High tension chess

The Professional Chess Association's world championship match in New York, sponsored by Intel Corporation, is over. After more than four weeks of high tension chess, Gary Kasparov retains his title with a comfortable victory over Viswanathan Anand.

In the process, Kasparov became richer by US$1 million (RM2.5 million) while Anand's portion of the prize money was US$0.5 million (RM1.25 million).

The match was actually decided over a spate of six games: Anand won the ninth game but it was nothing compared to Kasparov's four wins in the 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th games.

The 13th game of the match was a letdown for Anand's fans; faced with a must-win situation, Anand turned in what must possibly be one of his most disastrous efforts. He played like a complete patzer and his king was caught in the centre of the board with Kasparov's queen and rooks bearing down on him.

Viswanathan Anand - Gary Kasparov, Game 13

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Qd2 Nc6 8.f3 O-O 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 h5 11.Bb3 Rc8 12.Nxc6

(Anand is by nature a sharp player who revels in attacking play, pressurising his opponent into time trouble. In this match, however, Anand seems to have kept his attacking abilities at home. What we have seen from him so far is a change to positional play. The Anand of the past would not have hesitated to go for a sharper line like 12 0-0-0 Ne5 13 Bg5 Rc5 14 g4, et cetera.)

12...bxc6 13.Bh6 c5 14.Bc4

(The alternative is 14 Bxg7 Kxg7 15 Qe2 Qc7 16 Bc4 Rb8 17 0-0-0 when it is debatable whether Black's queen is better on the c7-square or the b6-square, as in the game).

14... Qb6 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.b3?!

(The American grandmaster, Yasser Seirawan, was taken aback by this move. He was sufficiently moved to ask, rather rudely, "What kind of preparation is this?" After 16 0-0-0 Rb8 17 b3 Qa5 18 Kb2 Rb4!? 19 Nd5 Nxd5 20 exd5, he says White has an advantage.)

16... Be6!

(The initiative has passed to Black, eg 17 Bxe6 fxe6 18 0-0-0 c4 with a strong queenside attack, or 17 Na4 Qc6 18 Bxe6 fxe6 19 c4 Nxe4 20 fxe4 Qxe4+ 21 Qe2 Qf4 with advantage.)

17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.exd5 e5! 19.dxe6?

(Totally unexpected of Anand who now opens up the game for Kasparov's heavy pieces while his own king remains uncastled. Kasparov, in his post-mortem comments, said the position was roughly equal after 19 0-0-0 Qb4.)

19... d5 20.Be2

(Of course, 20 Bxd5 loses to 20...Rfd8 21 c4 fxe6.)

20... c4!

(A nice move, better than either 20...Qxe6 or 20...fxe6. According to Kasparov, this was the first time in his life he had prevented castling twice with one move (20...c4) because now it was impossible for White to castle on the kingside while queenside castling would be a very unattractive prospect for him.)

21.c3?

(Kasparov thought that Anand had to play 21 Rd1 but White would still have an uphill task in defending this position after 21...Re8 22 exf7+ Kxf7 or 21...c3 22 Qd4 fxe6. Anand played 21 c3 with the idea of 22 Qd4, but Kasparov called 21 c3 the decisive mistake.)

21... Rce8! 22.bxc4 Rxe6 23.Kf1

(Kasparov said he expected 23 cxd5 when he had planned 23...Re5 24 Kf1 Nxd5 25 Qd4 Qf6, limiting White's king to the back rank, eg 26 Kf2? Nxc3! 27 Qxc3? Rxe2+ which wins White's queen.)

23... Rfe8 24.Bd3 dxc4 25.Bxc4 Ne4 0-1

(Black wins after 25 fxe4 Rf6+ 26 Ke1 Rxe4+ 27 Be2 Qf2+ 28 Kd1 Rxe2 29 Qxe2 Rd6+.)

Later when Kasparov was asked what he would do if he had been down by two points in the match, he said there was already nothing to be done.

"No one can help when a player is down by two points. Probably it will be time to play chess. What else can you do?"

The following day, the 14th game saw a dramatic, full-bodied struggle which featured a swing of fortunes from one player to the other. Amid great tension, the game ended in hectic time-trouble in which Kasparov won.

In the game, Anand surprised Kasparov by wheeling out the Centre Counter Game. Although Kasparov had an initial advantage, a series of poor moves gave Anand the edge. At one stage, the spectators became so excited that the two players could hear the commotion through their supposedly sound-proof glass enclosure.

Gary Kasparov - Viswanathan Anand, Game 14

1.e4 d5

(A desperate choice of opening. Obviously, Anand had been unable to find an antidote to Kasparov's attacking play had he chosen 1...c5 again. Anyway, 1...d5 had never been played against Kasparov before.)

2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Be6 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.f4 g6 9.O-O Bg7 10.Kh1

(White has compensation for the sacrificed pawn after 10 f5 gxf5 11 Bxf5 Nxe5 12 Bxe6 fxe6 13 dxe5 Qxe5 14 Bf4 Qc5+ 15 Kh1.)

10... Bf5! 11.Bc4?

(The first of Kasparov's misguided Bishop moves. According to Seirawan, he had to change his strategy with 11 Bxf5 gxf5 12 Qd3 e6 13 b3, intending Ne5-c4 and Bc1-a3.)

11... e6 12.Be2 h5 13.Be3 Rd8 14.Bg1 O-O 15.Bf3 Nd5

(The commentators preferred 15...c5! to undermine the e5-knight's support. If 16 Bxb7? cxd4 17 Qxd4 Nxe5 18 Qxe5 Nd5 and Black has the advantage. After 15...c5, White's best continuation is 16 Qe2 cxd4 17 Bxd4 Qb4.)

16.Nxd5

(Kasparov offered a draw here, which Anand declined. Later, Kasparov said that his offer was made for purely psychological reasons. He wanted to see Anand's frame of mind; whether he would consider it. Kasparov felt that it was a test of Anand's desire to fight and that he had expected an instantaneous "no" but instead, Anand thought about it for some time.)

16...exd5 17.Bf2 Qc7 18.Rc1 f6 19.Nd3 Rfe8

(Dissatisfied with the position, Kasparov shook his head several times. A win for Anand in this game would give him some fighting chances in the match. Still, Kasparov played his next move quickly. By this time, both players were beginning to get short of time.)

20.b3 Nb6 21.a4 Nc8 22.c4 Qf7 23.a5 Bf8?

(Best is 23...Nd6! 24 a6 Ne4 25 axb7 Qxb7 with advantage to Black.)

24.cxd5 cxd5 25.Bh4

(At this point, Kasparov left the board after his 25th move and returned without his jacket for the first time in the match. The crowd roared, recognising that the Champion was feeling the intensity of the position.)

25... Nd6 26.a6!

(Despite his inferior position, Kasparov has successfully managed to generate queenside counterplay.)

26... b6 27.Ne5?!

(Even as both players were approaching the time control for the first session of play, Kasparov decided to go for complications. He later described this move as not inspired but it was still the best in the circumstances. He was referring not only to the position on the board but also the score in the match, the time pressure and his assessment that without 27 Ne5 he would just have to sit and wait for Anand.)

27... Qe6

(At this point, Anand should have played 27...fxe5 28 fxe5 Ne4 29 Bxd8 Rxd8 30 g4 hxg4 31 Bxg4 when he might have some winning chances. Kasparov called 27...Qe6 a serious mistake, even though it looked so natural.) 28.g4

(This move provoked another roar from the crowd, which realised that the battle was now at full pitch. The noise could be heard in the players' booth, and Kasparov later said, "The moment I played 28 g4, we both realised that there was a huge crowd and that we didn't have any protection (from the noise)." Observers said the crowd on Tuesday might have been the smallest in the match so far, but the excitement on the board helped make it the loudest.)

28... hxg4 29.Nxg4

(For the first time in the game, Kasparov had some counterplay for a change. Until then, he and Anand had been under the impression that White had a tough position and would have to struggle long to hold the draw but after 29 Nxg4, Kasparov and Anand looked at each other, both realising that it was a turning point in the game.)

29...Bg7 30.Rc7 Ne4 31.Ne3 Bh3

(If 31...Ng3+ 32 Bxg3 Qxe3 33 Re1 would have won several pawns.)

32.Rg1 g5

(The crowd roared again, thinking of 33 fxg5 fxg5 34 Bxg5? Nf2 mate. Kasparov dramatically rose from his chair and extended his arms from his sides, lifting them twice in succession to his shoulders. Tension filled the air and the commentators instantly asked the audience to be quiet, as it was now obvious the players could hear them and were disturbed by the noise. The audience showed its appreciation of the situation by its immediate silence.)

33.Bg4 Bxg4 34.Qxg4 Qxg4 35.Rxg4 Nd6?

(The final error. Black had to try 35...Rc8.)

36.Bf2 Nb5 37.Rb7 Re4 38.f5 Rxg4 39.Nxg4 Rc8 40.Rd7 Rc2 41.Rxd5

(With the time control reached, Anand now realised how hopeless his position was. If now 41...Nc3, 42 Rd8+ Kf7 43 Rd7+ Kf8 44 Rc7 wins.) 1-0

When Kasparov met the journalists after the game, he did not seem to be very happy for someone who had just achieved an almost insurmountable lead in the match. He said what had happened was a very sad accident. The crowd had not seemed to be aware that the booth was not perfectly sound-proof.

Kasparov thought that the noise was a bigger shock for Anand, because after having had a comfortable position, the challenger ended up having to defend many weaknesses and was short on time. After the game, Anand complained to Kasparov that it was unfair to play under such conditions, and Kasparov agreed.

Kasparov talked of how he had gone into the game with very strange feelings of wanting to win but also wanting to play quietly because he knew that a draw would have been to his advantage. He attributed his early lacklustre play partly to his conflicting feelings.

In contrast to the 13th and 14th games, the next two games were tame affairs. The two players were affected by a breakdown in the air-conditioning system at the match venue which delayed the start of the 15th game by two hours and they subsequently agreed to an early draw. Likewise, the 16th game ended peacefully only after about an hour's play.

Viswanathan Anand - Gary Kasparov, Game 15

1.e4 c5, 2.Nf3 d6, 3.d4 cxd4, 4.Nxd4 Nf6, 5.Nc3 g6, 6.Be3 Bg7, 7.f3 O-O, 8.Qd2 Nc6, 9.g4 Be6, 10.0-0-0 Nxd4, 11.Bxd4 Qa5, 12.Kb1 (Sharper is 13 a3 Rfc8 14 h4 Rab8 14 h5 b5 15 hxg6 hxg6 16 Qg5) 12...Rfc8, 13.a3 Rab8, 14.Nd5 Qxd2, 15.Rxd2 Nxd5, 16.Bxg7 Ne3 1/2-1/2 (The position is level after 17 Bd4 Nxf1 18 Rxf1 a5)

Gary Kasparov - Viswanathan Anand, Game 16

1.e4 c5, 2.Nf3 d6, 3.d4 cxd4, 4.Nxd4 Nf6, 5.Nc3 a6, 6.Be2 e6, 7.0-0 Be7, 8.a4 Nc6, 9.Be3 0-0, 10.f4 Qc7, 11.Kh1 Re8, 12.Bd3 Nb4, 13.a5 Bd7, 14.Nf3 Rac8, 15.Bb6 Qb8, 16.Bd4 Bc6, 17.Qd2 Nxd3, 18.cxd3 Nd7, 19.Bg1 Qc7, 20.Nd4 1/2-1/2

COMING EVENTS

The one-day Kepong juniors open chess tournament, organised by the Parent-Teacher Association of the SRJK(C) Kepong Dua in Kuala Lumpur will be played over six rounds on Oct 22 at the school.

There will be three categories in this tournament - under-10, under-12 and under-16 - and cash prizes will be awarded to the top three winners in each category.

Entry fees are RM5 for pupils of the school and RM8 for other players. Interested players can call Mrs F L Wong (03-636-4197) after 3pm or Total Chess (03-757-4606) during office hours.

Meanwhile, readers are reminded that the Universiti Sains Malaysia's Bridge & Chess Club will organise the second USM national open tournament in Penang from Dec 1 to 3.

This three-day event will be held over eight rounds using a time control of 1* hours each per player for each game. Ten prizes totalling RM3,250 are lined up for the participants and the winner will receive a RM1,000 cash prize.

Entry fees are RM20 for students and RM30 for the public. To register, contact Ms Chew Siew Imm (04-657-7253) after 8pm.

Entries will close officially on Oct 20, and anyone registering after this date can expect some late fees to be imposed.