the one that Kramnik won? It certainly was – but unfortunately his hosts didn’t feel he had the time on his busy schedule to make the opening move on Friday.

Vladimir Kramnik

However, all wasn’t lost – it looked as if Blair was willing to pose with Big Vlady for a 10.00am photo call before he set off on his official duties in Dortmund with the patron of this Candidates’ Tournament, Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s beleaguered Chancellor, as he struggles to save his re-election hopes in the face of mounting scandals and not to mention even more mounting unemployment. Alas the visit had to be cancelled at the last minute due to a little ‘local difficulties’ for Herr Schröder - he was embarrassingly forced to sack his Defence Minister, Rudolf Scharping, only hours after financial disclosures were made about him in Stern magazine the day before Blair’s visit. Apparently the hapless Scharping got caught with his hand in the till by accepting a €75,000 inducement from a PR company; but not before he had spent €18,000 on a make-over, €1,000 of which went on ties alone.

Madame Nahed Ojjeh and Steve Timmins

However, all wasn’t lost for the glamour visit to brighten up our dreary life in the press room, because the next day Carsten Hensel had assured us an even bigger Royal visit - and by someone who at least is wise enough to give her inducements to chess rather than to waste it on politicians: Madame Nahed Ojjeh!

Much has been written about Madame Ojjeh since she and her enormous wealth - particularly her wealth! - came into the world of chess, many focusing on her background of being the daughter of the Syrian defence minister and a widow of a Saudi arms dealer, but at least on the positive side she's a lot prettier to look at than Kirsan Illyumzhinov! She started off by becoming the patron of the nearly-defunct Paris chess club CAISSA, investing a lot of her money and time to the club who in recognition changed their name to NAO (the initials of her name); now becoming the biggest and strongest club in France with a team line-up that includes the likes of Joel Lautier, Etienne Bacrot, Boris Spassky, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik.

At the end of April, NAO was placed 5^th in the French first division and, one month later, the team (thanks to a superb virtuoso performance form Spassky) defeated Montpelier Club to take the coveted trophy – la Coupe de France – which now occupies the place of honour in the main room of the Club. As a result, the Club has qualified for the European championship which will take place in Greece next September – watch this space with the line-up they have available for the tournament.

NAO have also been moving into organising top tournaments and earlier this year they staged the first NAO Masters in Cannes, and recently she’s associated herself with the Einstein Group in an effort to help reunite the chess world. The €300,000 prize fund for this tournament was provided by Madame Ojjeh, and today she took part in her first major press conference on chess that would outline what plans she has with Einstein for the future, which as far as the assembled hacks could work out were all pretty vague. Joining in on the press conference was Steve Timmins, CEO of Einstein; Joel Lautier, Madame Ojjeh’s translator; Madame Ojjeh herself; Vladimir Kramnik; Carsten Hensel; and Louise Cottrell, Einstein’s Commercial Director.

The room for the press conference was heaving with journalists anxious to get a glimpse of this glamorous millionaires (or billionaires – it depends if you use Euro or French Francs), and they weren’t disappointed as she came gliding into the room accompanied by Kramnik and Hensel, looking like a million dollars – which to her is probably petty cash!

Formalities aside, the press conference opened with a statement from Steve Timmins who stated that (even after Bessel Kok slammed the door on him in Prague and prevented him from attending the meeting), “Einstein fully supported the deal brokered in Prague and would help FIDE in everyway in establishing unity in the chess world.” Timmins also explained that as they themselves were newcomers to the chess world, they were still finding their feet and trying to fathom out the best way to utilise their skills in televising chess for the general public.

Asked where and when Big Vlady would defend his title, Timmins answered that much still had to be arranged, though he was hopeful that the match would start in the middle of April 2003 – the venue still to be finalised, but a few major cities had indicated their interest. The smart betting here from the assembled hacks was take your pick from Madame Ojjeh’s beloved Paris or Herr Hensel’s Dortmund – though I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Bahrain. “We hope to finalise all the arrangements for the match by October,” added Timmins. “Regardless of where and when it will be, we will endeavour to make sure it doesn’t clash with FIDE’S [Kasparov-Ponomariov] match.”

Madame Ojjeh and Kramnik

Now Big Vlady hasn’t really been seen at the board too much this year, and this obviously worries the press who wondered just what match praxis he would be getting in before playing the eventual winner of the Dortmund Candidates Tournament. It was here that Madame Ojjeh, after making a brief statement of why she had fallen in love with chess, finally revealed what she had got Big Vlady for his Christmas – a category 19. super GM tournament in December organised in Paris by the NAO Club!

Topalov,V (2745) - Leko,P (2717) [B33]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 [The first game of the match still perplexes many commentators: If Topalov was willing to play the Sveshnikov - which was confirmed by his second Loek van Wely - then why didn't he play a straight Sveshnikov as Leko has here, rather than playing e6 and Nc6, allowing Leko to play the exchange on c6 and into a positional line?] 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Bg5 a6 8 Na3 b5 9 Bxf6 gxf6 10 Nd5 [ The speculative 10 Bxb5 is regarded as good for Black with accurate play.] 10 ..f5 11 Bd3 Be6 12 0–0 Bxd5 13 exd5 Ne7 14 c3 Bg7 15 Qh5 [The idea behind the Queen sortie is to try and weaken Black's strong pawns on e5 and f5, and of course to threaten a mating attack.] 15 ..e4 16 Bc2 0–0 17 Rae1 Qc8 18 Kh1 Rb8 [Leko keeps faith with the set-up he used with great success against Shirov in the semifinals.] 19 g4N

[ Obviously Topalov and his team had a good look at this line after Leko played it against Shirov, and it looks as if they are taking the direct route by attempting to bludgeon their way through to the Black king. 19 f3 b4 20 Nb1 bxc3 21 bxc3 Bxc3 22 Nxc3 Qxc3 23 fxe4 f4 24 Bb3 Ng6 25 Rc1 Qf6 26 Qf5 Qe7 27 Rc4 a5 28 h3 Rb4 29 Rxb4 axb4 30 Bd1 Ra8 31 Rf2 Qa7 32 Rc2 Kg7 33 Kh2 Qe3 34 Bf3 Qe1 35 Rc7 Qg3+ 36 Kh1 Ne5 37 Bh5 Rxa2 38 Rxf7+ Nxf7 39 Qxf7+ Kh6 40 Qf6+ Kxh5 41 Qf5+ Kh6 42 Qf6+ Qg6 43 Qh4+ Kg7 44 Qe7+ Qf7 45 Qg5+ Kf8 46 Qd8+ Qe8 47 Qf6+ Kg8 0–1 Shirov,A-Leko,P/Dortmund GER 2002. ] 19 ..b4! 20 cxb4 Nxd5 21 gxf5 Kh8 22 Rg1 [ Looking for a win, Topalov avoids the immediate recapture on e4 as it seems to lead to a drawish ending: 22 Bxe4 Nf6 23 Qf3 Rxb4 24 b3 Nxe4 25 Rxe4 Qa8 26 Rfe1 Rxe4 27 Rxe4 Bf6 and it's difficult for White to make progress despite the extra pawn.] 22 ..Bxb2 23 Qh6 Qc3!

[A nice move. Leko finds the optimum move to defend g7 and keep up the pressure on the vulnerable White knight on a3 - from here on in Black is in command.] 24 Rxe4 Qf6 25 Qh3 Rg8 26 Rf1 [ Topalov gambles - but it was impossible for White to continue attacking: 26 Rh4 Rxg1+ 27 Kxg1 Qg5+ 28 Kf1 Qc1+ 29 Ke2 Nf6! and White is in serious trouble.; His best hope was the very drawish 26 Qb3 Rxg1+ 27 Kxg1 Bxa3 28 Qxd5 Bxb4 29 Rg4 Bc5 and Black's command over the dark-squares prevent White making any progress.] 26 ..Bxa3 [Armenian grandmaster Arshak Petrosian, who is also Leko's father-in-law and his second, said black had the upper hand here. "White may have an extra pawn but Black's pieces are very active."] 27 Qxa3 Rbc8 28 Bd1 Nc3! [The knight cuts off the White queen from the rest of her pieces, and more importantly escorts the d-pawn up the board.] 29 Re3 d5 30 Rg3 d4 31 Bf3 d3 32 Qb2 Qd4 33 Rd1?! [ 33 Qd2 was better - but Black is never going to lose such a position.] 33 ..Rxg3 34 hxg3 Rc4!

35 Rf1 d2 36 f6 Qxf6 [ With just over three minutes left on his clock, it looks as if Leko missed a direct route to victory with 36 ..Ne4! 37 Qxd4 Rxd4 38 Kg2 ( 38 Bxe4? Rxe4 39 Rd1 Re1+!) 38 ..Nc3 39 a3 ( 39 Bd1 Rxb4!) 39 ..d1Q 40 Bxd1 Rxd1 with an easy win.] 37 Kg2 Qd4 38 Qc2 Rc7 39 Qf5 f6 40 Rh1 d1Q 41 Bxd1 Nxd1 42 Rh4 [Black may be a piece ahead but it's far from clear with the knight stuck just now on d1 and the badly placed Black king.] 42 ..Qd8 43 Rh6 Rf7 44 Qe6 Rf8 45 Qe4 [ In the press room, Van Wely and Joel Lautier quickly found an easy drawing line for White with 45 Qf5 Qe7 46 Qd3 Nb2 47 Qc2 Qb7+ 48 Kh2 Qg7 49 Rh5 f5 50 Rxf5 Rxf5 51 Qxf5=] 45 ..Qd7 46 Qf3 Kg7 47 Rh5! Nb2 48 Rd5 Qe6 49 Rd4 Rc8 [ Black can't bring his knight back into the action immediately: 49 ..Nc4?? 50 Qg4+!] 50 Re4 Qc6 51 Kh2 Kf8? [ 51 ..h5! looks the simplest win for Black.] 52 Qf4 Kf7 53 Qf5 Rg8 54 Qxh7+ Rg7 55 Qh5+ Kf8

56 Qf5?? [ It's almost as if Topalov cracked as according to his second, Loek Van Wely the following day, he thought he was winning! In reality, he had to take the draw now with 56 Qh8+ Kf7 57 Qh5+=] 56 ..Nc4 [The knight comes back into the game and White is now well and truly busted.] 57 Re2 Rg5 58 Qh7 Ne5 59 Qh6+ Kg8 60 Qxg5+ fxg5 61 Rxe5 Qf6 62 Re2 Qf3 63 Rd2 Kf7 64 a4 Qb3 65 Rd6 Qxa4 66 Rb6 Qa2 0–1

You can contact John Henderson at: jbhthescots@blueyonder.co.uk

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center.