Reply #1: News for the week ending September 24 [View All]

[Jack Rabbit]

Clash of Champions begins in Elista: Kramnik wins opening round



Classical world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia defeated FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the first game of their 12-game match in Elista, Kalmykia, yesterday to determine which of them is the one and only world chess champion.

The game lasted 72 moves. Most observers thought the game was a dead draw for the first 57 moves. On move 40, Kramnik implicitly offered a draw by repeating moves, but Topalov deviated from the pattern and play continued.



Kramnik and Topalov at the start of the first game Saturday
Photo: ChessBase.com

On his 57th move, Topalov, playing Black, committed one of his worst blunders ever.

Black: Veselin Topalov
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White: Vladimir Kramnik
Position after 57. Ra2a4

Can't see the diagram? Please click here.

Topalov in this position played 57. -- f5, depriving the pawn at e5 of protection and allowing the White Knight at c6 to take the e-pawn. Soon after, a second Black pawn fell and Kramnik, one of the finest endgame players of our time, found himself two pawns up with an easy win.

Plans for the reunification of the world title were first laid out in 2002 in a document known as the Prague Agreement. After many bumps in the road, false starts and the retirement from organized chess of Garry Kasparov, the former world champion who was to participate competitively in the reunification process, the match is finally taking place.

Until the opening move yesterday, the only other match played to fulfill the Prague Agreement was a 2004 match between Kramnik and Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko for what became known under the Prague agreement as the "classical" world championship.

Topalov's claim to the world title comes from winning a strong tournament in San Luis, Argentina, a year ago. Eight of the world's leading grandmasters competed. Topalov ran away with first prize in the tournament, winning six games and drawing eight without a loss for ten points in 14 rounds.

Kramnik's claim to the title comes from defeating former world champion Garry Kasparov in a 14-game match held in London in October 2000. Kramnik was invited to participate in San Luis, but declined, preferring face the winner of the tournament in a match; in addition, Kramnik was about to undergo treatment for spinal arthritis and was curtailing his chess activities. He played no chess until he returned as a member of the Russian team at the Torino Olympiad in May. There, Kramnik won a gold medal for highest individual performance rating. In July, Kramnik underscored not only his return to chess but his return to top form by winning first prize in one of the most prestigious of all annual tournaments, the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund.

The schism that split the world championship began in 1993 when Kasparov and his official challenger, British grandmaster Nigel Short, became impatient with the arrogance and incompetence of FIDE, the governing body of world chess, in organizing their match, that they broke away and organized the match themselves. FIDE did not recognize the legitimacy of the match and stripped Kasparov of his title, which he won from Anatoly Karpov in 1985. However, Kasparov, considered by many to be the greatest chess play of all time, was such a giant in the chess world that it was difficult to take FIDE's action against him seriously. FIDE tried different formats of choosing a world champion, but none of them really worked. Meanwhile, Kasparov had formed an upstart chess body to organize his version of the world title, but found that finding sponsors was difficult.


Magnus Carlsen defeats Simen Agdestein to take Norwegian Championship

Magnus Carlsen, age 15, is the new national champion of Norway.

Carlsen his chief rival in Norwegian chess, grandmaster and former world cup football star Simen Agdestein, in a playoff held during the past week in Oslo.

Agdestein was once young Carlsen's trainer and is the author of a best-selling book about the prodigy. In addition, Agdestein is the only person ever to represent one country in both the chess olympiad and on his national team in international football's world cup.



Magnus Carlsen
Photo: ChessBase.com

The main event of the Norwegian National Championship was held in Moss, in southern Norway, in July. Carlsen and Agdestein each scored 7 points in the nine-round Swiss system event.

The playoffs consisted of two regular games played Tuesday and Wednesday with rapid and blitz rounds scheduled for Thursday should the first two game failed to produce a winner. Both regular games ended in draws. On Thursday, young Carlsen won both rapid games, making the blitz games unnecessary.

Last year featured the same players in the same story line, but with with Agdestein emerging as the national champion. This seems appropriate, since most consider the pair the two best players Norway has ever produced. Agdestein has always known that it would be only a matter of time, and sooner rather than later, before his former pupil surpassed him.

It has come to pass.


Nino Khurtsidze wins Szeged Cup

Nino Khurtsidze, one of several strong women players from the Caucasus Republic of Georgia, took first place in 3rd annual Szeged Cup in Szeged, Hungary.



Nino Khurtsidze receives her trophy in Szeged
Photo: ChessBase.com

Ms. Khurtsidze scored 7½ points in 10 rounds, as did 16-year-old Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia. Ms. Khurtsidze was awarded first prize by accumulating a greater number of tiebreaker points than Ms. Muzychuk. Ms. Khutsidze won 7 games, lost one ad drew one while Ms. Muzychuk won 6 and drew 3 without a loss.



Anna Muzychuk finished second on tiebreaker points
Photo: ChessBase.de (Germany)

Ticia Gara of Hungary finished third with 7 points.

Earlier this year, Ms. Khurtsidze made the quarter-final round of the women's world championship in Ekaterinaberg before being eliminated.




Viktor Korchnoi takes senior world title

Viktor Korchnoi, the grand old man of chess and considered by many to be the greatest player of all time never to be world champion, is now the senior world champion.



Viktor Korchnoi
Photo: Four Nations Chess League

Korchnoi easily won the Senior World Championship Tournament in Valle d’Aosta, a resort in the Italian Alps. He scored 9 points in 11 rounds.

Korchnoi, who turned 75 in March, won 7 and drew 4 without a loss. He was in complete command in the later rounds of the tournament. He entered the final round needing only a draw to assure himself of a clear first place finish 126-player Swiss system event.

Vlastimil Jansa, 63, of the Czech Republic finished second with 8½ points. He and Korchnoi first crossed swords in 1969. The two met in the tenth round at Valle d’Aosta and played to a draw.

Korchnoi played two matches for the world title, both against then-champion Anatoly Karpov, in 1978 and 1981. In the 1978 match, Korchnoi narrowly missed winning the title.





Vachier-Lagrave wins in Lausanne

Sixteen-year-old French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. the youngest participant in the field, took first prize at the annual Young Masters' Tournament in Lausanne, Vaud Canton, Switzerland, by defeating China's Wang Yue, 19, in the final round of matches earlier this week.



Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Photo: ChessBase.de (Germany)

The final round was scheduled for two games with rapid game tiebreakers if necessary. Vachier-Lagrave and Wang split the two regular games. but the young Frenchman the first two rapid games to take the tournament championship.

The Lausanne event is an annual showcase of young chess talent. The oldest participant this year was Tatiana Kosintseva of Russia, who turned 20 in April. Other competitors were Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, Ukraine's Alexander Areshchenko, Polish grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Bosnia's Borki Predojevic and Koneru Humpy of India.