Yet another body set up by Kasparov

Well, I told you last week that there would be an announcement by Gary Kasparov before the start of the Linares super-grandmaster tournament.

Yes, he did make an announcement but I could not help laughing when I learnt what it was all it. Do you what Kasparov did? He announced the formation of yet another chess organisation - the World Chess Council!

I suppose I should not have been surprised, but I was caught unawares. Clearly, I am amazed by this man's gall. How many so-called organisations has he created or helped to create in the last 12 years to promote his own ends? And how many chess professionals will fall for it again just like the way they fell for his past endeavours?

There was the Professional Chess Association and before it, the Grandmaster Association. All had the Kasparov touch in their formation, and all suffered the same Kasparov touch when they went into oblivion.

Let me go back in time. During the Dubai Chess Olympiad in 1986, Kasparov, who was already the world champion, played a big part in drumming up support for forming the Grandmaster Association.

One of its aims was to work with the World Chess Federation (Fide), but a more important objective was to provide reasonable income for the top grandmasters through the organising of a Chess World Cup grand prix.

The idea worked for several years until Kasparov had a fallout with the Grandmaster Association's president, Bessel Kok, who was at that time the chief executive of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Telecommunication (SWIFT).

Kok had his principles. He wanted everything run in a very disciplined manner diametrically opposite to Kasparov's style. With Kok's departure, the association quickly lost its standing in the chess world and it died a quiet death.

Fast forwarding to 1993: Nigel Short had some disagreements with Fide on holding the world championship match between himself and Kasparov.

Kasparov seized the opportunity to convince Short that the time was ripe for them to play their match outside Fide's jurisdiction. To give their match some credence, Kasparov formed the Professional Chess Association.

Although the Professional Chess Association did try to hold qualifying events for their version of the world championship, there were accusations that the organisation was only looking after the interests of a few elite players.

In reality, the Professional Chess Association served only the interest of Gary Kasparov. This organisation only lasted until 1995 when Kasparov played a match against Viswanathan Anand, after which it drifted into a long hibernation.

There were no more qualifying tournaments, no more so-called Professional Chess Association's version of the world chess championship matches. No wonder some people referred to Kasparov as the person who nominated himself Champion.

So there is every reason to be skeptical about Kasparov's latest project, the new World Chess Council. Will it last or suffer the same fate as its two predecessors?

At the opening ceremony of the Linares tournament, he announced that the main purpose of this new body, whose president is Luis Rentero, would be to organise a match in Seville and Linares sometime no later than October this year, when Kasparov would defend his "title".

However, at present nobody has the details on the match and how it will materialise. There is no information on Kasparov's probable opponent or how he will be chosen, although there are rumours that Vladimir Kramnik and Anand will be playing a match soon and the winner will play Kasparov.

It will be interesting to see how this alliance between Kasparov and the volatile and controversial Rentero will work out. Rentero, the owner of a supermarket chain in Spain, has been associated with the Linares super-grandmaster tournament since its inception.

He is certainly no fool when it comes to finance and business. For him to agree to be the president of Kasparov's World Chess Council, he must have seen some possible short-term benefits in it.

Anyway, back to this year's Linares tournament. This is a double round-robin event where the rate of play is two hours for the first 40 moves, then one hour for the next 20 moves, and finally 30 minutes for play-to-the-finish.

In the first round on Sunday, Vassily Ivanchuk, who was playing the black pieces against Kramnik, countered the latter's favourite Queen's Pawn Opening with the Chigorin Defence.

The game followed the opening theory for a while but after some complications provoked by Ivanchuk, Kramnik obtained a favourable ending due to a superior pawn structure and the position of his king.

However, the Ukrainian grandmaster defended very resourcefully and managed to draw a very instructive rook endgame.

Alexei Shirov, who was up against Anand, played badly in a Caro-Kann Defence and quickly obtained an inferior position. Anand was able to isolate his opponent's pawns which condemned the latter to a passive game.

Once Anand traded his queen for Shirov's two rooks, it became clear that the Indian grandmaster would soon pocket the full point. The exchange allowed Anand to capture all of Shirov's vulnerable pawns one after the other.

And in the third game of the first round, between Peter Svidler and Kasparov, the Scheveningen variation of the Sicilian Defence was played.

Kasparov's treatment of the opening was especially interesting. He avoided the usual moves ...Bf8 and ...g6, so as not to weaken his kingside too early. After that, the position appeared to be level for the remainder of the game.

Tebrau open

Players in the south of the peninsula can take part in the 10th Tebrau open chess tournament. Organised by the Rukun Tetangga Taman Sri Tebrau with assistance from the Johor Bahru Chess Club, the event will be held on Mar 22 at the Sek Men Sri Tebrau in Johor Bahru.

There are three sections in this tournament and the entry fees are RM10 for the open section, RM6 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section. Entries close on Mar 20, and only the first 200 entries will be accepted.

For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07-333-8215).

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Readers with Internet access can connect to the tournament web site at http://www.elpais.es/p/d/ajedrez3/1998/english.htm

Vladimir Kramnik - Vassily Ivanchuk

1. Nf3 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Bf4 Bg4 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Nf6 (Also playable is 6...Nge7 from which it can later go ...Ng6 and ...Nh4) 7. Rc1 O-O 8. h3 8...Bxf3 (A common theme in this opening: Black gives up the two bishops so as to free his position with ...e5) 9. Qxf3 Qe7 10. Bg5 (The only way to prevent the opening of the centre) 10... Bxc3+ 11. Rxc3 Qb4 12. Bxf6 (Otherwise Black would play 12...Ne4) 12... Qxb2 13. Rb3 Qc1+ 14. Qd1 Qxd1+ 15. Kxd1 dxc4 16. Rxb7 gxf6 17. Kd2 Rab8 18. Rxc7 Na5 19. Kc2 (19. Kc3 would probably have been countered by 19... Rb1, leaving the rook on h1 out of play) 19... Rb4 20. Rxa7 Ra4 21. Rxa5 (A necessary sacrifice) 21... Rxa5 22. Bxc4 h5 23. h4 Rc8 24. Kd3 Rxc4 (An interesting decision. As he has no chance of winning this position, Ivanchuk decides to return the exchange so as to reach a rook ending where he has a pawn less but is compensated with a tenable position) 25. Kxc4 Rxa2 26. Rf1 f5 (White's pawns are paralysed and his rook on f1 passively guards the second rank) 27. d5 Kf8 28. dxe6 fxe6 29. Kd4 Ke7 30. Ke5 Ra4 31. f3 Ra5+ (Not 31... Rxh4 which is answered by 32. Ra1, and followed by Ra7+ and Rxe6) 32. Kf4 Ra2 33. Rb1 Kf6 (If 33... Rxg2, then 34. Ke5) 34. Kg3 Re2 35. Rb3 e5 36. Rb6+ Kg7 37. Rb3 Kf6 38. Ra3 Kg6 39. Kh3 Kf6 40. g4 hxg4+ 41. fxg4 fxg4+ 42. Kxg4 Kg6 43. h5+ Kh6 44. Ra6+ Kh7 45. Ra3 Kh6 46. Kf5 e4 47. Kxe4 Kxh5 48. Kf5 Rf2+ 49. Ke6 Re2 (Holding the pawn from behind and forcing White to retrace his steps) 50. Kf5 Rf2+ 51. Ke5 Kg6 52. e4 Rb2 53. Ra7 Rb5+ 54. Ke6 Rb6+ 55. Ke7 Rb5 56. Ra6+ Kg5 57. Re6 Kf4 58. Kf6 Rh5 (58... Rh5 59. Re8 Rh6+ 60. Kg7 Rh5) 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov - Viswanathan Anand

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Ne7 8. c4 (This variation became popular after Boris Gelfand's victory over Anatoly Karpov in 1995) 8... Nbc6 9. Nc3 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 (This is a novelty, instead of 11.Qa4+, played in Xie Jun-Chiburdanidze, Groningen 1997, and continuing 11... Nc6 12. Rd1 Bd3 13. Bxd3 cxd3 14. Be3 Bb4 15. O-O Bxc3 16. bxc3 Qd5 17. Bd4 O-O) 11... Nc6 12. Bb5 Be7 13. O-O O-O (Black's position is already very comfortable. His minor pieces are occupying good squares) 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Ne2 c5 16. Bc3 Qb6 17. Ng3 Bg6 18. Qg4 Rad8 19. h4 h6 20. h5 Bh7 21. f4 c4+ 22. Kh2 Bb4 23. f5 exf5 24. Nxf5 Bxf5 25. Rxf5 Bxc3 26. bxc3 Qe6 (White's pawns on c3, e5 and h5 are all isolated and vulnerable) 27. Raf1 Rfe8 28. R1f4 Rd5 29. Re4 Re7 (White is completely tied up) 30. Qf4 Rc7 31. Rxc4 Qxf5 (Exchanging the queen for the two rooks) 32. Qxf5 Rxc4 (Black now plans to double the rooks against the isolated pawns and capture them one by one) 33. Qb1 Rd8 34. Qb7 Rxc3 35. Qxa7 Rcc8 36. a4 Ra8 37. Qc7 Rdc8 38. Qb7 Re8 39. Qc6 Rac8 40. Qd7 Rcd8 41. Qc7 Rd5 42. a5 Rdxe5 43. a6 R5e7 44. Qc6 Rf8 45. Kh3 Ra7 46. g4 Rfa8 47. Kh4 Rxa6 48. Qb7 Ra5 49. Qc6 Rf8 50. Qb6 Rg5 51. Qb3 Kh8 52. Qb4 Re8 53. Qa4 Rd8 54. Qe4 f5 55. gxf5 Rf8 0-1 (White will lose all his remaining pawns)

Karpov barred from Linares tournament

When the organisers of the annual Linares Super-grandmaster tournament were finalising their list of invited players last year, Anatoly Karpov ran into a storm when he declined to take part in it.

Karpov's reason was simple: he was busy campaigning for a seat in the Russian parliament.

But this did not go down well with the volatile Luis Rentero who, for many years, had been involved with the Linares tournament in many capacity but notably as its main sponsor.

He charged that Karpov had known of the dates for the Linares tournament as far back as the middle of 1996, and despite several reminders in January 1997, Karpov did not have the courtesy to inform the organisers of his plans.

Obviously, the organisers have not forgotten this incident for when they were preparing for this year's Linares tournament, Karpov was not given an invitation to play.

The ones who will be playing, however, are Peter Svidler (Russia), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Viswanathan Anand (India), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Gary Kasparov (Russia).

They are currently seven of the world's strongest players, and they will play in the double round-robin tournament, a Category 21 event with an average rating of 2752, which starts tomorrow and will go on until Mar 10.

Speaking of Kasparov, we know the man is today the strongest player in the world. He has, by far, the highest rating in the latest international rating list released by the World Chess Federation (Fide) recently.

But would you consider Kasparov the world champion, or the Anatoly Karpov who won the Fide world chess championship in Lausanne last month?

Kasparov, in my opinion, can no longer call himself the world champion. Remember that it was Kasparov who in 1993 created turmoil by refusing to defend his world champion's title under the auspices of the World Chess Federation.

Remember too that it was Kasparov who was instrumental to founding the Professional Chess Association to serve his own interest by organising a rival match with Nigel Short in 1993 and Viswanathan Anand in 1995, and then let the association fade into obscurity.

The World Chess Federation is today still the only legitimate world chess body with an active chess programme, despite its own shortcomings. And Karpov, although only the sixth-ranked player in the world today, must still be regarded as the winner of the federation's world championship cycle.

Kasparov was interviewed last month by Sport Express, a Moscow magazine.

In the magazine article, Kasparov was asked when his own "world championship match" would take place. Some people, according to the interviewer, Y Vasiliev, were already call Kasparov the person who nominated himself Champion.

Kasparov was asked when he would agree to play a match against his strongest challengers. It seemed that there have been some interest shown by sponsors to finance a match between Anand and Kramnik, and the winner would be playing against Kasparov.

Kasparov's reply was non-committal other than to say that he planned to play such a match in October this year, but the announcements would only be made before the start of the Linares tournament. Well, the Linares tournament will start tomorrow, and I am sure we shall have the details in these pages next week.

There is another interesting development concerning Kasparov. It has just been announced that Kasparov and Topalov will play a highly unusual six-game match in Leon, Spain, from June 9 to 13.

What is so unusual about this match is that both the players will have access to a computer each. Both computers will be identical in their hardware configuration, but the players will load in their private database of chess games.

Very few sports in this world can claim to have such a close affinity with computers. Chess is one of them. Personal computers have become a boon for chessplayers. There are many chess database programmes, and the top players such as Kasparov and Topalov keep detail databases of games played by their comtemporaries.

The Internet has also given chess a boost in a way that would be almost inconcievable five years ago. Today, chess events are relayed through the Internet almost as soon as they happen and the obscure chess game can also very quickly gain the attention of the top players.

So, what will happen in this highly unusual chess match between Kasparov and Topalov is that both players will be using their private databases where they keep their secret research and analyses.

They will be helped by an analytic programme which will be like a tactical mistakes detector.

However, the six games will be played using a time control of one hour per player for each game. With only this limited time allotted for each player, they will have to judge how much time they can afford to spend in consulting their computers.

Although this match will be highly unusual, it is not surprising seeing that Kasparov is heavily involved with it. Soon after he lost the second match to Deep Blue last May, he had been going round with this suggestion that players should be allowed to consult chess computers during games.

There is even a name given to this form of chess. The organisers of the match have called it Advanced Chess, in which humans and computers join forces and compete as a team against each other.

They claim that Advanced Chess represents a very high-tech approach to the game and it increases the level of play to heights never before achieved. It would also give the viewing public a unique insight into the thought processes of chessplayers and computers.

Computers calculate at prodigious speeds. On a fast computer, the strongest chess programs generate and evaluate about 150,000 positions per second. In tactically complex positions they are superior to any human player.

In the opening, computers can access unlimited knowledge from their database of chess games - literally millions of tried and tested moves. In the endgame, the computers use hash tables to search very deeply, and in certain restricted endings (for instance, with just five pieces on the board) computers do play absolutely perfect chess.

Human chessplayers, on the other hand, look at only a very limited number of positions. However, they are able to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant, and look at meaningful moves instead of every nonsensical variation.

Humans are able to judge the quality of a move in the very long-term, and formulate plans that go a long way beyond the horizons of even the fastest computers. If a human chess master can survive the tactical onslaught of the machine, his strategical superiority will triumph.  

In Advanced Chess, claimed the organisers, there is symbiosis between man and machine. Each human player is equipped with a personal computer which he can consult at will during the game.

The human player enters moves for the computer to analyse, and spends time pondering the position himself while the computer checks the crucial variations. The human player is always in charge and has the final decision on which move to make.

Does all these seem interesting? I rather think so and I just can't wait for June to come around.

A case of brawns over brains

It would have been easy to overlook that short but significant sentence in the sports pages of the Sunday Star five days ago. There, tucked away in a corner of the newspaper, was a small mention that chess would be out of this year's Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) calendar.

For those who missed the news item, it was reported that the Education Ministry had slashed their budget for the MSSM, forcing three sports to be dropped from the schools calendar this year.

The report quoted the MSSM secretary general, Abdul Aziz Mohamed, as saying the MSSM would only receive RM550,000 from the Education Ministry.

"The amount is half of what we (normally) received. Under the circumstances, we don't have any alternative but to reduce the number of sports for this year," he said.

Apart from chess, the other two sports dropped by the MSSM are handball and softball.

My first reaction was one of outrage. There we are, having made so much progress locally during the last few years and having the results to show for it, and here we have a decision which in a stroke cancels almost everything chess officials in the country have worked for.

I would like to know from the MSSM authorities whether they had considered the alternative of a uniform reduction in the allocation of funds for all the sports.

Instead of removing certain games from the calendar, why can't the MSSM uniformly scale down the size of all the sports? I would think that it would be more important to retain continuity for all the games, such as by organising them on a smaller scale, than to sacrifice the three affected sports altogether.

The cut is especially hard to accept when you realise that chess is the only game in the MSSM calendar that deals with the mental development of the players. By taking away chess, the MSSM has effectively removed the only opportunity for school children to compete in mental sports.

I would think that mental prowess goes hand-in-hand with physical prowess. Even Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Council, acknowledged as recently as last month that chess players have to be physically fit in order to play chess.

So do the authorities in the MSSM have differing views? Are they trying to signal that nothing, not even mental activity, can be as important as physical activity? Is brawn better than brains? I hope to be proven wrong, but these recent developments seem to point in this direction.

As long ago as the beginning of last year, even before the economic crisis hit Malaysia, there were already rumours that the MSSM might be trying to do away with chess in their calendar.

I may be wrong again, but the rumour mill also suggested that some quarters were uncomfortable that chess, in the last few years, was threatening to overshadow a few sports that have greater mass appeal. Ooi Chern Ee surprised many people by coming third in the 1995 MSSM Sportsboy ceremony. Then, in a milestone development, Mas Hafizulhelmi finally bagged the Sportsboy award in the 1996 ceremony.

Whatever the real reason may be, I can only hope that common sense can prevail in the end and chess can be reinstated immediately. Why take away a sport which has featured regularly in the MSSM calendar for the past 25 years?

Does it really cost that much amount of money to run an MSSM chess tournament? If so, I will be the first outsider to support any move to reduce the number of different categories of chess events, just as long that the game can be retained in the MSSM calendar.

For example, instead of holding separate individual and team events for two or three different age-groups, the organisers can hold just one team event for the most senior age-group and award the MSSM chess champion's title to the best Board One performer among the teams.

This is just one suggestion. If the MSSM would care to contact the Malaysian Chess Federation (try telephoning MCF secretary Hamid Majid at 03-421-9576, for instance) and discuss strategy together, I am sure other viable alternatives can be considered too.

In the meantime, if readers have any strong opinion about chess and its exclusion from the MSSM calendar, you can write to me through The Star or e-mail me at ssquah@schach.pc.my .

PERAK CHESS

The Perak International Chess Association will organise a one-day open competition this Sunday at the Taman DR Seenivasagam in Ipoh. This is a six-round event with a time control of 25 minutes per player for each game.

Registration for the event will start at 8.30am on the day of the competition, and the first round is expected to begin by 9.10am. Entry fees are RM8 for members of PICA and RM10 for non-members.

Prizes will include trophies with cash given to the best eight players. The best under-12, under-16 and woman players will also receive prizes. For more enquiries, call Wong (tel: 05-3661692).

UNION CHESS

The Union High School, Penang, will organise its first Union open tournament this Sunday. This will be played over seven rounds.

The entry fee for the one-day tournament is RM7 per player, and participants are required to register themselves at the school hall at 7.30am on the day of the event.

Six cash prizes ranging from RM150 to RM20 will be offered. Trophies will also be given to the best under-12, under-18, women's and Union High School players.

For more details, contact Lim Chu Ai (tel: 04-226-7067), Lim Swee TIn (tel: 04-262-9824) or Wong Wai Quan (e-mail: waiquan@tm.net.my).

 

The making of a grandmaster

So, what did you do during the long holiday break last week? Were you playing chess? Not me, anyway. Rather, I found the long festive break just perfect for some indulgence in other activities.

I'll tell you what I did. Apart from the normal obligatory visits to relatives and friends to redistribute my income, I decided to become a couch potato.

I think during the seven days away from the office, I watched more shows on television than I had ever done in the past two years. Honest!

I caught up with several old movies which I said that I wanted to watch but could not find the time. You may be interested to know that among some of the movies I saw were Black Rain, Gremlins, Dumb and Dumber, Mission Impossible and ... Innocent Moves.

Innocent Moves. I am sure some of you readers will recognise this movie. It is the story of American international master Josh Waitzkin as a seven-year-old child, adapted from the book, Searching For Bobby Fischer, written by his father, Fred Waitzkin.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show. For once, here was a movie all about chess and chessplayers, and with a very believable storyline.

It opened with Josh Waitzkin celebrating his seventh birthday in Washington Park where he chanced upon a group of chess hustlers. From there, his interest in the game grew.

After moving through various sub-plots, the movie culminated with Josh playing in and winning the United States' national scholastic championship.

I found the most interesting parts of the movie to be the historical footage showing Bobby Fischer arriving in Reykjavik to play his world chess championship match with Boris Spassky in 1972, how he won the title and the general euphoria and adoration in the United States that followed Fischer after his win.

In another historical scene, there was a young Fischer, 14-years-old at that time, giving a simultaneous chess display to a group of adults in the Manhattan Chess Club.

The most amusing scene in Innocent Moves occurred during Josh Waitzkin's first-ever junior tournament. Before the tournament started, the organiser was lecturing not the children, but their parents!

"You are expected to conduct yourselves as adults. You can stand behind your children, but there must be no throat noises, no comments and no eye contact," the organiser said, glaring at the parents.

Yet despite the warning, some of the parents still managed to get themselves too involved with their children's games. There was a scene showing two fathers arguing and shoving one another.

Can this actually be happening in the United States? Parents fighting and quarrelling over their children's games? Really, I can't see this ever happening in Malaysian chess and I hope it will not happen.

The organiser's solution was simple. Before the next round began, he locked up all the parents in a room away from the tournament hall.

When the story first unfolded in Washington Park, I was surprised to see one man who looked very familiar to me. There was no mistaking his features.

The man was Kamran Shirazi who had escaped from the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Iran in 1979. What was interesting about Shirazi, now a naturalised American, was that he had played in Malaysia before. I knew him in 1976 when the Penang Chess Association organised the first leg of the inaugural Asian grandmaster chess circuit.

Shirazi was not the only chess player who appeared in the movie. American grandmasters Joel Benjamin and Roman Dzhindzhihashvili also made brief appearances as themselves.

I think one aspect of the movie which was not very apparent was that it was not only about Josh Waitzkin. The show was essentially about Bruce Pandolfini too. Pandolfini is an author of many chess books but it is clear from this movie that he also teaches chess in the United States.

In Innocent Moves, Pandolfini was played by Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley (for his role in Gandhi). His character came across as a man wrought by conflicting emotions. On one hand, he seemed disillusioned about teaching chess but on the other hand, he was very concerned about Josh Waitzkin's progress as a chess player.

Was Kingsley's portrayal of Pandolfini correct? Well, I think we have to ask Pandolfini himself one day. After all, Pandolfini was mentioned in the movie credits as the technical advisor.

The highlight of the movie was, of course, the showdown at the national scholastic championship where Josh Waitzkin found himself playing Jonathan Poe in the final round.

In Searching For Bobby Fischer, Poe was actually a talented junior player named Jeff Sarwar. I suppose legal issues prevented Sarwar's name to be used in the movie, thereby forcing the producers to use a fictional character like Jonathan Poe.

Poe was a dark brooding kid who, at the critical point of the game, turned down an offer to share the championship title with Josh. Somehow, the movie managed successfully to capture the tension of a chess game and the build-up came when the opposing pawns raced down the edges of the chessboard.

Poe queened his pawn first, only to see Josh queening his and skewering Poe's king in the middle of the board.

All in, Innocent Moves is a fascinating movie. I had seen it three or four years ago, but seeing it again after all these years simply renewed my interest in the game.

Union chess

The Union High School, Penang, will organise their first Union open tournament on Feb 15. This will be played over seven rounds.

The entry fee for the one-day tournament is RM7 per player, and participants are required to register themselves at the school hall at 7.30am on the day of the event.

Six cash prizes ranging from RM150 to RM20 will be offered. In addition, trophies will be given to the best under-12, under-18, women's and Union High School players.

For more details, contact Lim Chu Ai (tel: 04-226-7067), Lim Swee TIn (tel: 04-262-9824) or Wong Wai Quan (e-mail: waiquan@tm.net.my).