Passing of a legend

Florencio Campomanes touched different people in different ways. 

Among the Western nations, Campomanes was despised as a dictator who overstayed his tenure as the president of the World Chess Federation (Fide) and who played a very instrumental role in dividing the chess world.

Among the Third World countries however, Campomanes was seen mostly as a champion who succeeded to the world body’s highest position and who opened up chess to the world and brought the game to its greatest prominence.

Who was right and who was wrong? Without a doubt, both sides would have their grounds and justifications to cast Campomanes as their hero or villain. Personally, I don’t believe that he cared very much for the labels. Ultimately, he wanted only results, not how the job got done. But all that is now behind him.

Last Monday, Florencio Campomanes, more popularly known as Campo to his friends and enemies, died in his native Philippines. He was 83 years old.

I first got to know of Campo way back in 1974 when he was still only a deputy president of the World Chess Federation. Asia was his main playground then, and chess was just taking off in the continent. 

He came to Penang for the inaugural Asian team championship and at its conclusion, he received the challenge trophy from our second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak. Campo was truly the public face of the Philippines’ chess team.

In 1978, he organized the acrimonious world chess championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio City and in 1982, achieved his ambition to become the Fide president. His election to the world body’s top position, on the promise of elevating chess to greater heights, created a buzz everywhere. I was there in Luzerne when it happened and the euphoria was simply incredible.

As the Fide president, he sowed the seeds that would eventually see Fide being accepted into the fold of the international Olympic movement. This wasn’t a short-term process; it actually took years before the walls could be broken down.

But his Fide presidency was also marred with controversy. By 1984, Garry Kasparov’s star was already in its ascendancy and he was knocking on Karpov’s door. But the 1984/85 world championship match was organized with rules different from today’s. It was a match where a player needed to score six decisive victories, draws not counting. 

Karpov was unable to deliver the final win and he enabled Kasparov to extend the match to 48 games. After five long months of play, Campo decided to abandon the match, citing players’ fatigue as the decision. There would be a rematch later in the year, limited to 24 games.

While this might have been seen as a logical decision – a tough decision actually – that any Fide president would have to make, it did not go down well at all with many chess federations in the West. They claimed that Campo’s decision was scandalous and unilaterally made to favour the tiring Karpov at a time when an invigorated Kasparov was starting to get stronger at the chessboard. They said there was no precedent to stop the match but precisely, it was Campo’s job to set a precedent if one was really required. 

Anyhow, Campomanes weathered all the criticisms and went on to achieve his second high point as the Fide president by bringing the biennial Chess Olympiad to Manila in 1992. It was again a first for Asian chess as never before had any Third World country organized such a large-scale team chess event in this part of the world.

But chess was never the same after that. During Campo’s tenure as Fide president, Kasparov declared that his world championship title never belonged to the World Chess Federation and he could choose to defend his title any time he liked or wanted. Not surprisingly, Kasparov had the support of the western chess federations and most of the top western chess grandmasters.

So chess went in two separate directions. Kasparov had his own version of a world chess championship running for several years while Fide continued with its own regular world chess title series. It was not until 2006 that there was unification again.

The pressure on Campo began to tell and in 1995, he stepped down as the Fide president and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov took over. Nevertheless, Campo remained active in the chess world and he was made the Fide honorary president which allowed him to roam the globe as the ultimate chess ambassador.

He never slowed down, not even a horrendous car crash in Turkey in 2007 was able to stop him. Though seriously warded in a hospital with his neck in braces, he received all guests and insisted on playing chess with them on his hospital bed. That was his dedication to the game.

Campo turned up often in Malaysia because he was a fast friend of Datuk Tan Chin Nam whom he first met in 1974. It was mainly Campomanes that persuaded Tan to stand for Fide election in 1982. Every time that Campo came into town, he would come as a guest of Tan. 

I can’t remember the last time I met him in Kuala Lumpur. It must have been at the early part of this decade. He was already frail of body but still sharp in mind. Impressively, he still carried with him a very distinguished and statesman-like air. Without any prompting, he could always remember my name but never once could he say it properly. But like him, I did not care. I did not care very much for the mispronunciations because I knew that he only wanted to be polite and address me, not how to call my name.

Tan told me, “I have lost an old friend and a dear friend. My heart goes out to his family. There will never be another Campomanes.” 

Casto Abundo, one-time Fide general secretary, recalled that Campo continued to be active in FIDE, Asian and Philippine chess until his bout with cancer reached the terminal stage last year. “He was still strong and hearty on his 83rd birthday last Feb 22 but his health quickly deteriorated. I was at his bedside at the Notre Dame Hospital in Baguio City on May 1. As I thanked him for all our chess years together, he smiled and said "We had fun."”

Naturally, Campomane’s death on Monday overshadows the current world chess championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov. The match still has four days to go, provided it goes the whole distance, and if it ends equal at 6-all after 12 games, tie-break games on May 13 will decide the winner.

However, as at the end of the seventh game earlier this week, Anand is leading Topalov by 4-3. After the turbulence of the first two games, both the players have settled down well into the match.

The third game was drawn and Anand won the fourth game. After that, the next three games were all great fighting draws.

Up next  

KL rapid grand prix 

The Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) and Polgar Chess Asia will jointly organize the fourth leg of the KL rapid grand prix tomorrow and on Sunday. Entry fees for the open section are RM15 for members of the KLCA and the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and RM20 for non-members. For the under-12 section, the entry fees are RM5 for children of KLCA and RSC members and RM10 for others. Venue is the RSC’s Card Room at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. More details at  the KLCA website, (http://www.klchess.com/)

Perak grand prix

The Manjung leg of the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Perak grand prix chess tournament, sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, will be played at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Methodist (ACS) in Sitiawan on May 16. 

Entry fees are RM25 for the open section, RM15 for under-16 players and RM10 for under-12 players. Members of the Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and players born in Perak pay RM5 less. Entries will close on May 13. To register, contact Yunus (013.3908129) or Hamisah (012.5008723). More details are available from http://perakchess.blogspot.com 

 

Toiletgate

I’m still surprised by the speed of the Internet. A fortnight ago, within hours of my article appearing in TheStar Online, I received an email from British grandmaster Nigel Short. 

He disagreed with the one-liner where I had mentioned him. So, we both agreed that I should produce his email this week to set the record straight and put this matter to rest. Here is GM Short’s message:

“Dear Quah,

”I strongly take issue with your comments in "The Star" that Garry Kasparov and myself "committed an unthinkable crime" by taking the World Championship outside Fide. The fact is that Florencio Campomanes abrogated our right to vote on the venue of World Championship. It was this illegal action, totally contrary to the Fide statutes, which prompted the split. If you wish to talk of "the chess crime of the century" then this was it.

”Your comments have damaged my reputation publicly in Malaysia. They are totally unfair and do not give even half the picture. I ask you to print a retraction immediately.

”Regards,

Nigel." 

Thank you, Nigel, for the clarification. Okay, with this out of the way, let us return to the world chess championship in Elista where the unification match had developed as many twists and turns as any journey up our hill resorts. 

I thought Vladimir Kramnik would be able to coast home with his two-point lead over Veselin Topalov but I was wrong. Soon after the fourth game was played, a bizarre series of protest and counter-protest threatened to bring the match to an abrupt halt. 

Toiletgate was how chess journalists everywhere were describing the developments in Elista. 

It all started with the Topalov camp complaining that Kramnik was spending too much time in his relaxation room’s toilet, walking in and out and spending time inside. Each player has his own private toilet and since the toilets were the only places without surveillance cameras, the insinuation was that Kramnik could be accessing some electronic devices there. 

Gasp! Cheating at the world championship match? There was no proof but the Appeals Committee decided to lock both private toilets and requested the two players to share a common, designated toilet.

This time, it was the Kramnik team’s turn to protest and Kramnik refused to play the fifth game until his private toilet was reopened. Well, it wasn’t and so, he forfeited this game.

This prompted a crisis in Elista with the whole unification match threatened with a meltdown. World Chess Federation (Fide) president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was forced to cut short a meeting with his boss, Russian president Vladimir Putin, to deal with it.

After some protracted negotiations, Kramnik’s right to use his private toilet was reinstated and the original Appeals Committee was replaced. In return, Kramnik had to accept that he had forfeited a point in fifth game.

He agreed to continue with the match but made it clear that he was playing under protest and he reserved the right to pursue this point later in court. 

So, after a dramatic four days, the match resumed. At first, Kramnik held on with two draws. Then disaster struck for him when he lost two consecutive games – the eighth and ninth. For the first time in the match, Topalov was leading 5-4.

However, with only three games remaining, it became Topalov’s turn to buckle under the pressure. He blundered in the 10th game and the score leveled at 5-5.

This is as far as I know as my deadline loomed earlier this week. If you have Internet access and had been following the games nightly, you will know that the match either ended yesterday with a decisive victory to one of the players or it had gone right down to the wire with a critical tie-break today. 

Remember, if there is a tie-break, you can follow the games live beginning 7pm this evening from the official world championship website http://worldchess2006.com or you can visit Susan Polgar’s excellent blog at http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

UP NEXT

Penang chess camp

There will be a chess camp for junior chess players at the Han Chiang College on Dec 4-7. This chess camp, limited to a maximum of 100 participants only, will be conducted for four levels of strengths: elementary, beginner, intermediate and advanced.

For details, contact Marcus Yeoh (tel: 012.4723873, email: marcusypl@yahoo.com

11th GACC inter-varsity chess

The Tuanku Bahiyah Residential College (Second Residential College) of Universiti Malaya will organize the 11th edition of the Rakan Muda GACC world inter-varsity chess championship at the University on Dec 5-13.

This nine-round, Fide-rated annual event is open to all local and international universities, colleges and institutes of higher education. There will be both an individual and a team event. 

For inquiries, contact Jackson Toh (tel: 012.6702294, email: gacc11.director@gmail.com) or Belinda Lau (tel: 012.8812479, email: gacc11@yahoo.com), or you can visit the website at http://www28.brinkster.com/gaccwivcc/

Sarawak open

The Sarawak Chess Association will hold their Sarawak open chess tournament at the Borneo Chess Academy premises in Jalan Song, Kuching, on Dec 8-11. This will be played over nine rounds.

Entry fees are RM10 for women and under-18 players and RM20 for others. A deposit of RM10 is required, which is refunded when you complete the tournament.

To register, contact Lim Kian Hwa (tel: 016.8603180, email: lkhwa@tm.net.my or limkh@sarawaknet.gov.my) before Dec 5

Tireless servant

FLORENCIO CAMPOMANES is a remarkable man. If you have not met him before, I think you are missing out on the one person who has contributed significantly to shape the direction of modern chess not only in Asia but the world.

Campomanes has been deeply involved in chess for more than half a century. In the 1950s he was already captaining the Philippines national chess team at events such as the Chess Olympiads, in the 1970s he was a deputy president of the World Chess Federation, in the 1980s he assumed the executive presidency of the world body itself, and since 1995 he has been the federation's honorary life president.

I first got to know Campo -- everybody calls him that -- in 1974 when Malaysia was trying to climb out of its chess shell and in the past 28 years of so, I have had a few opportunities to renew our acquaintance.

For a busy man like him who travels often around the world in the cause of chess -- he claimed to have criss-crossed the globe five times in 2001 -- meeting high-level decision-makers like company bureaucrats and people in government, he still remembers the names of many people who are mere chess-players or, in my case, a chess writer.

I bumped into Campo again last Christmas. He will be 75 years old this month, but his heart is not even 57. He is still as energetic as ever, with a penchant to regale people with stories of his past achievements.

Like, for example, he said that he had not planned to stand for the presidency of the World Chess Federation in 1982. At that time, the Icelandic grandmaster, Fridrik Olafsson, was the Fide president and Campo was still the deputy president. 

The seed for his climb to the presidency was sown in 1972 when a young American upstart player became the world chess champion. There is no prize for guessing correctly who this American player was, but after Bobby Fischer refused to defend his world chess crown in 1975, effectively withdrawing from competitive chess altogether, Campo spent the next six years trying to coax Fischer back to the chess board.

Campo recollected that in October of 1981, while in transit in San Francisco, he had telephoned Fischer and arranged to meet him. Campo told Fischer that he had a big contract with him, worth US$500,000 which was a rather significant sum for chess in those days, and just waiting for Fischer to put pen to paper. Anatoly Karpov was supposed to be his opponent to decide once and for all who would be the chess king.

Unfortunately, Fischer held out after scrutinising the contract. It was not enough. He hesitated because he wanted the money up front, before the match, and not after the TV rights. Campo spent the whole session trying to get Fischer to sign.

When Fischer left without signing, a frustrated Campo realised that he had already wasted enough of his time with Fischer. Six years was long enough. Perhaps, Campo thought, what he could achieve as Fide's deputy president, he could get better results as the Fide president himself.

Thus began an election campaign that was to last the next one year. Campo spent this time laying the ground work on his bid for the Fide presidency.  At one stage, he was traversing the globe, visiting 23 countries in 35 days, and meeting presidents and ministers for these countries.

Curiously enough, Olafsson did not know what hit him. Maybe, he had underestimated Campo, for when the D-Day came on that historic day in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1982, Campomanes swept everything before him and won the Fide presidency by a big margin.

Asia and Africa were solidly behind Campo, as were most of the Americas. Europe had unestimated Campo and supported Olafsson but the votes there were never a threat. This single humiliation has never been forgotten by the European members of Fide and until today, Europe remains largely critical of Fide's achievements under Campo and his successor, Kirsan Iljumzhinov.

What, I asked Campo, would he consider to be his greatest personal achievements?

"Organising the world championship match (between Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio) in 1976," he answered after a moment's reflection. 

"Then, of course, we had the women's world championship match in Manila in 1989. This was between Xie Jun and Chiburdanidze and I was very proud that an Asian player had finally won the world crown," he said.

"Xie Jun's triumph was only the beginning of the realisation of our efforts to put Asia on the chess map. We were proving to the world that Asians are just as capable, that chess is no longer their monopoly. We were starting to gain the respect of the Europeans, so that is an achievement not only for me but more for Asian chess," Campo added.

Apart from organising the Manila interzonal championship in 1991, one of his other big achievements came one year later when Manila was the venue of the Chess Olympiad. It was the first time that an Asian country was organising the biennial event and Manila put up a brilliant job as hosts.

Today, with control of Fide in the hands of Iljumzhinov, does Campo miss the days when he had executive control over the world body? 

"I am Fide's honorary life president," he reminded me. "Kirsan calls the shots in Fide now. As for me, I travel the world to promote chess and I am happy just to do my part to support all of (Kirsan's) efforts."

Yes, indeed. Whether Campo is retired or not, he still has a significant role in world chess. And, I think, he still relishes the challenges before him.

UP NEXT

The next three legs of the fourth Bank Pertanian Malaysia national allegro grand prix will be played in Kuala Terengganu on Mar 2, Petaling Jaya on Mar 10 and Kota Baru on Mar 30. 

Each event will be played over six or seven rounds, depending on the number of entries, and there is a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize fund will go to the main winners while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners such as the best women, under-16 or under-12 players. 

All eyes on Fide hot seat

 

Fide crisis redlines

 

New FIDE moves on

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

 

Near mutiny in chess federation

Nothing has been more exciting during the past week than news from Paris where the annual Congress meeting of the World Chess Federation was taking place.

On Nov 19, the Central Committee of the World Chess Federation passed an historical vote of no confidence in the FIDE president, Florencio Campomanes.

The outcome of the motion, proposed by Phil Haley of Canada and strongly backed by Fanueil Adams of the United States and Egon Ditt of Germany, was 14-12 against Campomanes.

A later effort by Campomanes to take the "no confidence" vote to the General Assembly, in the hope of a reversal of the motion, came to naught.

He found himself in a no-win position when delegates from more than 63 countries presented a statement that if full democracy was not restored to FIDE, they were prepared to set up a rival world chess body.

Faced with this massive revolt and the urgings of many of his longtime friends, Campomanes was finally forced to tender his resignation as the president of the World Chess Federation.

Then in the early hours of Nov 24, 33-year-old Krisan Iljumzhinov, president of the small Russian Kalmyk Republic and a member of the Russian parliament, was elected as the new president of FIDE until the end of 1996 when there will be new elections.

He was introduced to the General Assembly by the FIDE world champion, Anatoly Karpov, for whom Campomanes' ouster must have given him much personal satisfaction.

Initially, the Russian Chess Federation spoke against Iljumzhinov's candidacy but was forced to withdraw its objections when Iljumzhinov's supporters introduced an endorsement letter signed by Russian president Boris Yeltsin.

According to an observer at the General Assembly, "everyone was laughing when the Russian Federation, represented by Gary Kasparov and Andrei Makarov, staged a sudden vanishing act during the actual vote."

Campomanes will remain in FIDE for one year, serving in a newly created post of honorary chairman with no constitutional power and which carries neither stipend nor expenses.

Developments seem positive for FIDE when it was revealed that the match between Karpov and his challenger, Gata Kamsky, finally has a sponsor and it will take place in Montreal next year.

A Unity Commission has also been formed and its purpose is to arrange a unification match in 1996 between the eventual winner of the Karpov-Kamsky match, and Kasparov.

Earlier, the Central Committee had recommended to the General Assembly that it should reject the agreement between FIDE and the Professional Chess Association on the grounds that the draft regulations for the unification of their rival world championship titles, submitted by the PCA, were unsatisfactory.

The General Assembly upheld this recommendation, agreeing that the proposed match regulations were not equal for the two players and in essence meant that FIDE would be renouncing their sovereignty over the World Championship.

In the United States, several policy board members of the United States Chess Federation lauded the decision of the General Assembly.

A longer-range implication of this decision is now becoming clearer. With a Kamsky-Karpov match now certain to be held, the PCA probably will have to agree to demands that the FIDE world champion be treated as a co-champion.

This means that the PCA world champion, Kasparov, cannot declare himself the absolute champion should this unification match ends in a draw.

In the United States, a United States Chess Federation policy board member believed that should Kamsky become the FIDE champion by defeating Karpov and the United States recognising him as such, this would force the PCA to relinquish control over a unification match.

The PCA would not want Intel Corporation, the main sponsor of the Kasparov-Anand PCA world championship match in New York last October, to ask too many questions about why its champion was suddenly playing second fiddle in its own backyard.

A USCF policy board member added: "The computer giant will never tolerate a situation in which the United States itself fails to recognise Kasparov as the absolute champion.

"The PCA will have to deal, and the good news for the PCA is that its opponents will demand nothing more than absolutely equal treatment for both players in the unification match.

"It may be better than what Kasparov deserves, but we have to start somewhere in reestablishing a rule of law in the chess world."

GOINGS ON

On Dec 10, the Johor Bahru District Chess Club will organise a one-day Rapid-30 tournament at Bangunan Komtar in Johor Bahru.

This event will be played in three categories. The open section features a very attractive first prize of RM800 and a second prize of RM500. There are eight other cash prizes in this section, ranging from RM300 for the third prize to two RM20 prizes for the ninth and 10th-placed winners.

Both the under-16 and under-12 sections offer 10 cash prizes each. For the under-16 section, the winner stands to collect RM100 and the runners-up RM80. In the under-12 section, the winner will receive RM80.

Intending participants should register with the organisers before Dec 7. Only 200 places is available. Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM6 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 event.

Details: Narayanan Krishnan (07-331-7604/07-333-8215) or write to him at 52 Jalan Landak Batu, Taman Century, 80250 Johor Bahru.

In Penang, Gerakan Youth will organise a two-day chess competition at the Hotel Agora in MacAlister Road. This event features an open international chess tournament as well as a Chinese chess tournament, to be held concurrently. Three rounds will be played on Jan 6 and four rounds on the following day.

The international chess section will involve the Penang Chess Association as the co-organiser while the Penang Chinese Chess Association will organise the Chinese chess section.

Eight prizes each are offered in both sections and the winner will receive RM500 and a challenge trophy. The second prize is RM400, third prize RM300 and fourth prize RM200. The fifth to eighth placed winners will get RM50 each. Entry fee is RM5 and closing date is Dec 22.

Entry forms are available at Times Bookshop in Burmah Road, Penang. Details: Goh Yoon Wah (04-644-5687).

Also in Penang, the second Universiti Sains Malaysia national open chess tournament begins today and will continue until Sunday. This event, with ElectCom as main sponsor, is run jointly by the university's Bridge & Chess Club and the Penang Chess Association.

This three-day event is held over eight rounds using a time control of one hour per player for each game. Ten prizes totalling RM3,250 are lined up with the winner set to get RM1,000 cash.

Finally in Kuala Lumpur, the national men's and women's closed championship is already in full swing at the Kuala Lumpur Parkroyal.

Three more rounds remain, with two to be played tomorrow and one on Sunday. Today is a rest day for the participants.

KASPAROV HEADS THE PACK

Last month's Paris Grand Prix, sponsored by Intel Corporation, was won by Gary Kasparov. He lost the first game of the final to Vladimir Kramnik but managed to equalise the score when he won the second game. In the play-off which was played at blitz rate, Kasparov beat Kramnik 1 1/2-1/2.

In the semi-finals, Viswanathan Anand was due to play Kasparov but he arrived late for the first game and had to forfeit it. Apparently, there was some miscommunication over the start of the game.

Viktor Korchnoi, Kiril Georgiev, Alexander Chernin, Valentin Arbakov, Konstantin Aseev and Predrag Nikolic qualified through a preliminary event to join Michael Adams, Joel Lautier, Ettienne Bacrot, Vladimir Kramnik, Anatoli Vaisser, Vassily Ivanchuk, Anand, Jon Speelman, Kasparov and Alexander Morozevich in the finals.

Kasparov - Kramnik, finals game 1

1. e4 c5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bb5 e6, 4. O-O Nge7, 5. c3 a6, 6. Be2 d5, 7. exd5 Nxd5, 8. d4 Be7, 9. c4 Nf6, 10. dxc5 Bxc5, 11. Qxd8+ Kxd8, 12. Nc3 Ke7, 13. Rd1 Rd8, 14. Rxd8 Nxd8, 15. a3 Bd7, 16. b4 Bd6, 17. Be3 h6, 18. Rd1 Rc8, 19. h3 Be8, 20. Nd4 Nd7, 21. f4 Bc7, 22. Nb3 f6, 23. c5 Nc6, 24. Bf3 Rd8, 25. h4 Ndb8, 26. Rxd8 Nxd8, 27. Kf2 Nbc6, 28. g3 Bf7, 29. Nd2 Bg6, 30. h5 Bd3, 31. Be2 Bh7, 32. Nc4 Bg8, 33. Bf3 Kd7, 34. Ke2 Ne7, 35. Kd3 Ndc6, 36. Bf2 e5, 37. Nb6+ Kd8, 38. Ncd5 Bxd5, 39. Nxd5 Nxd5, 40. Bxd5 exf4, 41. gxf4 Bxf4, 42. Ke4 Bc1, 43. a4 Nxb4, 44. Bxb7 Kc7, 45. Ba8 Kb8, 46. Bd5 f5+, 47. Kxf5 Nxd5, 48. Bd4 Nf6, 49. Kg6 Kc7, 50. Be5+ Kc6, 51. Kxg7 Nd7, 52. Bd4 Nxc5, 53. Kg6 Ne6, 54. Bf6 Kc5, 55. Be7+ Kc4, 56. Kf5 Nf4, 57. Kg4 Kb3, 58. a5 Ka4, 59. Bd8 Ne6, 60. Bb6 Bg5, 61. Kf5 Nf4, 62. Kg4 Nd5, 63. Kf5 Kb5 0-1

Kramnik - Kasparov, finals game 2

1. c4 g6, 2. Nf3 Nf6, 3. Nc3 Bg7, 4. e4 d6, 5. d4 O-O, 6. Be2 e5, 7. d5 a5, 8. Bg5 h6, 9. Bh4 Na6, 10. O-O Qe8, 11. Nd2 Nh7, 12. a3 f5, 13. f3 Bd7, 14. b4 axb4, 15. axb4 Nxb4, 16. Qb3 c5, 17. dxc6 Nxc6, 18. c5+ Kh8, 19. cxd6 Nd4, 20. Qxb7 Rb8, 21. Qa6 Rc8, 22. Bc4 Rc6, 23. Qa2 Rxd6, 24. Bd5 g5, 25. Bf2 g4, 26. exf5 gxf3, 27. Nxf3 Bxf5, 28. Ne4 Bxe4, 29. Bxe4 Nf6, 30. Bb7 Ng4, 31. Rae1 Qh5, 32. Bg3 Nf5, 33. Nxe5 Nxg3, 34. Rxf8+ Bxf8, 35. Nxg4 Rd1, 36. Rxd1 Bc5+, 37. Qf2 Bxf2+, 38. Nxf2 Ne2+, 39. Kh1 Nc3, 40. Rd8+ Kg7, 41. Bf3 Qb5, 42. Rd3 Qb1+, 43. Bd1 Qb2, 44. Kg1 Qc1, 45. h3 h5, 46. Kh2 h4, 47. Bf3 Qc2, 48. Rd7+ Kf8, 49. Ng4 Qc1, 50. Rd4 Nb5, 51. Rd5 Qf4+, 52. Kh1 Nd4, 53. Ne5 Qc1+, 54. Kh2 Qc7, 55. Rc5 Nxf3+, 56. gxf3 Qb8, 57. Kg1 Qb4, 58. Nd3 Qd4+, 59. Kg2 Qxd3, 60. Rc8+ Kf7, 61. Kf2 Qd7, 62. Rc2 Qxh3, 63. Ke3 Qg3, 64. Rc4 h3, 65. Rf4+ Qxf4+ 0-1

Anand - Kasparov, semi-finals game 2

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. h4 Nxd4, 11. Qxd4 hxg5, 12. hxg5 Ng4, 13. Be2 e5, 14. Qg1 exf4, 15. Bxg4 Bxg4, 16. Qh2 f5, 17. Qh7+ Kf7, 18. Rh6 Bxg5, 9. Rhxd6 f3+, 20. Kb1 Qxd6, 21. Rxd6 fxg2, 22. Qh2 Bf3, 23. Qg3 Rh8, 24. Qxg5 Rh1+, 25. Nd1 g1=Q, 26. Rd7+ Kf8, 27. Qxf5+ Kg8, 28. Qxf3 Rf8, 29. Qb3+ Kh7 0-1

Lautier - Kramnik, semi-finals game 1

1. d4 d5, 2. c4 c6, 3. Nc3 Nf6, 4. Nf3 e6, 5. Bg5 h6, 6. Bxf6 Qxf6, 7. e4 dxe4, 8. Nxe4 Bb4+, 9. Ke2 Qf4, 10. Qc2 Be7, 11. Ne5 f5, 12. Nd2 Qxd4, 13. Ndf3 Qc5, 14. Ng6 Rg8, 15. Nxe7 Qxe7, 16. g3 e5, 17. Bh3 e4, 18. Rhe1 Na6, 19. Kf1 Bd7, 20. Nd4 g6, 21. a3 O-O-O, 22. b4 Nc7, 23. Kg1 h5, 24. c5 h4, 25. a4 hxg3, 26. hxg3 Rh8, 27. Bg2 Ne6, 28. Rad1 Nxd4, 29. Rxd4 Be6, 30. Rxd8+ Rxd8, 31. b5 Qd7, 32. bxc6 Qxc6, 33. Bf1 Qd5, 34. Re3 Qd2, 35. Qb1 Qd1, 36. Qb5 Bd7, 37. Qb2 Bxa4, 38. Ra3 a6, 39. Ra1 Qd4, 40. Qa3 Bc6, 41. Rb1 e3, 42. Qxe3 Qxe3, 43. fxe3 Rd2, 44. Rb4 a5, 45. Rd4 Rxd4, 46. exd4 Bd5, 47. Bb5 Bb3 0-1

 

Spotlight on FIDE

It has been almost a year since the infamous Moscow Chess Congress. That meeting in Russia, coinciding with the hosting of the bienniAl Chess Olympiad, was in many ways a watershed for chess.

It surprised nobody that the Florencio Campomanes, the incumbent president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), had wanted to be reelected for another term, but were outraged over the way he went about to achieve it.

He succeeded in interpreting and altering the federation's constitutional rules to his favour, and he had helpers bully many delegates from member countries into voting for him.

Come next week on Nov 18, FIDE is set to hold its annual congress meeting in Paris. However, this meeting comes at a time when FIDE is living under the shadow of its rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association.

The PCA is enjoying unprecedented success in the wake of the immensely huge publicity and coverage of its recently concluded world title match between Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. Intel Corporation, the maker of the microchip which powers about 90 per cent of computers worldwide, sponsored the prize money to the tune of US$1.5 million (about RM3.8 million).

On the other hand, FIDE had been unable to find sponsors for its own world title match between Anatoly Karpov and Gata Kamsky. Even the women's world championship match between Xie Jun and Zsuzsa Polgar is suffering the same lack of sponsorship support.

Moreover, the Interzonal tournament, an integral part of any world championship cycle which qualifies people to the Candidates level, has been postponed to next year.

Another piece of bad news for FIDE is that its assets have been whittled down considerably. While not exactly living on a hand-to-mouth existence, FIDE is actually looking to the PCA to honour its pledge to make a financial contribution to FIDE as part of the FIDE-PCA deal to reunite the two titles.

These, then, are some of the major issues which the delegates attending the 66th Congress in Paris next week are expecting solutions from the FIDE president.

But these issues themselves actually pale when compared with the controversy of how Paris itself was chosen as the venue of this Congress.

In 1993, at the Curitiba Congress in South America, FIDE gave the option of hosting the 66th Congress jointly to the chess federations of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with the French Chess Federation given the second option should the Czech and Slovak chess federations withdraw.

At the Moscow Congress last year, it was confirmed that the 66th Congress would be jointly hosted in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but the option given to France was not mentioned.

Then, earlier this year when it became clear that the Czech and Slovak chess federations had withdrawn from organising the event, FIDE suddenly awarded the 66th Congress to the Qatar Chess Federation.

This decision did not go down well with the member national chess federations, least of all the French. They felt something was greatly amiss with FIDE for not abiding by its decision to give the option to France.

The French Chess Federation began a world-wide campaign to garner support from the other national chess federations and at the beginning of September, the French had obtained letters from at least 60 countries - more than a third of the FIDE membership - urging FIDE to convene an Extraordinary General Assembly in France on Nov 8 to discuss the question of the 66th Congress.

Initially, FIDE was quite adamant that the Congress would proceed in Doha, Qatar's capital. Campomanes said last year's Moscow Congress had not mentioned nor granted the option to France and in the absence of this option, he was exercising his prerogative to determine that Qatar would host the Congress.

Nevertheless, France declared to the chess world that it was ready to organise the Extraordinary General Assembly in Paris on Nov 8 whether FIDE agreed to it or not.

Then, in early October, FIDE issued a statement saying that the French had withdrawn its request for the extraordinary general assembly. At the same time too, Qatar withdrew its confirmed bid for the 66th Congress "in the principle of keeping FIDE united."

The statement said Campomanes had consulted with members of the FIDE presidential board on the next course of action and the board had decided on a new bidding process for the Congress which would be from Nov 18 to 25.

And finally, on receipt of the payment of the bidding fee from the French Chess Federation, FIDE awarded the organising of the Congress to France and it would be held in Paris.

NATIONAL CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIP

It's official! The Malaysian Chess Federation has announced that this year's national closed championship will be played from Nov 28 to Dec 3 at the Kuala Lumpur Parkroyal.

This will be a nine-round event with the men's champion receiving the Datuk Hussein Onn challenge trophy and the women's champion receiving the Dato Sabbaruddin Chik trophy.

In addition, KL Parkroyal - the sponsor - will give trophies for the most promising under-18 male and female players.

As before, each of the MCF-affiliated chess associations will be eligible to select a maximum of four official representatives for the men's section and two players for the women's section.

The national champions of the past 11 years, the current national schoolboy and schoolgirl champions as well as local players who are listed in the FIDE rating list are given direct entry into the competition.

Readers interested in this competition and who would like to be selected to play should contact their respective chess associations immediately since the MCF have fixed Nov 25 as the closing date of entries.

For more information, contact Abdul Hamid Majid (03-421-9576), Ibrahim Abu Bakar (03-5595442) or Ibrahim Yaacob (03-636-3082) after 6pm.

The results of the men's section are traditionally used as a criterion for choosing players for various international chess tournaments. The main event that comes to mind is the biennial Chess Olympiad which is scheduled for next year.

UKM TOURNAMENT

In conjunction with the 25th anniversary celebration of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, a three-day tournament will be held on campus from Nov 24.

The tournament will be separated into four categories: open, under-16, under-12 and veterans. Each section shall be played over seven rounds and each player shall use a one-hour time control per game.

Prizes for the open section are RM1,200 and a trophy for the winner, RM700 and a souvenir for the second-placed, and RM400 and a souvenir for the third-placed. There are altogether 10 prizes.

The two youth sections will also have 10 prizes each. For the under-16 section, the winner will receive RM400 and a trophy, second shall get RM250, and third RM200. The winner of the under-12 section will get RM350 and a trophy, second RM200 and third RM150.

For the veteran's open section, only players above the age of 40 can participate. The prizes range from RM200 for the winner to RM70 for the fifth-placed.

Entry fees are RM30 for the open and veteran's sections, and RM10 for the under-16 and under-12 sections. Outstation players can arrange for accommodation within the UKM campus at RM5 per day for a dormitory stay, or RM40 and RM70 for the single and double air-conditioned rooms.

For further details or registration, contact UKM's Rosli Mohd Ali or Hj Idris Fakih Mokhtar (03-829-2422, 03-829-2423) or Ibrahim Yaacob (03-636-3082).

FOUR-DAY CHESS FEST

A four-day chess fest will be held at the Tapak ASPO 95, Universiti Malaya from next Thursday. On the first day, a six-round Rapid-30 tournament shall be held for players under the age of 20. Twenty prizes are on offer: 10 for under-20 players and the remainder for those under 12 years old. The first prize for the two age-groups are RM150 and RM100 respectively. Entry fee is RM5 per person.

There is no event on Friday but on the following day, an open tournament will be arranged. This is again over six rounds with the best player set to receive RM250. There are nine other cash prizes and in addition, prizes will be given to the best under-16 and under-12 girl players. Entry fees are RM5 for under-16 participants and RM10 for all others. A similar tournament will be held on Nov 18.

 

High hopes

Now that the dust has settled in the Professional Chess Association's world championship match between Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand, a big question remains over the proposed reunification match between the champions of the PCA and the World Chess Federation (FIDE): will it take place?

When this question was posed to Kasparov at the World Trade Center in New York where the PCA match was played, he replied:

"I can't add anything concrete now but we shall stick with our word to make a financial contribution to help FIDE survive during this very difficult time."

But he claimed that the reunification match was being hindered by Anatoly Karpov and Gata Kamsky who would not sign an agreement to have this match. Karpov and Kamsky are due to play for the FIDE world championship title but the dates have not been finalised due to a lack of bids for the match.

Kasparov said the PCA had proven that it was the only organisation capable of staging a proper world championship match.

"This is the first privately-organised world championship event. We had huge media coverage and great success with the public. Today we can announce that the era of professional chess has started. This is the first time a match was really open to the public. It was also without any political agenda.

"In essence, it was a pure chess event."

At about the same time that Kasparov was speaking in New York, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a panel discussion on the PCA match. The panelists included Karpov, FIDE president Florencio Campomanes and grandmaster Daniel King who was linked to the BBC studio via satellite from the States.

When Campomanes was asked how he was going to bring FIDE and the PCA together, the FIDE president claimed: "But we have already! In Moscow, the Congress had signed a declaration of unity with the PCA and we are now working out the agreement that will make possible the play between the winner of this match and the winner of the Karpov-Kamsky match. The two winners will get to play next year when we get to sign a reasonable agreement with the PCA."

But when Campomanes was pressed into indicating when the FIDE match itself could take place, he was unable to give a firm commitment. His replies were general to the point of being evasive.

Pronouncements like "if you ask me when it will be, only the event will tell us" or "we never have anything sure until the final moment when you have everything put down on paper" or "no amount of statements and announcements on your part or my part will make any difference to when the match actually takes place" do not convey the feeling that Campomanes is in full control of the situation at FIDE.

Indeed, despite the FIDE president saying that he had taken every possible measure to have a Karpov-Kamsky match, Karpov himself interjected that there were good chances to play the match in three Russian cities - St Petersburg being one of them - but these were blocked by Russian Chess Federation president Andrei Makarov who was also a member of the FIDE presidential board.

At this point, King said that the PCA had formulated a contract and sent it to Campomanes for FIDE and the two potential challengers - Kamsky and Karpov - to sign that they were in agreement with the PCA proposals.

He added that the PCA was prepared to organise the match next year, sponsors were already lined up, and the PCA is ready with a very generous offer to support FIDE financially.

In effect, this would mean the PCA buying off the world championship rights from FIDE and will be giving FIDE a very decent financial settlement in return.

However, Campomanes was very insistent that there would be a Karpov-Kamsky match. When pressed further by John Snow, the BBC presenter, Campomanes said curtly:

"Mr Snow, you have never been in FIDE. You don't know that things materialise only when they do materialise. The fact is, why should you be privy to what we do? The fact is that we will have the match and I have assured Mr Karpov and Mr Kamsky that we will have the match."

TURBULENT PAST

It was 10 years ago that controversy erupted over the stopping of the first world championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov by the FIDE president, Florencio Campomanes, after the match had dragged on for four months.

For a very long time after that infamous incident, Kasparov remained very critical of Campomanes's decision and this was despite him having wrested the crown from Karpov in another match in 1986.

However by 1992, Campomanes and Kasparov seemed to have become the best of pals. At the closing ceremony of the Manila Chess Olympiad that year, Kasparov was almost singing the praises of FIDE and Campomanes.

But from behind that happy mask emerged Kasparov's true colours. The storm broke again when Kasparov and Nigel Short led a move to play their 1993 title match outside FIDE's jurisdiction. The two players formed the Professional Chess Association to organise the match in London for US$1.7 million (RM4.2 million.

Not to be outdone, FIDE announced their replacement world championship match between Karpov and Jan Timman in Holland and Oman, with an even bigger prize money. But Holland later could not raise their share of the money while Oman withdrew their sponsorship at the final minute.

It was left to Jakarta to save Campomanes' face by staging the FIDE world championship match but FIDE had to fork out the prize monies from its own coffer.

Then last year, FIDE was left in a quandry when the Greek Chess Federation aborted their attempt to hold the biennial Chess Olympiad. Then Andrei Makarov, president of the Russian Chess Federation, offered to host the Chess Olympiad in Moscow, an offer FIDE could not resist. However, Makarov was a Kasparov supporter and it became clear that the money for the Olympiad came from the PCA. In return, FIDE had to agree to allow Kasparov and Short, then under a FIDE blacklist, to play for their respective teams.

At the Chess Olympiad and Congress, Kasparov and Campomanes were suddenly the thickest of friends again. Kasparov campaigned vigorously for Campomanes' reelection when it became clear that the latter was facing a concerted effort to have him removed.

Procedures and rules for the FIDE elections were changed or interpreted at the Congress to Campomanes' favour and Makarov himself was seen to intimidate the delegates from the central Asian countries (the republics making up the former Soviet Union) to ensure they voted to Makarov's orders.

In return for this support, Makarov was elected as one of FIDE's deputy presidents. A declaration was then made at the Congress to reunify the FIDE and PCA world championship titles into one. It was a triumph for Kasparov and his supporters.

And where did this leave Karpov? Out in the cold. He could not even book himself into the Cosmos Hotel where the Chess Olympiad was being held and where all the players stayed. In short, he was persona non grata at the Olympiad.

According to the PCA-FIDE joint declaration to reunify the two chess titles, both organisations would play to complete their own championship cycles this year and the winners would then play a reunification match next year.

The PCA world championship match has now concluded but not the FIDE version. The problem was in finding a sponsor for the Karpov-Kamsky match which until today, no sponsor has been found.

But the latest heard from the grapevine was that Kamsky has been talking to some Argentine sponsors.

 

Campomanes re-elected

 

Battle for the throne

 

Compromise and intrigue, When neighbours meet

 

Fide in trouble again, Fate of Chess Olympiad

 

Money politics at work

Oman fiasco