The great hope of Asian chess

THE GREAT HOPE OF ASIAN CHESS

For decades, world championship chess has been dominated by the West. Ever since the late Mikhail Botvinnik won the title in 1948, the world chess champion has always been a man from behind the Iron Curtain.

Well...almost always, actually. In 1972, the American Bobby Fischer challenged the Soviet hold on the title and he wrested the title from Boris Spassky in a match that mesmerised the world.

Will history be repeated? Right now in New York, at the observation deck of the World Trade Center, the Professional Chess Association's world champion, Gary Kasparov, is being challenged by Viswanathan Anand.

To many people from the West, Anand is the fourth non-Soviet/Russian player to challenge for the world crown. Apart from Fischer, regular readers of this column will remember that Kasparov played Nigel Short in London while the World Chess Federation's Anatoly Karpov played Jan Timman in Amsterdam and Jakarta three years ago.

However, to chess players from this region, "Vishy" Anand is the first Great Hope of Asian chess. Never before has Asia produced a player of such calibre and on Anand's shoulders rest the expectations of millions of Asian chess players.

In Anand's native India, chess interest is at an all-time high, and elsewhere across the Asian continent, there is fervour and excitement because of the bout.

Who is Vishy Anand? For the uninitiated, Anand was born in India on Dec 11 1969. His father is a retired rail station manager. In 1987, Anand became the world junior chess champion and people began taking notice of him when he began winning tournaments in Europe against established Western players.

When I first met Anand in Genting Highlands in 1989, he was an easy-going and mild-mannered player who proclaimed to me that he had little ambition for the world crown but yes, if given the opportunity he would want to play Kasparov one day.

When I next saw him, it was three years later in Manila. Anand's confidence had increased tremendously as by then he was already accepted by the leading grandmasters as one of the top players of his generation. He had already played Kasparov several times so his early ambitions had been realised many times over.

Anand is not only India's strongest-ever player but he is now ranked second in the world by the Professional Chess Association.

Adored by millions in India, Anand is still easy going, witty and warm. However, he still makes chess players nervous as they discover that Anand's friendly exterior hides a razor-sharp mind with the knack for setting cunning traps.

He is such a rapid chess player that he frequently unsettles his opponents and draws surprise and admiration from spectators. This rare ability means he is virtually never in time-trouble which is a big advantage in top-level chess when grandmasters play for high stakes against the clock.

In 1994, at the London leg of the Intel Grand Prix speed chess event, Anand gained notoriety for knocking out Chess Genius, the Pentium processor-based PC which had itself already eliminated Gary Kasparov in the first round of the contest. After beating t he machine, Anand said in relief: "I used to watch The Terminator and feel sorry for the machine -- but not any more."

Anand reached the pinnacle of the Intel World Chess Championship Final with ease by sweeping aside highly rated opposition including English grandmaster Michael Adams and Gata Kamsky of the United States.

Earlier this year he knocked Kasparov out of the Moscow leg of the Intel world chess Grand Prix. There are many people who believe that Anand is peaking at the right time and they believe he has a good chance to create an upset in New York.

The Intel world chess championships final at the World Trade Center has all the ingredients of being the most exciting chess match this decade.

CAN ANAND PULL IT OFF?

Can India's Viswananthan Anand create an upset victory over the Professional Chess Association's world champion, Gary Kasparov? Let me try to put a few observations in the right perspective. Firstly, the points to Anand's advantage.

When Anand lost a narrow match to Anatoly Karpov in the last World Chess Federation cycle, he began a run of tournament successes that suggested that he was ready to take the World Number One spot from Kasparov.

However, his confidence deserted him for a couple of years. But in spite of all this he remains comfortably placed as one of the top five players in the world. He has used this time to rebuild his style and rhythm of play in order to progress.

How good is Anand now? In the last year, he has played very little: just one high-level tournament in Riga where he finished second to Kasparov, even losing on the black side of an Evan's Gambit. Then he put in a sterling performance to beat Gata Kamsky i n the final of the Intel world championship qualifying matches and a couple of rapidplay events.

He looks strong, confident and extremely well prepared. If, as suggested, he is more naturally gifted than Kasparov, Anand might actually be a better player than Kasparov.

If Anand starts the match confidently and plays his best, then Kasparov might be in for a torrid time indeed. Howvever, his career record against Kasparov is spoilt by a surfeit of games with the black pieces. Speed, rhythm of play, good memory and excellent feel are the keys to Anand's play.

Now, when considering Anand's negative points, we have to look at his inexperience in playing world championship matches. If it is a big disadvantage to him, he will need to overcome this quickly and avoid the disasters that befell Vassily Smyslov in 1954 and Nigel Short in 1992. (Both these players made abysmal scores in the first games of their matches against Mikhail Botvinnik and Kasparov respectively.)

Questions have been asked of Anand's abilities in the endgame and his capacity to blunder. He was written off as a nervous player after his first loss to Kamsky in the FIDE cycle.

However, this is an over-simplification. Anand can be as ruthless as any other player. When the going gets tough Anand will have to be at his most competitive to see it through. World champions need to have this quality, and even if Anand believes he is t he best in the world he will have to tough out the inevitable setbacks in this match.

The final and obvious point is that conversely, we don't know what progress Anand has made in the last year. In the end, he may just turn out to be a worse player than Kasparov.

FOLLOWING THE GAME

For readers with Internet access who wish to follow the games live from New York, point your web browser (Netscape 1.1n or 1.2n are preferred for accessing the World Wide Web) to either http://www.xculture.de/sport/wcc95live or http://www.intel.com/intel/ chess/index.html.

The first URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a sports web site in Germany which carries on-going analysis by the strong Fritz3 chess program, while the second URL belongs to microchip giant Intel who are using this opportunity to advertise their own web site.

The world championship games are played four times weekly. The only problem is that the games begin at 3pm New York time, so if you want to catch them live you will have to be awake at 3am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday mornings.

TIME FOR SECOND USM OPEN

Encouraged by the good response to last year's USM national open chess tournament, the Universiti Sains Malaysia's Bridge & Chess Club will organise a second tournament this year at their campus from Dec 1-3.

This event will be held over three days and eight rounds of 1.5 hours each per player for each game. Ten prizes have been lined up for the participants and the winner will receive a RM1,000 prize.

The second prize is worth RM750, the third prize RM500, the fourth prize RM300 and the fifth prize RM200. The sixth to 10th prizes will be RM100 each. In addition, trophies will be given to the three best players in the university.

The tournament is open to all school, university and college students as well as members of the public.

The fee for students is RM20 and RM30 for the public. Accommodation for outstation participants can also be arranged within the university campus at a rate of RM2.50 per day for students and RM5 per day for the public. Foreign participants can expect free accommodation from the organisers.

To register for the tournament, contact Ms Chew Siew Imm (tel: 04-657-7253 after 8pm), or write to the Organising Committee, 2nd USM national open chess tournament 1995, Kelab Bridge dan Catur, Pusat Mahasiswa, 11800 USM, Penang. Entries will close on Oct 20.

JUNIORS IN SELAYANG

The new Selayang Mall Shopping Centre in Kepong will be the venue for a one-day Selayang juniors open chess tournament scheduled for Oct 8.

This event, organised by Selayang Mall Sdn Bhd with technical support from Total Chess, will have three categories - under-10, under-12 and under-16. Ten prizes will be awarded in each category.

Whiz Kid Sdn Bhd is sponsoring the main prizes for the tournament which are computer dictionaries worth about RM900 and a computer organiser worth about RM400. The other prizes include computer games software and discount vouchers. The entry fee will be R M12 per player (inclusive of lunch).

The closing date for entries is Oct 6 at 5pm. All registration and enquiries can be directed to Cecilia or Rebecca at the Selayang Mall Shopping Centre (tel: 03-616-4588 and 03-616-9430) or Toh (tel: 03-757-4606).

GAMES OF THE WEEK: NECK AND NECK

The Professional Chess Association's world chess championship match between Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand is in full swing and here are the first four games from the match. The first player to win 10* points in the 20-game match will be declared winner. In the event of a tie at 10-10, Kasparov will retain his title.

Just before 3pm on Sept 11, the two players walked towards their sound-proof playing booth on the Observation Deck of the World Trade Centre. New York Mayor Guliani stood between them and made a ceremonial first move 1 c4 for Anand. Later, Anand thought the better of it and chose 1 e4. After 27...h6, Kasparov offered the draw which was instantaneously accepted by Anand.

V Anand - G Kasparov, Game 1

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. a4 Nc6 8. O-O Be7 9. Be3 O-O 10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Qd2 Bd7 13. Rad1 Rad8 14. Nb3 Bc8 15. Bf3 b6 16. Qf2 Nd7 17. Nd4 Bb7 18. Bh5 Rf8 19. Qg3 Nxd4 20. Bxd4 Bf6 21. Be2 e5 22. fxe5 Bxe5 23 . Qf2 Nc5 24. Bf3 Rfe8 25. h3 a5 26. b3 Bc6 27. Rfe1 h6 0.5-0.5

The second game of the match was drawn after 27 moves when Kasparov offered to split the point with Anand. The PCA champion had about eight minutes remaining on his clock compared to about 21 minutes for Anand when the draw was agreed.

G Kasparov - V Anand, Game 2

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. e3 c5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Nc6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Ne2 Bd7 12. a3 Qe5 13. Nc3 f5 14. O-O-O O-O-O 15. g3 Kb8 16. Be2 (This move was played after thinking for more than 40 minutes) 16...Ne7 1 7. Qd3 Qc7 18. Qd6 Bc6 19. Qxc7+ Kxc7 20. Rhe1 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Rd8 22. Rxd8 Kxd8 23. Kd2 Nc8 24. Kd3 Nd6 25. Kd4 b6 26. b4 Ke7 27. f4 h6 28. a4 f6 29. a5 Bd7 0.5-0.5

The third game was the most exciting so far in the match. Again, the draw was offered by Kasparov.

V Anand - G Kasparov, Game 3

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. a4 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bd3 Nb4 13. a5 Bd7 14. Nf3 Bc6 15. Bb6 Qc8

Kasparov varies from 15...Qd7 which was played between Eric Lobron and Kevin Spraggett 10 years ago. That game ended in a victory for White after complicated play. By playing 15... Qc8, Kasparov reserved the d7 square for his Knight.

16. Qe1 Nd7 17. Bd4 Nc5 18. Qg3

The threat is checkmate on g7, but this is easily parried by Black.

18. ... f6 19. e5

When Anand made this move, the excitement level on the Observation Deck rose instantly. During the post-mortem of the game, Kasparov admitted that the situation had been very dangerous for him. He had believed that 18...f6 was tenable, but he changed his opinion after 19 e5. The reply 19...dxe5 would have been inadequate because of 20 Bxh7+, leaving no defense for Black, eg 20...Kxh7 21 fxe5 f5 22 Bxc5 Bxc5 23 Ng5+ which gives White a vicious attack.

19. ... Rf8 20. Bxc5

Kasparov said 20 exf6 Bxf6 21 Bxh7+ was very dangerous for him (eg 21...Kxh7 22 Ng5+ Bxg5 23 fxg5 Kg6 24 Rf6+! gxf6 25 gxf6+ Kh5 26 Qh3+ Kg5 27 Rf1 e5 28 Be3+ Kg6 29 Qh6+ Kf7 30 Qg7+ Ke8 31 Qe7 mate), and that he felt great relief when Anand played 20 Bxc5.

20. ... dxc5 White gets the better position after 20...Nxd3 21 exd3 Nxc5 22 dxe4 Rf7 or 21 Bxd6 Bxd6 22 exd3 Nxb2. Although White has the better position, Black's drawing resources were sufficient.

21. Bc4 Bd5 22. Nxd5 exd5 23. Bb3 c4 24. Ba4 Nc6 25. c3 fxe5 26. Nxe5 Nxe5 27. fxe5 Qe6 28. Bc2 Rxf1+ 29. Rxf1 Rf8 30. Rxf8+ Bxf8 31. Qf4 g6 32. Bd1 Qf7 33. Qd4 Qf1+ 34. Qg1 Qxg1+ 35. Kxg1 Kf7 36. Bg4 b6

0.5-0.5

The fourth game was drawn after Anand accepted Kasparov's offer. The inability of Kasparov to take an early lead in the match must be seen as a small psychological victory for Anand.

G Kasparov - V Anand, Game 4

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. Qb3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d3 h6 9. e3 Re8 10. a3 dxc4 11. dxc4 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 e5 13. b4 e4 14. Nd2 Qe7 15. b5 Ne5 16. Nxe4 Nf3+ 17. Bxf3 Nxe4 18. Bxe4 Qxe4 19. f3 Qe7 20. e4 Be6 21. Be3 0.5-0.5