At about the same time that I was watching the Asian team chess championship last month, the Presidential Board of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) was holding its first meeting in Singapore since the end of the last Paris General Assembly.
The focus was, of course, on the 33-year-old Kirsan Ilyumjinov who was making his first tour of duty in the Far East as the new FIDE president.
From Singapore, the FIDE president later flew to Kuala Lumpur where he met with the Malaysian Chess Federation president, Dato Sabbaruddin Chik, and from here, he left for Manila where he was a guest of the former FIDE president, Florencio Campomanes.
Ilyumjinov is also the president of the Kalmykia Republic which is an autonomous region within the Russian Federation.
(For thoseof you who need to know, Kalmykia, according to my trusty world atlas, fronts the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Elista and it is not too far away from the troubled Chechnya republic where a civil war has been raging for years.)
What I gathered from people who attended the FIDE presidential board meeting, Ilyumjinov took control of the proceedings from the very start and was very decisive in steering the meeting towards its conclusion.
The end of the meeting coincided with the last round of the Asian team championship and the FIDE presidential board found the time to attend the closing ceremony.
There, Ilyumjinov spoke for a while in his halting but passable English. Boy, did he deliver some shocking news to the people assembled at the ceremony!
Firstly, he spoke about re-creating a favourable image for chess after all the adverse publicity in the past. "To get investments, we have to show stability and existence," he said.
Thus, he had set up a marketing team in Moscow to find the best ways to promote FIDE and chess around the world, and to this end, a 15-second video clip was made for showing on prime time over CNN and Russian TV. This promotion alone personally costed him US$400,000 (about RM1.02 million).
Secondly, Ilyumjinov spoke about his efforts in trying to find a way to reunite the two world championship titles now presently held by Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov.
He stressed that FIDE's role was to promote chess and the federation should be above all other chess organisations. The Professional Chess Association (PCA) was not mentioned specifically but it was clear from Ilyumjinov's message that he considers FIDE still wielding the ultimate control in the chess world.
He proposed the creation of an annual world championship tournament to replace the traditional series of matches that are organised in a three-year cycle. For the first such tournament beginning Dec 22 this year, the prize fund is proposed at US$5 million (about RM12.75 million).
During the three weeks of the tournament, a series of short knockout matches involving the world's top 100 players will be held. Eight rounds will be played.
The first round would have 68 players made up of the FIDE zonal qualifiers, the PCA Grand Prix qualifiers and players from the host federation. Some players will qualify directly into the second round and some others to the third round. Kasparov and the winner of the Kamsky-Karpov match would be seeded directly into the semi-finals but they would be paired together only if they reached the final.
This new idea, unanimously accepted by the Presidential Board, effectively meant that the forthcoming Interzonal tournament in Erevan this April would be cancelled.
Ilyumjinov also disclosed that before arriving in Singapore, he was in Budapest to meet the former American world champion, Bobby Fischer.
He said he would be paying Fischer the US$100,000 (RM255,000) which the American is claiming from the former Soviet Chess Federation. For many years now, Fischer has been insisting that the former Soviets pay him royalties for the illegal Russian translation of his best-selling book, My 60 Memorable Games.
After 12 hours of talk, Ilyumjinov reported that he managed to extract a promise from Fischer to reconsider his position with FIDE. The American had also accepted from the FIDE president a gift of land to build a house in Kalmykia.
GAMES OF THE WEEK
This week, the focus is still on the Asian team chess championship where I have been able to obtain several interesting games. Some of them feature our local boys.
Mas Hafizulhelmi - Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam)
1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. f4 Qc7, 7. Be2 e5, 8. Nf3 Be7, 9. O-O O-O,, 10. a4 Nbd7, 11. Kh1 Re8, 12. a5 Nc5, 13. Nd5 Nxd5, 14. exd5 Bf6, 15. fxe5 dxe5, 16. Be3 e4, 17. Nd4 Be5, 18. h3 Qd8, 19. Nf5 Bxf5, 20. Rxf5 Rc8, 21. Ra2 Bb8, 22. b4 Nd7, 23. c4 g6, 24. Rf1 Be5, 25. c5 Qh4, 26. d6 Rf8, 27. Qd5 Rce8, 28. Bc4 Nf6, 29. Qd2 Nh5, 30. Qf2 Qg3, 31. Qg1 Qh4, 32. Qf2 Qg3, 33. Qg1 Kg7, 34. Bd4 e3, 35. Rf3 Bxd4, 36. Rxg3 Nxg3+ 37. Kh2 Be5, 38. Qe1 e2, 39. Ra3 h5, 40. h4 Bf4, 41. Rd3 Re5, 42. Bd5 Nf5+, 43. Kh3 Rfe8, 44. d7 Rd8, 45. Bxb7 Rxd7, 46. Rxd7 Bg3, 47. Qxe2 Rxe2, 48. Bd5 Re1, 49. Rxf7+ Kh6, 50. Rxf5 Bb8 0-1
Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam) - Ooi Chern Ee
1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nf3 Bb4+, 4. Bd2 Qe7, 5. e3 Nc6, 6. Nc3 Bxc3, 7. Bxc3 Ne4, 8. Rc1 Nb4, 9. Qb3 a5, 10. a3 Nxc3, 11. axb4 Ne4, 12. Ra1 b6, 13. Bd3 Bb7, 14. bxa5 Ng5, 15. Ke2 Nxf3, 16. axb6 Nxd4+, 17. exd4 cxb6, 18. Qxb6 Bxg2, 19. Rxa8+ Bxa8, 20. Qb8+ Qd8, 21. Qxd8+ Kxd8, 22. Ra1 Bb7, 23. b4 g5, 24. c5 Kc7, 25. b5 Kb8, 26. Kd2 f5, 27. Bc4 Rf8, 28. Rb1 Be4, 29. Bd3 Bd5, 30. b6 h5, 31. Bb5 Rf7, 32. Rc1 f4, 33. c6 dxc6, 34. Bxc6 g4, 35. Bxd5 exd5, 36. Rc5 Rf5, 37. Rc7 Rf6, 38. Rh7 Rxb6, 39. Rxh5 Rb2+, 40. Ke1 Rb1+, 41. Ke2 Rb2+ 1/2-1/2
Hsu Li Yang (Singapore) - Lin Weiguo (China)
1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 g6, 3. g3 Bg7, 4. Bg2 d5, 5. cxd5 Nxd5, 6. e4 Nb6, 7. Ne2 O-O, 8. Nbc3 e5, 9. d5 c6, 10. O-O cxd5, 11. exd5 Na6, 12. a4 Bg4, 13. a5 Nc4, 14. h3 Bxe2, 15. Qxe2 Nd6, 16. Be3 Qd7, 17. Kh2 f5, 18. f4 Rfe8, 19. fxe5 Bxe5, 20. Qf2 Bxc3, 21. bxc3 Ne4, 22. Qf4 Rac8, 23. Bd4 Nac5, 24. g4 fxg4, 25. hxg4 Nd3, 26. Qh6 Nxc3, 27. Rf6 Ne5, 28. Bxe5 Rxe5, 29. Raf1 Qg7, 30. Qf4 Re7, 31. d6 Rd7, 32. g5 Kh8, 33. Bh3 Nd5, 34. Qe5 Nxf6, 35. gxf6 1-0
Cerdas Barus (Indonesia) - Nelson Mariano (Philippines)
1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 g6, 3. Nc3 Bg7, 4. e4 d6, 5. Be2 O-O, 6. Nf3 e5, 7. Be3 Ng4, 8. Bg5 f6, 9. Bh4 c6, 10. d5 Kh8, 11. Nd2 Nh6, 12. a3 g5, 13. Bg3 f5, 14. exf5 Nxf5, 15. Nde4 Nd4, 16. Bd3 Bf5, 17. O-O Na6, 18. Re1 cxd5, 19. Nxd5 Rc8, 20. Rc1 Bg6, 21. b4 Nc7, 22. Nxc7 Rxc7, 23. h3 b6, 24. Nc3 Nf5, 25. Bh2 Rcf7, 26. Be4 Qf6, 27. Bd5 Rc7, 28. Ne4 Qe7, 29. Rc3 Nd4, 30. Rd3 Bxe4, 31. Rxe4 Qf6, 32. Bg3 Qg6, 33. f3 Rfc8, 34. Qa4 g4, 35. hxg4 b5, 36. cxb5 Ne2+, 37. Kf2 Rc2, 38. b6 Nf4+, 39. Rd2 Rxd2+, 40. Ke1 axb6, 41. Kxd2 Nxd5, 42. Qd7 Qe8, 43. Qxe8+ Rxe8, 44. Rc4 Ra8, 45. Bh4 Bf8, 46. g3 b5, 47. Re4 Rxa3, 48. f4 Bg7, 49. Re1 Kg8, 50. f5 h6, 51. Bd8 e4 0-1
Wang Zili (China) - Sergey Zagrebelny (Uzbekistan)
1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. d4 cxd4, 4. Nxd4 Nf6, 5. Nc3 a6, 6. Be3 e5, 7. Nb3 Be6, 8. f3 Be7, 9. Qd2 O-O, 10. O-O-O b5, 11. g4 b4, 12. Nd5 Bxd5, 13. exd5 a5, 14. Kb1 Qc7, 15. g5 Nh5, 16. Bh3 a4, 17. Nc1 Na6, 18. Nd3 f5, 19. Nxe5 a3, 20. Nc6 axb2, 21. f4 g6, 22. Rhe1 Rfe8, 23. Bf1 Bf8, 24. Bc4 Re4, 25. Bd3 Ree8, 26. Bc4 Re4, 27. Bxa6 Rxa6, 28. Bd4 Ra8, 29. Rxe4 fxe4, 30. Bxb2 Re8, 31. Qe3 Qf7, 32. Bc1 Ng7, 33. Qb3 Nf5, 34. Nd4 Nxd4, 35. Rxd4 Bg7, 36. Rxb4 Qa7, 37. Be3 Qa6, 38. Qc4 Qa3, 39. Qb3 Qa6, 40. Rb5 Qc8, 41. a4 Qh3, 42. Rb8 Rxb8, 43. Qxb8+ Kf7, 44. Qb6 Qf1+, 45. Bc1 Qc4, 46. Qb5 Qd4, 47. Qd7+ Kf8, 48. Qxd6+ Ke8, 49. Qc6+ Kd8, 50. c3 Qd3+, 51. Kb2 Bf8, 52. Qa8+ Ke7, 53. Qb7+ Kd8, 54. Qb8+ Ke7, 55. Qb5 Qf3, 56. d6+ 1-0
Alexander Nenashev (Uzbekistan) - Xu Jun (China)
1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nf3 Bb4+, 4. Nbd2 b6, 5. e3 Bb7, 6. Bd3 O-O, 7. O-O d5, 8. b3 Nbd7, 9. Bb2 c5, 10. cxd5 Nxd5, 11. a3 Bxd2, 12. Qxd2 N5f6, 13. Rfd1 Qe7, 14. Qe2 cxd4, 15. Nxd4 e5, 16. Nf5 Qe6, 17. e4 Rfc8, 18. Bb5 Rc7, 19. Nd6 Rf8, 20. Bc4 Qe7, 21. Rac1 Nc5, 22. f3 Nh5, 23. Nf5 Qf6, 24. Rd6 Nf4, 25. Qf1 Nce6, 26. Bxe6 Rxc1, 27. Bxf7+ Qxf7, 28. Bxc1 Qxb3, 29. Bxf4 exf4, 30. Qa1 Qf7, 31. Re6 Bc8, 32. Re7 Qf6, 33. Qxf6 gxf6, 34. Nh6+ Kh8, 35. Rxa7 Be6, 36. Rb7 Rc8, 37. Rxb6 Rc1+, 38. Kf2 Bc4, 39. g4 Rc2+, 40. Ke1 Re2+, 41. Kd1 Rxh2, 42. Rb8+ Kg7, 43. Nf5+ Kg6, 44. Rb6 Bf7, 45. Kc1 h5, 46. gxh5+ Rxh5, 47. a4 Rh1+, 48. Kb2 Rh2+, 49. Kc3 Ra2, 50. Rb7 Be6, 51. Nd4 Bh3, 52. Kb3 Rd2, 53. Kc4 Kg5, 54. Rg7+ Kh4, 55. a5 Ra2, 56. Kb4 Rb2+, 57. Kc5 Ra2, 58. Kb6 Rb2+, 59. Kc7 Ra2, 60. Nc6 Ra3, 61. Rg6 Rxf3, 62. a6 Ra3, 63. a7 f3, 64. Rxf6 Kg3, 65. Kb6 Rb3+, 66. Kc5 Ra3, 67. Kb4 Ra6, 68. Nd4 Rxa7, 69. Rxf3+ Kh4, 70. Kc5 Bg4, 71. Rf8 Kg5, 72. Nc6 Ra1, 73. Kd5 Ra6, 74. e5 Ra1, 75. Nd4 1/2-1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment