The women's world chess championship match between defending champion Xie Jun of China and her Hungarian challenger, Zsuzsa Polgar, began last week in the Spanish town of Jaen.
This match, played under the auspices of the World Chess Federation, has real significance for the Chinese champion as it marks the first time in five years that she is playing a match with an opponent who is rated higher than her. For the record, Xie is rated at 2530 and Polgar at 2550.
To win the women's world champion's title, Polgar will have to gain 8 1/2 points from this match of only 16 games.
She may yet achieve this result. The 20-point difference in the two players' ratings suggests that the match will be very close and may go the full distance.
Statistically, this means that Polgar is expected to score 8.48 points against Xie's expected score of 7.52 points. This is close enough to the 8 1/2 points which Polgar will require.
But the defending champion is not without her practical advantages in this match. In the event of a tie at 8-8, Xie will keep her title. Besides, Xie also holds a psychological edge as Polgar will need to prove that she can actually outperform the champion.
In any case, the first four games of the match seems to give credence to the prospect of a close match. Xie went into the lead immediately by winning the first game. The next two games were drawn, and then Polgar equalised by winning the fourth game.
In Jaen, Xie has a formidable team of helpers who are hoping that their collective effort will more than offset Polgar's helpers who are her immediate family members. You should, however, take notice that her most illustrious sister/helper answers to the name of Judit!
Polgar had qualified for the world champiomship match by beating former women's world champion Maya Chiburdanidze in the Candidates finals match last year.
Readers with internet access may wish to connect to http://www.tasc.nl/wwc in the World-Wide Web where TASC, a Dutch chess software company, are covering the event on their www page.
KASPAROV TO PLAY DEEP BLUE TOMORROW
Years ago, Deep Thought was already the most powerful chess-playing computer in the world. The programmers of Deep Thought, then doing post-graduate studies at the Carnegie-Mellon University in the United States, were subsequently employed by IBM to continue work on enhancing their chess-playing machine.
Enter now Deep Blue, the successor to Deep Thought, which last year had finished second at the microcomputer chess championship in Hongkong. After that competition, the Deep Blue team entered into an agreement with Gary Kasparov to play him in a match of six games.
This match starts tomorrow and it will be played on Feb 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17. Kasparov was reported to be preparing for this match by playing against various other top class computers.
For an on-the-spot coverage of this match, internet users should turn their web browsers to http://www.ibm.park.org/chess.html.
JOHOR OPEN RESULTS
Jimmy Liew, although still the best player that Malaysia has ever produced, had his domination of the local chess scene checked when he failed to add the 1996 Johor open title to his impressive list of achievements.
At this tournament in Johor Bahru last month, Liew was comfortably leading the pack of players until when going into the sixth and final round, he found himself paired against Malcolm Tan of Singapore.
His luck deserted him at this crucial moment and he found himself not only out of the running for the first prize but also cut off from the second to fifth prizes.
This tournament was marked by the presence of several top players from both sides of the causeway and elsewhere too. Apart from Liew, the notable local names included Mok Tze Meng and Ismail Ahmad.
Other than Tan, Osric Mooi and Michael Siong were among the Singaporeans taking part.
Final results: Malcolm Tan 5 1/2 points; Tony Dempsey (Scotland), Mok Tze Meng, Darren Yong, Kenneth Tan 5 points each; Jimmy Liew, Osric Mooi and Michael Siong 4 1/2 points each; ... 59 players.
PFS OPEN
The Penang Free School chess club is holding their sixth PFS open tournament on March 24. This will be played over seven rounds and cash prizes, including a RM200 first prize, will be given to the top 10 players. There will also be various category prizes.
Entry fees are RM4 for players under 20 years old and RM6 for others. The closing date is Mar 3.
To register for the event, contact Liong Ing Kiat or Lim Cheng Teik in the evenings. Alternatively, e-mail registrations can be sent to Ronnie Lau.
GAMES OF THE WEEK
The first three games from the women's world chess championship match.
Xie Jun - Zsuzsa Polgar
1. g3 g6 2. Bg2 Bg7 3. e4 e5 4. Ne2 Nc6 5. c3 Nge7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. e5 f6 9. f4 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Nbc3 fxe5 12. fxe5 Rxf1+ 13. Qxf1 Qd7 14. h3 Rf8 15. Nf4 g5 16. hxg4 gxf4 17. gxf4 Qxg4 18. Qe2 Qg3 19. Qf2 Qxf2+ 20. Kxf2 Nxd4 21. Nxd5 Ng6 22. Nc3 c6 23. Be3 Bxe5 24. Rd1 Nxf4 25. Bxf4 Rxf4+ 26. Ke3 Nf5+ 27. Kd3 Rg4 28. Bh3 Rd4+ 29. Ke2 Rxd1 30. Nxd1 Nd6 31. b4 Kg7 32. a4 Kf6 33. Nf2 Bd4 34. Nd3 b6 35. Nf4 c5 36. Nd5+ Ke5 37. bxc5 bxc5 38. Ne7 a6 39. a5 Nc4 40. Nc6+ Kd6 41. Nb8 Kc7 42. Nxa6+ Kb7 43. Nxc5+ Bxc5 44. a6+ Kb6 45. Kd3 Nd6 46. Ke2 Kxa6 47. Kf3 Kb6 48. Be6 Kc7 49. Kg4 Kd8 50. Kh5 Be3 51. Bg8 h6 52. Bb3 Ke7 53. Kg6 Ne4 54. Bd1 Ke6 55. Bg4+ Ke5 56. Bd1 Bg5 57. Be2 Kf4 58. Bd1 Ng3 59. Ba4 h5 60. Bd7 h4 0-1
Zsuzsa Polgar - Xie Jun
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 e5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. exf5 Qa5 13. Kb1 Rfe8 14. Bb5 a6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. fxe5 Qxe5 17. Bg3 1/2-1/2
Xie Jun - Zsuzsa Polgar
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc3 Be6 8. Na4 Rd8 9. Bd3 Bd4 10. O-O Qh4 11. Qf4 Qh5 12. Qg3 Ne7 13. Be3 Bf6 14. h3 O-O 15. f4 Bh4 16. Qf3 Qxf3 17. Rxf3 f5 18. Nc5 fxe4 19. Bxe4 1/2-1/2
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