THE WEEK IN CHESS 97 02/09/96 Mark Crowther
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1) Introduction
2) 3rd Donner Memorial Tournament Amsterdam.
3) Credit Suisse Masters. PCA Rapidplay in Geneva
4) Foxtrot Veterans vs Ladies Tournament
5) Rubinstein Memorial Tournament
6) Anatoly Karpov plays on the internet.
7) 3rd ST Lee Cup Beijing China
8) Summer events in Greece by Sklavounos Panagiotis
9) Belgian Championships 1996
10) European Opens by Martin Pribyl
11) Israel Rapidplay Championships by Shay Bushinsky.
12) Kasparov to take on Deep Blue again in May
13) PCA Rating List
14) Open A from Biel Correction.
15) Norwegian Bosnia Action by Jonathan Tisdall.
Main Games Section
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Donner, Amsterdam NED 1996 66 games
Donner mem m, Amsterdam NED 1996 2 games
PCA Qualifier g 1996 3 games
CS Masters g 1996 34 games
It, Polanica Zdroj POL 1996 66 games
Foxtrot, London ENG 1996 50 games
Internet Match, FIN 1996 1 games
Extra Games Section
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ch-GRE, Portaria 1996 45 games
ch-BEL, Geel 1996 45 games
Donner op, Amsterdam NED 1996 153 games
Eikram mem op, Gausdal NOR 1996 129 games
op, Ceske Budejovice CZE 1996 145 games
op, Policka CZE 1996 70 games
1) Introduction
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My thanks to Ian Rogers, Bob Wade, Martin Pribyl, Shay
Bushinsky, Li Riemersma, Argiris Kotsis, Rod McShane,
Jonathan Tisdall, Luc Enderli, Sklavounos Panagiotis,
Damien Andre and the many others who helped out with
this issue.
This issue was one of the most difficult to put together.
Its hard to say why, except that I was also trying to cover
the main events daily on my www page and that going to the
Donner Memorial was extremely disruptive. Anyhow here is
TWIC 97 there are many bits and pieces that I will try and
include in TWIC 98 which I expect to appear next Monday.
I hope that you enjoy this issue.
Mark
2) 3rd Donner Memorial Tournament Amsterdam.
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This was the third and possibly final Donner Memorial Tournament. A
private sponsor has funded the event for the last three years in the
hope that it might be funded commercially in the future. Unlike the VSB
Tournament it not only had a main Grandmaster section it also had
numerous open sections and side events. The size of the event and the
comfort with which it was played in which impressed the most. Everyone
was hopeful that a commercial sponsor might be found for next year.
The event was played in the enormous RAI centre and the playing conditions
were near perfect for a large Swiss. They cheered up the exhibition
centre with large murals of fighting chess pieces which had been
specially designed for the series of tournaments.
I had the chance to chat to several GMs and I'll try and write those
up over next week.
Super Julio
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Julio Granda Zuniga will probably be hoping that the event runs again
next year. For the second year in succession he shared first prize here.
When in Peru he spends much of his time on his farm and rarely does the
amount of work which his western counterparts do. But his talent is
unquestionable. Here he did not look like a winner until the last few
rounds.
In the first couple of rounds he was on the worse side of a draw against
Salov and Ivanchuk. Adianto beat him in the third round. His fourth
round game was the most important game for his final result. He was
completely lost against Piket. Piket first missed a quite easily winning
variation and then lost on time. A win against the out of form
Morozevich was followed by a draw against Timman,a loss against Julian
Hodgson and a draw against Ivan Sokolov. However he now hit top form. He
closed out the tournament with three excellent wins and this took him to
a share of first place.
His victory against Kamsky was one of the best of the event. He got a
nice bind out of the opening and he transformed this to a crushing
attack on Kamsky's King. He played a very creative Centre-Counter
against Nick DeFirmian, his initiative looked as though it might break
down at any moment and leave him worse. He kept it going and won an
exchange and shortly afterwards the game.
In the final round he played a nicely judged King's Indian against Loek
Van Wely with the white pieces. He made a classic breakthrough on the
Queenside and then turned right winning most of Loek's army in the
process.
What might he do if he took chess more seriously!
Vassily Ivanchuk
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Organiser's must dispare about Ivanchuk. They can never be sure what
kind of player they are going to get. In some events he produces win
after win and in others, and the Donner Memorial was one, he agrees a
large number of draws and takes the points from out of form players with
his fantastic technique. Although you can't do more than win a
tournament, he did not especially impress here, perhaps an indication of
this was that he actually slightly underperformed from what might be
expected from his rating.
Things might have been different if he had lost to Hodgson in the first
round. Hodgson appeared to have a killing attack whatever he did but he
played 20. ...Rxb3+ instead of the winning 20. ...Rd3+ which would have
won on the spot. Ivanchuk played a fine game from then on. He won two
further games, against Ivan Sokolov who played extremely aggressively
but his exposed King was drawn out and mated and again the luckless
Morozevich.
Kamsky, DeFirmian and Piket
---------------------------
In common with a number of players Kamsky's form was extremely variable
during the tournament. He will be extremely disappointed with his result
but he certainly isn't the first to have a hangover from a lost World
Title match. He played some very nice games but it was his opening
repertoire that let him down. He ought have lost to Jan Timman and did
lose to Granda Zuniga, Sokolov and Van Wely. He scored attractive wins
against Hodgson and Salov but he played well below his normal form.
Piket and DeFirmian both had very solid tournaments and joint 3rd was
well above their seeding.
Hodgson and Salov
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At one stage it looked as if Hodgson was going to win the event. He is
very popular in the Netherlands and many wanted to see him do well. They
like his creative and slightly off-beat play. In the end he scored 1 in
the last four rounds and this left him mid-table. Salov had a very
lacklustre tournament by his standards, without playing very badly he
never seemed to get going, only his victory against Hodgson in the last
round gave him a respectable score.
For the rest I think they will be slightly disappointed. In such a close
tournament just a couple of key games could have significantly improved
their results. Morozevich's play was extremely desperate and in fact
only wins towards the end of the tournament allowed him to avoid
absolute disaster. The creative element is there in his game but he
neither prepares his openings well enough, nor is in good enough form to
justify this play at this level.
Round 3 (1996.08.19)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Kamsky, Gata 1/2 41 C99 Ruy Lopez
Piket, Jeroen - Hodgson, Julian M 1/2 25 D15 Slav defence
Salov, Valery - De Firmian, Nick E 0-1 50 A33 English; 1.c4 c5
Adianto, Utut - Granda Zuniga, Julio E 1-0 38 D20 QGA;
Van Wely, Loek - Sokolov, Ivan 1/2 49 A25 English; 1.c4 e5
Morozevich, Alexander - Timman, Jan H 0-1 59 C57 Two knights
Round 4 (1996.08.20)
Granda Zuniga, Julio E - Piket, Jeroen 1-0 39 D43 Semi-Slav
Kamsky, Gata - Adianto, Utut 1-0 29 B12 Caro-Kann
De Firmian, Nick E - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 23 B87 Sicilian
Hodgson, Julian M - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 53 C02 French; Advance
Van Wely, Loek - Salov, Valery 0-1 40 E16 Nimzo indian
Sokolov, Ivan - Timman, Jan H 1/2 22 E32 Nimzo indian
Round 5 (1996.08.22)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Van Wely, Loek 1/2 49 E97 Kings indian; Main line
Piket, Jeroen - Kamsky, Gata 1/2 20 A70 Modern Benoni
Salov, Valery - Sokolov, Ivan 1-0 28 E00 Nimzo indian
Adianto, Utut - De Firmian, Nick E 1/2 19 A33 English; 1.c4 c5
Timman, Jan H - Hodgson, Julian M 0-1 38 B07 Pirc
Morozevich, Alexander - Granda Zuniga, Julio E 0-1 72 B19 Caro-Kann
Round 6 (1996.08.23)
Granda Zuniga, Julio E - Timman, Jan H 1/2 52 A70 Modern Benoni
Kamsky, Gata - Morozevich, Alexander 1/2 60 C11 French; Classical
De Firmian, Nick E - Piket, Jeroen 1/2 56 C99 Ruy Lopez
Salov, Valery - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 20 A34 English; 1.c4 c5
Van Wely, Loek - Adianto, Utut 1/2 43 D20 QGA;
Sokolov, Ivan - Hodgson, Julian M 1-0 54 A43 Queen's pawn
Round 7 (1996.08.24)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Sokolov, Ivan 1-0 37 C89 Ruy Lopez
Piket, Jeroen - Van Wely, Loek 1/2 47 A65 Modern Benoni
Hodgson, Julian M - Granda Zuniga, Julio E 1-0 34 A45 Queen's pawn
Adianto, Utut - Salov, Valery 1/2 48 E11 Bogo indian
Timman, Jan H - Kamsky, Gata 0-1 49 B95 Sicilian; Najdorf
Morozevich, Alexander - De Firmian, Nick E 0-1 33 B88 Sicilian
Round 8 (1996.08.26)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Adianto, Utut 1/2 24 A17 English; 1.c4
Kamsky, Gata - Hodgson, Julian M 1-0 39 A04 Reti (1.Nf3)
De Firmian, Nick E - Timman, Jan H 1/2 40 C72 Ruy Lopez
Salov, Valery - Piket, Jeroen 1/2 41 A11 English; 1.c4
Van Wely, Loek - Morozevich, Alexander 0-1 28 E20 Nimzo indian
Sokolov, Ivan - Granda Zuniga, Julio E 1/2 43 E48 Nimzo indian
Round 9 (1996.08.27)
Granda Zuniga, Julio E - Kamsky, Gata 1-0 29 E15 Nimzo indian
Piket, Jeroen - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 14 D97 Gruenfeld indian
Hodgson, Julian M - De Firmian, Nick E 1/2 14 A45 Queen's pawn
Adianto, Utut - Sokolov, Ivan 1/2 30 E60 Kings indian
Timman, Jan H - Van Wely, Loek 1/2 30 B95 Sicilian; Najdorf
Morozevich, Alexander - Salov, Valery 1/2 53 B40 Sicilian
Round 10 (1996.08.29)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 34 C11 French; Classical
De Firmian, Nick E - Granda Zuniga, Julio E 0-1 29 B01 Scandinavian
Salov, Valery - Timman, Jan H 0-1 36 E44 Nimzo indian
Adianto, Utut - Piket, Jeroen 1/2 36 D11 Slav defence
Van Wely, Loek - Hodgson, Julian M 1/2 17 A21 English; 1.c4 e5
Sokolov, Ivan - Kamsky, Gata 1-0 83 A61 Modern Benoni
Round 11 (1996.08.30)
Granda Zuniga, Julio E - Van Wely, Loek 1-0 66 E97 Kings indian; Main line
Kamsky, Gata - De Firmian, Nick E 1/2 60 A35 English; 1.c4 c5
Piket, Jeroen - Sokolov, Ivan 1/2 33 A53 Benoni
Hodgson, Julian M - Salov, Valery 0-1 61 A29 English; 1.c4 e5
Timman, Jan H - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 25 E12 Nimzo indian
Morozevich, Alexander - Adianto, Utut 1-0 26 B13 Caro-Kann
Amsterdam NED (NED), VIII 1996. cat. XVI (2629)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
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1 Granda Zuniga, Julio E g PER 2610 * = 1 1 1 = 0 0 1 = = 1 7.0 2732
2 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2730 = * = = = = 1 = = 1 = 1 7.0 2721
3 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2745 0 = * = = 1 1 1 0 0 1 = 6.0 2654
4 De Firmian, Nick E g USA 2575 0 = = * = 1 = = 0 1 = 1 6.0 2669
5 Piket, Jeroen g NED 2580 0 = = = * = = = = = 1 1 6.0 2669
6 Salov, Valery g RUS 2675 = = 0 0 = * 1 = 1 1 0 = 5.5 2624
7 Hodgson, Julian M g ENG 2550 1 0 0 = = 0 * 1 = 0 1 1 5.5 2635
8 Adianto, Utut g INA 2605 1 = 0 = = = 0 * = = 1 0 5.0 2594
9 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2605 0 = 1 1 = 0 = = * = = 0 5.0 2594
10 Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2670 = 0 1 0 = 0 1 = = * = = 5.0 2589
11 Timman, Jan H g NED 2590 = = 0 = 0 1 0 0 = = * 1 4.5 2567
12 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2610 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 1 1 = 0 * 3.5 2497
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Other events in the Festival.
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There were many other events in the Festival. Young star Etienne Bacrot
drew a two game match against Gennadi Sosonko.
I played in the journalists event. There were five games over two days
the event. The time rate was all the moves in 25 minutes. I was
extremely nervous, but in fact I lead throughout until losing to Malcolm
Pein in the final round. It seems that sharpness can make up for
inherent lack of class in these events. I simply tried to keep a cool
head. I was down to three minutes or less in every game, so hours of
playing five minute chess over the years was not entirely wasted.
Malcolm Pein (2425) IM 4
Zdenko Krnic (2430) IM 4
Mark Crowther 3
William Hartston IM 2.5
Leontxo Garcia 1.5
Andre Behr 0.5
The Main Open tournament we very competitive. It resulted in a seven way
tie for first place.
1. 1 Tiviakov, S 8.0 78.5 55.50
4 Shabalov, A 8.0 76.5 53.50
9 Norwood, D 8.0 75.5 54.00
11 Fedorowicz, JP 8.0 75.0 53.25
8 Nijboer, F 8.0 74.5 51.75
20 David, A 8.0 70.0 48.50
13 Blatny, P 8.0 66.0 50.25
8. 5 Dao, TH 7.5 79.0 52.00
14 Ye, R 7.5 76.0 48.75
10 Akesson, R 7.5 73.5 47.50
15 Winants, L 7.5 71.5 45.50
24 Bosch, J 7.5 71.5 45.50
13. 7 Miezis, N 7.0 78.0 46.75
3 Lobron, E 7.0 75.0 44.25
12 Garcia, G 7.0 73.5 43.75
2 Conquest, S 7.0 73.5 43.50
6 Van der Wiel, JTH 7.0 72.5 44.50
17 Ziatdinov, R 7.0 70.0 41.25
16 Kuijf, M 7.0 67.0 41.50
23 Hendriks, W 7.0 65.0 41.00
21. 28 Bellin, R 6.5 72.5 40.00
18 Ree, H 6.5 70.5 39.00
41 Kohler, A 6.5 70.0 36.25
22 Kalinin, A 6.5 69.0 39.25
21 Waitzkin, J 6.5 69.0 37.00
19 Van den Doel, E 6.5 68.0 38.50
47 Slingerland, F 6.5 68.0 35.50
50 Timmerman, GJ 6.5 67.5 35.50
30 Slutzky, L 6.5 66.0 36.25
25 Kristensen, B 6.5 65.5 35.50
43 Vrenegoor, T 6.5 65.0 34.00
42 Van Blitterswijk, S 6.5 64.5 35.75
33 Basman, MJ 6.5 62.5 33.50
56 De Vreugt, D 6.5 62.0 33.75
55 Janssen, R 6.5 61.5 31.75
113 players.
3) Credit Suisse Masters. PCA Rapidplay in Geneva
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Luc Enderli reports on this tough quickplay in Geneva. The event was
covered by the Credit Suisse WWW site and Kevin O'Connell's Intellegent
Chess System was used to convey the games to the audience and record the
moves. I will round up the event next week as a small technical problem
means that I don't have reports for some of the rounds.
Credit Suiss Masters by Luc Enderli.
------------------------------------
Day 1 Report.
No surprises on the 1st day. Fantastic attacking games from Judit Polgar
and Vesselin Topalov!
Bareev - Short
The afternoon started with a big laugh in the audience when the French
commentators related an anecdote of the referee regarding the two
players. Dr. Filipowicz reported that both players wanted to lose in the
first round, as they would possibly face Judit in the second round. That
was an important psychological problem: both players were in love with
her! Throughout the day, IM Giffard and FM Birmingham demonstrated
variations targeted at beginners and general comments on the players and
chess through infra-red headphones distributed at the entrance. This was
excellent work aimed at broadening the appeal of the game. At the same
time GM Glenn Flear commented more soundly and deeply on the game in the
second channel, sometimes helped by Jonathan Speelmann.
Short impressed everyone in the first game, showing how far and how well
he could assess white's attacking chances. After 15 moves, Bareev seemed
to have equalised with black in a French Defence - Advance variation.
Short was astonished by 6. .. Nh6, and so shocked by 21. .. Bxa3, that
he missed that opportunity to produce an equal but double-edged
position. He thought for quite a few minutes before deciding to play Ba1
preparing a kings side attack. However at this point Bareev immediately
blundered replying with the losing move Bf8 (instead of Be7 or Bb4,
according to him).
In the second game, Bareev played quietly. He chose a Catalan, he
gradually increased white's control of space and control over the board.
Short was facing defensive problems, and became quickly under time
pressure. Amazingly, Bareev almost collapsed then, he allowed direct
threats to his king (42. .. Rg4 and following moves). He suddenly
realised what was going on, took some minutes to find a nice defense,
eventually winning on time.
Bareev won the tie-break. Contrary to received wisdom he astonishingly
chose the white pieces, with 5 minutes (one more than Short) but the
obligation to win. At the press conference after the game, he explained
that he wanted to keep the pressure on Short, after his nice win in the
second game with white pieces. When asked if he specially trained for
the event, he only declared: "Yes, last week-end's qualification
tournament!".
Short was very sad and disappointed after the blitz. He left the stage
in a rush, but appeared in the evening in the audience with Speelman and
Korchnoi. All three were apparantly in very good humour whilst
discussing Topalov's exhibition against Gavrikov.
Polgar - Epishin
"It went so smoothly in game one! It's rare to have an easy game like
this at this level!". Judit commented after the match. It was hard for
Epishin, he perfectly summarised the impression of the audience: she had
just massacred him in game one using half of his time. Game one was lost
with the plan from move 13. .. BxB to 17. .. 0-0, the last move being
the one being highlighted by Judit as being the last and fatal mistake.
In the return game, Epishin took the initiative on the queen side and
seemed slightly better. Judith defended well, gaining a large pawn
center. She played 24. .. d4 quickly, but was shocked by Epishin's
answer Bxd4. She probably missed her best defense with 25. .. Rd7, as
she explained after the game: "I was still very happy and on a pink
cloud after game one, so I had trouble concentrating on the next game."
Epishin used a lot of time to keep his advantage (no French commentator
saw 28. c6 by the way),only to finally crack under time pressure when
faced with the tough defence from Judit. She even sacrificed the
exchange towards the end to keep the game going.
When asked by a journalist about the sexist mentality in chess and the
society in general, she recalled the witty remark of Szuza: "I never won
against a healthy man!".
Topalov - Gavrikov
A very one-sided match, Topalov winning with the style expected of a
World Champion in game one. White's opening against the black's Sicilian
defence was not a home preparation, nor his b2 or the Nd5 (pseudo-)
sacrifices. After such an impressive exhibition many professionals and
spectators were discussing Vesselin's chances of being the next World
Champion.
In the second game, Topalov concentrated on securing the draw and
therefore qualification for the next round. When Birmingham made a funny
comment on white's position after 31. Ng1 (he remembered a Steiniz habit
to put back all the pieces to the first rank; by the way, wasn't that a
Lasker habit?). Topalov had an astonished, vacant stare at the audience,
and immediately made a blunder losing the h pawn. The interest for the
game was back, and both players finished the game at almost blitz
rhythm, trying to impress the opponent. Topalov secured a draw with the
beautiful 80. .. Rf8.
At the press conference, he declared himself not to be a favorite, not
by far. Everyone was impressed by his modesty.
Kasparov - Nenashev
Business as usual for the World champion. These were the least exiting
games of the day, probably because it was the most unbalanced match. On
the board, Neneshev was not impressed by Gary, who eventually won with
better technique. Particularly in game one, in an equal position after
the exchange of the queens, the piece coordination on the king side lead
to a quick win then. They were the only players to stay on the stage to
briefly discuss the games.
No big news at the press conference. Kasparov stated his known points of
view:
1.Karpov, Kamsky, Shirov and Salov are among the best players in long
games, but cannot match in rapid chess the players participating in the
PCA events;
2.He would be glad to have them on the PCA tour;
3.He does not see a re-unification match in 1997 with the FIDE, as this
organisation will soon collapse, but rather a match under a new sponsor
umbrella;
4.He sees rapid chess as a good promotional tool, but thinks
that the real threat to long games are the computers (guess why!).
Credit Suiss Masters by Luc Enderli.
Day 2 Report.
Korchnoi's pride causes elimination - but the public loves it!
Korchnoi's 12 minute think when he tried to avoid retracting his
previous moves which was a mistake cost him his match against Kramnik.
The match was an exciting one and the crowd showed their appreciation.
The largest crowd so far attended the evening session of the second day
of the Credit Suisse Masters, with the two exiting matches Dreev -
Speelman and Korchnoi - Kramnik.
Chernin-Bologan
In the afternoon, Chernin lost against Bologan despite being a clear
favorite in terms of world ranking. He chose a slow manoevering game
with white using the English opening against Bologans e5-f5 defence,
moving his queen early. That was not the best strategy in rapid chess:
he could only get a draw, and only Kasparov has managed to win with the
Black pieces in the event so far.
Anand-Yakovitch
In the second match of the afternoon, Anand had no trouble defeating
Yakovitch, the surprise of the qualification tournament. He easily drew
with the black pieces and slowly destroyed Yakovitch's Sicilian in game
two. The strange strategy of the young Moldavian player (24 years old),
who is used to this type of tournament (if you recall, he also won the
qualifying tournament for the Kremlin Stars) a relatively quick draw
with white pieces in a calm opening is not the best way to beat the
Indian player.
Speelman-Dreev
"I play this rubbish sometimes" was Jonathan Speelman comment on game
one of his match. "If I choose a bad opening, I prefer not to analyse it
at home prior to the game, and just try to find the best moves on the
board. You just have to play moves and see what happens. This opening is
not so bad, I played it a couple of times when I was younger. Some other
players have used it too, like Miles. I was in fact pretty happy with
this game, I thought I found the reasonable moves each time." He impressed
the crowd by both staying on the stage after the game and answering
questions in French.
Dreev showed an incredible endgame technique, which was confirmed by
Speelman "he is one of the best rook endgames players of the world.".
But that was just enough to draw the first game against the imaginative
and sometimes strategically risky play of Jonathan. In the second game,
Dreev made what seemed like a positional blunder when he tried to
equalize with c5. Most commentators, such as GM Flear helped by Anand
were expecting the e5 break. Speelman then won with a queen side
pressure, but probably did not play very accurately (Rb4 directly
instead of Ra4) and several times was shocked Dreev's defensive.
He will have to be much more precise in his games against Kramnik
on Saturday.
Korchnoi-Kramnik
The final match of the first round was the best of the day. Viktor the
terrible against the Crown Prince Kramnik. Right from the entry of the
players you could feel the tension in the playing hall. In the first
game Korchnoi chose a sideline with his 11. ...Rc8. He was always
struggling to equalise after this. He missed 19.Qg4 and used 12 of his
remaining total of 24 minutes for his reply. He was trying to find a way
of playing without having to retreat the knight back to where it had
just come from, his pride making him continue looking.
"Kramnik would probably have played this move after one minute, and
Kasparov two minutes after pulling a lot of faces!" was E. Birminghams
comment. Pressurised by the lack of time and an inferior position, his
position collapsed 20 moves later.
The second game featured a probable opening novelty from Korchnoi. His
Bf4 caused Kramnik all sorts of problems and he admitted that he could
not find an adequate reply over the board. His position became extremely
dubious. Korchnoi lost some of his advantage with d6 but then played
very sharply and seemed to be winning (there was great excitement in the
audience at his 14.Nb5 and 25.Ne6 sacrifices) when suddenly Kramnik
found a beautiful perpetual check idea to ensure his qualification.
There was prolonged applause from the audience for both players at the
end of the game.
In the post-match interview, Kramnik quietly complained about the lack
of a World Championship cycle to play in. However he did recognise that
his fluctuating results this year meant that he had some more work to do
before taking the supreme crown.
Round 3 Report
--------------
Semi-finals:
A smaller audience attended the event on Sunday morning than the evening
before.
The semi-finals were Kasparov - Polgar and Anand - Speelman. The two clear
favorites qualified, Kasparov quite easily and Anand after being lost.
Kasparov - Polgar
"Judit is invited to many of these events on the (rapid) chess circuit.
Of course because she's young, because she's a lady, and because she's pretty,
but most of all because she plays attacking, risky, double-edged
games that the public loves." commented GM Flear. The public in Geneva
fully agreed and gave lengthy applause for her entry onto the stage.
Once again Garry won the toss, and chose the black pieces for the first
game. After the game Kasparov commented that Judit was
able to set up a position where he was "under some pressure."
The players played a variation of the Najdorf known to theory. Kasparov
took some time deciding how to defend against 13. Qh3. However after
his exchange of his knight for the e3 Bishop he had already equalised.
Judit didn't seem very happy with the position then, particularly when
Kasparov castled long. Garry played very carefully gradually exchanging
pieces off to end up with a highly favourable endgames.
Kasparov calculated everything very precisely, he felt that Judit should
have been able to hold the draw but he saw everything after 40. Rd8 whereas
Judit missed a variation where she could not capture the h pawn because
she would lose her bishop.
Astonishingly Speelman was commentating on this game on the English
channel of the headphones just minutes before his semi-final!
In the second game, Garry elected the same Sicilian with c3 that he used
against Topalov, but this time he played more actively. He secured the
draw in 26 moves to qualify to the final. "It was tough and I will sleep
a bit before the final. I woke up this morning at 7:00 am, because there was
an important triathlon starting in front of my hotel, with a big crowd
and screaming loud-speakers!".
Anand - Speelman
Speelman was the publics favorite. He entered smiling, it seemed to me
also a bit less focused and determined than the day before. Anand won
the toss and selected the black pieces, of course.
What a demonstration from Speelman then! Anand played inaccurately against
Speelman's strange 6. Bf1 and quickly got a cramped position. It should have
been too risky to capture the white queen-side pawns, that he but this is
what he tried. The punishment wasn't too long in coming with 21. f6 and
23. e6, Anand shaking his head out of disbelief. At this point, Flear
commented: "Black should resign. But you don't get anything by resigning and
there have been plenty of examples of this this weekend." That was what
happened, gradually Speelman let Anand off the hook. What seemed like a
killing attack gradually transformed into an ending that was much trickier.
Speelman's extra exchange not being enough to win with in the end.
The second game was one of mutual blunders. Speelman at first seemed
to blunder his central e-pawn for nothing. Anand then tried to complicate
and this merely allowed Speelman back into the game. However Speelman made a
massive blunder and lost in the end. Jonathan was anyway very happy with
his overall result, which was a big improvement in comparison to previous
PCA tournaments.
FINAL
For once, the auditorium was full at the beginning of the final, with
also a broad coverage of the local press. The Credit Suisse Masters also
was several times covered by the Swiss television, during prime time and
live in the evening news.
Kasparov came on the stage with that half-smile that shows his eagerness
to crush his opponent, while Anand seemed very relaxed, unlike his wife,
who seemed very anxious. Kasparov once again won the toss and took black
for the first game.
What a lesson from the world champion! He finally played an attacking
game and redeemed himself with the public, who were very disappointed
with his play over the previous days. They played the same Najdorf variation
as Topalov and Kasparov chose a day before, very quickly till move 15.
Anand decided to stop Kasparov's king side pawns with f3, but GMs and IMs
present assessed that it was an equal position. Anand tried to get some
attack on black's king left in the center, but Kasparov closed it with
d5. Kasparov then pushed his pawns on the Kingside opening up the a8-h1
diagonal. After Qa8 he combined a tactical breakthrough on the Queenside
with a decisive check on g7. Anand's position fell apart and Kasparov
won a lot of material. In the end Kasparov escaped some desperate checks
and Anand had to resign. Surely after winning with the black pieces he
could not lose with white.
Yet that's exactly what happened! Kasparov was surprised by the choice of the
Kings-Indian, but very well prepared: he even selected a variation Karpov
played against him in a World championship match! The position was
clearly a draw when Kasparov started to play on the razor edge with Nb5.
At that time everything was still under control, but he suddenly
blundered with h5. One could tell from the World Champion's body
language that Anand got his chances. Vishy very quickly (2 seconds!)
decided to play Bxd7. The Rook and pawn ending perhaps should have
been drawn but Anand played it well and Kasparov was all of a sudden
clearly lost.
We had then a fantastic slice of chess life: the organizer sent then a
camera in the backstage. All young champions, Kramnik, Dreev, Polgar,
Bologan, Topalov and some more were sitting around a television screen
(of course Kramnik made the victory sign when the camera approached!),
while the world champion was in the background going back and forth with
his jacket on the shoulder, muttering and grumbling. Suddenly he saw the
camera and came in a rush near the young people and started to explain
how he had lost the game.
In the first blitz, Kasparov and Anand played a variation of the English
opening that appeared many times in the Sevilla world championship.
Garry deviated with dxe4, got some pressure on the king side, but that
was balanced by two central knights for Anand. He won the exchange,
gave it back some moves later and the game ended draw in a position
that seemed slightly better for Anand. The public and the mass media
were very happy with the result, the tension was at its peak.
The players returned to their discussion of the Najdorf variation. Anand
improving white's line but missing the right plan at the beginning of
the middle game. Kasparov equalised, manouvered better and probably got
a winning position. He suddenly badly blundered with Qxe3, and Anand
punished him the next second with Qxg4. What a grimace! The rest of the
game Garry was half complaining and gesticulating, half playing very well
and almost turning the tables. Anand finally won, the world champion left
the stage.
When asked what he would do next, Anand replied "I will retire! I'm so
ecstatic, it feels so well to finally have some result in rapid chess."
He has waited over two years to beat Garry and win one of these events.
The overall impression was that his play is somewhat weaker than Garry's,
but that the world champion is getting older (maybe used?) and is starting
to frequently miss tactical points. Vishy now leads the PCA Grand prix with
9 points, vs 8 for Kaspavov and Kramnik.
Results day by day.
-------------------
1/8th final 29th August 1996
First Round results Day 1
Polgar 2-0 Epishin
Bareev 2-1 Short
Topalov 1.5-0.5 Gavrikov
Kasparov 2-0 Nenashev
1/8th final 30th August 1996
First Round results Day 2
Bologan 1.5-0.5 Chernin
Anand 1.5-0.5 Yakovich
Speelman 1.5-0.5 Dreev
Kramnik 1.5-0.5 Korchnoi
1/4th final 31st August 1996
Second Round results Day 3
Polgar 1.5-1.5 Bareev
The playoff game was a draw but Polgar was black in the tie-break
and went through.
Kasparov 1.5-0.5 Topalov
Anand 1.5-0.5 Bologan
Speelman 1.5-0.5 Kramnik
1/2 final 1st September 1996.
Semi-finals day 4
Kasparov 1.5-0.5 Polgar
Anand 1.5-0.5 Speelman
Final 1st September 1996.
Finals day 4
Anand 2.5-1.5 Kasparov After two five minute playoff games.
HALF A SURPRISE IN THE GENEVA QUALIFIER by Luc Enderli
Most of the favourites safely qualified for the 2nd PCA Rapidplay event
of thecycle. There were six qualification places available, one of the
favourites was Michael Adams and he finished in a tantalising 7th place
and was eliminated. The Qualifier was a gruelling 11 rounds and the
qualifiers were Bareev, Speelman, Epishin, Nenashev, Yakovich and
Bologan. These last three names were definite outsiders for
Qualification. The tournament was played in a luxury hotel in Geneva,
the Beau Rivage on the lake side. As usual with the Geneva chess club,
the organisation was perfect. The audience was sparse and this allowed
the chess amateurs to get close to the time scrambles.
One interesting incident occurred in the game Zvjaginsev-Hellers.
Zvjaginsev picked up a Queen and placed it on the board in front of a
pawn he was about to Queen. Then he suddenly realised that he had to
give a rook check first before Queening the pawn. At this stage he had
three minutes to Hellers one.
The players stopped the clock, and called the main referee, Marc
Schaerer. He decided that to take the queen but not touching one of the
other pieces on the board was not a move, and Zvjaginsev eventually won
the game.
Leading final results:
1) GM E.Bareev RUS 2664 8/11
2) GM J.Speelman ENG 2627 8/11
3) GM V.Epischin RUS 2596 8/11
4) GM A.Nenashev UZB 2590 8/11
5) GM Y.Yakovich RUS 2551 8/11
6) GM V.Bologan MDA 2575 8/11
...
7) GM M.Adams ENG 2666 7.5/11 No Defeats!
...
10)GM U.Andersson SWE 2626 7.5/11 No Defeats!
...
87 Participants, 24 Grandmasters and 8 International Masters.
4) Foxtrot Veterans vs Ladies Tournament
-------------------------------------
The veteran's completed a comfortable victory against the ladies in this
annual event. Although close at the half-way stage the veteran's took
charge in the second half of the event. Perhaps even contrary to what
one might expect given their age.
In the last few years the Veteran's have lost this fixture this year the
Veterans gained their revenge. The women's team was much weakened
because both Zsuzsa Polgar and Judit Polgar could not be there. The
event was almost created for the Polgar's by the sponsor Joop van
Oosteram. The only Polgar sister who did play was Sofia Polgar and she
played very poorly. However of interest is the good form of both Ketevan
Arakhamia (actually it is Arakhamia-Grant after her recent marrage but I
try and stick to the rating list's naming of players) and of Pia
Cramling.
Xie Jun played solidly as ever but her play lacks the freshness of a few
years ago. After she recovers from the loss of her World Title I do
expect her to play better again.
The men were very solid. Only Mark Taimanov was in bad form although
Boris Spassky struggled to find the motivation to play. He only came out
to fight when provoked, its a real shame really. Smyslov and Hort scored
quite heavily in the event scoring good Grandmaster standard results.
Smyslov's scored heavily with his own solid variation of the Ruy Lopez
with Black. He still has a fantastic feel for the game in simplified
positions.
My thanks to Li Riemersma, Rod McShane and "Lost Boys" for the games.
Round 3 (1996.08.17)
Portisch, Lajos - Ioseliani, Nana 1/2 34 D45 Semi-Slav
Smyslov, Vassily - Arakhamia, Ketevan 1/2 34 B40 Sicilian
Hort, Vlastimil - Cramling, Pia 0-1 39 A58 Benko gambit
Spassky, Boris V - Xie Jun 1/2 14 D77 1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Taimanov, Mark E - Polgar, Sofia 1/2 69 A06 Reti (1.Nf3)
Round 4 (1996.08.18)
Cramling, Pia - Spassky, Boris V 1-0 39 E11 Bogo indian
Arakhamia, Ketevan - Hort, Vlastimil 1-0 58 B12 Caro-Kann
Xie Jun - Portisch, Lajos 1/2 49 B85 Sicilian
Ioseliani, Nana - Taimanov, Mark E 1/2 61 B46 Sicilian
Polgar, Sofia - Smyslov, Vassily 0-1 42 C60 Ruy Lopez
Round 5 (1996.08.20)
Portisch, Lajos - Cramling, Pia 1/2 28 A58 Benko gambit
Smyslov, Vassily - Ioseliani, Nana 1/2 43 D02 Queen's pawn
Hort, Vlastimil - Polgar, Sofia 1-0 23 D23 QGA;
Spassky, Boris V - Arakhamia, Ketevan 1/2 25 B40 Sicilian
Taimanov, Mark E - Xie Jun 1/2 37 A48 Queen's pawn
Round 6 (1996.08.21)
Arakhamia, Ketevan - Portisch, Lajos 1/2 63 B42 Sicilian
Cramling, Pia - Taimanov, Mark E 1/2 67 E11 Bogo indian
Xie Jun - Smyslov, Vassily 0-1 52 C76 Ruy Lopez
Polgar, Sofia - Spassky, Boris V 1/2 37 B18 Caro-Kann
Ioseliani, Nana - Hort, Vlastimil 0-1 37 A47 Queen's Pawn
Round 7 (1996.08.22)
Smyslov, Vassily - Cramling, Pia 1-0 103 A05 Reti (1.Nf3)
Spassky, Boris V - Ioseliani, Nana 1/2 20 B26 Sicilian; Closed
Hort, Vlastimil - Xie Jun 1/2 25 E73 Kings indian
Portisch, Lajos - Polgar, Sofia 1/2 19 A25 English; 1.c4 e5
Taimanov, Mark E - Arakhamia, Ketevan 0-1 56 E60 Kings indian
Round 8 (1996.08.24)
Arakhamia, Ketevan - Smyslov, Vassily 1-0 33 C59 Two knights
Cramling, Pia - Hort, Vlastimil 1-0 65 A90 Dutch defence
Ioseliani, Nana - Portisch, Lajos 0-1 44 B80 Sicilian
Xie Jun - Spassky, Boris V 0-1 47 C07 French; Tarrasch
Polgar, Sofia - Taimanov, Mark E 0-1 34 B46 Sicilian
Round 9 (1996.08.25)
Smyslov, Vassily - Polgar, Sofia 1-0 28 E03 Nimzo indian
Spassky, Boris V - Cramling, Pia 1-0 61 B40 Sicilian
Hort, Vlastimil - Arakhamia, Ketevan 1/2 26 B22 Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Portisch, Lajos - Xie Jun 1/2 13 D77 1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Taimanov, Mark E - Ioseliani, Nana 0-1 37 A49 Queen's pawn
Round 10 (1996.08.26)
Arakhamia, Ketevan - Spassky, Boris V 1/2 18 C51 Evans gambit
Cramling, Pia - Portisch, Lajos 1/2 28 E12 Nimzo indian
Ioseliani, Nana - Smyslov, Vassily 1/2 11 E11 Bogo indian
Xie Jun - Taimanov, Mark E 1-0 57 B46 Sicilian
Polgar, Sofia - Hort, Vlastimil 0-1 56 B57 Sicilian
Ladies Results
-----------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5
-----------------------------------------------------------
1 Arakhamia, Ketevan m GEO 2455 0= =1 1= == 11 6.5 2646
2 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2545 == =0 11 10 == 5.5 2572
3 Xie Jun g CHN 2510 == =0 == =0 =1 4.5 2500
4 Ioseliani, Nana m GEO 2500 =0 == 00 == =1 4.0 2464
5 Polgar, Sofia m HUN 2480 0= 00 00 == =0 2.0 2296
-----------------------------------------------------------
22.5
Veterans results
-----------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5
-----------------------------------------------------------
1 Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2600 1= == == =1 1= 6.5 2608
2 Smyslov, Vassily g RUS 2510 =0 =1 =1 == 11 6.5 2608
3 Hort, Vlastimil g GER 2545 0= 00 == 11 11 5.5 2534
4 Spassky, Boris V g FRA 2555 == 01 =1 == == 5.5 2534
5 Taimanov, Mark E g RUS 2470 00 == =0 =0 =1 3.5 2388
-----------------------------------------------------------
27.5
5) Rubinstein Memorial Tournament
------------------------------
Alexander Beliavsky won a closely contested tournament in Polanica Zdroj
in Poland. With one round to go there was a four way tie for the lead.
Two of the players, Beliavsky and Huebner met in the last round and by
winning this game Beliavsky took first place on his own as the rest of
the games were drawn. Rising star Sergei Movsesian and American veteran
Boris Gulko had relatively poor events.
Polanica Zdroj (POL), VIII 1996. cat. XV (2605)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2620 * = 1 1 = = 1 = = = = = 7.0 2705
2 Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2645 = * 1 0 = = = = 0 1 1 1 6.5 2665
3 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2670 0 0 * = 1 = = 1 = 1 = 1 6.5 2663
4 Huebner, Robert g GER 2595 0 1 = * 1 = = = = = 0 1 6.0 2641
5 Kempinski, Robert m POL 2510 = = 0 0 * 1 = = 1 0 1 1 6.0 2649
6 Rogers, Ian g AUS 2575 = = = = 0 * = 1 0 1 = = 5.5 2607
7 Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2605 0 = = = = = * = 1 = = = 5.5 2604
8 Hracek, Zbynek g CZE 2625 = = 0 = = 0 = * 1 = = 1 5.5 2602
9 Oll, Lembit g EST 2620 = 1 = = 0 1 0 0 * = = = 5.0 2567
10 Movsesian, Sergei m ARM 2635 = 0 0 = 1 0 = = = * 1 = 5.0 2565
11 Gulko, Boris F g USA 2615 = 0 = 1 0 = = = = 0 * = 4.5 2538
12 Markowski, Tomasz m POL 2540 = 0 0 0 0 = = 0 = = = * 3.0 2435
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
6) Anatoly Karpov plays on the internet.
-------------------------------------
Anatoly Karpov beat the rest of the World in a game of chess held on the
internet. He took part in this exhibition whilst on a trip to Finland.
Players (with an approximate average rating of 1900 suggested moves with
the most popular being played against Karpov. A Similar experiment was
tried on British TV using the telephone with Jonathan Speelman being the
player. The internet is clearly even more ideal for this type of event.
Karpov, playing black won quite easily with a nice deflection finishing
the game.
7) 3rd ST Lee Cup Beijing China
----------------------------
This Tournament runs from the 23rd August - 4th September 1996.
After 8 rounds:
Ljubomir Ftacnik, Konstantin Landa, Igor Stohl, Suat Atalik, Tong
Yuanning, Zhu Chen, Jaan Ehlvest, Eugene Pigusov, Alon Greenfeld, Lin
Weiguo, Mikhail Ulibin and Liang Chong all share the lead with 5 points.
Zhu Chen is a Chinese women's player.
8) Summer events in Greece by Sklavounos Panagiotis
------------------------------------------------
There have been quite a few Summer Tournaments in Greece this year. Some
have already taken place such as those on the Egina Islands (Ikeria and
Kastoria.) and in Kavala (10th-18th August). In the Athens region there
was the Nikea tournament and the largest event of all took place in
Chania (Crete) between the 24th of August and the 1st of September.
The 46th Greek Championships.
----------------------------
The 46th closed Greek championships was won by GM Grivas. (Thanks also
to Argiris Kotsis who seperately sent the games from this event)
Portaria (GRE), VIII 1996. cat. IX (2469)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Grivas, Efstratios g GRE 2500 * 1 = = = = 1 = 1 1 6.5 2631
2 Nikolaidis, Ioannis g GRE 2585 0 * = 1 = 1 = = 1 1 6.0 2581
3 Agnos, Demetrios g GRE 2515 = = * 0 = = = 1 1 1 5.5 2543
4 Kotronias, Vasilios g GRE 2615 = 0 1 * = = 1 1 = 0 5.0 2495
5 Banikas, Hristos f GRE 2445 = = = = * = = 1 = = 5.0 2514
6 Skembris, Spyridon g GRE 2420 = 0 = = = * = 0 1 1 4.5 2474
7 Papaioannou, Ioannis m GRE 2495 0 = = 0 = = * 1 0 1 4.0 2423
8 Haritakis, Theodoros f GRE 2320 = = 0 0 0 1 0 * = 1 3.5 2405
9 Kofidis, Andreas m GRE 2360 0 0 0 = = 0 1 = * 0 2.5 2315
10 Vouldis, Angelos m GRE 2435 0 0 0 1 = 0 0 0 1 * 2.5 2306
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The championships were held in Portaria close to the town of Volos in
central Greece. WGMs Marina Makropoulou and Anna-Maria
Botsari-Miladinovic won the Women's Championships (10/11) and will play
a match for the title.
On Korfu Island, Greece, Garry Kasparov will play a simultaneous
exhibition on the 4th or 5th of September against 50 opponents. A rapid
tournament will follow this event.
Heraklion Tournament
--------------------
Heraklion is in Crete Sklavounos Panagiotis (psklav@prometheus.hol.gr)
sends details of the 4th International Open "Heraklo '96. Organised by
the OAA Heraklio Chess Club, the Crete region, Greek Chess Clubs, Greek
Federation etc. Sponsors: MAMOULAKIS S.A.Tourism Enterprises and
EFTHINOS S.A.Consultants & Auditors.
Tournament Schedule: October 26 1996: 1st round at 3:30 pm until
November 3rd 1996 for the 9th and last round at 9:30 am.
Swiss Accelerated System for IM and GM norms . 2 hours for 40 moves + 1
hour for the rest of the game . Venue:AFRODITE BEACH Hotel.
Prizes : 1st: 500.000 drs./2nd : 300.000/3rd : 180.000/
4th :100.000/5th : 80.000/6th-10th :50.000/
11th-15th: 25.000.
1st woman: 50.000/2nd woman:30.000/1st junior: 30.000 /
2nd junior: 20.000/1st girl junior:20.000/
1st kadett: 20.000
1st unrated : 20.000.
In case of a tie, prizes are split equally.
If a player has a right to two or more prizes,
he receives all of them.
Entry Fee : 15.000 drs. ( 8.000 drs. for juniors U-20 ) .
Special Offer: Accomodation for 8 nights in double rooms with breakfast
and dinner + entry fee at the total cost of 75.000 drs.
(= 320 USD ) per person, for a limited number of players
(50.000 drs. for players with a FIDE rating of 2400 and over).
More information :
Mastrokoukos George:
Tel. + 30 1 4917893
+ 30 94 342225(mobile)
Fax : + 30 1 4917893
Tzermiadianos Angelos:
Tel. + 30 1 7666944
Fax : + 30 1 7669194
Address : Kononos Str., 86 - 88
116 - 33 , Athens
GREECE
9) Belgian Championships 1996
--------------------------
Damien Andre reports that the Belgium Championship was held in Geel.
The "experts" tournament also produced the Belgian Chess Champion.
Martin Ahn dominated the start of the tournament, but he lost against
Marc Dutreeuw in a fighting game and this effectively settled the event.
Ahn was better in the game and he missed a win in the whilst in
time-trouble and lost. Dutreeuw then managed to stay a half-point above
Ahn.
In the women's tournament, the clear favourite, Snezana Micic (2210),
easily dominated all her opponents (who were rated at least 250 ELO
points below her), and finished first with 8/9.
Geel BEL (BEL), VIII 1996. cat. III (2319)
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Dutreeuw, Marc f BEL 2390 * 1 = 1 = = 1 = = 1 6.5 2476
2 Ahn, Martin BEL 2320 0 * = = = 1 1 = 1 1 6.0 2443
3 Geenen, Marc f BEL 2330 = = * = = = = 1 = 1 5.5 2397
4 Vandevoort, Pascal f BEL 2275 0 = = * 1 = = = 1 1 5.5 2403
5 Cekro, Ekrem f BEL 2410 = = = 0 * = 0 1 1 1 5.0 2351
6 Meulders, Richard f BEL 2265 = 0 = = = * 1 = 0 1 4.5 2324
7 Mohandesi, Shahin f BEL 2355 0 0 = = 1 0 * = 1 1 4.5 2314
8 Goormachtigh, Johan f BEL 2290 = = 0 = 0 = = * = 1 4.0 2278
9 Vanderwaeren, Serge f BEL 2315 = 0 = 0 0 1 0 = * 1 3.5 2238
10 Praet, Maarten BEL 2235 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 * 0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------
10) European Opens by Martin Pribyl
-------------------------------
Martin Pribyl sends the results from two recent opens. He sends the
games from a third event for which he will send the results later.
Berliner Sommer 1996
--------------------
Held in Berlin, 10-18th August 1996 this is one of the strong Summer
Opens year in year out. This year there was a four way tie between
Akopian, Shipov, Sturua and Georgy Timoshenko.
1. AKOPIAN Vladimir 7.5 53.0 376.00
Yerevan ARM
2. SHIPOV Sergey 7.5 51.0 386.50
Moskau RUS
3. STURUA Zurab 7.5 50.0 374.50
Tbilisi GEO
4. TIMOSHENKO Georgy 7.5 46.5 360.50
Kiew UKR
5. EINGORN Viacheslav 7.0 50.0 372.00
Odessa UKR
6. BOENSCH Uwe 7.0 49.5 372.00
Langenbogen GER
7. ZAGORSKIS Darius 7.0 48.5 370.00
Vilnius LTU
8. NEVEROV Valery 7.0 48.0 383.50
Kharkow UKR
9. HABA Petr 7.0 48.0 365.50
Chrudim iV. TCH
10. BABULA Vlastimil 7.0 48.0 364.50
Uh. Brod TCH
11. HECTOR Jonny 7.0 47.0 366.50
Helsingoer SWE
12. RUZELE Darius 7.0 46.5 375.00
Panevezys LTU
13. TREGUBOV Pavel 7.0 46.5 368.00
Krasnodar RUS
14. MALISAUSKAS V. 7.0 45.5 364.00
Vilnius LTU
15. YAKOVICH Yuri 7.0 45.0 367.00
Samara RUS
16. KACHEISHVILI G. 7.0 44.5 366.00
Tbilisi GEO
17. DYDYSHKO V. 7.0 44.5 356.00
Minsk BLR
18. BRODSKY Michael 7.0 44.0 375.00
Kharkow UKR
19. KISELEV Sergei 7.0 44.0 354.00
Moskau RUS
etc 488 players.
Policka (CZE) - OPEN '96 21.07. - 28.07.1996
---------------------------------------------
Final Standings:
1. Ivanov Timur RUS IM 7 2215
2. Ovetchkin Roman RUS M 6.5 2230
3. Ianov Viktor UKR IM 6.5 2220
4. Kernazhitsky Leonid UKR M 6.5 2260
5. Karnik Pavel CZE KM 6 2227
6. Dovzik Juri UKR IM 6 2217
7. Baljiev Tchingis RUS KM 6 2175
8. Isbulatov Salim RUS 1 6 2121
9. Stepanets Anatoli UKR KM 5.5 2155
10. Syrokhvatov Leonid RUS KM 5.5 2203
11. Svihel Karel CZE 1 5.5 2172
12. Simsa Otakar CZE KM 5.5 2057
13. Chetverik Maxim RUS FM 5.5 2006
48 players
11) Israel Rapidplay Championships by Shay Bushinsky.
--------------------------------------------------
The Israeli rapidplay championships is always a competitive event.
Almost a specialisation of the Israeli's. This year's Champion was Emil
Sutovsky who won the title on Bucholtz tie-break from Leonid Yudasin and
Boris Alterman.
Leading final results:
Sutovsky, Yudasin, Alterman 7/9
Huzman, Goefstien, Shmuter 6.5
Gruenfeld, Kosashvili etc. 6.0
12) Kasparov to take on Deep Blue again in May
------------------------------------------
Last week in New York Gary Kasparov announced that he would play another
match against IBM's Deep Blue. The winner of the match will take
$700,000 and the lost $400,000 the prizefund reflecting the level of
publicity that the last event obtained.
The contest "IBM Chess Challenge Rematch" will probably place as much
strain upon the team responsible for Deep Blue as it will upon Gary
Kasparov. They will hope to at least equal the one victory obtained last
time.
The match will take place in "The Millennium" 44th and Broadway, New
York City USA between the 3rd and 10th of May 1997. The match will be
covered on the www.
Kasparov played Deep Blue in February 1996 and got off to the worst
possible start by losing the first game. He equalised in the second game
and was under pressure throughout the entire match. He won game 5 only
after his draw offer was turned down. The computer proceeded almost
immediately to wreck its position and lose extremely badly. In game six
it was beaten very convincingly by Kasparov who managed to employ a very
pure form of anti-computer strategy in this final game.
The match reflected the general understanding on how strong computers
have become. Deep Blue played well in positions where tactics
predominated, although Kasparov is also a highly gifted in this area he
did not manage to cope with the relentless nature of the tactics in game
one. His wins in games 2,5 and 6 were all as a result of the computer's
short term tactical approach being the wrong type for assessing a
position correctly.
The team of Deep Blue scientists is lead by senior team manager
Chung-Jen (CJ) Tan, research scientist Feng Hsiung Hsu (whose name,
certainly to those who have been on the internet for a few years, is
most closely associated with the project), Murray Campbell, Joseph Hoane
and Jerry Brody. Joel Benjamin is the resident Grandmaster associated
with the project (he now has a regular 9 to 5 job on this project)
The incarnation of Deep Blue used in February calculated 200 million
moves per second. The team believe that this speed will be enough and
will be concentrating on making the machine more flexible in its
response to Kasparov's approach and on "improving its chess knowledge".
This last phrase is almost certain to mean a lot of hard work on the
construction of its opening repertoire. Deep Blue's last outing before
playing Kasparov last time was in the World Computer Chess Championships
where its inferior opening repertoire (aswell as the short nature of
that event) were widely held responsible for it not taking the title. If
Deep Blue can avoid the kind of position it got out of the opening in
game 6 of the match it will have a chance, one almost might say a
puncher's chance, otherwise it will be Kasparov who wins, possibly by an
even bigger margin than last time.
Yesterday the programers were bullish about their chances. Referring to
the losers prizemoney Tan said "The $400,000? You'd have to ask Garry."
He regards the last match as an experiment whereas this match will all
be about winning. In the last match the final configuration was only
available to the programers a short time before the match, this time
they will probably have more time to test the hardware and software
together. However their confidence in their machine has not yet extended
to allowing it to play in public since the last match. Part of the
psychological problem that Kasparov will have to overcome is that he
will be playing an opponent of unknown strength, he may in fact, give it
too much credit. Certainly his win in game five in the must have shocked
him, he offered a draw believing that the computer could not err in that
position, within a few moves it was lost. It almost seems like a lottery
whether it plays well or not. If Deep Blue were to play a training match
and be soundly beaten then not only would Kasparov learn from that, he
would be less afraid. IBM's confidence in its technology will be
interesting.
A prediction? I take Kasparov to win, I think he will have learned much
from the last match and the computer will have to be much better to even
score the same result.
13) PCA Rating List
--------------------
PCA WORLD CHESS RANKING
-----------------------
For player rated 2500 and higher
Results up to September 1, 1996
Produced by Ken Thomson with ChessBase
Calculated by Vladimir Dvorkovich, Chess Union Int.
1. Kasparov,Garry RUS 2787 161
2. Anand,Viswanathan IND 2779 156
3. Kramnik,Vladimir RUS 2761 161
4. Karpov,Anatoli RUS 2754 151
5. Topalov,Veselin BUL 2750 182
6. Ivanchuk,Vassily UKR 2719 154
7. Kamsky,Gata USA 2701 181
8. Gelfand,Boris BLR 2700 169
9. Polgar,Judit HUN 2698 177
10. Short,Nigel D ENG 2690 185
11. Shirov,Alexei ESP 2669 187
12. Adams,Michael ENG 2666 171
13. Bareev,Evgeny RUS 2661 162
14. Illescas Cordoba,Miguel ESP 2658 175
15. Ehlvest,Jaan EST 2656 150
16. Granda Zuniga,Julio E PER 2644 202
17. Rublevsky,Sergei RUS 2643 167
18. Salov,Valery RUS 2642 186
19. Nikolic,Predrag BIH 2640 185
20. Svidler,Peter RUS 2639 161
21. Yusupov,Artur GER 2639 119
22. Akopian,Vladimir ARM 2631 150
23. Seirawan,Yasser USA 2628 182
24. Speelman,Jonathan S ENG 2627 160
25. Tiviakov,Sergei RUS 2625 178
26. Andersson,Ulf SWE 2625 153
27. Sokolov,Ivan BIH 2621 164
28. Dreev,Alexey RUS 2619 161
29. Almasi,Zoltan HUN 2617 152
30. Leko,Peter HUN 2616 156
31. Vladimirov,Evgeny KAZ 2611 163
32. Azmaiparashvili,Zurab GEO 2610 166
33. Kosashvili,Yona ISR 2606 197
34. Georgiev,Kiril BUL 2606 180
35. Beliavsky,Alexander G SLO 2606 142
36. Khalifman,Alexander RUS 2605 157
37. Magerramov,Elmar AZE 2604 188
38. Nunn,John D M ENG 2601 176
39. Aleksandrov,Aleksej BLR 2599 185
40. Wolff,Patrick G USA 2599 179
41. Sadler,Matthew ENG 2599 173
42. Piket,Jeroen NED 2599 166
43. Savchenko,Stanislav UKR 2598 152
44. Lautier,Joel FRA 2597 198
45. Tkachev,Vladislav KAZ 2597 136
46. Huzman,Alexander ISR 2595 151
47. Hansen,Curt DEN 2595 173
48. Fischer,Robert James USA 2594 197
49. Milov,Vadim ISR 2593 182
50. Sakaev,Konstantin RUS 2593 150
51. Dorfman,Josif D FRA 2593 135
Tournaments processed for this list
DEN Gistrup IT Cat.10
CUB Santa Clara Memorial Garcia Cat.9
ISR Beer Sheva IT
NOR Gausdal open
BOH Decin Open
POL Koszelin Memorial Kochara open
CAN Calgary open
AUS Vienna IT Cat.18
AUS Vienna open
USA Sam Slovan open
SUI Arosa IT Cat.9
GER Baden-Baden match teams ARM&GER
POL Polanica Zdroj Rubinstein's Memorial Cat.15
DEN Copenhagen, IT Cat.10
ENG London IT Foxtrot "Veterans&Ledies"
NED Amsterdam Memorial Donner Cat.
14) Open A from Biel Correction.
--------------------------------
Millenium Festival Open 1 Results
Karlheinz Zoechling sends the correct final round standings to the Open 1
tournament of the Millenium Festival in Austria. The standings that
appeared in TWIC were in fact those of round 8.
Final Standings
Rank Name Country Elo Points
----- --- --------------------- ---------- ---- ----
1 GM KOMAROV Dimitri UKR 2595 6.5
2 GM SMIRIN Ilia ISR 2625 6.5
3 GM IBRAGIMOV Ildar RUS 2545 6.5
4 GM PSAKHIS Lev ISR 2590 6.5
5 GM PALAC Mladen CRO 2540 6.5
6 GM BAREEV Evegeny RUS 2655 6.5
7 GM LERNER Konstantin UKR 2580 6.5
8 GM ZVJAGINSEV Vadim RUS 2590 6
9 GM MAKSIMENKO Andrei UKR 2545 6
10 GM KENGIS Edvins LAT 2560 6
11 GM TKACHIEV Vladislav KAZ 2620 6
12 GM LPUTIAN Smbat ARM 2595 6
13 GM HICKL Joerg GER 2600 6
14 GM CVITAN Ognjen CRO 2535 6
15 IM VAN DER WERF Mark NED 2400 6
16 GM ONISCHUK Alexander UKR 2605 6
17 IM SKOMOROKHIN Roman RUS 2450 5.5
18 GM DREEV Alexey RUS 2645 5.5
19 GM LANDA Konstantin RUS 2570 5.5
20 GM HERTNECK Gerald GER 2565 5.5
21 GM HUZMAN Alexander ISR 2575 5.5
22 GM BOLOGAN Viktor MDA 2600 5.5
23 GM KINDERMANN Stefan GER 2530 5.5
24 GM ALMASI Zoltan HUN 2655 5
25 IM GYIMESI Zoltan HUN 2480 5
26 GM SVESHNIKOV Evgeny RUS 2535 5
27 GM KVEINYS Aloyzas LTU 2530 5
28 GM KHALIFMAN Alexander RUS 2640 5
29 IM DANNER Georg AUT 2375 5
30 GM GOFSHTEIN Leonid ISR 2545 5
31 GM EPISHIN Vladimir RUS 2620 5
32 GM BLATNY Pavel CZE 2490 5
33 GM FTACNIK Lubomir SVK 2610 5
GM LUTZ Christopher GER 2565 5
35 GM KHARLOV Andrei RUS 2605 5
36 IM KOBALIJA Mihail RUS 2495 5
37 IM TESKE Henrik GER 2520 5
38 GM BEIM Valery ISR 2570 5
39 HANGWEYRER Manfred AUT 2315 5
40 IM RUCK Robert HUN 2465 5
92 players
Karlheinz reports that "there was no time to calculate IM and GM norms so
far, the only interesting thing we know of is that Austrian player Manfred
Hangweyrer (one of only two players without a FIDE title in the tournament)
has scored an IM norm. "
15) Norwegian Bosnia Action by Jonathan Tisdall.
--------------------------------------------
On Saturday and Sunday Oslo CC, the Norwegian chess Federation and a number
of other organizations (Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions and the
daily newspaper Aftenposten) are arranging a festival to raise money for
Bosnia and a mine-clearing operation there. The centerpiece of the chess
side of the festival will be a two day match of 45 minute games between
Norwegian GMs Simen Agdestein and Einar Gausel, vs. Bosnian SuperGMs Ivan
Sokolov and Predrag Nikolic. These will be broadcast "semi"-live with
commentary on the Internet (Addresses: http://www.lo.no/sjakk, and
http:/www.lo.no/english or http://www.aftenposten.no and follow the chess
icon) and we plan to have the moves broadcast live in cooperation with
the ICC.
Please drop by and help impress the sponsors of this charity event!
The games will take place at 12:00 and 14:30 on Saturday and Sunday, with
the first game probably being slightly delayed to opening ceremonies.
All proceeds from the festival and the nationwide simul exhibition tour of
Nikolic and Sokolov go to: "Mineaksjon '96 Norsk Folkehjelp"