THE WEEK IN CHESS 313 6th November 2000 by Mark Crowther

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Contact The Week in Chess Mark Crowther E-Mail mdcrowth@netcomuk.co.uk Tel or fax 01274 882143 [Bradford England] Mobile 07957381719 http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html Contents 1) Introduction 2) Kramnik takes Kasparov's World Title 3) BOY FROM THE BLACK SEA Vladimir Kramnik in interview with John Henderson 4) 34th Chess Olympiad 5) Forthcoming Events and Links

Contact the London Chess Center Order from the online shop at http://www.chesscenter.com email: chesscentre@easynet.co.uk Call toll free 1-888-chess06 in the USA or Canada Call +44 (0) 171 388 2404 or Fax +44 (0) 171 388 2407 in the UK and ROW STOP PRESS! ChessBase out early October- to see the latest info/screenshots and to order visit http://www.chesscenter.com/cb8.html For the latest chess book releases check out http://www.chesscenter.com/book.html For the latest new software check out http://www.chesscenter.com/newsoftware2.html For the latest new products check out http://www.chesscenter.com/newproducts.html KASPAROV v KRAMNIK http://www.chesscenter.com/wcc2000 The long awaited 2 million dollar title match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik will start on Sunday 8th October at 3pm GMT / 10am EST and will conclude with the sixteenth game on Saturday 4th November. As always, the London Chess Centre will be bringing you the best coverage via TWIC with all the moves from all the games plus Grandmaster analysis at http://www.chesscenter.com/wcc2000. You can also enter our Fantasy Chess competition which has thousands of pounds worth of prizes. Everybody gets a prize and its just $5 to enter. Check out our World Championship site with biographies, photos and free downloads of games as well as ticket and travel information. Mark Crowther gives his views on the match. In Europe you can follow the match on your mobile phone using our revolutionary WAP chess service. If you live in London come to the Chess Center at 369 Euston Rd where we will have late night opening for every game and commentary. Games are every Sunday, Tuesday Thursday and Sunday. Only 7 days to go ! If you would like further information about the world chess championships please email us at wcc2000@chess.co.uk New Products at the London Chess Center New book: Informator 78 New book: Understanding Pawn Play in Chess - Marovic New book: The Art of the King's Indian - Gufeld New book: Just The Facts - Alburt New book: Startling Correspondence Chess Miniatures - Harding New book: Batsford's Modern Chess Openings 14th ed- De Firmian New CD: The ABC of Endgames - Bartashnikov New CD: Opposite Coloured Bishops - Solozhenkin New CD: New In Chess 55 - NIC New CD: ChessBase Magazine 77 - ChessBase New CD: ChessBase Magazine 76 Extra - ChessBase For more information: go to http://www.chesscenter.com/newsoftware2.html or http://www.chesscenter.com/book.html

Games section

Braingames World Chess Championships    2 games
34th Chess Olympiad                  1994 games
1996 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to John Henderson, Vladimir Kramnik, Davor Golek, Jozef Sith and all those who helped with this issue.

On Thursday 2nd November Vladimir Kramnik won the Braingames World Chess Championships taking the crown that Garry Kasparov has held since 1985. Kramnik's victory by the score of +2=13 was not overwhelming but he dominated the match dictating its direction throughout and in doing so reduced Kasparov almost to a spectator in his own demise. Only time will tell whether Kasparov can recover from this, he retains much of his ability but this kind of tame surrender can be difficult if not impossible to recover from.

Of immediate interest is going to be how Kramnik will be seen. The split in the World Chess Championships that occurred in 1993 has damaged the reputation of the title. In practical terms it didn't matter. Karpov was FIDE Champion (however galling it was at times) until 1999 and thus was the 12th World Chess Champion (regaining the title doesn't count in the numbering), Kasparov was the 13th World Chess Champion, no problem. Now we have two champions in the post-split worlds that don't fit into a tidy box. Alexander Khalifman won the FIDE Championships in 1999 ahead of almost everyone who matters except Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. Now Vladimir Kramnik has won the match for Garry's claim to the World Championship title this week after being invited to challenge for the match. Kasparov promptly proclaimed him the 14th World Chess Champion. I think it will take a little time to work this out. The power of the historic title, especially in the FIDE period from the war up until 1993 was that anyone who could win it was in it (with only a couple of exceptions). A player struggled through to be legitimate challenger and if he won there was nobody around that could complain (OK Fischer tried but apart from him) you entered you didn't win, shut up. Defeating Kasparov in a match comes pretty close to being the top achievement available to a player and now Kramnik holds the Braingames World Chess Championship, but should one wait until a unification to proclaim the 14th Champion? I don't believe its up to FIDE, nor indeed to the journalist to decide this. In my opinion its down to the players who have a legitimate interest in the question. If say every single player in the top 20 (or should that be 10, 40, 50 or 100?) in the World was asked who is the World Chess Champion and they all said Vladimir Kramnik would we be on safe ground? What if there were one dissenter? or two? or maybe just a complete split?

Perhaps it doesn't matter and things will continue to muddle along with Kramnik seen as World Chess Champion whether qualified (with Braingames in front) or not and the winner of the FIDE title will also be seen as World Chess Champion whether qualified (with FIDE in front) or not. It is sad though that these are issues that take the gloss off one of the greatest chess achievements in the last 15 years.

I've decided to devote this issue simply to the World Championships and to the Olympiad. I haven't had time to keep up with other events and I will catch up with them next week. I apologise to those who sent material for use this week. The Olympiad games have slightly improved but are still full of errors. I've corrected a few but its pretty soul destroying working on rubbish. Nevertheless in this issue I present eight rounds of the men's games. If a game looks strange, its almost certainly wrong.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Kramnik takes Kasparov's World Title

Vladimir Kramnik defeated Garry Kasparov 8.5-6.5 to take his world title in London this week. Kramnik had dominated the match and was undefeated throughout. Game 14 took place on Tuesday and there were signs of nerves from Kramnik and he had to work very hard to draw with the white pieces after some irresolute play. Game 15 saw Kasparov dig into an old box of tricks as he played 1.d4. He looked confident at the start of the game but round about move 30 the game started to equalise. On move 38 Kasparov offered a draw which of course was accepted. After shaking hands Kramnik punched the air and the players left the stage.

The fifteen games of the "Braingames World Chess Championships" took place Sunday 8th October 2000 and 2nd November 2000. The 16 game match took place on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays the final scheduled 16th game after Kramnik had already won the match was cancelled after a disagreement between the players. Kasparov said he would not play a classical game of chess but would play some exhibition rapid chess. Kramnik said he would only play a classical game as contracted but not any exhibition. In the end Kramnik spent four hours talking about the match to a full house, which incidently went down very well with the audience. The time control used for the match was slightly unusual with 40 moves in 2 hours, 20 moves in 1 hour, followed by 30 minutes + 10 seconds delay per move, that is the ten seconds doesn't act cumulatively but the clock only runs after ten seconds have elapsed.

A round-up of comments

See John Henderson's in depth interview with Vladimir Kramnik below for his view on the match.

Garry Kasparov was this weekend taking in the fact that he was no longer World Champion and was already calling for a re-match. "It's his call but I hope he [Kramnik] will adopt the same moral standards as I did and defend the title against the strongest opponent." He rejected outright suggestions of imminent retirement "It's never occurred to me. I am still very much in business." He also has no intention of relinquishing his world number one position in the rating list without a fight. Kramnik in turn has closed the gap in this race and admits that its probably his next target.

About the match Kasparov admitted "My preparations went wrong and my opponent had better preparations and robbed me of my good positions. In the end I was just very tired." He also added "I've had my best results in the last two years and when you win so many times you begin to believe you're invincible but I will now make changes from what I have learned". He was determined however to demonstrate that he knows how to lose with good grace and said he was well beaten by Kramnik.

Kasparov clarified his earlier statements on why he was out of form in the match. He said his remark that he had off the board problems was badly phrased. He meant by that only that he had technical and psychological problems brought on by Kramnik's strategy. He also stood by his technical team. The fault was entirely his in not realising that he needed a new match strategy to defeat Kramnik.

In particular he admitted to ignoring warnings from his second Yuri Dokhoian that one of the strategies Kramnik might employ would be to steer the games to "anodyne positions, with few pieces in the board". Even though space was made in his time-table for specific preparation for this in the end Kasparov decided to work almost exclusively on his opening repertoire. He started the match very confident both in his preparation and the way he was seeing variations.

Kasparov talked of panic setting in as early as game two that his preparation might be completely useless and after his loss in game ten he admitted to almost throwing the towel in, something in retrospect he admits was a terrible mistake. He said that he must work hard and learn lessons from Kramnik but defiantly added that the world needed his creative chess as an antidote to Kramnik's pragmatic but effective style as shown in this match. He agreed with the assessment that he should have abandoned the "laboratory wars" and settled down to just playing chess. During the match he found this terribly hard to do as it implied throwing away years of work.

Kramnik was helped by Boris Gelfand, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler and Sergei Dolmatov. He worked with them prior to the match and also sent them material to analyse during the match by E-Mail. Kramnik admitted that his victory in game ten was almost completely analysis by Boris Gelfand. Kasparov said that he feared that this might happen. He said it was another example of the pragmatism of Kramnik, "He pays, and they work."

He also said he would not shake hands with Shirov in Wijk aan Zee unless Shirov withdrew statements made prior to the match in which he implied the Kramnik-Kasparov match was fixed. Kramnik said he had nothing personal against Shirov but that he was upset by his implications too. "That is very serious, not only because it insults me but, mainly, because of the horrible image that it gives to chess. I have won, and now there is no doubt that there was no such fix." He added that the match he lost to Shirov was two years ago and that since then he had worked very hard on his chess. Kasparov admitted that Braingames always wanted Kramnik but had to offer the match at first to Anand.

Kramnik said he was responsible for the match strategy employed inspired by the Czech Republic's play in the ice hockey in the Olympics. He added that it was not the only strategy he had prepared but in the end it was working so well he did not need to change.

[A digest of comments made this weekend in various newspapers. Particularly excellent were reports over the weekend by the brilliant chess journalist Leontxo García in the El Pais Deportes section: http://www.elpais.es/. Leontxo García has an incredible schedule, he was in Sydney for the FIDE exhibition, London for the match except for a few days when he flew to Spain for the final rounds of the World Youth Championships, back to London for the conclusion of the match, he now goes to Turkey for the Olympiad, New Dehli for the FIDE Championships and to Tehran for Christmas and the FIDE finals. His reports are in Spanish but do respond reasonably well to electronic translation by machines such as the Babel Fish http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/]

Detailed coverage on TWIC's main pages and on our mini-site at: http://www.chesscenter.com/wcc2000

Sponsors site: http://www.braingames.com/, for Wap phone coverage point your phone at: http://mobile.sports.com or directly at: http://www.wapdrive.com/ardcroney/nk/nk.wml, coverage in French: http://www.sports.com/fr/echecs/, Notes by IM Ilias Kourkounakis at: http://www.chess.gr/tourn/2000/kasparov-kramnik/

Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   25  C67  Ruy Lopez (Rio de Janeiro Variation)
Kramnik, Vladimir  -  Kasparov, Gary     1-0   40  D85  Gruenfeld Defence (Main Line)
Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   53  C67  Ruy Lopez (Rio de Janeiro Variation)
Kramnik, Vladimir  -  Kasparov, Gary     1/2   74  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   24  A34  English Opening (Symmetrical Variation)
Kramnik, Vladimir  -  Kasparov, Gary     1/2   66  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   11  A32  English Opening (Symmetrical Variation)
Kramnik, Vladimir  -  Kasparov, Gary     1/2   38  E32  Nimzo Indian Defence (4.Qc2)
Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   30  C67  Ruy Lopez (Rio de Janeiro Variation)
Kramnik, Vladimir  -  Kasparov, Gary     1-0   25  E54  Nimzo Indian Defence (Normal Variation)
Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   41  C78  Ruy Lopez (Moeller Defence)
Kramnik, Vladimir  -  Kasparov, Gary     1/2   33  E55  Nimzo Indian Defence (Normal Variation)
Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   14  C67  Ruy Lopez (Rio de Janeiro Variation)
Kramnik, Vladimir  -  Kasparov, Gary     1/2   57  A30  English Opening (Symmetrical Variation)
Kasparov, Gary     -  Kramnik, Vladimir  1/2   38  E05  Catalan System


Braingames WCC London ENG (ENG), 8 x-4 xi 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kramnik, Vladimir g  RUS 2770   = 1 = = = = = = = 1 = = = = = .  8.5  2899
Kasparov, Gary    g  RUS 2849   = 0 = = = = = = = 0 = = = = = .  6.5  2720
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) BOY FROM THE BLACK SEA: Vladimir Kramnik in interview with John Henderson

Born in the quiet, sleepy town of Tuapse, one of the most southerly towns in the Black Sea coast of the former Soviet Union, Vladimir Kramnik, from the early age of four, showed great promise at chess despite no one in his house able to teach him.

At the early age of five, he was already attending the town’s House of Pioneers. By the age of seven, he had already won the adult championship of his town and had become something of a local celebrity. By the age of eleven, he had made it to the famous school of Mikhail Botvinnik, where he stood by the demonstration board his head already reached the eighth rank; his height, like his play was becoming extraordinary…

He first burst onto the world stage at Manila in 1992 – at the behest of the then world champion Garry Kasparov – when he displayed maturity of play far beyond his early years, as he became the youngest player to represent Russia in the Chess Olympiad. After winning the gold medal for the overall board prize with a phenomenal score of 8.5/9 on the day of his 17th birthday, Kramnik was tipped to be the natural heir to Kasparov’s world crown. Now, as we fast-forward some eight years, that early promise has been fulfilled: he’s just beaten Kasparov to become the fourteenth world chess champion.

I arrive at his plush rented Thames side retreat in Chiswick some 24 hours after he won the title. Warmly greeted by his main second, Miguel Illescas, I’m taken into the kitchen-cum reception area, where I’m equally welcomed, and made to feel at home by his manager, Lord Rennell of Rodd, a 65-year-old peer of the realm who not only once played rugby for Scotland, but also used to be the rugby correspondent for my newspaper, The Scotsman!

It was explained to me that this was the first time since the match started that anyone had been let near the house – not even family, wives, girlfriends or close friends. It was part of their grand plan for victory. The house was strictly off limits to anyone other than “team Kramnik”: Kramnik; his main seconds, Miguel Illescas, Joel Lautier and Evgeny Bareev; manager Lord Rennell; Kramnik’s personal trainer, and his cook, Miguel’s uncle, Antonio. The big joke within the camp was that the house sort of took on the appearance and feel of the cult TV show Big Brother – they were all stuck in it and did everything together. The big question was: Who would Garry Kasparov liked to have voted out first! As I sat enjoying their convivial hospitality (Incidentally, the first time in seven weeks that alcohol had been allowed in the house), in casually walked the man who now followed in a long and illustrious line stretching back to Willhelm Steinitz in 1886 – Vladimir Kramnik!

Vladimir had only managed to get to bed at 9.00am that day after winning the world crown from Kasparov. While some, anticipating this as a night of drunken celebration after a historic victory, in reality, the reason for getting to bed at such an hour couldn’t have been further from the truth: He’d been up all night analysing the final game all night with his seconds!

Still, he looked fresh despite that fact that he’d been doing the “media shift” for most of the afternoon and early evening as the world came to grips with his historic victory over Kasparov. Of course, I couldn’t just arrive for an audience with the fourteenth world champion without a gift, so I decided to offer my congratulations in the traditional Scottish way with the gift of a celebratory bottle of 12-year-old single Scottish Malt Whisky. “But John,” he joked with such a straight face. “Don’t you know that I’ve given up alcohol now that I’m the world champion!”

Escorted into the plush “War Room” where all the critical decisions in the match were taken, he sat down on one of the comfy sofas and casually drank a cup of lemon tea while eating a ham sandwich. Kramnik had by now begun to relax and opened himself up for questioning from your reporter.

First of all, Vladimir, congratulations on a superb match! At what point in your mind did you think you could really become the World Champion?

Believe me, it was always in my mind to be World Champion! But, for sure, it had to be after game 10. That was the moment for certain. Then I knew it must…it must happen. Certainly in the middle of the match I knew there was a chance it may never happen, but in reality [after Kasparov went 2-0 down] I couldn’t see how he could comeback.

At Wijk aan Zee you admitted you were tired and lacked energy. When you came to London it was clear that you had lost a lot of weight and looked much fitter. What did you do to achieve this? Did you have a personal physical trainer?

Yes, I’m much fitter now than I have ever been! I gave up smoking a few months back. For the last six months I’ve also been using the services of a top sports trainer: Valeriy Krylov [who also used to work with Anatoly Karpov], who in the past has been a trainer to the Russian Basketball team. He has worked out an exercise regime for me and has also looked at what and when I eat.

I did a lot of physical training along with Miguel [Illescas] in Majorca in the weeks running up to arriving in London for the match – swimming, weight training and volleyball. Here in London, before the match started [Kramnik and his team have been in London three-weeks before the match started], we played some tennis – but not when the match started! That would have been just too much – even for a super-fit me!

It made a big difference to my match stamina. I couldn’t imagine I would have been so energetic during the match – it really gave me a welcomed extra boost! There were some people around that couldn’t work out how I could have played some of those tough games, yet comeback looking lean and fit and ready for another game with Kasparov. For them, even sitting in the audience looking at the games, it was tiring. So it baffled them how I had so much energy.

Nobody else in the world can handle Kasparov like you – why do you think Kasparov can’t play against you as he does against others?

Don’t get me wrong here – Kasparov is a great player, fantastic player. But most of the players tend to be afraid of him when they shouldn’t. I can see it in their eyes when they come to the board to play him. They just want to make some moves and stop the clock. I tell you, this isn’t the way play against Garry! He can literally sense the fear. He “feels” it and this gives him additional powers at the board.

So basically it’s very simple: to start with, if you want to win the match, you shouldn’t be afraid of him. There are still many, many things to do, but above all this is the most important: Don’t be scared of him!

Many people feel that this was a match that Alexei Shirov should have played rather than you, since he beat you to win through to play Kasparov in 1997. What’s your view on this?

I personally don’t feel any guilt or any responsibility for the situation that Shirov finds himself in. Remember, I was also a victim of it. Also, many people forget that Kasparov was also a sad victim of what happened in this incident with the World Chess Council, Luis Rentero and the Andalusian government.

Now, two years have passed and the situation is completely different: no one wants to organise this match. The moment has gone. We cannot hold everything up for him so it can be organised. Yes, it’s a pity for him what has happened, but it’s life. I don’t think that his complaints are justified - especially after everything he said: they were simply rude. Not rude to me, but rude to chess because he was making all these statements that this match was going to be pre-arranged and I was going to lose.

Okay, this isn’t bad for me but it’s definitely bad for chess – He continues to write these statements in chess magazines across the world and chess amateurs read them and the first thing they think is “there’s trouble in the chess world, this top player say’s so.” He should stop and stop now. He’s doing damage not only to himself by what he says but also to the chess world at large.

You seem so calm at the board – much like the great Boris Spassky. Are you nervous inside, as Spassky later admitted he was?

No – I’m quite calm inside during the game for most of the time - not 100%, but generally very calm. I don’t like to show my emotions at the board, not because they might give something away to an opponent, but because that’s my style: I like to keep it to myself.

In this respect I suppose I’m the total opposite of Garry. With his very emotive body language at the board he shows and displays all his emotions. I don’t.

There’s been a lot of speculation that, now with you as world champion, that behind the scenes Fide have already started work on a possible unification match. Many chess fans would very much like to see this happen. What’s your reaction? And would you talk to Kirsan Iljumzhinov about such a possibility?

At the moment there’s nothing I can tell you about it. It is something that may be considered but at the moment I have a contract with Braingames. If they [Braingames] want to do something with Fide – great! It will be very interesting and I would certainly consider it.

If Braingames don’t, they have fulfilled an obligation to me. I’ll certainly make sure that I fulfil any obligation I have to them. I don’t mind to talk to Kirsan, but I’ll not do anything that would ever endanger my obligations to Braingames.

There’s been much talk in the past – and in particular in the run-up to this match – about Kasparov teaching you at the legendary Kasparov\Botvinnik Chess School in Russia. Did you really receive much personal tuition from Kasparov, or did mostly other trainers do it?

It wasn’t personal. Not really. At the school we were in groups of twelve – Garry would spend maybe three days at a time when he would be giving lectures and doing simuls. This tale about him being “my teacher” was simply a journalist’s story – Botvinnik himself mainly did all of our training.

Garry would simply give what precious time he could to the school as he could. You could say he was my teacher as he was Shirov’s and Akopian’s.

Where he did help me though was in his insisting that I should be included in the Russian squad for the Manila Olympiad in 1992. He put his neck on the line here in this respect. He basically saw the raw talent that I had and helped to nurture it along. He really didn’t need to do this. It must have been obvious at the time to him that he saw me as being a “threat” to his crown. But in all fairness to him, despite this potential threat in the future, this never stopped him from giving help.

Now this brings me neatly to another topic of interest with your past workings with Kasparov. Do you think that it was a sort of world championship suicide on his part to allow you to be his second against Anand in 1995?

You know this is a question that can be looked at in two ways: Not only did I get to know him better, but he also got to know me better! Both of us could have taken an advantage from this from seeing how each other worked.

But it was not basically to someone’s advantage – it was who would make the better use of this information. I know I certainly did! I basically got to know and understand him much, much better – he didn’t with me. So yes, in a way, he contributed to his own downfall. But not such a major contribution as a lot of people have made it out to be.

How is your relationship with Kasparov now? And how did he react to the defeat?

I feel that my relationship with Kasparov now is much the same as it had been before the match – good. As for his reaction, we’ll it can’t be nice to lose your title after so long, but he was very generous. It was a very gentlemanly behaviour on his part. He congratulated me on my victory and admitted that I should have won. He accepted me as the new world champion. No one can have any complaints about what must have been a sad moment for him – he accepted his defeat with good grace.

Preparation appears to have won you this match. It seems that your backroom team of Lautier, Illescas and Bareev were much better than Kasparov’s. Do you think that this was a major reason for your victory? And in comparison, why do you think that Kasparov’s own team here were often criticised?

I don’t know anything about Kasparov’s team, but from what I know they are a very serious and hard working group of players. I believe they were doing their job – I’m sure they didn’t just sit around all day drinking wine! But it’s clear that my team were definitely working better – very clear!

I made a better decision in choosing my team. Sure, I had a bigger choice of players to choose from – but I couldn’t have asked for a harder working group of players who did an incredible job. They had simply one aim: Helping me to become World Champion, which I thank them for.

They are very hard workers in their own right and I’m more than satisfied with what they did. Even if I hadn’t have won the match I couldn’t have thanked them enough for what they did – especially their efforts in the final week. Most of them hardly slept during this period. It was work, work, work and more work. I think the only rest they got was when I actually played the games!

After the match Garry Kasparov said that you had “out-prepared” him and after game two all his opening preparation went right out of the window. Is this true?

No, but this is very subjective…very subjective. We both had some sort of strategy before the match - and mine won through. Of course it was obvious for all to see that Kasparov had worked hard for this match. But, because of my own strategy winning through, he couldn’t realise his own. And, you know, this is crucial in match-play situations.

Okay, we both had openings that we both had advantages from. But take this Archangel ending from game 11. Yes, this ending favoured White – I knew it favoured White. But the point was that I knew he wouldn’t like this sort of position. I wanted to find a way to play against him by finding some positions that he didn’t feel all that confident with – and it was evident he didn’t feel comfortable with this position.

How did you hit upon the idea of the Berlin Defence as a way to neutralise Kasparov – was it your own idea to play it?

No! It was just one of the many candidates I looked at with my team. Don’t think for one minute I arrived in London with this as my only defence! Certainly I prepared it for the match – but it certainly wasn’t the only thing I had prepared! But it simply went well, as I suspiciously thought it would.

The Berlin Defence suited my strategy for the match. I had a defensive strategy – Actually, I had in my pocket some other sharper stuff to fall back on – but first I wanted to try the defensive strategy with Black and it worked so well. This was all new to Kasparov – he probably expected me to fight for equality with Black.

Okay, when you start to fight for equality, like Anand did in 1995, you could end up losing game 10, like he did, without putting up any kind of fight. With the Berlin you get a “feel” for the positions. I accepted that the endgame was better for White, but he has to win over the board, not with his legendary home preparation – that’s crucial!

With the Berlin I was able to set up a fortress that he could come near but not breach. When others play against Kasparov they want to keep him distant. I let him in close but I knew where the limit was. I think this surprised him because normally when you fight, you don’t want your opponent to have some advantage, but I gave some advantage from the beginning. Close enough to touch my wall, closer, closer, but not break it. Someone even compared it to Ali’s “rope-a-dope” trick against George Foreman – this was a very good analogy! Okay, I suffered a little, but with some defences Black commits his forces leaving behind openings into his camp. But with the Berlin, I was able to allow him to get near, but not quite near enough, and I knew where to draw the line with the fortresses I had set up.

At some point he seemed to lose all confidence trying to break down the Berlin Wall. He was still fighting as only Kasparov can, but I could see it in his eyes that he knew he wasn’t going to win one of these games. For him it was always a case of “Better, better, better…draw!” This is what broke him down psychologically. It was all very difficult for him as he’s used to winning ever second tournament game. This was my strategy and it worked very well.

Did it surprise you that Kasparov didn’t attempt a do-or-die comeback towards the end with something like the Scotch, Evans Gambit or even the King’s Gambit?

No. This didn’t cross my mind at all. For a start the match was too short for this sort of policy. If it had been a 24-game match then yes, he could have perhaps experimented earlier on to try and probe for weaknesses – but not in a 16 game match.

He understood that I would be very well prepared for the Scotch and things like the Evans. Once he had selected the path he was going down he really had to stick with it in a 16 game match. He had to try and hit in the one direction but unfortunately for him – though fortunately for me! – he hit in the wrong direction.

After the match, Kasparov appeared to challenge you to a rematch. He said that the new champion should follow his example and defend the title against the strongest candidate. Will you play a rematch with Kasparov?

Please, give me a chance; I’ve only just won the title! I haven’t thought about it.

After such a tough match you need time to recuperate. You can’t play such a match in the same year; you need at least a couple of years. It’s nothing to do with me keeping my title – far from it. It’s because it is so tough both physically and psychologically. A rematch is a possibility, but I would say at the moment it is just an idea of his [Kasparov’s]. It doesn’t mean that this is going to happen.

Now that you’ve taken Kasparov’s crown, will you know also be looking to replace him as the world number one?

Of course! You know, our ratings after this match will be very close – I think I can also become the world number one in the not too distant future. However, I’m sure that Garry will also have something to say about this!

Will you now be taking a rest, or perhaps a holiday following this match? And when will you be next playing?

Yes, for sure! I’ll probably be spending some time holidaying in Europe for a period. No chess, just friends and some books! I think after what I’ve been through in the last six months or so I deserve this break from chess. As for my return, I’ll be playing Peter Leko in early January in a speed chess match in Germany. After that, it is, of course, the delights of Wijk aan Zee.

4) 34th Chess Olympiad

The 34th Chess Olympiad takes place Istanbul, Turkey 28th October - 12th November 2000. This huge event should be one of the highlights of an already busy year. After eight rounds the surprise package that is the German team leads by a point from the favourites Russia. Number two seeds England are in 16th place and number three seeds Hungary in 8th.

Official internet coverage: http://www.istanbulchessolympiad.com/

You can read Sam Sloan's take on the Olympiad.
Alexander Baburin's Istanbul diary
Christopher Lutz´ diary from Istanbul in German.
Reports in Dutch by Ard van Beek
Reports in Dutch for the Dutch Chess Federation.
Austrian reports in German

5) Forthcoming Events and Links

4th Cap d'Agde Festival

The 4th Cap d'Agde Festival took place 28th October - 4th November 2000. Cap d'Agde in the south of France has organised this prestigious event (supported by the French Chess Federation) and the FSGT) every 2 years since 1994.

Internet coverage: http://www.asmeg.org/echecs/frame.htm

4th OIBM in Bad Wiessee

The 4th OIBM in Bad Wiessee takes place October 28th-November 5th 2000. Alexander Nenashev, Igor Khenkin, Konstantin Landa, Simen Agdestein, Ildar Ibragimov, Vladimir Epishin, Eduardas Rozentalis, Viktor Gavrikov, Igor Glek, Gerald Hertneck, Eric Lobron, Valeri Beim, and Stefan Kindermann are in the field.

Thomas Leckner reports that 495 chess-players are taking part in the Bad Wiessee Open this year. Players from 27 different countries went to lake Tegernsee to compare their skills in chess and to enjoy the alps. More than 250 of the players have an international rating and more than 365 players have a national rating above 1800. In the first two rounds there were no great surprises. Most of the highly rated grandmasters succeeded in winning against their weaker opponents. Only GM Nenad Ristic (YUG) and GM Stanislav Savchenko (UKR) had to accept a draw. In the fight for the best youth-player only Leonid Kritz (WM U16) had to accept a draw. Dimitrij Bunzmann, and Andreij Volokytin (WM U14) have won all their games. There are a few games in the pgn section.

More details: http://www.schach-am-tegernsee.de/oib2000

Chigorin Memorial

The VIII "Chigorin Memorial" open takes place October 31st - November 10th, 2000. The 9 round Swiss system event has a large entry which includes GMs Lastin (2633), Dolmatov (2600), Najer (2590) Balashov (2590) and others. About 200 participants in total, 50 GMs and 57 IMs. Coverage at http://www.gmchess.com (Grandmaster Chess - Khalifman's website) and http://www.totalchess.spb.ru (new website of St. Pb. Chess Federation)

Ano Liosia Open

The 11th International Open Chess Tournament "Ano Liosia 2001" takes place 27 December 2000 - 6 January 2001, in Ano Liosia, Athens.

PRIZES 1st : 600.000 drs (1.500$), 2nd : 450.000 drs (1.125$), 3rd : 300.000 drs (750$), 4th : 250.000 drs (625$), 5th : 200.000 drs (500$), 6th : 150.000 drs (375$), 7th : 100.000 drs (250$), 8th : 90.000 drs (225$), 9th : 80.000 drs (200$), 10th : 70.000 drs (175$), 11th : 60.000 drs (150$), 12th : 50.000 drs (125$), 13th : 40.000 drs (100$), 14th : 35.000 drs (87.5$), 15th : 30.000 drs (75$), 16th : 25.000 drs (62.5$). TOTAL : 2.530.000 Drs. (6.325$)

Internet coverage: http://www.chess.gr/anoliosia

4th Afro-Asian Email Chess Championship

The 4th Afro-Asian Email Chess Championships which is a tournament of the ICCF. Any chess lover who lives in Africa or Asia can take part in the tournament with no entry fee. The preliminary round starts on 15.01.2001. The application should be sent by Email to the zonal director samraoui@aol.com not later than 31.12.2000.

First Saturday November

Laszlo Nagy reports: The registered participants of the 4th-16th of November IM-tournament: IM Eperjesi, Laszlo /HUN,2348), IM Dudas, Janos (HUN,2367), IM Nemeth, Zoltan (HUN,2293) Resika, Nathan (USA,2313), FM Vigorito, David (USA,2304), FM Kanko, Ilkka (FIN,2206) Dubizeev (ISR,2187) Bordas, Gyula (HUN,2168), Logdahl, Harald (SWE,2252) Vasari, Tamas (HUN, 2233), Jamrich, Gyorgy (HUN,2233), Reserves: IM Kahn, Evarth (HUN, 2286) IM Farago, Sandor (HUN, 2284)

Kevin O'Connell Auction

Kevin O'Connell is actioning his chess collection (4 tons = 4,000kg of autographs, books,magazines, manuscripts, sets etc.) They come up for auction at Phillips in London (and live on the Internet) on 7 November. Details can be found at http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~chess/ mirrored at http://homepages.tesco.net/~kevinoconnell/ and also at http://www.btinternet.com/~kevinoconnell/

Zadar Christmas Open

The Zadar Christmas Open takes place 9th-17th December 2000.

Further details: http://sites.netscape.net/mladen18/zd2000/index.htm

Bastia Open

The 4th International open of Corsica takes place in Bastia (2nd-5th November) with 450 000 F of prizes with the participation of many IGMs (around 50) : Vishy Anand, Bologan, etc. The site will include live coverage: http://www.opencorsica.comwww.opencorsica.com

Kramnik-Leko Match

The "Westfälische Ferngas AG" (WFG) announced a match between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko, to be held from January 2nd to 8th 2001. We will see 12 rapid games (two per day, rest day: January 5th) in the Hotel Kempinski, city centre of Budapest (Hungary).

Internet coverage: To be announced.

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2001

The 14 players who will compete in the Corus 2001 chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands January 12th-28th 2001 have been invited. For the 3rd year running Garry Kasparov will play in the event. The top nine players in the July 2000 rating list are taking part.

Round 1 is on January 13th. Rest days were on Monday (15th), Friday (19th) and Wednesday (24th) are rest days.

Players: Garry Kasparov (Russia - 1 - 2849), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia - 2 - 2770), Viswanathan Anand (India - 3 - 2762), Alexander Morozevich (Russia - 4 - 2756), Michael Adams (England - 5 - 2755), Alexey Shirov (Spain - 6 - 2746), Peter Leko (Hungary 7 - 2743), Vassili Ivanchuk (Ukraine - 8 - 2719), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria - 9 - 2707), Jeroen Piket (Netherlands - 34 - 2649), Alexey Fedorov (Belarus - 37 - 2646), Loek van Wely (Netherlands - 39 - 2643), Jan Timman (Netherlands - 46 - 2639), Sergey Tiviakov (Netherlands - 76 - 2608). Average rating: 2713 Category: 19

Coverage last year was at: http://chess2.lostcity.nl/corus/ and its expected this site will have the tournament for 2001.

Tel Aviv Open 2001

Open Swiss International Tournament in Tel-Aviv Dates: 9th-17th April 2001. 9 rounds. Possibilities for GM and IM norms. Prizes: 4000 3000 2000 1200 800....20 prizes in total (10 last are 250$); special U-2400, U-2000, U-18 y.o: 500 300 200 + women prizes; Special Conditions for the first 10 Grandmasters (2550+).

Info: The Israeli Chess Federation through Mr. Igal Lotan 03-6437627, 03-6437630;

Rilton Cup

The XXX Rilton Cup in Stockholm takes place 27th December 2000 - 5th January 2001.

Homepages: http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-21958/rc2000a.htm(English), http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-21958/rifoen0001d.htm or http://www.stockholmchessfederation.com/

2001 Australian Open

Thursday 28 December 2000 - Tuesday 09 January 2001 Rydges Hotel Canberra City London Circuit, ACT, AUSTRALIA (3 hours drive from Sydney - transfer from airport may be available)

11 Round Fide-Rated Open Swiss The Following Players Are Confirmed: Gm Yuri Yakovich (Russia 2585) Gm Utut Adianto (Indonesia 2583) Gm Ian Rogers (Australia 2558) Gm Alexander Volzhin (Russia 2556) Gm Darryl Johansen (Australia 2505) Gm Markus Stangl (Germany 2479) Gm Goran Todorovich (Yugoslavia 2455) Gm H. Ardiansyah (Indonesia 2421) Im Gary Lane (England 2452) Im Michael Gluzman (Australia 2432) Im Vladimir Feldman (Australia 2399) Im Guy West (Australia 2372) Im Zong Yuan Zhao (Australia 2341) Im David Smerdon (Australia 2315) Im Irina Berezina-Feldman (Australia 2304) Gm And Im Norms Will Be Available.

All rounds 2:00 PM except last round 10:00 AM Accompanying minor, rapid and lightning events as well as simultaneous exhibitions. Entry: GMs, IMs, WGMs, WIMs free. Otherwise: A$120 A$96 (concession) The Open prize fund will be between A$11,000-A$15,000. 1st prize is A$3,000 with at least 6 place prizes overall with 2nd A$1,800 and 3rd A$1,200. Also a wide range of rating group and junior prizes in over 10 different sections.

Some conditions for GMs and IMs may be available, for instance billet accommodation. A limited number of summertime tourist bus outback travel packages might also be available for visiting titled players. 2001 Australian Junior Championships: The Australian Junior Championships will follow the Australian Open from 11 to 23 Jan 2001, also to be held in Canberra. Some coaching opportunities may be available for squads of titled players playing in the Open.

Important web sites: Australian Open http://www.auschess.org.au/centenary/ Australian Chess Federation http://www.auschess.org.au/ Australian Open Accommodation http://www.auschess.org.au/centenary/austaccom.html - cheap accommodation options available close to the venue

Villa de Calpe Open

The Villa de Calpe (Allcante, Spain) Open starts on October 8th 2000.

Contact: Teléfono 96-5839123 (Casa de Cultura de Calpe) Teléfono 96-5202214 (Asociación Provincial de Ajedrez) de 18 a 21 horas Fax.- 96-5132840 ; E-mail: almipe@ctv.es

Website: http://www.arrakis.es/~asoalic/

British Rapidplay Chess Championships

The British Rapidplay Chess Championships take place in the Brunswick Building of Leeds Metropolitan University. The eleven round event takes place in Leeds, England, November 18th-19th 2000. Details are available at: http://www.british-rapidplay.org.uk/

Bobby Fischer contribution to the Ambassador Report

Bobby Fischer was associated with Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God for some time. The Ambassador report was compiled by opponents of the organisation. You can read it at: http://homepage.altavista.com/AmbassadorReport/files/Fischer.html

MSO Mind Sports Games

John Saunders reports: Mind Sports Masters (Ron Banwell Memorial) downloadable from the BCF site at http://www.bcf.ndirect.co.uk/national/mso2000.htm It gives all the games by players with 5/9 or more. Note that some of the games have been amended from the original file created by Stewart Reuben, which has been published in TWIC. There will be a complete PGN file of all the games in due course. [When the file is complete I will produce a corrected file MC]

4NCL Fantasy Chess

Fantasy Chess is now running a competition based on the 4NCL. People have to predict the results of the matches rather than the individual games. One for the Bundesliga will follow.

http://play.at/fantasychess

Krkonose Open 2000

Krkonose Open 2000 takes place 29th October to 5th November 2000 in Pec pod Snezkou town (The Krkonose mountains). 60 players from 10 countries are entered and entry is still open. Further information: http://www.proclient.cz/krkonose

Three Hungarian Tournaments

Paks HUN WIM closed tournament 28.10-03.11 2000 9 rounds entry fee: 150 DEM information: Videki Sandor Tel/fax: 00-36-75421225 email: videkisn@matavnet.hu

Szekszard HUN IM closed tournament 04-10 12 2000 9 rounds, 2 double rounds, cat. 3-4, entry fee: 200 DEM information: Videki Sandor Tel/fax: 00-36-75421225 email: videkisn@matavnet.hu

Szekszard HUN 9 rounds open, children, blitz tournaments 05-10 12 2000 prizefound: 400000 HUF Information: Papp Csaba, Decs Oreg str.53 Hungary email: rlaszlo@freemail.hu

IECG Cup

The IECG Cup VI preliminary stage. IECG Cup is an open tournament: players of any rating are merged together. So this is a nice opportunity to play a wide range of opponents. Subscriptions are open until September 15. Entries received after this date are used for a replacement list, which will be closed on October 1st. The tournament will be launched on October 1st, for a duration of 11 months. All the unfinished games will be adjudicated. During the preliminary phase, all participants take part in a 7 men, single round tournament (so 6 games to play). The 2 winners of each section will be entitled to play in the next stage, starting in October 2001. All games count for IECG rating, of course.

The entry form for Cup VI is at: http://www.iecg.org/cupentry.htm The web entry form is the best method to be enlisted in the Cup, as the process behind is easier for us.

Debrecen Open and Computer tournament

The Debrecen Open takes place 20th-24th October 2000. Place of tournament: Aranybika Grand Hotel 4025 Debrecen,Piac u. 11-15. 9 rounds, Swiss system, 20 moves in 1 hours, and 1 hour to the end.

Entry fee: 3500 HUF - Without FIDE ELO 3000 HUF - 2000-2199 2000 HUF - 2200-2299 1500 HUF - 2300-2399 1500 HUF - Young player (under 18 years) 1500 HUF - Pensioner 0 HUF - above 2400, and IM, GM

Prizes: I. 80000 HUF II. 50000 HUF III. 33000 HUF IV. 26000 HUF V. 17000 HUF VI. 10000 HUF

Category prizes, Extra prizes: - Best player from Debrecen - Best women player - Best without FIDE ELO - Best player above 55 years - Best player under 18 years

Portocom Computer Open International Chess Tournament 20-24 October 2000, Debrecen

The players of the tournament: Whoever can take part in the competition, but first of all computer chessprograms and advanced players. For the foreigners we cover computers. If somebody send the chessprogram in mail (by post) we cover him/her an operator. (the price of the operator is 40 DM )

Place of tournament: Aranybika Grand Hotel H-4025 Debrecen,Piac u. 11-15.

Opening ceremony: 20 October, at 4 o' clock (pm) Arrangement: 11 rounds, Swiss system, 2 hours to the end.

Entry fee: 9000 HUF - Advaced player 6000 HUF - Chess program 1000 HUF - People

Prizes: I. 66000 HUF II. 55000 HUF III. 44000 HUF IV. 33000 HUF V. 22000 HUF VI. 11000 HUF

Date of entires: 10.October 2000

Entries should be sent to: Sandor Nagy H-4026 Debrecen, Bethlen str. 36-38.II/12. Phone: +36 52 416-524 Mobil: +36 20 322-8790 E-mail: player@matavnet.hu

4NCL 2000-2001

The 4NCL season 2000-2001 fixtures have been published. The venue for all matches is the The Birmingham Grand Moat House Hotel, Colmore Row, Birmingham. The 1st and 2nd rounds take place 23rd-24th September 2000, 3rd-4th on 25th-26th November, 5th-6th on 27th-28th January 2001, 7th-8th on 17th-18th March and the final rounds 9,10 and 11 on 5th-7th May 2001. There are 26 Clubs, 40 teams, 3 Divisions, 536 players registered. Some of the changes in the closed season: IndexIT have signed, Nigel Short from Wood Green and Mark Hebden from Slough, to add to a very strong initial squad. Guildford-ADC have signed Chris W Baker from Bigwood, which provides the team sponsor (Nigel Povah) with the option of playing in their second team!! Slough have a new signing IM Aleksandar Wohl from Australia. Wood Green have signed Matthew Turner from Slough. Barbican 4NCL have signed GM Jonathan Parker and IM Mark Ferguson from Bigwood.

Round 1 pairings division 1: IndexIT 2 v IndexIT 1, Richmond v Slough, South Wales Dragons v White Rose, Guildford-ADC v Midland Monarchs, Wood Green v Poisoned Pawns, Barbican 4NCL 1 v Barbican 4NCL 2.

For further information see the 4NCL website at: http://freespace.virgin.net/nigel.chess96/4ncl/0001/0001menu.htm. Additional coverage at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/John_Katrin_Sharp

Possible University Event

The President of the Cambridge University Chess Club 2000/01, Nathan Alfred, would like to get in contact with any University interesting in playing in an event at Cambridge University (probably Girton College) on Saturday 11th November 2000. The planned format is to have teams of eight compete at ten-minute blitz chess, with possibly an all-play-all. If interested contact: nswa2@cam.ac.uk

Vikings Chess Festival

The second York Vikings Chess Festival are 13th to 22nd December 2000. The venue will once again be the superb Lady Anne Middleton's Hotel.

Contact: Adam Raoof if interested: adam@circuit.demon.co.uk

GM 'A' - £10,000 in prizes! GM Julian Hodgson (British Champion) GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson (SWE) GM Jonny Hector (SWE) GM Emil Sutovsky (ISR) GM Alexei Barsov (UZB) GM Jonathan Rowson (SCO)

GM 'B' - £5,000 in prizes! GM Aaron Summerscale GM Keith Arkell IM Irina Krush (USA) Entries from players 2350+ are invited.

Masters IM Valer Krutti (HUN) IM Still to be invited... IM Still to be invited... Entries from players 2250+ are invited.

Open This will be a 9-round FIDE rated swiss tournament with a first prize of at least £200. The entry fee is £25 for rated players (July 2000 list) or £40 for unrated players. Blitz 5 minute chess - Sunday 17th December - £5 entry - all entries returned as prizes - 11am start - 6pm finish - parking at the venue Accommodation Very special room rates at the Lady Anne Middleton Hotel venue for players and partners; £19.50 for a single room per person per night bed and breakfast £15.00 per person per night if they share a twin/double room http://www.ladyannes.demon.co.uk/

Website: http://www.circuit.demon.co.uk/york2.htm

Linares and Ubeda Opens 2001

The VIII "Anibal" Open takes place in Linares, January 8th-18th, 2001. 11 round Swiss System Event.

PRIZES 1º 1.000.000 pts. 2º 500.000 pts. 3º 250.000 pts. 4º 200.000 pts. 5º 150.000 pts. 6º-10º 100.000 pts. 11º-20º 50.000 pts. 21º-30º 30.000 pts. 31º-50º 25.000 pts. 1st Woman Chessplayer 50.000 pts. 1st Chessplayer under 2300 Elo 50.000 pts. 1st Chessplayer from Jaen 50.000 pts.

The VI "Ciudad de Ubeda" Open takes place Ubeda, January 21st-30th 2001. 10 Round Swiss System event.

PRIZES 1º 500.000 pts. 2º 250.000 pts. 3º 150.000 pts. 4º 125.000 pts. 5º 100.000 pts. 6º-15º 75.000 pts. 16º-50º 50.000 pts. 1st Woman Chessplayer 50.000 pts. 1st Chessplayer under 2300 Elo 50.000 pts. 1st Chessplayer from Jaen 50.000 pts.

CONDITIONS

Chessplayers with 2580 Elo according FIDE ranking list July 2000 or January 2001: Free full board in a single room and free fixed fee. G.M. and I.M. Lodging free in a 3 stars hotel in Linares and in a 4 stars hotel in Ubeda. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are $12 per person/day in a double room (single supplement $25). Others Chessplayers: Lodging in a 3 stars hotel in Linares and in a 4 stars hotel in Ubeda is $24 per person/day in a double room (single supplement $25). Breakfast, lunch and dinner are $12 per person/day.

FIXED FEE PER TOURNAMENT: Until December 31st , 2000 7.500 pts. Since January 1st, 2001 10.000 pts.

VIII Open "Anibal" Tel. 953 650400, fax 953 652204 (Miss Flori). VI Open "Ciudad de Ubeda" Tel. 953 791011, fax 953 791012 (Miss Tana). e-mail address: linareschess@wanadoo.es - linareschess@teleline.es

Bank details: Banco de Andalucía, account nº 0004 3270 84 0601005803 Prizes will be subject to 25% tax.

SC Lasker Autumn Festival

SC LASKER SRL is organising an Autumn Festival in Bucharest, Romania over the period October 5th-November 4th 2000.

5th-19th October 2000

A. International closed chess tournament for IM norm (men), 2nd –4th category, 12-16 players.

Entry fees: - <= 2100 -300 DM - 2101 – 2200 -250 DM -2201 – 2300 -200 DM -2301 – 2350 -175 DM -2351 – 2400 -150 DM - >= 2401 -100 DM

B. International closed chess tournament for IGM norm (women), 7th – 8th category,12-14 players. Entry fees: 200 DM

C. International closed chess tournament for IGM norm (men), 8th – 9th category,12-16 players.

Entry fees: - <= 2300 -400 DM - 2301 – 2350 -350 DM -2351 – 2400 -300 DM -2401 – 2450 -250 DM -2451 – 2500 -200 DM - >= 2501 -150 DM

21st October-4th November 2000

D. International closed chess tournament for IM norm (women), 3rd – 5th category,12-16 players. Entry fees: 200 DM Accommodation 100-150 DM in private rooms or apartments for all the tournament.

Starting date: 5th October 2000, opening ceremony 14°°. Time limits: 40 moves / 2 hours, then 1 hour for 20 moves + 30 minutes K.O.. The games will be played every day from 15°° to 22°°. Prizes: declared before the 3rd round. Romanian Chess Federation, Ion Campineanu Street, no. 20, phone: 312.55.25 or 312.70.56, fax: 312.19.44 Central Chess Club: Oþetari Street, no. 2, phone 314.68.13.

Organizer: FIDE Master Emil Pessi: O.P. 38 – C.P. 80, 72250 Bucharest-Romania, phone 0040-1-240.07.00; fax: 0040-1-312.19.44 (if contacted he assures the reception of the players). E-mail: mpanait@fx.ro or ggg@dnt.ro

4th Cap d'Agde Festival

The 4th Cap d'Agde Festival takes place 28th October - 4th November 2000. Cap d'Agde in the south of France has organised this prestigious event (supported by the French Chess Federation) and the FSGT) every 2 years since 1994.

There will be 3 large Opens tournaments divided by Elo rating 9 rounds, Time control : 40 moves/2hours and 1hour KO, Swiss System.

Grand-Prix CCAS (players + 2000 Elo) This tournament is Open to all players above 2000 Elo rating. Internationals Masters and Internationals Grand Masters do not pay the entry fee. IMPORTANT : only the 20 first players above 2500 Elo rating on the latest Fide list, will be invited by the organisation (accommodation and food) transportation cost will be at the player's charge.

Tournoi du Cavalier (players - > 1700 - < 2100 Elo) This tournament is Open to all players between 1700 and 2100 Elo rating. Tournoi de l'Avenir (-< 1800 Elo) This tournament is open to all players below 1800 Elo rating There will be a Blitz tournament organised by the FSGT

Trophée CCAS 2000 "La rencontre des Continents" rapid chess A tournament of Champions from all 5 Continents. Trophée CCAS "Espoirs" Match des prodiges : Angleterre - France A match between 2 very young Chess prodigies in 8 games with different Time control

Contact : Cap d'Agde Avenue de la Butte 34 309 Cap d'Agde Cedex Tel : 04 67 01 00 63 Fax : 04 67 76 65 01

Lajos Ózdi IM Harkany

The Lajos Ózdi Memorial IM tournament in Harkany, Hungary taking place November 16th-24th 2000. The ten player all-play-all IM norm event takes place in the Hotel Platán Harkány Bartók Béla u 15. Contact: Schepp Zoltán Tel 36-72-258-044 e-mail: gyorkos.lajos@dpg.hu

In addition there is the 24th Tenkes Cup in the same venue and dates. With an A and B Masters Open. Entry deadline 10th November 2000. Contact: Faludi László SIKLÓS, Kossuth tér 1. 7801 Tel.: 00 36 72l352-122 Fax: 00 36 72/351-858 Hungary Mikola Lajos: e-mail : tenkescup@egon.gyaloglo.hu

WPC Site

Valery Salov heads the WPC (World Players Council) and they have their own website. The site is at: http://ajedrez_democratico.tripod.com with a mixture of material in Spanish and English. Includes: In English continued correspondence between Yasser Seirawan and Valery Salov, the WPC Memorandum and a summary of a press conference in London and Alexei Shirov annotating his win against Bacrot in Sarajavo. In Spanish there is more material including a press conference in Leon 5th June with the participants: GM Valeri Salov, IM Javier Ochoa, GM Zenón Franco, GM Jordi Magem, IM Ricardo Calvo, IM Leonid Bass, Leontxo García, Miguel Ángel Nepomuceno, Frederic Friedel (his exchanges are given in English), Amador Cuesta Robledo, and David Llada. You could try running the Spanish sections through the Babel Fish translation program to get the early exchanges if you don't speak the language.

New Russian Website

There is a new Russian Website (English content to follow) at: http://kvkchess.euro.ru/. Material includes chess history and statistics and a collection of the chess links.

Corsican Open 2nd-5th November 2000

The Corsican International Open takes place 2nd-5th November 2000 in Bastia (Theatre). There is a Prize fund of 450 000 F for 2 events.

Corsica Masters, 3rd-5th November (elo =>2300) 7 rounds 20'+5" After the 7 rounds 1/4 final (10"+10, return match), 1/2 final, final

Prize fund 300 000 F 60 000 F - 35 000F- 20 000 F - 20 000 F 5th thru 8 10 000 F each -8 000 F - 6 000 F - 11th thru 20th 4 000 F each elo 2300-2500 : 10 000 F - 7 000 F - 4 000 F 1st Woman 5 000 F, 2nd : 3 000 F, 3rd 2 000 F 1st french : 7 000 F, 2nd 5 000 F, 3rd 3 000 F Schedule : Friday November 3rd Round 1 6.00 pm Round 2 7.30 pm Round 3 9.00 pm Saturday November 4th Round 4 11.30 am Round 5 2.00 pm Round 6 6.00 pm Round 7 7.30 pm Sunday November 5th 1/4 final 9.00 am 1/2 final 11.00 am Final 1.00 pm

Entry Fees : 250 F if paid by october 1, 350 F after october 1st.

Tournament of Bastia, 2nd-4th November (elo=<2400) 9 rounds 50'+10" Prize fund 150 000 F 15 000 F -10 000 F - 8 000 F - 6 000 F - 5000 F - 4 000 F - 3 000 F - 2000 F 1st Junior : 6 000 F, 2nd 4 000 F, 3rd 2 000 F elo 2000-2300 : 8 000 F - 5 000 F - 3 000 F elo 1800-1999 : 6 000 F - 3 500 F - 2 500 F elo 1600-1799 : 4 500 F -3 000 F - 2 000 F elo 1000-1599 : 4 000 F - 2 500 F -1 500 F Entry Fees : 250 F if paid by october 1, 350 F after october 1st. Schedule : Round 1 : November 2nd 3 pm, last round November 4th 9 pm

Players rated elo 2300-2400 can play both events.

Tournament manager : Léo BATTESTI 33 195 31 14 08 - fax 33 495 32 42 44 Mobil phone : 33 608 51 52 93 e-mail : opencorse@wanadoo.fr web site : http://www.opencorsica.com

New Greek Site

The OAA Heraklio Chess Club a new website: http://www.oaachess.bizland.com the site has chess news from Greece, chess features, etc. Includes a Greek chess calendar.

16th Maccabiah Chess Tournaments

As part of the 16th Maccabiah there will be a number of chess tournaments (GM/IM and open tournaments) The 16th Maccabiah (Jewish Olympiad) takes place in Tel-Aviv 16th-26th June 2001. http://www.slavchess.co.il/academy/maccabi.html