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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 04:54 PM Original message |
The Jack Rabbit Chess Report for October 15: Hail, King Kramnik |
Edited on Sun Oct-15-06 05:12 PM by Jack Rabbit
The Jack Rabbit Chess Report for the week ending October 15 the World Championship in London, November 2000 from ChessBase.com Contents Post 1: News for the week Post 2: Diagrams and other features Post 3: Games from Current and Recent Events Post 4: Comment: The World Championship and Other Observations |
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 04:56 PM Response to Original message |
1. News for the week ending October 15 |
Edited on Sun Oct-15-06 05:47 PM by Jack Rabbit
Kramnik wears the reunified chess crown
Vladimir Kramnik won a four-game rapid chess tiebreak from Veselin Topalov Friday, 2½-1½, to win the reunified world championship. The first game, in which each player had 25 minutes to compete his moves, was drawn. Kramnik, who had White in the second game, won that while Topalov evened the score in the third. In the fourth and final game, Kramnik already had a won position when Topalov made a move that would be considered a blunder were the game not already lost for him; the move lost a Rook. When Kramnik replied with the tactical stroke that assured him an overwhelming material advantage, Topalov resigned. Black: Veselin Topalov !""""""""# $ + + + +% $T L +oOo% $pR +o+v+% $R P + + % $ + + + +% $+ + Kp+ % $ +t+ +pP% $+ + +b+ % /(((((((() White: Vladimir Kramnik Position after 44. Kf2e3 44. -- Rxc5 45. Rb7+! 1-0 Can't see the diagram? Please click here. After eight games, the match was even at 4 points apiece. Topalov won the ninth game to take his only lead in the match, but Kramnik bounced back the following day to win game 10. Both games are featured below. Games 11 and 12 were drawn, setting up Friday's tiebreak round. Had the four rapid game been split, two blitz games would have been played; had those been been even, one "Armageddon" game, in which White would have six minutes to win and Black to win or draw, would have decided the world championship. The match was marred with controversy when a dispute over access to toilets was allowed to fester into a crisis that nearly halted the match after four games. Prior to the fifth game, Topalov's manager, Bulgarian grandmaster Silvio Danailov, complained to the Appeals Committee about Kramnik's frequent trips to the rest rooms, suggesting he may be using the toilet to consult a computer illegally. The Appeals Committee made changes without consulting Kramnik or his team. When arrived for game 5, he insisted that the facilities be restored before play begin, arguing that the arrangement for private toilets was in the players' contract. The chief arbiter started Kramnik's clock and announced Topalov's victory by default after one hour had elapsed. After the match was stopped for the better part of a week to settle the dispute. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov dismissed the Appeals Committee and took personal control of the match. In the end, access to toilets was restored, but Kramnik's forfeit of game 5 was upheld. Kramnik played the remainder of the match under protest. He threatened to sue FIDE if the forfeit was not repealed. However, all legal issues were rendered moot when Topalov resigned the final game Friday. Kramnik's principled stand won him the respect and admiration of many chess followers who don't necessary like his risk-advers brand of chess. As Mig Greegard said on his website: I don't know if the better player won today. But looking back over the past few weeks I'd have to say that the better man certainly did. Hail the new and improved world champion! Or, dare I type it, hail the new World Champion! Russian men, Armenian women win European Club Cup Three Russian men's teams tied for first in the men's division of the European Club Cup team tournament in Fügen, Austria, while a team representing Armenia leads the women's division. The seven round event finished today. The three Russian teams are Tomsk-400, Ladya Kazan and Ural Sverdlovskaya. Each has won five matches and drawn two. Tomsk-400 has been award first prize base on tiebreak points, which for this event was individual points scored. Tomsk was led by Alexander Morozevich on board 1. Morozevich scored 5 points, most on the Tomsk team. The two top players for Ladya Kazan were non-Russians, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan. Kasimdzhanov led the team with 5 points. On top board for Ural Sverdlovskaya was Peter Svidler, but the team's top scorer was Alexander Grischuk with 5½ points. Tomi Nyback, who plays for Werder Bremen, led all scorers in the men's division with 6½ points. The leading top board scorer was Vassily Ivanchuk of TPS Saransk with 6 points. In the women's division, the Mika Yerevan team won five matches and drawn two. To call this team Armenian is something of a misnomer, since its four players were made up of two Georgians, former women's world champion Maya Chiburdanidze on the top board and Nino Khurtsidze on board 3, and two Armenians, Elina Danielian and Nelly Aginian. Ms. Khurtsidze led all scorers with 6 points in 7 rounds. Ms. Chiburdanidze and Tatiana Kosintseva of AVS Krasnoturinsk led the top board players with 5 points each. Aniasian, Melia, Mongontuul lead World Junior Championships Zaven Andiasian, 17, an international master from Armenia, leads the juniors division of the World Juniors Championships in Yerevan, Armenia, with 9 points in 12 rounds while in the girls division Salome Melia of Georgia and Bathuyag Mongontuul of Mongolia, both 19, are tied for first with with 8½ points each. The event finishes tomorrow. In the juniors division, Yuriy Kryvorichko of Ukraine, Russia's Nikita Vitiugov and Georgian Levan Pantsulaia are tied for second with 8½ points each. Vitiugov and Pantsulaia are grandmasters while Vitiugov is an international master. For the girls, there is a five-way tie for third place among Anna Rudolf of Hungary, Eesha Karavde and Donavalli Harika of India, and Shen Yang 12-year-old Hou Yifan of China, all with 8 points. |
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 04:58 PM Response to Original message |
2. Diagrams and other features on the JR Chess Report |
!""""""""# $tMvWlVmT% $OoOoOoOo% $ + + + +% $+ + + + % $ + + + +% $+ + + + % $pPpPpPpP% $RnBqKbNr% /(((((((() White to move This position is a theoretical draw Does this picture make sense to you? If not, or if it looks like a bunch of Wingdings, please click here. Diagrams used in the Jack Rabbit Chess Report are made with Chess Merida, a true type font that is available as freeware at the above link. Also, the JR chess report makes the main variation in annotations more distinct and readable by putting it in red. A secondary variation, is in blue and other colors are used if needed. |
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 04:59 PM Response to Original message |
3. Games from current and recent events |
Edited on Sun Oct-15-06 05:21 PM by Jack Rabbit
Chess Games Analysis by JR and Fritz Veselin Topalov - Vladimir Kramnik, Match for the World Title/Round 9, Elista Vladimir Kramnik - Veselin Topalov, Match for the World Title/Round 10, Elista Hou Yifan - Hoang Thi Bao Tram, World Juniors Championship, Yerevan Evgeny Bareev - Alexander Grischuk, European Club Cup, Fügen Vladimir Akopian - Sergei Volkov, Isle of Man Open, Port Erin Akex Shabalov - John Cox, Isle of Man Open, Port Erin |
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 05:13 PM Response to Reply #3 |
5. Topalov - Kramnik, Match/Round 9, Elista |
Veselin Topalov Veselin Topalov vs. Vladimir Kramnik Match for the World Title, Round 9 Elista, Kalmykia Russia, October 2006 Queen's Gambit: Slav Defense 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. a3 Nbd7 9. g3 Be7
Black: Vladimir Kramnik !""""""""# $ MwTtMl+% $O + +oO % $ +o+ +o+% $+ + P + % $ + P + P% $+ V +bP % $ P + +q+% $+ R +rBk% /(((((((() White: Veselin Topalov Position after Bb4xc3 31. bxc3!
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 05:14 PM Response to Reply #3 |
6. Kramnik - Topalov, Match/Round 10, Elista |
Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Kramnik vs. Veselin Topalov Match for the World Title, Round 10 Elista, Kalmykia (Russia), October 2006 Queen's Gambit: Catalan Opening 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+
Black: Veselin Topalov !""""""""# $ + VwTl+% $R + +oOo% $vT + + +% $On+oN + % $p+ PmB +% $+ + + P % $ P +qP P% $R + + K % /(((((((() White: Vladimir Kramnik Position after 24. Rc7a7 24. -- f6?
Black: Veselin Topalov !""""""""# $ + + +l+% $+ V + Oo% $v+ + + +% $O + +o+ % $ +w+mB +% $+ + + P % $ P + P P% $+ +qR K % /(((((((() White: Vladimir Kramnik Position after 34. -- Bd8xc7 35. Qd7!
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 05:15 PM Response to Reply #3 |
7. Hou - Hoang, World Juniors Championships, Yerevan |
Hou Yifan Hou Yifan vs. Hoang Thi Bao Tram World Juniors Championships, Round 7 Yerevan, Armenia, October 2006 Open German Game: Steinitz Defense (Caro-Kann Defense) 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6
Black: Hoang Thi Bao Tram !""""""""# $ + T +l+% $Om+ R Ot% $ O V OnO% $+ + +q+ % $ Pw+ O +% $+ + + + % $pBp+ +pP% $+ +r+ K % /(((((((() White: Hou Yifan Position after 24. -- Qc7c4 25. Rd5! 1-0
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 05:16 PM Response to Reply #3 |
8. Bareev - Grischuk, European Club Cup, Fügen |
Alexander Grischuk Evgeny Bareev (Elara Cheboksary) vs. Alexander Grischuk (Ural Sverdlovskaya) European Club Cup, Round 5 Fügen, Austria, October 2006 West Indian Game: Nimzo-Indian Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3!?
Black: Alexander Grischuk !""""""""# $ +tW +l+% $+ + +t+o% $ + +o+o+% $+ + Bm+ % $ O + Q +% $+ M + P % $ + + PbP% $+ R +r+k% /(((((((() White: Evgeny Bareev Position after 25. Qe3f4 25. -- Nxg3+!!
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 05:17 PM Response to Reply #3 |
9. Akopian - Volkov, Isle of Man Open, Port Erin |
Sergei Volkov Vladimir Akipian vs. Sergei Volkov Isle of Man International Open, Round 9 Port Erin, October 2006 French Advance Game: Vienna Opening (MacCutcheon Defense) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 Kf8 9. Bd3!?
Black: Sergei Volkov !""""""""# $ + + T +% $+ + m +l% $o+ + + O% $Po+ Po+ % $ +oP K +% $+ P +bR % $ +p+ + +% $+ + + + % /(((((((() White: Vladimir Akopian Position after 34. Rg1xg3 34. -- Ng6+!
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 05:18 PM Response to Reply #3 |
10. Shabalov - Cox, Isle of Man Open, Port Erin |
Alex Shabalov Alex Shabalov vs. John Cox Isle of Man International Open, Round 4 Port Erin, September 2006 Open Royal Game: Classical Defense (Scotch Opening) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. g3
Black: John Cox !""""""""# $t+ + Tl+% $+ + MoOo% $o+ + w +% $+o+ + + % $ + Pq+ +% $+ P B P % $ + + P P% $Rr+ + K % /(((((((() White: Alex Shabalov Position after 19. -- a7a6 20. Rxb5!!
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Jack Rabbit (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Sun Oct-15-06 05:00 PM Response to Original message |
4. Comment: The World Championship and Other Observations |
Edited on Sun Oct-15-06 05:49 PM by Jack Rabbit
Comment: The World Championship and Other Observations
The Beginnings of the World Chess Championship The world chess championship was established in 1886 in a match between Wilhelm Steinitz, a Czech chess master who had lived at various time in Prague, Vienna, London and by this time in New York, against the German-Polish master, Johannes Hermann Zukertort. The match was scheduled for 24 games of which twenty were played before one player accumulated the required 12½ points. The match was held over a three-month period in three US cities: New York, St. Louis and New Orleans. Steinitz and Zukertort were regarded as the two strongest players of the time, so the claim that the match was for the world championship of chess was not just a publicity agent's hype or an idle boast by either of the participants. It was a valid claim. The match was won by Steinitz. Zukertort would be dead about two years after the end of the match. Steinitz would defend his title against the Russian Mikhail Chigorin (1889), Isidor Gunsberg of Hungary (1890) and Chigorin again (1892) before finally losing the title to the young German, Emanuel Lasker, in 1894. In Diana's Wood: Steinitz vs. Lasker, 1894 Thus the world chess championship was established on the format of the Golden Bough. A brash challenger would come and meet the king in mortal combat; the challenger could only become king himself by slaying the king. The contest rules, a set of rituals and traditions, were to assure that the king would be crafty, strong and virile, so as to better fight enemies and the please the gods into making the kingdom fertile. The king and priest were one and the same. He was expected to be all things, the chief warrior and the first appeaser of the gods. In the rites that could mean his death, he would grant the challenger the instrument of his own destruction. In 1900, Steinitz died almost penniless in New York. This had a profound effect on Lasker, an early twentieth-century renaissance man who, in addition to being the world chess champion, earned a Ph.D. in mathematics studying under David Hilbert in 1902 (an important theorem bears his name), a minor philosopher and could hold his own arguing about science and mathematics with his friend, Dr. Einstein. After Lasker's death in 1941, Einstein would write an intoduction to a biography of Lasker. For the reason of being such a polyglot, Lasker did not play chess as often as many of his contemporaries. He was busy being Lasker. Lasker was also concerned that he would die in poverty, like Steinitz, if he devoted all his time to chess and did not take care to make money at chess. For this reason, he would not defend his title unless his challenger first put up a significant deposit for prizes and expenses. In this way, potential matches againt the Hugarian master Geza Maroczy (about 1902) and Akiba Rubinstein of Poland (about 1912) were never held, and a match that might have been held against Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch that might have been held about 1903 was delayed until 1908, when Tarrasch was declining. Instead, Dr. Lasker would defend his title against the American Frank Marshall in 1907 (Lasker won 8 and drew 7 without a loss), Carl Schlechter of Austria (when Lasker was fortunate to escape, winning one -- the last game -- losing one and drawing eight), and the Franco-Polish master David Janowsky twice (in 1909 with 7 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws; and in 1910 with 8 wins and 3 draws without a loss). The case of Dr. Lasker's match with Janowsky is interesting. Janowsky was a friend of the Dutch artist Leo Nardus, who thought Janowsky the greatest chess player ever. Nardus supported Janowsky financially and literally bought Janowsky's matches against Dr. Laker, paying Lasker 7000 francs for the 1909 match. In 1921, Lasker, having held the world championship for over half of his 52 years, lost a match to José Capablanca of Cuba in Havana. Lasker would retire from chess in 1925. He had earned enough money from his various ventures to retire. In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany and legally robbed Lasker, a Jew, of all for which he had worked. The following year, broke and living in exile, the legendary Dr. Lasker returned to competitive chess at the age of 65. The Beginnings of FIDE The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the world governing body of chess, was founded in 1924 with the idea of bringing order to the world chess title. It was to assure that there would be sponsors for a world championship event featuring a reigning champion and a strong, qualified challenger. Of course, at this time FIDE was an upstart organization with a good idea, but to get hold of the world title, it would need the goodwill of the champion. This FIDE did not get. In 1924, the World Champion was still Capabalanca, who would lose it to Alexander Alekhine, a Russian emigre living in France, in 1927. Alekhine would hold the title for most of the next 19 years, with a two year interregnum (1935-37) in which Dr. Max Euwe of Holland reigned. During his reign, Alekhine demonstrated exactly why independent control of the world title was needed. Ducking proposals for a rematch against Capablanca, who continued to win strong tournaments, Alekhine instead handpicked his challenger, Efim Bogolyubov, another Russian emigre who lived in Germany. Bogolyubov was a strong player in his own right, but not in the same class as Alekhine, Capablanca or Dr. Lasker. Alekhine played not one but two matches against Bogolyubov, in 1929 and 1934, easily winning both. Dr. Euwe, easily the strongest Dutch master (and the former European amateur heavyweight boxing champion), also managed to get a match with Alekhine in 1935 and, to the surprise of almost everyone, scored a narrow victory over the living legend. Euwe was a consummate sportsman above all else and immediately on his own initiative began negotiations with Alekhine for a rematch. That was held in 1937. Alekhine convincing win in that match was a great setback for FIDE, since Euwe planned to place his title in FIDE's hands afterward. Title Match: Max Euwe vs. Alexander Alekhine FIDE's goal was not to be the king, but the priest. The king would still do combat, but the priest would be a separate person who would control the rites of combat. The king would fight; the priest would appease the gods and assure fertility in the kingdom. The world champion would defend his title; FIDE would secure money from sponsors. FIDE scored a success by organizing the 1938 tournament in Holland under the sponsorship of the Dutch broadcasting company, AVRO. The AVRO Tournament featured he restored world champion Alekhine, former champions Capablanca and Euwe, and five other strong players, including, future World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik of the Soviet Union and the young Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres, considered by chess historians to be, along with Akiba Rubinstein and Viktor Korchnoi, one of the best players never to have been world champion. However, Alekhine said he was ready to play the first prize winner of the event "upon conditions and at a time to be arranged later" and added that he reserved the right to defend his title against master in the meantime. Indeed, a match between Alekhine and the Czechoslovakian master Salo Flohr, who would finish last in the AVRO Tournament, was in the final stages of negotiations. Keres won the AVRO Tournament, but Alekhine would play neither Keres nor Flohr for the world title. World War II broke out less than a year after the completion of the AVRO Tournament. FIDE would get its big chance to take control of the World Title in 1946, when Alekhine suddenly died of an apparent heart attack while preparing for a championship match against Botvinnik. Botvinnik, who as a loyal member of the Communist Party, was the Soviet's favorite over Keres, who was apolitical and willing to play chess in any tournament, regardless of who organized it. Keres played in Communist organized events early in the war after the Soviets took over Estonia and then later in Nazi organized events after Estonia came under control of the Third Reich. After the war, the Soviets imprisoned Keres and, were it not for the personal intervention of Botvinnik, would probably have had him shot for treason. FIDE took the opportunity to arrange a tournament among the five of the six survivors of the AVRO event (Capablanca passed away in 1942), dropping Flohr, whose powers had declined markedly during the war, and replacing him with Vasily Smyslov, a young Soviet talent. SMyslov would briefly hold the title (1957-58) and is today the oldest living former World Champion. The American Rueben Fine, who finished second in the AVRO Tournament, declined his invitation. FIDE elected not to replace Fine, although some thought that Miguel Najdorf, a Polish Jew who settled in Argentina during the war, was a suitable contender. The tournament went forward in the Spring of 1948 with five players and was divided between the venues of The Hague and Moscow. Mikhail Botvinnik scored 14 points out of 20 to win the event by 3 points over his nearest rival, Smyslov. Botvinnik was the first world chess champion to be crowned under the auspices of FIDE. FIDE's plan was to hold a cycle of tournaments culminating in an eight-player Candidates' Tournament to select the official challanger to the world champion. For decades, this format would work with some modifications. The most important of these modifications came after the 1963 cycle, when the final candidates' tournament was replaced by a series of matches with quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds. In the 1970s, the World Championship cycle saw some crises: in 1972, the challenger, Bobby Fischer, nearly walked out of the match against champion Boris Spassky before winning the match easily; in 1975, Fischer simply refused to defend his title against the challenger, Anatoly Karpov, who was declared champion by default; in 1978, the Soviets had problems in that in their view the official challenger, Viktor Korchnoi, was a traitor. However, these event were either resolved by getting the match played or simply following established rules and defaulting the match. Even Bobby Fischer, far from being the most reasonable or congenial of men, understood that by refusing to play against Karpov he was, in effect, resigning his title. Interestingly, the FIDE president on whose it shoulders it fell to deal with the two crises centering around Fischer was the former world champion, Dr. Max Euwe. It can be said that he handled both well. Dr. Euwe was a good king and a great high priest. The Reign of Error: Campomanes and Kisan Euwe was succeeded as FIDE president in 1978 by Icelandic grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson, who was in turn replaced by Florencio Campomanes of the Philippines in 1982. Campomanes, who organized the 1978 world title match between then champion Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union and dissident Soviet expatriate Viktor Korchnoi, is best remembered for canceling the 1984 match between Karpov and challenger Garry Kasparov after five months of play and after Kasparov had won two games in a row. Campomanes' downfall came following the 1993 Chess Olympiad held in Manila and the controversy surreound the World Championship of that year. Kasparov, by then champion, and his official challenger, Nigel Short, became dissatisfied and impatient with FIDE's incompetence and arrogance in organizing the title event and simply formed a rival federation, the Professional Chess Association (PCA) and played the match outside of FIDE's auspices. Kasparov was stripped of his title, although most followers of chess continued to regard Kasparov, by then recognized as the greatest chess player ever, as the World Champion. Financial irregularities in the Manila Olympiad led to investigations; in 2003, Campomanes was convicted in a Filipino court of failing to account for about US$240,000 entrusted to FIDE by the Philippine Sports Commission. Camponanes was sentenced to just under two years in prison. Meanwhile, FIDE recognized former World Champion Karpov as the titleholder. Karpov was one of those who led a federation revolt against Campomanes. In 1995, at the FIDE Congress in Paris, Karpov introduced Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the autonomous Russian Republic of Kalmykia, as his candidate. Kirsan (he is usually referred by his first name) became the chess champion of Kalmykia when he was 14 years old. At a meeting of FIDE, a vote was taken and Campomanes was made "Honorary President" (a title he still holds) and Kirsan was elected FIDE's new president. Many welcomed Kirsan's election. After all, he couldn't be worse than Campomanes, could he? Kirsan Ilyumzhinov President of Kalmykia and FIDE Kirsan is nothing if he is not colorful, but perhaps the delegates to the FIDE convention should have taken a closer look. Kirsan is an autocrat and proud of it. He admires other autocrats, expressing approval of the ways of both deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the US presumptive president, George W. Bush. Two of Kirsan's aides are currently in a Russian prison for the 1998 murder of Larisa Yudina, an opposition journalist, who had published articles accusing Kirsan of corruption. It has never been proved that Kirsan ordered the murder. Kirsan claims that a bland Bulgarian seer, the late Baba Vanga, predicted his presidency of FIDE and "multiple Bulgarian world chess champions." For those who take the occult seriosly, Veselin Topalov, until last week the FIDE world champion, and Antoaneta Stefanova, women's world champion from 2004-06, could be regarded as fulfilling the prophecy of multiple Bulgarian world champions. Kirsan also claims he was once abducted by aliens. People in Kalmykia complain that Kirsan lavishes money on chess when the government should have more immediate priorities. Wages on state run farms are about $3 a month and the capital, Elista, is a city whose public housing is in need of repair. Kirsan owns several white Rolls Royces (the number varies with the source, but the number range from 3 to 6). At the cost of $50 million, Kirsan erected Chess City in Elista, a poorly planned project that has everything but a usable playing hall. American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan, who engineered the 2002 Prague agreement by which the world championship would be reunified, has called Kirsan's tenure over FIDE "the reign of error." The Debasement of the World Title In 1998, Kirsan liquidated the world championship cycle that had worked since 1948. Even with the defection of Kasparov, FIDE was able to keep a world championship cycle running on that basis. Apparently Kirsan has never heard the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The old cycle was replaced by a knockout tournament, the first of which was held in Las Vegas in 1999. The tournament started with 128 players and was pruned to 63 in the second round, 32 in the third and so on up to the last round between two players, two winner would be the world champion. The winner of the first knockout tournament was Alexander Khalifman, a Russian grandmaster and a good player ranked about 50th in the world. A good player is not of the same caliber as Lasker, Alekhine or Kasparov. Even Euwe, who probably never the very best of his time, was still in the top half-dozen or so. Now Kirsan's new way of picking the world champion placed on the head of the 50th best chess player in the world the crown of Lasker and Alekhine. Thus was the world championship debased. While one may find something ridiculous about Khalifman being world champion, there's nothing funny about what else happened in Las Vegas. Those who received prizes had their checks bounce. Khalifman still won a tournament and was owed whatever money FIDE advertised in its promotions for the event. He was paid six months later. The last knockout event was held in 2004 in Tripoli. Libya. Holding the event in Libya was yet another bad decision by Kirsan, since Libya has a policy of not admitting citizens of Israel into the country. It was never clear whether players holding Israeli passports would be permitted to participate, with FIDE officially saying they would and Libyan IOC chairman Mohammed Qadhafi, son of Libyan strongman Colonel Moammar al-Qadhafi, saying they would not. In the end, no Israelis participated, including Boris Gelfand, one of the world's elite grandamasters; many other refused to participate in solidarity those excluded. The winner of the tournament was Rustam Kasidzhanov of Uzbekistan, another good player not of real championship caliber. In between Las Vegas and Tripoli, the knockout format did manage to produce two world champions of higher quality. In 2000, the event was won by Vishy Anand, who has been ranked second in the world for some time and who once played a challenge match against Kasparov. In 2002, the winner was Ruslan Ponomariov, a 19-year-old Ukrainian grandmaster, who is ranked in the top ten. In 2005, Kirsan again changed the format to a grand tournament, much like the AVRO Tournament of 1938 or The Hague/Moscow of 1948. There were eight participants: Rustam Kasidzhanov, the last of the FIDE knockout champions, and seven of the strongest grandmasters. The event was won by Veselin Topalov, who at the time was ranked about even with Vishy Anand. At least Topalov was a credible world champion. Meanwhile, Kasparov had continued organizing his own title matches. In 1995, he played and defeated Vishy Anand in New York. After that, Kasparov started having some trouble. Alexei Shirov, born in Latvia, but who was living in Spain and had become a Spanish citizen, qualified in a series of tournaments and matches to play Kasparov for the PCA version of the world title, the one most people considered the real world title as long as Kasparov held it. Kasparov could not find a sponsor with the funds he had at first promised Shirov, and Shirov refused to play for less than what was originally agreed. Finally, the British manufacturer BrainGames, Ltd., agreed to sponsor the match, but still did not meet the prize fund to which Shirov had agreed. Shirov was replaced by the man he defeated to earn the earn the right to challenge Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik. A fourteen-game match was held in London in the Autumn of 2000. Kramnik won 2 games and drew 11 to win the match. Kramnik, who at the time was rated second to Kasparov, was recognized by Kasparov as the 14th World Champion in descent from Steinitz. The 2002 Prague agreement stipulated that Kasparov would play a match against Ponomariov, then the FIDE knockout champion, and Kramnik would play a match against the winner of the 2002 Dortmund Sparkassen. In July, the event was held an won by Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko, another credible candidate for the world title. However, Ponomariov refused to sign his contract for the match with Kasparov and that match was never held. After Kasimdzhanov won the next knockout tournament, negotiations began for a Kasparov-Kasimdzhanov match, but these also fell apart. In the Autumn of 2004, the only event proposed in the Prague agreement leading up to the reunification match was held in Brissago, Switzerland. In that event, Kramnik and Leko drew a 14-game match; Kramnik thus retained what under the Prague agreement was called the "classical" world championship. Kasparov took himself out the picture in March, 2005, when he announced his retirement from competitive chess immediately after winning the annual Linares tournament. The left FIDE only to have to negotiate a match between Kramnik and the FIDE champion. However, Kramnik's health became an issue in 2005. He was playing poorly and dropping out of events. In the Fall, he announced that he would absent himself from competition for six months to receive treatment for spinal arthritis. In April, Kirsan announced that a match between Kramnik and Topalov would take place in September and October in Elista. In September, the match was indeed held. Kirsan made another change in the championship cycle that is noteworthy. He has ordained what is commonly called the 2700 rule, in which any player rated over 2700 (there are only 20 at the present time) may pony up $1 million dollars for the right to challenge the world champion. Leo Nardus would just have to make the check payable to FIDE rather than to Dr. Lasker. The Two Kings and the High Priest in Elista The Match that was nearly flushed down the Toilet The smart money was on Topalov. He had been the hottest player in chess for almost two years. While that was true, it ignored that Kramnik had returned to chess at the Torino Olympiad in May in top form. He won a gold medal for best performance rating in the event. Then he underscored that achievement in July by winning the Dortmund Sparkassen, one of the most prestegious annual events on the chess calendar. Kramnik was back. Kramnik won the first two games and drew games three and four. The score was 3-1 in Kramnik's favor. Then bizarre things began to happen. On a rest day prior to game 5, Silvio Danailov, Topalov's manager, wrote a letter to the appeals committee complaining of Kramnik's frequent trips to the rest room, suggesting that Kramnik may be using the john to illegally check computer analysis. The charge that Kramnik (or Topalov, for that matter) was cheating was absurd. One need only look at the second game. If either player was using a computer to make those moves, he should get a refund from the manufacturer. What the appeals committee did was to make a decision to tock the toilets and make the players use and a common toilet backstage. That sounds reasonable, but Team Kramnik wasn't let in on the problem. Not only that, but the video tapes of Kramnik's rest room were made available to Team Topalov without consulting Team Kramnik. When he showed up for the fifth game, Kramnik refused to play until the conditions agreed to in the players' contract were restored. The chief arbiter started Kramnik's clock and after an hour declared Topalov the winner of game 5 by default. Not surprisingly, this caused a crisis that took the better part of a week to resolve. Kirsan was meeting with Russian President Putin on state business in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and returned to Elista to personally handle the crisis. In the end, the access to private toilets was restored and the appeals committee fired, as Kramnik and his team requested. However, the forfeited game would stand. Kramnik agreed to play the rest of the match under protest. The appeals committee was made up of FIDE Vice Presidents Georgios Makrapoulos and Zurab Azmaiparashvili, and Jorge Vega, continental president of the Americas. Both Makrapoulos and Azmaiparashvili are very good friends of Kirsan; Azmaiparashvili is also a very good friend of Danailov. These people are not experienced in what an appeals committee does. Their incompetence showed and they were rightly removed. While Kirsan gets credit for removing them, he must also accept blame for appointing them in the first place. The only qualifications for Makrapoulos and Azmaiparashvili to sit on the appeals committee was their loyalty to Kirsan. Several international grandmasters spoke out in support of Kramnik. Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi, who have agreed on very little in the last thirty years, both stated that they would have walked out of the match in Kramnik's position. Kramnik, however, did not walk out. He stayed and defeated Topalov, in spite of the circumstances that gave Topalov a free win and an extra round with White. The future of FIDE If there is a big loser in the Elista match, and one that richly deserves to lose, it is FIDE. All signs point to Topalov having been their man. Under the 2700 rule, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Sport has bought a title match for Azerbaijan's leading player, Teimour Radjabov. However, there could be a big hitch. The arrangements were all made with Topalov. Kramnik only knows what he's read in the papers about this. If so, then FIDE had a financial stake in Topalov winning. Would that explain why Topalov got a free point and an extra White? Why Kramnik was treated like a doormat? FIDE is not the only culpret in matter. Danailov, and by extension Topalov, are far from blameless. However, they could not have anticipated how badly the Appeals Committee handled it. Unless there was collusion -- and there is no direct evidence of any -- Team Topalov could not have counted on getting a free point out what was simply gamesmanship on their part. Beyond that, the response of the Appeals Committee was appalling. At the very least, the Appeals Committee should not have made a decision to lock the toilets unilaterally. Kramnik and his people should have been informed what was happening and asked to participate in a solution. This should never have been a crisis. During the days when the chess world held its breath to see if the match was going to be restarted, Garry Kasparov wrote in the Wall Street Journal: The protests and conflicts seen in the current match are of a very different nature and reflect the complete loss of professionalism in the sport. The event is taking place in the capital of the Russian republic of Kalmykia under the auspices of its president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is also the president of FIDE. He has created a vertical column of power that would be familiar to any observer of Russia today. He runs the chess world in the same authoritarian way he runs his impoverished republic. After a decade of such mistreatment, the only place that could be found to host this match was his own capital. Serious sponsors rarely want anything to do with Mr. Ilyumzhinov and his organization. The priest is no longer appeasing the gods and the kingdom is famished. The sponsors who should be footing the bill for matches and tournaments want nothing to do with chess. And the priest can only hold his ritual of the slaying of the king in his own barren, rotting temple in Elista. Were misplaying the Danailov's toilet gambit the only mistake FIDE has made in the last few years, there would be little to discuss. It is not. What happened to the prize fund in Las Vegas? Why was there so much trouble organizing this match or, for that matter, most of the other provisions of the Prague Agreement? Why are sponsors being scared away from chess? And what is up with this 2700 rule? FIDE was founded with the idea of regulating the world championship so the champion would have to play a qualified challenger on a regular basis, not just a hand picked one or, more relevant to the matter, anybody who could show the champion enough money to support a prize fund. So we have gone full circle from the time that Nardus bought a match on behalf of Janowsky from Dr. Lasker to now, when the Azerbaijani Ministry of sport buys a match on behalf of Radjabov from Kirsan and FIDE. What does this mean? It means the FIDE is now totally worthless. It has defeated its own purpose. No longer must a challenger for the world championship prove himself worthy. He only has to show the high priest the money. What is to be done now? Chess cannot wait for FIDE to reform itself. The high priest is autocrat, a crook, and a suspected murderer. There will be no reform coming from within. And the gods are displeased. Kirsan's corrupt and autocratic ways are enough to frighten sponsors away. Chess needs sponsors. Sponsors will stay away under Kirsan goes away. Either the federations must replace Kirsan at the next FIDE Congress or the players and federations must form a new world governing body independent of FIDE. It is necessary to challenge the high priest. |
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