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The Scotsman

Chess News June 2000

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2000-06-30:

THE Humans vs. Fritz on Primergy challenge match at the Frankfurt Chess Classic ended all square at 5-5 following the final contest of the ten-game series being tied at 1-1.

The Latvian genius Alexei Shirov was the only one of the five Giants challengers - Kramnik, Anand, Shirov, Morozevich and Leko - to keep to his normal game plan by not adopting anti-computer strategy.

This bold move soon paid off for Shirov in game one when he took ruthless advantage of one of the main weaknesses of most chess-playing programmes: the inability to see beyond a certain horizon. Whilst a human can "sense" impending danger when pieces amass around their king, the computer calmly ignored the threats and went off in search of material.

For the German company ChessBase, the producer of Fritz, the drawn contest against five of the top players in the world was an invaluable experiment for the future development of their programme, which also recently competed in the Dutch championships.

However, it'll be interesting to see what happens when a rival product, the Israeli programme Junior, comes face-to-face shortly with top flight opposition at a classical time control (40 moves in 2 hours - favouring the humans) at the Dortmund super tournament featuring the likes of Anand, Kramnik, Adams, Leko etc.

 

A Shirov - Fritz on Primergy
Frankfurt Chess Classic, Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2 c5 11 d4 cxd4 12 cxd4 Qc7 13 Nbd2 Nc6 14 Nb3 a5 15 Be3 a4 16 Nbd2 Bd7 17 a3 Rfe8 18 Bd3 Qb7 19 Qe2 exd4 20 Nxd4 d5 21 Nxc6 Bxc6 22 e5 Ne4 23 Bd4 Ng5 24 Nf3 Ne4 25 Nd2 Ng5 26 Rec1 Ne6 27 Nf3 Bd7 28 Be3 b4 29 Nd4 Nc5 30 Bf5 Bxf5 31 Nxf5 Nb3 32 Qg4 g6 33 Nh6+ Kg7 34 Qf4 Bd8 35 Ng4 bxa3 36 bxa3 Nxa1 37 Rxa1 Ra6 38 Rd1 Qb3 39 Rc1 g5 40 Qf5 Qxa3 41 Rc8 Qa1+ 42 Kh2 h5 43 Rxd8 Rxd8 44 Nf6 Qc3 45 Bxg5 Kf8 46 f4 h4 47 Bxh4 Qa5 48 Qh7 Ke7 49 Ng4+ Ke8 50 Qg8+ Kd7 51 Qxf7+ Kc6 52 e6 Rda8 53 e7 Kc5 54 Bf2+ Kc4 55 e8Q Rxe8 56 Qxe8 Kb3 57 Qe2 Rc6 58 Qd1+ Rc2 59 Ne3 Qd2 1-0


2000-06-29:

Set-up position: W: Na1, Bb1, Kc1, Qd1, Be1, Rf1, Ng1, Rh1 B: Na8, Bb8, Kc8, Qd8, Be8, Rf8, Ng8, Rh8

ONE of the many highlights during the Frankfurt Chess Classic was the intriguing match between Artur Yusupov and Fritz on Primergy, at a new variant of the game called Fischer Random, which the computer won 2-0.

In the twenties, world champions Lasker and Capablanca made attempts aimed at rejuvenating chess. They proposed a larger board and new pieces, all in order to combat what they perceived to be a threat to the game by perfect technique.

Although their proposals were not adopted, it was left to another world champion and some seventy years later for one of the most revolutionary proposals to attempt to change the game as we know it: Fischer Random or, as its more commonly known, Shuffle Chess.

The brainchild of the enigmatic Bobby Fischer, the idea is to do away with opening theory, databases and computers, to rely solely on the creativity generated at the board. In the new form, the initial position of the pieces are randomised from a possible 960 different positions, making it impossible for players to draw on chess theory.

In Frankfurt, the following guidlines were adopted: the pawns were placed as usual; the two bishops must be on different coloured squares; the two rooks must be on either side of the king; the black and white pieces must be exactly reflected. One modification of the original Fischer rules, which requires a complex form of castling, is that castling will only be permitted if the king and a rook happen to start on their normal squares.

So, will it replace chess as we know it? "Currently it is not a serious contender," says Yusupov a former Candidate and chess variant specialist. "But with the advent of computer analysis it could become more popular. However Chess is so beautiful and so difficult that it will be played for a long time to come."

 

Fritz on Primergy - A Yusupov
Frankfurt Chess Classic

1 Nf3 d6 2 d4 e6 3 c4 Ne7 4 Bd3 a6 5 Bd2 Ba7 6 Nb3 Ba4 7 Qc2 h6 8 Bc3 Kb8 9 Kb1 f6 10 Rd1 Nb6 11 h4 Nd7 12 h5 e5 13 e3 Qe8 14 g4 Qf7 15 Nh4 Rc8 16 Rhe1 Nb6 17 Ba5 Nc6 18 Bxb6 cxb6 19 Bg6 Qc7 20 Bf5 Rcd8 21 Be6 Rhe8 22 d5 Na5 23 Nf5 Qxc4 24 Qxc4 Nxc4 25 Nxg7 Re7 26 Nf5 Rh7 27 Rd3 b5 28 Rc1 Bb6 29 e4 b4 30 Rxc4 Bb5 31 Nxd6 Rxd6 32 Rc8+ Ka7 33 Rd2 a5 34 Rf8 a4 35 Nc1 Bd8 36 b3 a3 37 Ne2 Be7 38 Rc8 Bxe2 39 Rxe2 Rd8 40 Rec2 Rhh8 41 Rxd8 Rxd8 42 Rc7 Bd6 43 Rh7 Bf8 44 Kc2 Kb6 45 Kd3 Ka6 46 Bf5 b6 47 Rf7 Bc5 48 Rxf6 Rd6 49 Be6 Rd8 50 Rxh6 Rf8 51 Bf5 Bxf2 52 g5 Rf7 53 Rc6 1-0


2000-06-28:

The recently finished Frankfurt Chess Classic was indeed a unique event, which featured the complete world chess elite. Or, as its more commonly known, the "top-ten club".

Whilst the top six in the world - Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik, Shirov, Morozevich and Leko - battled it out in the Giants, there was an even more intriguing supporting "little sideshow" of the Masters, where Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk Evgeny Bareev and Veselin Topalov completed the top-ten line-up in a very strong field.

After a disastrous debut performance last year in the Masters when he finished last with a -7 score and no wins from 14 games, top seed Adams more than made amends this year with a superb +7 performance to take first place, with 10.5/14, ahead of Ivanchuk, to rightfully claim his place next year in the Giants.

World no.7 Adams, 28, who was recently voted the British Chess Federations Player of the Year (for the umpteenth time), is now knocking very hard on the door of the top six - and in the process looking like a possible future contender for Kasparov's world crown. His true abilities came to light when he won the Dos Hermanas tournament in Spain last April, and more recently, his unbeaten second place behind Kasparov at Sarajevo.

In 1997 the likeable young Cornishman, after a nail-biting semi-final encounter with Anand, was within an ace of going through to meet Anatoly Karpov in the final of the FIDE World Knockout Championship. With the next FIDE World Knockout due this year in New Delhi and Iran, Adams just might be the man to put your money on.

 

Masters
1 M Adams (England) 10.5/14; 2 V Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 9.5; 3 E Bareev (Russia) 8; 4-5 S Rublevsky (Russia) & V Topalov (Bulgaria) 6.5; 6-7 A Yusupov (Germany) & L Van Wely (Netherlands) 5.5; 8 R Rabeiga (Germany) 4.

 

M Adams - L Van Wely
Frankfurt Masters (7), Sicilian Defence

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Qxd4 Nc6 5 Bb5 Bd7 6 Bxc6 Bxc6 7 c4 Nf6 8 Nc3 e6 9 0-0 Be7 10 Re1 0-0 11 Bg5 Qa5 12 Qd2 Rfd8 13 Rad1 Rac8 14 Nd5 Qxd2 15 Nxe7+ Kf8 16 Nxd2 Kxe7 17 f3 h6 18 Be3 b6 19 b3 g5 20 Nb1 Nd7 21 Nc3 f6 22 Kf2 a6 23 Re2 b5 24 cxb5 axb5 25 Red2 Ne5 26 Bb6 Rd7 27 Ba5 Nf7 28 Bb4 Ra8 29 Ke3 Ra6 30 g3 e5 31 Rc2 Rda7 32 a3 Rb6 33 f4 Ba8 34 f5 h5 35 h3 Nd8 36 Rxd6 Rxd6 37 Bxd6+ Kd7 38 Nxb5 Rb7 39 Rc7+ Rxc7 40 Bxc7 Nb7 41 b4 1-0


2000-06-27:

INDIAN ace Viswanathan Anand stormed the Fujitsu Siemens Giants rapid chess tournament in Bad Soden near Frankfurt at the weekend with a stunning performance to take first place with an undefeated score of 7.5/10 - a full 1.5 points clear of the defending champion, Garry Kasparov.

It was a glorious comeback for the for the former world title challenger who in the past year or so has suffered from indifferent form . This has led to the "Tiger of Madras" slipping down the rating list with his world no.2 spot continually looking vulnerable to the new world championship challenger, Russia's Vladimir Kramnik.

Regarded as the unofficial world rapidplay championships, the German organizers managed to bring together the world's top-rated six players for the tournament: Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Shirov, Morozevich, and Leko. And Anand, 30, who is one of the world's best exponents of blitz and rapidchess, has twice before donned the winners black jacket at the Frankfurt Chess Classic in 1997 and 1998.

For world no.1 Garry Kasparov, Anand's victory has ended a memorable tournament winning run that has spanned eighteen months and seven elite events in succession: Wijk aan Zee (twice), Linares (twice), Sarajevo (twice) and Frankfurt. The title slipped away from Kasparov after he suffered a loss in round seven to the young Hungarian, Peter Leko. Being a half-point behind Anand before that game, the loss gave Anand an unassailable lead in the tournament going into the final day of play.

Final placings
1 V Anand (India) 7.5/10; 2 G Kasparov (Russia) 6; 3 V Kramnik (Russia) 5; 4 A Shirov (Spain) 4.5; 5-6 P Leko (Hungary) & A Morozevich (Russia) 3.5

 

A Morozevich - V Anand
Frankfurt Giants (2), Sicilian Rossolimo

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 g6 4 0-0 Bg7 5 c3 Nf6 6 Qa4 0-0 7 d4 cxd4 8 cxd4 d6 9 Nc3 Bd7 10 d5 Nb8 11 Be3 a6 12 Bxd7 Nbxd7 13 Qb3 Qa5 14 Bd4 b5 15 Rfe1 Rfc8 16 a3 Rab8 17 Na2 Nc5 18 Bxc5 dxc5 19 e5 Nd7 20 e6 fxe6 21 Ng5 Nf8 22 Nc3 b4 23 Nce4 h6 24 d6 c4 25 Qh3 exd6 26 Nxe6 Bxb2 27 Qxh6 Qh5 28 Qe3 Nxe6 29 Nxd6 Nf8 30 Rad1 bxa3 31 Qf4 Rc7 32 g4 Qh7 33 Ne8 Rbc8 34 Rd2 Qf7 0-1


2000-06-26:

GARRY KASPAROV was celebrating in Frankfurt after another famous victory - this time in America! An arbitrator at the National Arbitration Forum in Minneapolis ruled that the domain name www.kasparov.com be transferred immediately to Kasparov by American Computer Co. (ACC) of Cranford, New Jersey, which registered it for him in 1996.

In the judgment, which was faxed to the Russian world champion in Frankfurt on Friday, www.kasparov.com was considered identical to his name, which he has trademarked, and also a conflict of interest with his extremely popular website, www.kasparovchess.com.

The arbitrator said ACC had used the domain name in "extremely bad faith" and was illegally holding it to enforce a supposed debt and illegal hacking by Israeli cybermercenaries. The site had also been used as a portal to another website dedicated to attacking Kasparov, which caused extreme embarrassment during his 1997 match against IBM's Deep Blue.

The article noted that Kasparov is one of a growing number of celebrities who have recently won control of their Internet domain names set up by other people but featuring their famous names.

Meanwhile, in the manoeuvrings over the board, Kasparov looks to have a stiffer task of regaining his Fujitsu Siemens Giants title in Frankfurt. At the halfway stage of the unofficial world rapidplay championships held at the Tanus Conference Centre in Bad Soden, India's Vishy Anand, the world no.2 and one of the world's best speed chess exponents, has established a half point lead over Kasparov.

 

Giants Leader Board:
1 V Anand (India) 4/5; 2 G Kasparov (Russia) 3.5; 3-4 V Kramnik (Russia) & A Morozevich (Russia) 2.5; 5 A Shirov (Spain) 1.5; 6 P Leko (Hungary) 1.

 

G Kasparov - A Shirov
Frankfurt Giants (3), French Defence

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7 6 Nf3 Be7 7 Nxf6+ Bxf6 8 h4 0-0 9 Bd3 c5 10 Qe2 cxd4 11 Qe4 g6 12 0-0-0 Qa5 13 Bxf6 Nxf6 14 Qxd4 Nh5 15 a3 Rd8 16 Qe3 Bd7 17 g4 Nf6 18 Qf4 Nd5 19 Qh6 Nf6 20 Ng5 Bc6 21 Bxg6 hxg6? (21 ..fxg6! 22 Nxe6 Rxd1+ 23 Rxd1 Kf7 24 Ng5+ Kg8 25 Ne6 Kf7 draws) 22 Nxe6 fxe6 23 Qxg6+ Kh8 24 Qxf6+ Kh7 25 Rhe1 Rxd1+ 26 Rxd1 Qc5 27 g5 Rf8 28 Qh6+ Kg8 29 Qxe6+ Kg7 30 Qh6+ Kg8 31 Qg6+ Kh8 32 Qh6+ Kg8 33 Qe6+ Kg7 34 Rd6 Be8 35 Qe7+ 1-0


2000-06-23:

ONE high point seems to follow another at the Frankfurt Chess Classic (FCC) as we gear up for today's start of the Giants and the Masters tournament featuring the world's top ten - Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik, Shirov, Morozevich, Leko, Adams, Ivanchuk, Bareev and Topalov - in the battle for the unofficial rapidplay world championships.

During the first half of the FCC, we've had the Ordix Open (won jointly by Sergey Rublevsky and Mikhail Gurevich - Rublevsky qualifying for the Masters) and the first four double-round games of the computer challenge with Fritz running on Primergy (tied at 4-4 with just the match with Alexei Shirov still to be played). With a three-day hiatus before the second - and most interesting - half of the FCC, there was still plenty of chess to be found as the world no.1, Garry Kasparov, finally arrived in Frankfurt.

The World's strongest chess player limbered up for the defence of his Giants title by conceding five draws while defeating 35 players in a 40-board Frankfurt West simultaneous display held at the Tanus Tagungszentrum in Bad Soden.

The organiser of the FCC, Mr. Hans-Walter Schmitt (Elo 2025), was one of the 40 opponents and made a creditable draw playing black. Four others - Rene Wendt, Andreas Gytser, David Baramidze (German under-14 champion) and the Mayor of Bad Soden, Jens Beutel - also made draws.

Although most of the participants were from the Frankfurt West Chess Club, 20 places were made available to the highest bidders (which shot up to a peak of 1,000 marks per board!) via auction in April at the FCC homepage www.frankfurt-west.de.

 

G Kasparov - A Ringel
Frankfurt Simultaneous, Sicilian Defence

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 c3 Nf6 4 Be2 Nc6 5 d4 cxd4 6 cxd4 e6 7 Nc3 Be7 8 0-0 0-0 9 Bd3 a6 10 a3 b5 11 e5 dxe5 12 dxe5 Nd7 13 Qc2 g6 14 Bh6 Re8 15 Rad1 Bb7 16 Rfe1 Rc8 17 Qe2 Qc7 18 Bb1 Red8 19 h4 Nc5 20 h5 Rxd1 21 Rxd1 Rd8 22 Rxd8+ Qxd8 23 Be3 Qc7 24 Bf4 Nb3 25 Qd1 Nc5 26 Ne4 Nxe4 27 Bxe4 Na5 28 Bxb7 Nxb7 29 h6 Nc5 30 Bg5 Ne4 31 Bxe7 Qxe7 32 Qc2 Nc5 33 b4 Nd7 34 Qc7 Qe8 35 Ng5 Nf8 36 Ne4 Nd7 37 Qxd7 1-0


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