THE WEEK IN CHESS 79 21/04/96 Mark Crowther --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Introduction 2) 5th Melody Amber Tournament. 3) 11th AEGON Computer Chess Tournament 4) New PCA and FIDE Ratings 5) Simen Agdestein vs Zsuzsa Polgar 6) GREENHILLS CHESSMASTERS' CLASSIC 1996, PART I by Bobby Ang 7) EDINBURGH CONGRESS by John Henderson 8) EASTER TOURNAMENT - Norrkoping 96 by Zeljko Kartal 9) 1996 Brazil Open 4-7 April by Antonio Bento 10) Possible VSB error? 11) FIDE face up to reality BREAKING INFORMATION KAMSKY LETTERS. 12) More good events 13) Winners and Losers 14) Anatoly Karpov press release. 15) VSB Analysis by Danny Mozes and a Competition GAMES SECTION ------------ Melody Amber Tournament Monaco Rapidplay 42 games Blindfold 42 games Edinburgh Weekend Chess Congress 6 games Norrkoping Easter Congress 15 games EXTRA SECTION TWIC79GR.PGN Greenhills Tournament. 178 games TWIC79AE.PGN AEGON Man Machine Challenge ROUNDS 4-6 150 games Extra Sections available via ftp and from my www: These extra sections are available at: Pittsburgh ftp site. (ftp.pitt.edu, group/chess/NEWS) (probably Monday) and straight away at my www site - http://www.brad.ac.uk/~mdcrowth/chess.html (note this is tilda mdcrowth, some terminals display this as a percent sign which won't work) 1) Introduction --------------- My thanks to TASC for their excellent coverage of the AEGON and Melody Amber tournaments (which must have received the fullest coverage I have seen due to the ease of getting the right information quickly) and because they passed on the letters the Kamsky's wanted used in TWIC. My thanks to Jonathan Tisdall, Bob Wade (for the latest FIDE rating information) Bobby Ang, John Henderson, Zeljko Kartal, Antonio Bento, Danny Mozes, Norbert Friedrich, J Portela and Patrick Rasenberg for hopefully making this a lively issue. Almost as the week's TWIC was being finished I received some interesting communications. FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov proposes to hold the match in his own Republic's capital Elista. It is to be hoped that this can come about as we have waited long enough for this match. Gata Kamsky's response to FIDE is also included and it is to be hoped that his questions and reservations can be answered and that the chess can start. I'm quite pleased how this issue of TWIC turned out and hope that you are too. Mark 2) 5th Melody Amber Tournament. ---------------------------- The 5th Melody Amber Tournamnet is taking place in Monte Carlo Monaco. The event consists of two parts: Rapidplay 25 minutes + 10 seconds per move. Blindfold 25 minutes + 20 seconds per move. Whereas the rapidplay games can be of a very high quality we can see all sorts of nonsense in the blindfold games. Check out the blindfold Judit Polgar vs Xie Jun last week if you don't believe me! (both players seemed to lose track of black's a-pawn but Judit found it again at the end of the game.) The 5th Melody Amber Tournament is excellently covered by TASC on the internet at: http://www.tasc.nl/amber5/index.html Rapidplay Tournament -------------------- Round 3 (1996.04.14) Anand, Viswanathan - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 42 Kamsky, Gata - Lautier, Joel 1/2 47 Polgar, Judit - Piket, Jeroen 1/2 33 Nikolic, Predrag - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 60 Shirov, Alexei - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 29 Xie Jun - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir 1/2 41 Round 4 (1996.04.15) Ivanchuk, Vassily - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 51 Kramnik, Vladimir - Piket, Jeroen 1-0 62 Lautier, Joel - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 35 Kamsky, Gata - Nikolic, Predrag 1-0 47 Xie Jun - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 55 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir - Polgar, Judit 0-1 53 Round 5 (1996.04.17) Piket, Jeroen - Xie Jun 1-0 42 Anand, Viswanathan - Kamsky, Gata 1/2 62 Karpov, Anatoly - Lautier, Joel 1/2 57 Polgar, Judit - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 57 Nikolic, Predrag - Ivanchuk, Vassily 0-1 77 Shirov, Alexei - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir 1-0 32 Round 6 (1996.04.18) Ivanchuk, Vassily - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 51 Lautier, Joel - Xie Jun 0-1 47 Anand, Viswanathan - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 48 Kamsky, Gata - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir 1-0 101 Karpov, Anatoly - Piket, Jeroen 1/2 34 Nikolic, Predrag - Polgar, Judit 1-0 118 Round 7 (1996.04.19) Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 19 Piket, Jeroen - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1-0 47 Polgar, Judit - Lautier, Joel 0-1 29 Shirov, Alexei - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 84 Xie Jun - Kamsky, Gata 1/2 39 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir - Nikolic, Predrag 1/2 32 Round 8 (1996.04.20) Ivanchuk, Vassily - Shirov, Alexei 1-0 33 Lautier, Joel - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir 1-0 33 Anand, Viswanathan - Piket, Jeroen 1/2 42 Kamsky, Gata - Polgar, Judit 0-1 88 Karpov, Anatoly - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 27 Nikolic, Predrag - Xie Jun 1-0 69 Monte Carlo (MON), IV 1996. cat. XVII (2673) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2735 * 1 = 0 = = 1 . 1 1 . . 5.5 2833 2 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2775 0 * . 1 = . = = . 1 1 1 5.5 2802 3 Lautier, Joel g FRA 2630 = . * . = = = 1 1 . 0 1 5.0 2771 4 Piket, Jeroen g NED 2570 1 0 . * = . = = . = 1 1 5.0 2782 5 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2725 = = = = * = = . 1 = . . 4.5 2736 6 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2735 = . = . = * 0 0 1 . = 1 4.0 2663 7 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2770 0 = = = = 1 * . 0 1 . . 4.0 2688 8 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2675 . = 0 = . 1 . * 0 0 1 1 4.0 2646 9 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2645 0 . 0 . 0 0 1 1 * . 1 = 3.5 2632 10 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2690 0 0 . = = . 0 1 . * = 1 3.5 2629 11 Xie Jun g CHN 2530 . 0 1 0 . = . 0 0 = * = 2.5 2524 12 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2600 . 0 0 0 . 0 . 0 = 0 = * 1.0 2334 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Blindfold Tournament -------------------- Round 3 (1996.04.14) Kramnik, Vladimir - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 59 Ivanchuk, Vassily - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 76 Karpov, Anatoly - Nikolic, Predrag 1/2 28 Lautier, Joel - Kamsky, Gata 0-1 58 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir - Xie Jun 1-0 59 Piket, Jeroen - Polgar, Judit 1/2 44 Round 4 (1996.04.15) Shirov, Alexei - Xie Jun 1/2 33 Anand, Viswanathan - Lautier, Joel 1-0 31 Polgar, Judit - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir 1-0 34 Nikolic, Predrag - Kamsky, Gata 1-0 54 Karpov, Anatoly - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 40 Piket, Jeroen - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 41 Round 5 (1996.04.17) Kramnik, Vladimir - Polgar, Judit 1-0 30 Ivanchuk, Vassily - Nikolic, Predrag 1/2 50 Kamsky, Gata - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 83 Lautier, Joel - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 34 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir - Shirov, Alexei 1-0 35 Xie Jun - Piket, Jeroen 0-1 37 Round 6 (1996.04.18) Kramnik, Vladimir - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 37 Shirov, Alexei - Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 54 Polgar, Judit - Nikolic, Predrag 1-0 51 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir - Kamsky, Gata 0-1 70 Piket, Jeroen - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 68 Xie Jun - Lautier, Joel 1/2 24 Round 7 (1996.04.19) Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 40 Ivanchuk, Vassily - Piket, Jeroen 1-0 54 Nikolic, Predrag - Ljubojevic, Ljubomir 1/2 23 Kamsky, Gata - Xie Jun 1/2 76 Karpov, Anatoly - Shirov, Alexei 0-1 50 Lautier, Joel - Polgar, Judit 1/2 62 Round 8 (1996.04.20) Kramnik, Vladimir - Karpov, Anatoly 1/2 26 Shirov, Alexei - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1-0 31 Polgar, Judit - Kamsky, Gata 1/2 51 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir - Lautier, Joel 1/2 63 Piket, Jeroen - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 18 Xie Jun - Nikolic, Predrag 0-1 33 Monte Carlo (MON), IV 1996. cat. XVII (2673) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2775 * = 1 = 1 . . = . 1 1 1 6.5 2912 2 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2690 = * 1 1 1 . . 1 . 0 = = 5.5 2813 3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2725 0 0 * = . 1 = 1 1 . = . 4.5 2736 4 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2735 = 0 = * . = 1 = = . 1 . 4.5 2735 5 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2675 0 0 . . * 1 = . = 1 = 1 4.5 2689 6 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2645 . . 0 = 0 * 1 = = = . 1 4.0 2675 7 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2735 . . = 0 = 0 * 0 1 1 . = 3.5 2620 8 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2770 = 0 0 = . = 1 * 0 . 1 . 3.5 2645 9 Lautier, Joel g FRA 2630 . . 0 = = = 0 1 * = . = 3.5 2633 10 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2600 0 1 . . 0 = 0 . = * = 1 3.5 2613 11 Piket, Jeroen g NED 2570 0 = = 0 = . . 0 . = * 1 3.0 2600 12 Xie Jun g CHN 2530 0 = . . 0 0 = . = 0 0 * 1.5 2414 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Combined standings ------------------ Monte Carlo (MON), IV 1996. cat. XVII (2673) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2775 ** 0= =1 1= .. =1 11 .. == .. 11 11 12.0 2854 2 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2735 1= ** == 10 == .. 01 =1 1= 1= .. .. 10.0 2787 3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2725 =0 == ** =0 =1 .. == == =1 11 .. .. 9.0 2736 4 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2690 0= 01 =1 ** .. 11 == .. 01 .. 10 == 9.0 2715 5 Lautier, Joel g FRA 2630 .. == =0 .. ** 1= .. =0 =1 1= 1= 0= 8.5 2697 6 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2675 =0 .. .. 00 0= ** == 1= .. 01 11 11 8.5 2667 7 Piket, Jeroen g NED 2570 00 10 == == .. == ** .. =0 .. 1= 11 8.0 2687 8 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2735 .. =0 == .. =1 0= .. ** 00 10 11 == 7.5 2642 9 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2770 == 0= =0 10 =0 .. =1 11 ** 0= .. .. 7.5 2667 10 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2645 .. 0= 00 .. 0= 10 .. 01 1= ** == 11 7.5 2654 11 Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2600 00 .. .. 01 0= 00 0= 00 .. == ** =1 4.5 2490 12 Xie Jun g CHN 2530 00 .. .. == 1= 00 00 == .. 00 =0 ** 4.0 2472 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) 11th AEGON Computer Chess Tournament ------------------------------------ The 11th AEGON Computer Chess Tournament was won by Yasser Seirawan with a perfect 6/6. Second equal were last year's winner John Van der Wiel and Rafael Vaganian. The top finishing computers were all on 4.5 CAPTURE, NIMZO, NOW, QUEST, and REBEL 7. The best computer performance was achieved by QUEST with a 2652 rating. NIMZO achieved a 2614 performance rating. However the event is 50 humans of varying strengths against 50 computers and again the Computers came out overall winners. FINAL STANDINGS Mankind 137.5 Machine 162.5 The games and results were covered in full on http://www.aegon.nl/chess which is the AEGON insurence companies own site. The chess part of the site was administered by TASC. They are to be congratulated on a great site that has meant that for the first time the event has been able to be followed on the internet. There were 3 live games a day aswell as complete coverage later in the evening. The Hague (NED), IV 1996. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Seirawan, Yasser g USA 2630 + 63 + 49 + 18 + 11 + 38 + 41 6.0 2 Vaganian, Rafael A g ARM 2615 + 47 + 16 = 25 + 32 + 54 + 30 5.5 3 Van der Wiel, John T.H g NED 2535 + 83 + 26 + 37 + 12 + 25 = 13 5.5 4 Speelman, Jonathan S g ENG 2625 + 30 + 80 + 44 = 13 + 23 = 27 5.0 5 CAPTURE ---- - 20 + 75 = 72 + 81 + 39 + 51 4.5 2317 6 Christiansen, Larry M g USA 2580 + 66 = 29 + 60 - 25 + 32 + 38 4.5 7 Cifuentes Parada, Roberto g NED 2490 + 85 + 43 + 50 + 29 = 13 - 12 4.5 8 Hartoch, Robert G m NED 2295 + 77 + 52 + 14 = 28 = 19 = 24 4.5 9 Hoeksema, Erik m NED 2405 + 34 + 27 = 32 + 35 = 30 = 25 4.5 10 Ligterink, Gert m NED 2450 + 67 - 32 = 49 + 26 + 28 + 43 4.5 11 NIMZO ---- + 75 = 69 + 59 - 1 + 79 + 20 4.5 2614 12 NOW ---- + 95 = 20 + 46 - 3 + 76 + 7 4.5 2573 13 QUEST ---- + 51 + 84 + 15 = 4 = 7 = 3 4.5 2652 14 REBEL 7 ---- + 61 + 55 - 8 + 76 = 51 + 53 4.5 15 Bronstein, David I g RUS 2455 + 90 + 24 - 13 + 33 = 44 = 19 4.0 16 DIEP ---- + 74 - 2 - 76 + 95 + 84 + 75 4.0 2485 17 GENIUS ---- = 71 - 78 = 86 + 97 + 82 + 87 4.0 2250 18 HIARCS ---- = 65 + 95 - 1 = 74 + 61 + 69 4.0 2562 19 KALLISTO ---- + 78 = 21 = 22 + 65 = 8 = 15 4.0 2328 20 Kosashvili, Yona g ISR 2580 + 5 = 12 = 64 + 47 + 80 - 11 4.0 21 Kuyf,Ni ---- + 94 = 19 - 38 = 27 + 37 + 44 4.0 22 Legemaat, Gert NED 2235 = 40 + 48 = 19 + 80 - 27 + 60 4.0 23 MCHESS PRO ---- + 81 - 36 + 78 + 59 - 4 + 68 4.0 2406 24 MEPHISTO GENIUS ---- + 97 - 15 = 53 + 82 + 72 = 8 4.0 2182 25 REBEL AEGON ---- + 88 + 71 = 2 + 6 - 3 = 9 4.0 2549 26 TASC R30 ---- + 91 - 3 + 74 - 10 + 88 + 71 4.0 2286 27 THE KING ---- + 45 - 9 + 82 = 21 + 22 = 4 4.0 2421 28 WCHESS ---- = 72 + 86 + 58 = 8 - 10 + 59 4.0 2366 29 ZARKOV ---- + 98 = 6 + 69 - 7 = 53 + 70 4.0 2596 30 ARTHUR ---- - 4 + 98 + 97 + 58 = 9 - 2 3.5 2275 31 CHESS SYSTEM TAL ---- = 84 = 97 = 68 = 86 = 91 + 72 3.5 2305 32 CHESSICA ---- + 93 + 10 = 9 - 2 - 6 + 81 3.5 2425 33 DARK THOUGHT ---- = 62 = 72 + 61 - 15 = 65 + 88 3.5 34 DOCTOR X ---- - 9 - 81 + 75 = 55 + 93 + 86 3.5 2230 35 DREI HIRN ---- + 87 + 65 = 36 - 9 = 69 = 55 3.5 2323 36 De Boer, Gert-Jan m NED 2445 + 57 + 23 = 35 - 38 - 43 + 47 3.5 37 FRENCHESS ---- = 86 + 62 - 3 + 87 - 21 + 79 3.5 2475 38 FRITZ ---- + 76 = 39 + 21 + 36 - 1 - 6 3.5 2426 39 Ludden,GJ ---- = 60 = 38 = 56 + 42 - 5 + 80 3.5 40 NIGHTMARE D ---- = 22 - 58 + 96 = 88 = 62 + 91 3.5 2235 41 NIGHTMARE N ---- - 69 = 96 + 84 + 46 + 92 - 1 3.5 2461 42 SAITEK BRUTE FORCE ---- - 68 + 88 + 55 - 39 = 86 + 76 3.5 43 SCHACH 3.0 ---- + 53 - 7 + 45 = 51 + 36 - 10 3.5 2336 44 VIRTUAL CHESS ---- + 96 + 68 - 4 + 71 = 15 - 21 3.5 2477 45 Wolthuis,Wi ---- - 27 + 94 - 43 = 60 + 56 + 54 3.5 46 Bierenbroodspot, Paul f NED 2310 + 54 = 64 - 12 - 41 = 52 + 56 3.0 47 CENTAUR ---- - 2 +100 + 92 - 20 + 74 - 36 3.0 48 CHEIRON ---- = 92 - 22 + 93 = 69 - 71 + 98 3.0 2053 49 COMET ---- + 79 - 1 = 10 = 70 - 59 + 92 3.0 2386 50 ISICHESS ---- + 70 = 59 - 7 - 79 + 78 = 58 3.0 2338 51 Loewenthal, Gunther NED ---- - 13 + 85 + 90 = 43 = 14 - 5 3.0 52 SHREDDER ---- + 82 - 8 + 81 - 53 = 46 = 65 3.0 2109 53 Steinwender,Di ---- - 43 + 89 = 24 + 52 = 29 - 14 3.0 54 TURNING POINT ---- - 46 + 79 + 87 + 68 - 2 - 45 3.0 2385 55 Van den Berg, Ad NED ---- + 56 - 14 - 42 = 34 + 89 = 35 3.0 56 ANT ---- - 55 + 70 = 39 + 78 - 45 - 46 2.5 2375 57 BREAK THROUGH II ---- - 36 - 61 + 99 - 92 + 95 = 74 2.5 58 Blokhuis, Jeroen NED ---- = 89 + 40 - 28 - 30 = 60 = 50 2.5 59 Boersma, Paulus A m NED 2355 + 73 = 50 - 11 - 23 + 49 - 28 2.5 60 DIOGENES ---- = 39 + 92 - 6 = 45 = 58 - 22 2.5 61 De Waard,J ---- - 14 + 57 - 33 = 66 - 18 + 85 2.5 62 Feist,Ma ---- = 33 - 37 - 66 = 83 = 40 + 64 2.5 63 HECTOR ---- - 1 - 82 +100 = 93 - 75 + 99 2.5 64 HITECH ---- + 99 = 46 = 20 = 72 - 70 - 62 2.5 2318 65 Lindner,JJ ---- = 18 - 35 + 67 - 19 = 33 = 52 2.5 66 MIRAGE ---- - 6 = 91 + 62 = 61 - 68 = 84 2.5 2123 67 NOVAG DIAMOND ---- - 10 = 93 - 65 - 84 +100 + 97 2.5 68 Perez Garcia, Hebert NED 2200 + 42 - 44 = 31 - 54 + 66 - 23 2.5 69 Polgar, Sofia m HUN 2495 + 41 = 11 - 29 = 48 = 35 - 18 2.5 70 Ree, Hans g NED 2440 - 50 - 56 + 77 = 49 + 64 - 29 2.5 71 Van der Wal, Jannes f NED 2250 = 17 - 25 + 89 - 44 + 48 - 26 2.5 72 Arnoldus,He ---- = 28 = 33 = 5 = 64 - 24 - 31 2.0 73 BIONIC ---- - 59 - 76 = 95 = 91 - 81 +100 2.0 74 Bakker,Pi ---- - 16 + 83 - 26 = 18 - 47 = 57 2.0 75 Hajenius, Willem BEL 2055 - 11 - 5 - 34 + 94 + 63 - 16 2.0 76 Hoving,Mi ---- - 38 + 73 + 16 - 14 - 12 - 42 2.0 77 IMPAKT ---- - 8 - 87 - 70 =100 + 96 = 95 2.0 78 Jongsma,L ---- - 19 + 17 - 23 - 56 - 50 + 89 2.0 79 Loeffler, Stefan m GER 2415 - 49 - 54 + 85 + 50 - 11 - 37 2.0 80 MEPHISTO BERLIN PRO ---- +100 - 4 + 91 - 22 - 20 - 39 2.0 81 Maliangkay, Henny NED ---- - 23 + 34 - 52 - 5 + 73 - 32 2.0 82 Munninghoff,Al ---- - 52 + 63 - 27 - 24 - 17 + 90 2.0 83 PANDIX ---- - 3 - 74 = 98 = 62 = 97 = 93 2.0 84 Peng Zhaoqin m NED 2410 = 31 - 13 - 41 + 67 - 16 = 66 2.0 85 SCHAAKMEESTER X ---- - 7 - 51 - 79 + 99 + 98 - 61 2.0 86 Van Wermeskerken,P ---- = 37 - 28 = 17 = 31 = 42 - 34 2.0 87 Voorn,Ma ---- - 35 + 77 - 54 - 37 + 90 - 17 2.0 88 Bouwman,CV ---- - 25 - 42 + 94 = 40 - 26 - 33 1.5 89 DRAGON ---- = 58 - 53 - 71 + 96 - 55 - 78 1.5 90 GOLDBAR ---- - 15 + 99 - 51 = 98 - 87 - 82 1.5 91 Geertsema,Pi ---- - 26 = 66 - 80 = 73 = 31 - 40 1.5 92 Hoogendoorn, Fre NED ---- = 48 - 60 - 47 + 57 - 41 - 49 1.5 93 Kieboom, Bert NED ---- - 32 = 67 - 48 = 63 - 34 = 83 1.5 94 ANANSE ---- - 21 - 45 - 88 - 75 = 99 = 96 1.0 95 De Kleynen,H ---- - 12 - 18 = 73 - 16 - 57 = 77 1.0 96 Goudart,Ri ---- - 44 = 41 - 40 - 89 - 77 = 94 1.0 97 Oranje,Ri ---- - 24 = 31 - 30 - 17 = 83 - 67 1.0 98 Vromans,Ni ---- - 29 - 30 = 83 = 90 - 85 - 48 1.0 99 Prins,H ---- - 64 - 90 - 57 - 85 = 94 - 63 0.5 100 Van der Giessen,A ---- - 80 - 47 - 63 = 77 - 67 - 73 0.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4) New PCA and FIDE Ratings ------------------------ FIDE WORLD RANKING - APRIL 1996. -------------------------------- The list below has no official status. It is merely a relection of the results submitted since the January Rating list was compiled. For instance although the Hastings Christmas Festivals, Premier, Challengers etc appears Reggio Emelia doesn't (perhaps this is to do with the investigation into Azmaiparashvili's inflated rating) The absolute top events are all present including the VSB tournament which cost Kramnik 13 points and increased Kasparov's rating to take the number one spot back. Anand has retained his rating through two tournaments but it is clear that Topalov is on a roll. Non of the recent American events appear so there will be some more rating points for Van Wely and Michael Adams. A full list of events that were rated was presented which is a must I think. It would have been nice to have the list on disk as with the PCA list below (but there no indication is given of the events rated.) I have typed the information in as best I could. The RANK is the new ranking of the players. Then appears the January information. The April information is the number of new games rated, the change and the new unrounded rating. A list of the top 100, plus various Junior, and women's lists was issued. APRIL 1996 INORMATION RANK NAME JAN INFORMATION GMS CHANGE RATING ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2775 19 13.04.63 9 6.50 2781.50 2. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2770 12 23.05.51 11 0.20 2770.20 3. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2775 42 25.06.75 9 -13.50 2761.50 4. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2735 39 18.03.69 13 9.40 2744.40 5. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2735 0 02.06.74 11 1.80 2736.80 6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2725 0 11.12.69 22 0.70 2725.70 7. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2700 40 15.03.75 22 18.20 2718.20 8. Short, Nigel D. g ENG 2665 37 01.06.65 19 19.80 2684.80 9. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2690 38 04.07.72 13 - 6.50 2683.50 10. Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2665 29 13.06.68 34 10.00 2675.00 11. Polgar, Judit (GM) g HUN 2675 29 23.07.76 00 12. Salov, Valery g RUS 2670 11 26.05.64 00 13. Gelfand, Boris g BLR 2700 24 24.06.68 22 -31.80 2668.20 14. Adams, Michael g ENG 2660 29 17.11.71 24 7.60 2667.60 15. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2650 34 18.01.66 37 13.40 2663.40 16. Azmaiparshvili, Zurab g BIH 2660 27 16.03.60 00 17. Ehlvest, Jaan g EST 2660 48 14.10.62 10 - 1 2659.00 18. Jussupow, Artur g GER 2655 19 13.02.60 00 19. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2645 9 21.11.66 18 7.70 2652.70 20. Hracek, Zbynek g CZE 2650 20 09.09.70 10 1.00 2651.00 21. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2670 24 30.01.69 32 -20.00 2650.00 22. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2630 30 17.06.76 33 19.50 2649.50 23. Glek, Igor V. g RUS 2635 46 07.11.61 11 14.50 2649.50 24. Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2645 0 11.09.60 5 2.00 2647.00 25. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2645 47 23.03.31 00 Some large rating changes: 45. Kharlov, Andrei g RUS 2575 20 20.11.68 30 36.50 2611.50 47. Tiviakov, Sergei g RUS 2625 38 14.02.73 34 -14.50 2610.50 50. Yudasin, Leonid g ISR 2635 16 08.08.59 31 -26.00 2609.00 51. Lautier, Joel g FRA 2630 32 12.04.73 22 -22.30 2607.70 52. Onischuk, Alexander g UKR 2580 38 03.09.75 22 27.00 2607.00 55. Miles, Anthony J g ENG 2635 66 23.04.55 36 -30.50 2604.50 63. Yermolinsky, Alex g USA 2565 55 11.04.58 49 30.20 2595.20 68. Hodgson, Julian M. g ENG 2615 58 25.07.63 20 -22.00 2593.00 69. Psakhis, Lev g ISR 2610 46 29.11.58 10 -18.00 2592.00 78. Timman, Jan H g NED 2620 64 14.12.51 22 -30.40 2589.60 79. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2570 64 07.10.72 35 16.90 2586.90 81. Kaidanov, Grigory S g USA 2605 17 11.10.59 22 -18.90 2586.10 88. Filippov, Valerij f RUS 2530 31 28.11.75 41 53.80 2583.80 PCA WORLD CHESS RANKING For player rated 2500 and higher Results up to April 2, 1996 Produced by Ken Thomson with ChessBase Calculated by Vladimir Dvorkovich, Chess Union Int. 1. Kasparov,Garry RUS 2787 161 2. Kramnik,Vladimir RUS 2757 145 3. Anand,Viswanathan IND 2755 159 4. Kamsky,Gata USA 2754 165 5. Karpov,Anatoly RUS 2753 150 6. Ivanchuk,Vassily UKR 2749 155 7. Topalov,Veselin BUL 2720 188 8. Polgar,Judit (GM) HUN 2694 194 9. Short,Nigel D ENG 2678 197 10. Ehlvest,Jaan EST 2677 136 11. Shirov,Alexei LAT 2674 181 12. Bareev,Evgeny RUS 2665 151 13. Almasi,Zoltan HUN 2663 162 14. Khalifman,Alexander RUS 2662 136 15. Adams,Michael ENG 2657 183 16. Salov,Valery RUS 2651 177 17. Yusupov,Artur GER 2647 116 18. Sokolov,Ivan BIH 2647 177 19. Rublevsky,Sergei RUS 2644 167 20. Gelfand,Boris BLA 2642 174 21. Svidler,Peter RUS 2641 165 22. Morosevic,Alexander RUS 2634 209 23. Krasenkov,Mikhail RUS 2632 187 24. Korchnoi,Viktor SUI 2632 175 25. Seirawan,Yasser USA 2629 182 26. Dreev,Alexey RUS 2629 149 27. Akopian,Vladimir ARM 2626 143 28. Hracek,Zbynek TCH 2626 168 29. Tiviakov,Sergei RUS 2624 189 30. Nikolic,Predrag BIH 2623 201 31. Kharlov,Andrei RUS 2622 162 32. Illescas Cordoba,Miguel ESP 2621 174 33. Granda Zuniga,Julio E PER 2616 210 34. Speelman,Jonathan S ENG 2615 163 35. Andersson,Ulf SWE 2615 141 36. Kosashvili,Yona ISR 2614 191 37. Leko,Peter HUN 2613 140 38. Yudasin,Leonid ISR 2612 168 39. Vladimirov,Evgeny KAZ 2611 163 40. Georgiev,Kiril BUL 2609 182 41. Huzman,Alexander UKR 2609 148 42. Epishin,Vladimir RUS 2608 149 43. Magerramov,Elmar RUS 2604 188 44. Nunn,John D M ENG 2601 178 45. Glek,Igor V RUS 2601 179 46. Smirin,Ilia ISR 2598 175 47. Agdestein,Simen NOR 2598 235 48. Dorfman,Josif D FRA 2597 128 49. Hansen,Curt DEN 2597 173 50. Azmaiparashvili,Zurab GEO 2596 175 51. Nenashev,Alexander UZB 2595 164 52. Fischer,Robert James USA 2594 197 53. Morovic Fernandez,Ivan CHI 2593 160 54. Wolff,Patrick G USA 2593 179 55. Polgar,Zsuzsa (GM) HUN 2592 176 56. Malaniuk,Vladimir P UKR 2590 183 57. Lautier,Joel FRA 2590 204 58. Rohde,Michael A USA 2589 190 59. Savchenko,Stanislav UKR 2589 164 60. Oll,Lembit EST 2588 175 61. Onischuk,Alexander UKR 2587 172 62. Adianto,Utut INA 2587 186 63. Beliavsky,Alexander G UKR 2586 170 64. Campora,Daniel H ARG 2585 179 65. Piket,Jeroen NED 2584 188 66. Polugaevsky,Lev RUS 2584 188 67. Huebner,Robert GER 2582 147 68. Ljubojevic,Ljubomir YUG 2580 150 69. Pigusov,Evgeny RUS 2579 136 70. Novikov,Igor A UKR 2579 132 71. Sadler,Matthew ENG 2579 184 72. Kurajica,Bojan BIH 2578 196 73. Dokhoian,Yury RUS 2577 162 74. Lobron,Eric GER 2577 205 75. Timman,Jan H NED 2576 165 76. Gavrikov,Viktor LTU 2576 129 77. Yermolinsky,Alexey USA 2575 152 78. Filippov,Valerij RUS 2574 165 79. Eingorn,Vereslav S UKR 2572 166 80. Georgadze,George GEO 2572 141 81. Ulibin,Mikhail RUS 2572 180 82. Zvjaginsev,Vadim RUS 2571 143 83. Dautov,Rustem RUS 2571 160 84. Tkachev,Vladislav KAZ 2571 150 85. Sturua,Zurab GEO 2571 164 86. Vaganian,Rafael A ARM 2570 161 87. Romanishin,Oleg M UKR 2570 150 88. Dolmatov,Sergey RUS 2570 129 89. Hickl,Joerg GER 2570 145 90. Balashov,Yuri S RUS 2569 148 91. Psakhis,Lev ISR 2569 165 92. Gulko,Boris F USA 2569 159 93. Kuzmin,Alexey RUS 2569 177 94. Lputian,Smbat G ARM 2568 235 95. Bologan,Viktor MOL 2568 206 96. Hulak,Krunoslav CRO 2567 190 97. Aleksandrov,Aleksej BLA 2567 213 98. Razuvaev,Yuri S RUS 2567 136 99. Kotronias,Vasilios GRE 2566 173 100. Xu Jun CHN 2565 169 101. Hellers,Ferdinand SWE 2565 177 102. Maximenko,Andrei RUS 2565 177 103. Rogers,Ian AUS 2565 186 104. Vyzmanavin,Alexey RUS 2564 185 5) Simen Agdestein vs Zsuzsa Polgar -------------------------------- Jonathan Tisdall reports that in conjunction with a big computer technical conference in Oslo there will be a live internet chess match between Women's World Champion Zsuzsa Polgar and Simen Agdestein. The live games will be supplemented with comments from Jonathan. The timerate will be 45 minutes per game. Schedule: 23 April 10:30-12:00, 15:30-17:00 24 April 11:30-13:00 15:30-17:00 25 April 11:30-13:00 15:30-17:00 The event will be covered at http://www.ibm.no/ I will add a more precise URL on my www site when it becomes available. (this is just IBM Norway's site.) 6) GREENHILLS CHESSMASTERS' CLASSIC 1996, PART I by Bobby Ang ----------------------------------------------------------- The Philippine Chess Federation is deadly serious about producing the strongest possible Olympiad squad to represent the country in Yerevan later this year. The event was held March 12-21st 1996 in Greenhills a district in San Juan, Metro Manila. GMs Eugene Torre and Rogelio Antonio are seeded into the team. The other four slots are to be allocated to the first two places in two Chessmasters' Classics to be held in March and April of 1996. Only National Masters and better were allowed to play in these Classics. The top ten of the first Classic were : 1 Barcenilla,Rogelio IM 7.0/9 2 Roca,Petronio NM 7.0/9 3 Donguines,Fernie FM 7.0/9 4 Pialan,Fernandito NM 6.5/9 5 Toledo,Rodolfo NM 6.0/9 6 Absin,Ernesto NM 6.0/9 7 Bancod,Ronald IM 6.0/9 8 Garma,Edgardo NM 5.5/9 9 Garma,Chito FM 5.5/9 10 Bitoon,Richard NM 5.5/9 Winner of the tournament on tie-break is IM Barcenilla, who managed to pull off an 85-move marathon victory over his co-qualifier Petronio Roca in the last round. The revelation and at the same time heart-breaker of the tournament was NM Rodolfo Toledo. He led for most of the tournament and if he had won against FM Donguines in the last round would have had the better tie-breaks over Barcenilla and Roca. Instead, he managed to lose. The top seed, IM Nelson Mariano, had to withdraw after the 5th round due to swollen gums. Other IMs who finished out of the first 10 were Barlo Nadera and Ricardo de Guzman. The table below is derived from the games and shows the full results of the top 10. Greenhills (PHI), III 1996. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Barcenilla, Rogelio m PHI 2445 +29 =24 +30 =20 = 7 +26 = 2 +15 + 3 7.0 /9 2533 2 Donguines, Fernie f PHI 2445 +17 =34 + 8 = 9 =16 +25 = 1 +11 + 7 7.0 /9 2540 3 Roca, Petronio PHI 2350 +13 =30 +23 +10 =20 +47 + 7 + 5 - 1 7.0 /9 2416 4 Pialan,Fernandito ---- +14 -10 +46 +24 -15 +33 +20 +19 = 5 6.5 /9 2564 5 Absin,Ernesto ---- +25 +12 -20 +39 +10 =15 +47 - 3 = 4 6.0 /9 2260 6 Bancod, Ronald m PHI 2400 +27 =20 +12 -26 +39 +13 -11 +10 =22 6.0 /9 2401 7 Toledo,Rodolfo ---- =23 +35 +22 +32 = 1 +20 - 3 + 9 - 2 6.0 /9 2487 8 Bitoon,Richard ---- +35 +47 - 2 -15 =24 +37 +22 =20 = 9 5.5 /9 2446 9 Garma, Chito f PHI 2400 +19 +31 =10 = 2 =26 +16 =15 - 7 = 8 5.5 /9 2410 10 Garma, Edgardo PHI 2375 +36 + 4 = 9 - 3 - 5 +28 +12 - 6 +19 5.5 /9 2374 11 De Guzman, Ricardo m PHI 2400 +39 =37 =26 +38 . +22 + 6 - 2 -16 5.0 /8 2422 12 Gonzales,Jayson ---- +28 - 5 - 6 . +18 +29 -10 +47 +15 5.0 /8 2256 13 Lorena,Carlo ---- - 3 -38 +45 +44 +34 - 6 +29 . +28 5.0 /8 2248 14 Nolte, Rolando PHI 2355 - 4 +36 +17 . -25 +41 =33 =30 +23 5.0 /8 2599 15 Villamayor,Buenaventura ---- +44 =16 =34 + 8 + 4 = 5 = 9 - 1 -12 5.0 /9 2229 16 Datu,Idelfonso ---- +46 =15 =24 . = 2 - 9 +26 . +11 4.5 /7 2415 17 Sanchez,Joseph ---- - 2 +48 -14 . +31 . +37 =24 +47 4.5 /7 18 Calvo,Antonio ---- -22 -33 +40 +41 -12 +38 +25 . =20 4.5 /8 2353 19 Lavega,Carlito ---- - 9 +45 -38 +43 =28 +24 +30 - 4 -10 4.5 /9 2108 20 Nadera, Barlo A f PHI 2430 +21 = 6 + 5 = 1 = 3 - 7 - 4 = 8 =18 4.5 /9 2398 21 Carag,Erwin ---- -20 =27 -25 +36 . . =31 +32 +26 4.0 /7 2390 22 Cabuenos,Carlos ---- +18 =43 - 7 +30 . -11 - 8 +40 = 6 4.0 /8 2207 23 Fuentes,Mardonio ---- = 7 +42 - 3 -29 =35 +40 +32 . -14 4.0 /8 2132 24 Llavanes,Ronald ---- . = 1 =16 - 4 = 8 -19 +39 =17 +25 4.0 /8 2445 25 Nodado,Jerry ---- - 5 =29 +21 +31 +14 - 2 -18 =26 -24 4.0 /9 2400 26 Paciencia,Enrique ---- +38 =32 =11 + 6 = 9 - 1 -16 =25 -21 4.0 /9 2411 27 Villanueva,Gary ---- - 6 =21 -28 -40 =36 +48 +41 +29 -30 4.0 /9 2269 28 Maga, Mirabeau PHI 2370 -12 -41 +27 +46 =19 -10 . +33 -13 3.5 /8 2210 29 Vasquez,Andrew ---- - 1 =25 +42 +23 =33 -12 -13 -27 =31 3.5 /9 2192 30 Badilles,Ponciano ---- . = 3 - 1 -22 +38 . -19 =14 +27 3.0 /7 2258 31 Pablo,Louie ---- +45 - 9 =33 -25 -17 . =21 =37 =29 3.0 /8 2169 32 Chiong,Luis ---- +41 =26 +37 - 7 . . -23 -21 . 2.5 /6 33 Ranola, Yves PHI 2325 . +18 =31 . =29 - 4 =14 -28 . 2.5 /6 2169 34 Zuniga,Dante ---- +48 = 2 =15 . -13 . . . . 2.0 /4 2445 35 Mariano, Nelson m PHI 2510 - 8 - 7 =36 +42 =23 . . . . 2.0 /5 2350 36 Carag, Elmer f PHI 2350 -10 -14 =35 -21 =27 . . +39 . 2.0 /6 2140 37 Perez,Roland ---- +40 =11 -32 . . - 8 -17 =31 . 2.0 /6 2400 38 Bagamasbad,Efren ---- -26 +13 +19 -11 -30 -18 -45 . . 2.0 /7 39 Lao,Elias ---- -11 +40 +43 - 5 - 6 . -24 -36 . 2.0 /7 40 Soria,Renato ---- -37 -39 -18 +27 . -23 +46 -22 . 2.0 /7 41 Unding, Hector PHI 2305 -32 +28 -47 -18 +46 -14 -27 . . 2.0 /7 2362 42 Yasay,Mauro ---- =43 -23 -29 -35 +45 . . . . 1.5 /5 43 Dela Cruz,Henry ---- =42 =22 -39 -19 . . . . . 1.0 /4 44 Martinez,Rolly ---- -15 -46 +48 -13 . . . . . 1.0 /4 45 Bolico,Joshue ---- -31 -19 -13 . -42 . +38 . . 1.0 /5 46 Malinao,Venerando ---- -16 +44 - 4 -28 -41 . -40 . . 1.0 /6 47 Ortiz,Eduardo ---- . - 8 +41 . . - 3 - 5 -12 -17 1.0 /6 2327 48 Libre,Virgilio ---- -34 -17 -44 . . -27 . . . 0.0 /4 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) EDINBURGH CONGRESS by John Henderson ------------------------------------ My thanks to John Henderson for sending me the text of the Channel 4 teletext coverage of this congress (he is the editor of the pages which are sponsored by Chess and Bridge.) 1. Parker, Jonathan m ENG 2480 38 19.05.76 4.5 /5 2. McNab, Colin A g SCO 2465 22 03.02.61 4 Orr, Mark J L m IRL 2365 3 09.11.55 4 IM Jonathan Parker from Edinburgh picked up the L500 prize as the outright winner of the Congress with a score of 4.5/5. In a tense last round game he defeated the top seed, GM Mark Hebden from Leicester. A total of 360 players competed in the Congress at Leith Academy which was organised by the Edinburgh & Lothians Chess Association. 8) EASTER TOURNAMENT - Norrkoping 96 by Zeljko Kartal ---------------------------------------------------- Zeljko Kartal reports on the Norrkoping Easter Tournament organised by the SCHACK O8 Chess Club 5 - 8 April 1996. 110 players competed in this 7 round event and there was a three way tie for first. 1st prize was 10.000 Skr ($1500 USA) NAME RATING SCORE KVP 1 Degerman, Lars IM 2555 6 29.5 2 Hector, Jonny GM 2520 6 28.5 3 Lejlic, Samir IM 2420 6 25.5 4 Laveryd, Peter 2411 5.5 29 5 Brynell, S IM 2540 5.5 27.5 6 Agrest, Evgenij IM 2593 5.5 26 7 Sandstrom, Ludvig 2394 5.5 25 8 Ernst, T GM 2450 5 29 9 Malesevic, Nedeljko 2335 5 28.5 10 Renman, N IM 2363 5 27.5 9) 1996 Brazil Open 4-7 April by Antonio Bento ------------------------------------------- Antonio Bento reports that there was a three way tie in the 1996 Brazil open held in the 5 star Naoum Plaza Hotel Brazilia. This was a 6 round tournament which saw a three way tie for first place. Each player received $1000. The event was held by the Brazilian Chess Club and Lance Brazilian Magazine. Caldeira, Adriano BRA 2220 5 02.01.71 5.5 /6 Matsuura, Everaldo m BRA 2420 33 01.10.70 5.5 Trindade, Sandro m BRA 2345 0 28.06.65 5.5 10) Possible VSB error? ------------------- [Event "VSB"] [Site "Amsterdam NED"] [Date "1996.04.01"] [Round "9"] [White "Short, N"] [Black "Kramnik, V"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2665"] [BlackElo "2775"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nf3 h6 8. O-O Be7 9. Re1 O-O 10. h3 Be6 11. Bf1 Qa5 12. Bd2 Qd8 13. Bc1 Qa5 14. Bd2 1/2-1/2 It seems likely that 11. Bf1 is the correct move not 11. Rf1 given in the bulletin, does anyone know? 11) FIDE face up to reality ----------------------- It is reported by Dutch teletext that Kirsan Iljumzhinov has finally recognised that the FIDE World Championship match cannot be held in Iraq. He will go and see Saddam Hussein to explain the situation. This seemed the most likely course of events since the US State Department warned the Kamsky's about large financial and other penalties for playing such a match. It seems that both Karpov and Kamsky are very much against the idea of playing there now and some kind of meeting may have taken place at the Melody Amber tournament currently on in Monte Carlo. There will be a meeting of the FIDE European Continent in Utrecht Netherlands. A number of Federations won't be there, although they will give proxy's to other Federations. Attending will be England, Russia (Makarov himself is coming), Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary Estonia, Scotland and Switzerland. In addition Canada and the US will be present. Karpov, Kamsky and Iljumzhinov have also been invited although it is not clear whether they will attend. The Agenda (although other matters can be added.) - The 1996 match for the worldchampionship - The next cycle for the worldchampionship - FIDE finances - the process of decision-making within FIDE - the 1996 FIDE Congress in Yerewan, Armenia - European youthchampionships - European teamchampionship - The 'Bosman'-case and its implications for chess in Europe BREAKING INFORMATION KAMSKY LETTERS. ------------------------------------ This afternoon a further release has been sent to me from the Kamsky's (who are at Melody Amber) *********************************************************** FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DES ECHECS Singapore, 21 April 1996 FOR URGENT ATTENTION OF: GRANDMASTER GATA KAMSKY c/o Metropole Palace Hotel, Monaco Dear Grandmaster Kamsky, WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH 1996 -KARPOV vs KAMSKY We have received notice of your refusal to play in the World Championship Match scheduled for Baghdad, Iraq, on 1 June 1996 because of advice from the United States State Department and the United States Treasury Department. In order to help, FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov has decided to host the World Championship Match in Elista, Kalmykia, starting 1 June 1996. As per FIDE Regulation D.I.07.2.12, the minimum prize fund if Sfr. 1,000,000 will be guaranteed. President Iljumzhinov is inviting you, World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the General Sponsor to attend a press Conference next week in Moscow where he shall furnish all details concerning the Match. He shall reimburse your travel expenses and provide you with board and lodging in Moscow. Upon your arrival and during your stay in Moscow, your security shall be guaranteed. President Iljumzhinov awaits your confirmation to play the Match in Elista not later than Wednesday, 24 April 1996. Please also confirm if you will attend the Press Conference scheduled next week in Moscow. You could fax your reply to the undersigned in Singapore on (65) 2355303 or to FIDE Deputy President Bachar Kouatly in France on (33) 1 46043130. Thank you for your kind co-operation. Yours sincerely Ignatius Leong Administrative manager. cc FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov FIDE Deputy President Bachar Kouatly ******************************************************* ******************************************************* From: Candidate for the World Chess Champion title, Grandmaster Gata Kamsky To: FIDE President, Mr. Iljumzhinov, K. Monaco, April 21, 1996 Dear President, I have received a strange invitation to attend a press-conference in Moscow and an announcement concerning my match. I would like to have the following to be included in this invitation: 1. Discussion and talks concerning the conditions of the match. 2. Creating and after discussing signing of a contract between three parties: Mr. Kamsky, Mr. Karpov and FIDE president Mr. Iljumzhinov. 3. Reception of the official bank guarantees. Only if these points will be included in the invitation, then my representative, Mr. Roustam Kamsky will come to Moscow 25-26 of April. He will need your assistance with the Russian consulate in Nice for obtaining a visa. I am asking you to provide security and a means of transport for my representative upon his arrival and during his stay in Moscow. Regards, Gata Kamsky ******************************************************* 12) More good events ---------------- Madrid Tournament ----------------- From 8th to 18th of May, 1996 (Rest on 12th and 16th May) information J Portela. Category 17. 2652 ------------------------------------------------------- 1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2700 40 15.03.75 2. Gelfand, Boris g BLR 2700 24 24.06.68 3. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2690 38 04.07.72 4. Salov, Valery g RUS 2670 11 26.05.64 5. Azmaiparshvili, Zurab g BIH 2660 27 16.03.60 6. Adams, Michael g ENG 2660 29 17.11.71 7. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2645 47 23.03.31 8. Illescas Cordoba, Miguel g ESP 2635 18 03.12.65 9. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2625 11 18.07.77 10. San Segundo, Pablo g ESP 2535 34 09.02.70 Dos Hermanas May 20th --------------------- 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2730 31 25.06.75 M 2775 42 2. Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2795 26 13.04.63 M 2775 19 4. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2740 36 18.03.69 M 2735 39 5. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2735 16 02.06.74 M 2735 0 6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2725 10 11.12.69 M 2725 0 7. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2640 40 15.03.75 M 2700 40 8. Gelfand, Boris g BLR 2685 29 24.06.68 M 2700 24 9. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2695 61 04.07.72 M 2690 38 10. Polgar, Judit (GM) g HUN 2635 31 23.07.76 F 2675 29 29. Illescas Cordoba, Miguel g ESP 2620 45 03.12.65 M 2635 18 Previous winners of Dos Hermanas. Edition Year Cat. WINNER ---------------------------------------- 1 1989 3 Julian Hodgson 2 1990 5 Leonid Bass 3 1991 7 Alexander Goldin 4 1992 11 Leonid Yudasin 5 1993 13 Anatoly Karpov 6 1994 16 Boris Gelfand 7 1995 18 Gata Kamsky 8 1996 19 -------------------------------------- Dortmund Category 18 5th-14th July ---------------------------------- Thanks to Norbert Friedrich for the information 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2775 42 25.06.75 2. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2725 0 11.12.69 3. Polgar, Judit (GM) g HUN 2675 29 23.07.76 4. Leko, Peter g HUN 2625 23 08.09.79 5. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2690 38 04.07.72 6. Huebner, Robert Dr. g GER 2635 17 06.11.48 7. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2700 40 15.03.75 8. Gelfand, Boris g BLR 2700 24 24.06.68 9. Adams, Michael g ENG 2660 29 17.11.71 10. Miles, Anthony J g ENG 2635 66 23.04.55 Vienna 9th - 17th of August 1996 --------------------------------- 1. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2770 12 23.05.51 2. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2775 42 25.06.75 3. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2700 40 15.03.75 4. Gelfand, Boris g BLR 2700 24 24.06.68 5. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2690 38 04.07.72 6. Polgar, Judit (GM) g HUN 2675 29 23.07.76 7. Ehlvest, Jaan g EST 2660 48 14.10.62 8. Jussupow, Artur g GER 2655 19 13.02.60 9. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2645 47 23.03.31 10. Leko, Peter g HUN 2625 23 08.09.79 Chess Olympiads --------------- A reminder that this is an Olympiad year. The event will be held in Yerevan the capital of Armenia. It will take place September 15th to October 2nd 1996. 13) Winners and Losers ------------------ A couple of sports stories caught my eye this week. Greg Norman lined up alongside Nick Faldo at the start of the final round of the PGA Golf Championships 6 shots ahead. No-one before had obtained such a lead and thrown it away. Norman, one of the most prodigiously successful golfers had only won two majors, in contention many times, a mixture of bad luck and nerves had meant that many times the prize had escaped his grasp. He gets very upset that he has a reputation as a "choker" when the going gets very tough. Faldo has the reputation of a man who once he gets into contention will not yield to the pressure. 12 pars to maintain his final day lead in one Masters, a coolness under pressure which says to his opponents that they better play well and frequently leads them to do the opposite. In the end Faldo shot the best round of the day to win the title and Norman nearly contrived to finish 3rd. You could see that Norman was nervous at the start, the sight of Faldo being so cool made this worse. He looked drained and all the blood left his cheeks well before the 11th hole. It was all down to belief, Norman having blown it before subconsciously accepted the possibility, Faldo would not have believed he could blow such a lead because he had not done it. Faldo would have believed that he could catch Norman because he has achieved such feats before. Norman's 78 was not a good round, but many good professionals had such disasters in the first couple of rounds to be eliminated. The 78 was not unusual for the nervous golfer in these Championships. It was simply a case of Norman playing worse than normal under pressure. What astonished me was the reaction of his fellow players. There was near silence from the fans, Faldo commiserated with Norman rather than celebrating his own triumph. The reaction of the press was that this was a terrible thing likely to scar Norman for life. That's as maybe, but at the very top of chess this is precisely what players are trying to do. Once that vital confidence deserts a player he can in fact no longer compete at the highest level. There is no particular reason to be sorry, that's simply the way it is. Think back to the famous Kasparov-Karpov match in 1984-5. Karpov raced to a 4-0 lead then tried to shut Kasparov out of the match. What he attempted was total humiliation of Kasparov, to convince him that he just wasn't in his class. It was a clear policy decision. It didn't work as Kasparov dug his heals in and decided to lose no more games. Eventually the match was called off after 48 games with the score at 5-3 in controversial circumstances. It is open to speculation what effect it would have had on Kasparov's career if he had managed the 6-0 shutout. In the cycle leading up to the 1987 Seville match Karpov played matches against Andre Sokolov and Johannes Hjartarsson. Both had serious trouble coming to terms with the severity of the defeats and the apparent class difference between them and Karpov. Few other players could have done this to them but nevertheless both players fortunes declined alarmingly after the match as they were unable to play in the way that had got them to the heights of playing the match in the first place. It seems that failure in chess sets you up for further failure. Having experienced what can go wrong, the possibility becomes stronger in the mind and actually happens more frequently. This is why the Soviets were so careful about which tournaments they entered their juniors in. Only when they were ready to succeed were they put into battle. This contrasts markedly with Nigel Short. He was foolishly entered into a strong GLC tournament when 12. The players obligingly did their duty and mercilessly took him apart round after round. This result scarred Short for years, irrationally so, as he got a score that might have been expected for such a young and inexperienced player, but we are definitely not talking about rationality when it comes to this kind of psychology. Keres, normally regarded as one of the more gentlemanly top class players said that he was deliberately tough on young promising players. He made a special effort to win so that an early psychological hold could be obtained. The Soviets taught their players to torture their opponents in winning positions if possible by drawing out the winning process so that their opponents would remember the loss longer. There is the phenomenon of the chess triangle. Maybe Korchnoi always beats Tal. Tal always beats Geller, and Geller always beats Korchnoi. This kind of thing is most readily explained by people playing weaker against certain players because they remember the previous bad experiences. This can remain the case even if the relative strengths of the players changes quite radically. Mental strength and inner belief confer advantages beyond measure. If you don't believe in the possibility of failure it is less likely to happen. Ability to live with failure is seen as the mark of a strong sportsman but quite frequently they have to depart from reality to do so. We had an interesting example of this in the Soccer Premiership in England this week. The end of the season is very close, there are only three or four matches left. Newcastle, who have never achieved the success their support should have given them, had just thrown away a massive lead with a mixture of bad luck and bad football. Manchester United now had the clear lead and it was for them to throw it away. What happens? They play a team struggling against relegation and yet they had already effectively lost the match by half time. They were 3-0 down. Was this the fault of a nervous team with the Premiership within their grasp? No, it was of course the fault of their grey team strip which blends in with the crowd and in which they have lost 4 from 5 games. The strip is unceremoniously dumped for the second half and an announcement is made that it won't be worn again. This is a very useful way of coping with failure. Such a response is extremely frequent in chess. Lasker lead the 1924 tournament and a few rounds from the end he had to play his closest rival Capablanca. Capablanca won a fine game to close the gap. Lasker however was not to be denied, but he did blame his loss to Capablanca on a faulty clock, a dispute that he refused to let die for many years afterwards. Fischer blamed his inability to qualify for the World Title in 1962 on a draw agreement between the top Russians. This may have been partially true but he played well below his capabilities throughout the event even in the early rounds and his off the board behaviour was very stressed. In later years Fischer became known for demanding a large number of changes to playing conditions before he would enter an event. All of these can be traced back to specific incidents early in his career. Kasparov lead by three in 1986 against Karpov before losing three games in a row in their Leningrad match. He probably staved off mental collapse by blaming it on a spy in his camp. (the truth or otherwise of this is in some ways not relevant, he certainly needed the excuse.) These are absolutely normal ways of coping with setbacks, indeed in some cases being rational about these things can be a positive disadvantage. The Psychology of the front runner, much as with the Premiership and the golf mentioned is interesting. We`ve all seen examples of people's confidence being buoyed by strings of wins. They win a couple of early games and this leads to the confidence to keep playing for further wins. Whilst the player is feeling confident his opponents are thinking about how hard it is to play someone in good form. (in match play it is even worse, not only is your opponent confident but it was you that he beat so you are less confident.) However what happens when the winning post is in sight? To some the leading position is natural, situation normal, to others the thought occurs that it is now possible for them to lose. So many times we have seen the wheels come off such runs of wins with two or three losses. Chasing can be much easier, you have to win to keep up, there is no choice, the leader thinks "Shall I play for a draw today?" as the winning post comes in sight. This can lead to some very sad sights. (Mikhail Gurevich was never the same after his losses in the last two rounds of the 1990 Interzonal, where qualification for the Candidates was almost in his pocket.) So the sight of Greg Norman "choking" is no great shock, its simply the way it goes and not nearly so rare a phenomenon as one might think it would be. Faldo had nothing to lose, Norman everything. Of course Faldo had to play very well but he knew that if he did his chances of success were quite good. It isn't particularly fair, but it will be harder for Norman in this situation next time. In chess the World Championships used to take place every three years. One bad moment in one game could ruin everything. Also in order to succeed next time in the same Championships you have to overcome the bad memories. There are numerous famous examples of this kind of game where the consequences lasted either for the tournament or years or even for a lifetime. 1914 Strange format of single all-play-all tournament followed by a double round tournament where the initial tournament scores are carried forward. Capablanca leads Lasker by 1.5 points yet blows the lead. He plays a bad game against a psychologically aggressive Lasker, more tellingly he blunders horribly in the following round against Tarrasch and finishes second. 1956. In the Candidates Tournament Petrosian is one of the favourites to challenge for the title. A loss to Geller in the first round is followed by great tragedy. Petrosian plays some of his best chess ever. He plays a superb game against Bronstein who is left with only a knight to move backwards and forwards. The knight attacks Petrosian's Queen, Petrosian misses it (the position is so strong that "nothing can happen".) and loses the game. It takes until 1962 to qualify to play for the title. 1958. Soviet Championships, Spassky needs a win against Tal to be certain to qualify for the Interzonal (a draw would have tied for qualification). Spassky presses for a win through an exciting game. He turns the game to a loss after adjournment and he misses both this and the next cycle. 1958. Bronstein ruins a winning position against Filip during a thunder storm in the penultimate round. Loses to a rustic attack by Cardoso in the final round to miss out by half a point. Never becomes a Candidate again. So where does chess skill come into this? The more technique and knowledge a player has the better they will play under pressure even when very nervous. Of course the best of all is to be able to use the adrenilin to play better and achieve deeper concentration. When skill, nerves and will meet like this you get the truely great performances. I'm not advocating bad over the board behaviour, its only at the elite level where the players play each often enough for big individual psychology to take a hold. However at the top of the game it is supposed to be tough and chances for the greatest prizes are limited. The youth of many of the top chess players at the moment means that psychological edges are just being established. However the battles between the top players now will take their effect later, therein lies the fascination of one of the greatest games. So is it luck or determination? Strength of character in the winners of this World or is failure always hard to get over its just that some are lucky never to experience it? One thing is for sure, there would surely not be a similar outbreak of sympathy or shock in the chess World if this happened in the very top competitions. What happened to Norman is just too common. 14) Anatoly Karpov press release. ----------------------------- A Press Release by Anatoly Karpov (& Ron Henley of R&D Publishing) Full Transcript 9th April 1996 ==================================================== My Recent Visit to New York by Anatoly Karpov ==================================================== My visit to New York in early April 1996, coincided with the release of my new book, "Karpov1s Endgame Arsenal!" and I was pleased to be able to present autographed copies to each of the Ambassadors to the United Nations from Belarus, Kazakhastan and Yugoslavia. On Wednesday April 3rd, I visited the Ramapo High School in upstate New York and played in an exhibition with schoolchildren, faculty and adults. The Ramapo High School is famous for their activities involving aid to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster. It started when they were on tour in 1986, during the exact days of the Chernobyl tragedy. They were urgently evacuated via Finland to the United States. In memory of this event, their teacher Donald Kearns started the fundraising activities to help the Chernobyl victims. Since that time they have collect $14 million in humanitarian help, medical and pharmaceutical supplies, and toys and food for the children of Belarus. This school became famous for their charity, and they were invited to the White House, where they were received by President Hilary and Bill Clinton. They were received by the United Nations General Secretary, Butros Butros Gali. During his last trip to the United States, President Lukachenko of Belarus, visited Ramapo High School. For the tenth year commemoration of the Chernobyl tragedy, this school raised another $5 million of humanitarian aid for the children of Chernobyl. The High School students are travelling to Belarus in April 1996 to distribute this aid. Through the involvement of the students, the parents and the whole community supports these efforts. My simultaneous exhibition was used to bring attention to and raise money for this endeavor. The entry fee to play in the qualifying tournament to win the right to play in the exhibition was one stuffed toy animal. Not only did this produce a number of toys for the Chernobyl children, but it created more interest when the schoolchildren explained to their parent their sudden need for a stuffed toy. The children would explain to their parents what the toy was for, thus creating an additional educational benefit. I am constantly involved in charities as the President of the two largest charitable foundations in Russia - the International Association of Peace Foundation (since 1982), and Chernobyl Help (since 1989). I have contributed personally over $0.5 million to this cause. I have a Chernobyl Chess School, which recently celebrated its 5th anniversary. We have 3 to 4 sessions per year. This school is for children of all areas that have been affected by radioactivity including Chernobyl (site of reactor explosion), South Urals (military production by-products and contaminated wastes), and Semipaliatinsk (Kazakhastan) - the former Soviet equivalent to Nevadas nuclear proving grounds. [Chernobyl's power station consists of 4 reactors. One exploded, one is inactive and two are still operational. Even though the reactor site is located in Ukraine, it is only 30km from Belarus, and due to the prevailing winds the most severe contamination and damage occurred in Belarus and Russia.] I organize chess Team Championships for these areas. This year we will have teams from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhastan. This competition will be organized for the third consecutive year. It becomes clear why I was more than happy to participate in this program and meet with the students of Ramapo. Unfortunately I will miss by only a few hours meeting the Ramapo students again on April 29th in Belarus, as they leave the capital city during the day and I arrive in the evening for a separate charity event in Minsk. During the Ramapo exhibition I surrendered three draws among the 38 players I faced. The Ambassador to the United Nations from Belarus, Alexander Sichov, was in attendance. The media coverage was fantastic, and there will be a TV program about this event on April 20th, at 7:30 pm on ABC (Channel 7 in NY). On April 4th, I visited the Mott Junior High School for the Gifted in Harlem (131st Street and Convent Avenue.). This event was sponsored by HEATH (Chess In The Schools program), and UNICEF. The Master of Ceromonies, Dan Rose, generously contributed a beautiful Druecke maple chessboard and pieces to each of the 30 children. After the event was over, I autographed the chessboards for each student. The Walt Disney Corporation represented by Chuck Champlain (the head of Walt Disney's Product Licensing Division) donated a beautiful chess set composed of Walt Disney characters. In addition they made arrangements for 16 children competing in the National Scholastic Championships in April 1996 to visit Disney World. The Manhattan Borough president (Ruth Messenger1s office) issued a proclaimation that April 4th was a day of education for the children. Although it was Easter holiday for the children, they were happy to attend school for this special occasion. The ambassador to the UN for Kirgistan, Askar Aitmatov presented a beautiful hand painted wooden chess set with national motifs to the best player of the simul. The USCF and R&D Publishing contributed a number of my chess books that I autographed for the students after the event. >From UNICEF, Mr. Alexander Zouev and Alessandro Pinto (a famous Italian soccer player who is the head of UNICEF's Sports Projects) were the promoters and coordinators of the event. The Mott Junior High School is the home "The Dark Knights of Harlem," a well known championship High School team, coached by IM Maurice Ashley. During the exhibition, I was playing a number of alumni from former championship teams who have since gone on to new challenges in college and university. Please note that I will graciously receive any and all monetary contributions from the chessplaying community of the world to assist in the relief of the suffering of the children of Chernobyl. Although I will probably not be able to answer correspondents on an individual basis, I thank all in advance who may be able to help in some small measure. Contributions by check in $US (payable to Anatoly Karpov - Chernobyl Relief) may be sent to: Anatoly Karpov - Chernobyl Relief c/o R&D Publishing 2679 State Highway 70 Manasquan, NJ 08736 USA [During his visit, Anatoly Karpov touched on a number of other chess-related subjects.] On the Karpov-Kamsky match. "The whole idea of playing the Karpov-Kamsky match in Baghdad belongs SOLELY to Iljumzhinov who held negotiations with the Iraqi Chess Federation. In my talks with Iljumzhinov, I made it clear to him that my match with Kamsky must be played in order to have a continuity for the next World Championship cycle. Iljumzhinov admitted that he understood that staging the Karpov-Kamsky match is a matter for his personal prestige and a measure of his leadership of FIDE. Neither Kamsky or I have received any written proposals from FIDE concerning the match location or organization. At this stage, I feel that I am unable to object to a proposal that has yet to be made." On the World Championship cycle. "Iljumzhinov mentioned to me that during his last meeting with Samaranch (President of the International Olympic Commitee), that Samaranch said the IOC can only recognize an official World Championship which is organized by FIDE, as FIDE is composed of 156 National Federations. The IOC refuses to recognize any other World Championship system founded by private groups." The entire transcript of this press release by Karpov & Henley should be available at http://www.smartchess.com/chess/kar.html by approx. 18th April 1996 15) VSB Analysis by Danny Mozes and a Competition --------------------------------------------- The best way to get the best from the analysis is to use a PGN reader or convert the game to ChessBase format. [Event "VSB"] [Site "Amsterdam Holland"] [Date "1996.03.22"] [Round "1"] [White "Topalov,V"] [Black "Kasparov,G"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [Annotator "ChessTreasure"] { The following analysis was done by Danny Mozes and his computers band. the ChessTreasure project includes analyses by Israeli GM's as well, some analyses can be found at ChessTreassure site and 50-60 every week in the Regalia electronic magazine, details and a free issue danymozs@netvision.net.il } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Nbd7 8. f4 Nc5 9. 0-0 Ncxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. f5 e5 12. Qh5 {this move and even its answer 12...Qe7 were already seen in Roese,O(2375) - Heinemann,T(2395) BL, '92 but what followed 13.Be3? Nf6? was simply bad.} (12. Ne6 Qb6+ 13. Kh1 fxe6 14. Qh5+ Kd8 15. Bg5+ Kc7 16. Qf7+ Kb8 17. Bh4 exf5 18. Qe8 Qc6 {- Dabrowska Krystyna-Litinskaya Marta I/Ch Poland (team), Lubniewice (Poland) (8) 1995}) 12... Qe7 (12... d5 {!?} 13. Nf3 (13. Ne6 {!?} 13... Qb6+ (13... Nf6 {!} 14. Qxf7+ Kxf7 15. Nxd8+ Ke7 16. Ne6 Bxe6 17. fxe6 Kxe6 18. Be3 Rc8 19. Rae1 Bc5 {0.87B}) 14. Kh1 Nf6 15. Ba4+ Ke7 16. Bg5 fxe6 17. Bxf6+ gxf6 18. Qe8+ Kd6 19. c4 {!} 19... e4 (19... Qa5 {?} 20. Rac1 d4 21. b4 {! +-}) 20. c5+ Kxc5 (20... Qxc5 21. Rac1 Qb6 (21... Qb4 22. b3 (22. fxe6 Bg7 23. Qf7 Bh6 24. Rc7 Qxa4 25. Qe7+ Ke5 26. Qxf6+ {=}) 22... exf5 23. Rfd1 {!} 23... d4 ( 23... Qa5 {?} 24. b4 {!} 24... Qxb4 25. Qd8+ Ke5 26. Rxd5+ Kf4 27. Qxf6 Ke3 28. a3 Bd7 29. Rc3+ {+-}) 24. Rc4 Qxc4 25. bxc4 Kc7 26. Rxd4 Bc5 27. Qf7+ Kb8 28. Rd5 b6 {0. .42W}) 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Qxc8 Qxb2 (23... Ke5 24. fxe6 Qc5 25. Qxb7 Qb4 (25... Be7 26. Qxa6 Qd6 27. Qe2 Kxe6 28. Qg4+ {0. .51W}) 26. Qxa6 Qxb2 27. Bb3 Rg8 28. g3 {0. .36W}) 24. Qd8+ Kc5 25. Qc7+ Kb4 26. Bc2 { ! +-}) 21. Rac1+ Kd4 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Qxc8 Qxb2 24. Qxe6 {!} 24... Kc5 25. Bb3 Qe5 26. Rc1+ Kb5 27. Qd7+ Ka5 28. Rb1 {+-}) (13. Re1 Bc5 14. Rxe4 0-0 (14... Bxd4+ 15. Rxd4 Qb6 16. Be3 exd4 {1. .24B}) 15. Rg4 (15. Rh4 Bxf5 16. Be3 Bg6 17. Qg4 f5 (17... exd4 18. Bxd4 Re8 19. Qg3 Bd6 {!} (19... Rc8 {0. .96B}) (19... Bxd4+ 20. Rxd4 { 1. .09B}) 20. Qh3 Bf5 {2. .36B}) 18. Qh3 f4 19. Ne6 Bxe3+ {0. .96B}) 15... Bxd4+ 16. Kh1 e4 (16... Kh8 17. c3 Bf2 18. Bd2 h6) 17. c3 Bf6 18. Be3 Qd7 19. Rf1 Re8 20. Qh6 {0. .63B}) 13... Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Qd6 15. Ng5 Nxg5 16. Bxg5 0-0 {1. .36B }) 13. Qf3 Nc5 {?} (13... Qh4 {!} 14. Ne2 (14. Ba4+ Kd8 15. Nc6+ Kc7 16. Nb4 Nf6 ( 16... Nc5 17. Nd5+ Kb8 {0. .63B} 18. Be8 Qd4+ 19. Ne3) 17. Qc3+ Kb8 18. Bb3 Be7 { !} (18... g6) (18... Qh5 19. Qf3 Qxf3 20. Rxf3 e4 21. Rf2 {0. .96B}) 19. Nd5 ( 19. Bxf7 Bd8 20. Kh1 (20. Nd5 Rf8 21. Nxf6 Qxf6 (21... Rxf7 22. Nd5 Bxf5 23. Be3 Qe4 (23... Qg4 24. Nb6 {=}) 24. Rad1 a5 {0. .42B}) 22. Bd5 Bb6+ 23. Be3 Bxe3+ 24. Qxe3 {0. .54B}) 20... Bb6 {1. .18B}) 19... Bd8 20. Be3 Ng4 21. h3 Nxe3 22. Qxe3 Qg5 { 0.84B}) 14... Nf6 15. Nc3 Rb8 16. Be3 Ng4 {0. .33B}) 14. Nc6 (14. f6 {!} 14... gxf6 (14... Qxf6 15. Bxf7+ Kd7 16. Qd5 Qh4 17. Ne6 (17. Bg8 Qxd4+ 18. Qxd4 exd4 19. Rxf8 Kc7 {0. .27W}) 17... Nxe6 18. Bxe6+ {2. .39W}) 15. Nc6 Qc7 16. Qxf6 Nxb3 17. axb3 Rg8 18. Na5 d5 19. c3 {0. .84B}) 14... Qc7 15. Bd5 (15. Nb4 Nxb3 16. Qxb3 Bd7 17. Nd5 Qc5+ {the idea is provoking White to self-blocking the of 3rd row so that the Rook wouldn't have chance to quick arrival to c3 (Rf1-f3-c3)} 18. Be3 Qc6 19. c4 (19. Nb6 Rb8 20. Nxd7 Qxd7 21. f6 gxf6 (21... g6 22. Rad1 b5 { 0.54B}) 22. Rxf6 Bg7 23. Rf3 {0. .48B}) 19... f6 20. Rac1 h6 21. Bb6 Rc8 {0. .66B}) 15... a5 16. Bg5 (16. f6 Be6 17. fxg7 Bxg7 18. Qg3 Rg8 19. Bxe6 fxe6 {0. .69B}) (16. b4 axb4 17. f6 Be6 18. Nxb4 Qb6 19. fxg7 Bxg7 20. Bg5 f5 {0. .84B}) 16... Ra6 {?} (16... Bd7 {! prevent Nd8 } 17. f6 (17. Ne7 Bxe7 18. f6 gxf6 (18... Bxf6 19. Bxf6 Be6 (19... gxf6) 20. Bxg7 Rg8 21. Bh6 0-0-0 {!} (21... Bxd5 22. Qxd5 Ne6 23. Rab1 (23. Rf2 Qb6 24. Qf3 {0. .36B}) 23... Qc6 {0. .51B}) 22. Be3 Rg6 (22... Na4 23. Rab1 Nb6 24. Be4 Nc4 25. Bc1 Qc5+ {0. .30B}) 23. Rf2 Rdg8 24. c3 Qd7 {0. .42B}) 19. Bxf6 Qb6 20. Bxh8 { 0. .51B}) 17... g6 18. Ne7 Qb6 19. Be3 (19. Kh1 Qxb2 20. c4 Rb8 21. Be3 Qb6 22. Rab1 Qc7 23. Bxc5 Qxc5 24. Nc6 Rc8 25. Rb5 {=}) 19... Bxe7 (19... Qxb2 20. Bxc5 dxc5 21. Rad1 {+-}) 20. fxe7 f5 21. c3 Bc6 22. b4 axb4 23. Rab1 Qc7 24. Rxb4 e4 25. Qd1 Qxe7 26. Qd4 {with equal chances}) 17. Nd8 f6 18. Nf7 Rg8 19. Be3 (19. Qh5 g6 20. Qxh7 Rg7 {1. .15B}) 19... g6 20. Ng5 Rg7 21. fxg6 Rxg6 22. Bf7+ Qxf7 23. Nxf7 Kxf7 24. Bxc5 dxc5 25. Rad1 Be7 26. Rd5 (26. Rde1 Bd6 27. Qd5+ Kg7 ( 27... Ke7 28. Rd1 Rb6 29. b3 {2. .03W}) 28. Re4 (28. g3 Rc6 29. b3 f5 30. Qd2 b6 31. c4 {1. .75W}) (28. Kh1 Rc6 29. Qb3 c4 30. Qb5 Rc5 31. Qb6 Rd5 {2. .42W}) 28... b5 29. Rh4 {2. .15W}) 26... Bg4 27. Qe4 (27. Qd3 Kg7 28. Qb5 Be6 29. Rxe5 fxe5 30. Qxb7 Bd7 31. Qxd7 {2. .84W}) 27... Kg7 28. Rfd1 {? the story, concerning the move here, is that someone in the audience whispered here to Toplaov in Bulgarish "Sacrifice the qualitat! sacrifice the qualitat!, it was recommended by ChessT!!" and Topalov, indeed, rushed to sacrifice the quality but, alas, the wrong one. I 'm still trying to verified the validity of this story :-) } (28. Rd8 Rb6 (28... Bxd8 {?} 29. Qxb7+ Kh8 (29... Kf8 30. Qxa6 c4 31. Qa7 Rh6 32. Qc5+ Ke8 33. Qxc4 {3. .96W}) 30. Qxa6 Rg8 (30... c4 31. Kh1 c3 32. Qd3 Rg8 {3. .93W}) 31. Qc6 c4 32. Rf2 h6 33. Rd2) 29. Rb8 Bh3 30. Rf2 Rxb2 31. Rxb7 Rxb7 32. Qxb7 {2. .78W}) (28. Rd2) 28... Bxd1 29. Rxd1 Re6 30. Qf5 Kf7 31. Re1 b6 32. h4 Rg7 33. Kf1 Bd6 34. Kf2 (34. a4 Be7 35. c4 Bd6 36. Rd1 Bc7 ( 36... Ke7 37. Qe4 (37. b3) 37... Kf7 38. Kg1 (38. Rd3 Be7 39. Rd7 (39. g4 h6 40. b3 Bf8 41. Rd8 Rd6 42. Qb7+ Kg8 {0. .33W})) 38... h6 39. Rd2 Bc7 40. Qf3 Bd6 41. Qb7+ Be7 42. Qe4 Kf8 {0. .48W}) 37. g4 Bd6 38. g5 Rg6 39. Re1 Ke7 {0. .24W}) ( 34. c4 Bc7) (34. Rd1) 34... Bc7 35. Kf3 (35. Re3) 35... Ke7 36. Re4 Kf7 (36... Rd6 37. Rg4 Rf7 38. Rg8 {aiming at Rh8} 38... Rd8 39. Rxd8 Bxd8 40. h5 Kd6 41. h6 {0. .48W}) 37. Rg4 Re7 38. Ke4 Rxg4+ (38... Rg6 39. h5) 39. Qxg4 Bd8 (39... Kf8 40. h5 Rf7 (40... Bd8 41. Qc8 Ke8 42. Qc6+ Kf7 43. Qd5+ Ke8 44. Qg8+ Kd7 45. Qf8 Re6 (45... f5+ 46. Qxf5+ {1. .93W}) 46. Qf7+ Re7 47. Qxf6 Bc7 48. g4 {+-}) 41. Qc8+ Kg7 42. Qf5 {0. .78W} 42... h6) 40. a4 Kf8 41. c3 (41. Qc8 {!} 41... Re8 (41... Ke8 42. Qc6+ Kf7 43. Qd5+ Ke8 44. Qg8+ Kd7 45. Qf8 {+-}) 42. Qd7 Be7 43. Qf5 h6 44. Qg6 {+-}) 41... Rg7 42. Qc8 Ke8 43. Qe6+ Kf8 44. g4 Rf7 45. h5 Rg7 46. h6 Rg6 47. Kd5 Be7 48. Qxb6 Kf7 49. Qa6 f5 50. Qf1 f4 51. Kxe5 1-0 Creating Heaven far away from 'modern' Babylon composed by **** John A. Chernoff **** (with ChessTreasure assistance) --------------------------------- 8 | N | *K| | B | | | | | |---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---| 7 | | P | N | P | *P| | | | |---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---| 6 | R | P | B | | P | | | | |---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---| 5 | | P | | | | | | | |---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---| 4 | | | *P| | | | | | |---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---| 3 | | | *P| | *P| | | | |---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---| 2 | | | K | | P | | | | |---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---| 1 | | | R | | | | | | --------------------------------- a b c d e f g h White to move and win 2 one-year subscriptions to Regalia will be awarded to the first ones who will send detailed correct solutions. Please put the main line and major sub-lines on the first lines, then go to details. The contest will last until June, 15 1996. On May 15, stastics, about the solutions which would be arrived until that date, would be given. Please e-mail to Regalia's Editor - Danny Mozes danymozs@netvision.net.il Have pleasure in ChessTreasure http://www.netvision.net.il/~ChessTreasure