New System Will Determine World Championship Tourney

Aug. 3, 2001

Position No. 5649: White to play and win. From the game Naiditsch -Skripchenko #7, Dortmund 2001.

Solution to Position No. 5648: Black wins with 1 ... Rf4! 2 Qe3 Rh4+ 3 Kg1 Bh2+ 4 Kf1 Bc4+ 5 Rd3 Qxb7. No better are 2 Qe2 Rh4+ 3 Kg1 Rh1+! And 2 Qxe5 Qh4+ 3 Kg1 Qxf2+ 4 Kh1 Rh4+ 5 Qh2 Rxh2+ 6 Kxh2 Rc4.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Brain Games Network has announced plans for its second world championship. The British company, led by grandmaster Raymond Keene, wants to conduct an eight-player candidates tournament in Dortmund, Germany, next July to choose an opponent for champion Vladimir Kramnik. Brain Games awarded its first world championship title to Kramnik last November in London when he upset Garry Kasparov.

The Dortmund tournament will follow the format of the 1999 U.S. Championship, with two small round robins to eliminate half of the field, then semifinal matches of two games and a final match of four games. The players will compete for a share of the $200,000 prize fund, plus the right to challenge Kramnik in a 16-game match for the 2002 world championship. Keene said that it was “99% certain” that the 2002 match would take place in Bahrain.

Brain Games intends to invite Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand (champion of the rival World Chess Federation) and the next four highest-rated players to the Dortmund candidates tournament. The remaining two spots will be filled by the top finishers in a 16-player qualifier, consisting of eight seeded players and eight winners of a mammoth Internet tournament of 20-minute chess. Anyone who pays $10 may participate in the Internet tournament.

The plan has merit. It seeds the greatest stars into the candidates tournament yet excludes no one. Unfortunately, the contrived format of the final will surely require several speed chess tiebreakers, the curse of modern chess. The best players need plenty of time to concoct their subtle maneuvers. Why should we rush them, then reward the one who makes the least egregious blunder?

How will Kasparov react? As champion for 15 years (and still ranked first in the world), will he accept the same treatment as the rest of the top six? He had campaigned for an immediate rematch with Kramnik. If he and Anand decline their invitations, this will be a world championship in name alone.

LOCAL NEWS

The Continental Open, formerly the largest tournament in Los Angeles, took place last weekend in Las Vegas. A good turnout of 544 players, plus 41 re-entrants, competed for $100,000 in prize money. The 73-player Open section featured 13 grandmasters.

Three distinguished visitors, GMs Alexander Goldin of Israel, Smbat Lputian of Armenia and Alexander Onischuk of Ukraine, tied for first place with scores of 5-1. Each received $5,917. Goldin plans to live in Florida, while Onischuk will move to Colorado. American chess just became stronger.

Next at 4.5-1.5 were IMs Varuzhan Akobian (Glendale), Emil Anka (Hungary), John Donaldson (San Francisco), Ben Finegold (Michigan) and Igor Ivanov (Utah) and GMs Walter Browne (Berkeley), Dmitri Gurevich (Illinois) and Sarunas Sulskis (Lithuania). Akobian, who tied for second the previous weekend in the Southern California Championship, drew GM Alek Wojtkiewicz of Poland, beat GM Pavel Blatny of the Czech Republic and lost only to Lputian.

Eduard Gufeld, Southern California’s only grandmaster, scored 4-2 against particularly tough opposition. He drew Lputian and former U.S. champion GM Alex Yermolinsky but lost to Goldin.

The most successful local player was 12-year-old Vanessa West, who swept the under-1800 section with a perfect 6-0 score.

The Continental Chess Assn. announced that the 32nd Continental Open will be held Aug. 9-11, 2002, in Sturbridge, Mass.

The Exposition Park Chess Club will conduct a free three-game tournament Sunday in the public library, 3665 S. Vermont Ave. in Los Angeles. Register at the site at 1 p.m.

TODAY’S GAME

GM Topalov (Bulgaria) -GM Anand (India), Dortmund 2001: 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 dxe4 Amos Burn’s variation of the French Defense. 5 Nxe4 Nbd7 6 Nf3 h6 More popular lately than 6 ... Be7 7 Nxf6+ Bxf6 8 h4. 7 Nxf6+ Nxf6 8 Bxf6 Black has few worries after 8 Bh4 Be7. Qxf6 9 Bb5+ c6 10 Bd3 a6 Black wants to push ... c6-c5 before castling. White seems to keep an edge against the alternatives 10 ... Bd6 11 Qe2 0-0 12 0-0-0 and 10 ... g6 11 Qe2 0-0 12 h4. 11 c3 c5 12 Ne5 Bd6 13 Qe2 In June, Topalov sacrificed unsoundly against Shirov with 13 Qa4+ Ke7 14 0-0 Bxe5 15 dxe5 Qxe5 16 Rae1 Qc7 17 Qh4+ g5 18 Qh5 Bd7 19 f4 c4 20 fxg5? Qc5+ 21 Kh1 cxd3 22 Rxf7+ Kd8, and Black won. cxd4 14 cxd4 Inviting 14 ... Bb4+ 15 Kf1 0-0 16 Rc1 Bd6 17 Qe4 Rd8 (worse is 17 ... g6 18 h4) 18 g3, when White’s King finds a home at g2. Bd7 15 0-0 Intending 16 f4. Qf4!? 16 g3! Else 16 ... Bxe5 17 dxe5 Bc6 equalizes. Qxd4 17 Nxd7 Kxd7 18 Qf3 Ke7 Against 18 ... Ke8, Topalov planned 19 Bxa6! Rxa6 20 Qxb7, recovering material. 19 Qxb7+ Kf6 20 Rad1 Qa7 21 Qf3+ Ke7 22 Qg4 White must attack before Black reaches safety by 22 ... Rhd8 and 23 ... Kf8. g5 Weakening. However, Black cannot end White’s initiative by 22 ... Be5 23 Qb4+ Kf6 24 Qh4+ g5 25 Qh5, and 22 ... g6 23 Rfe1 creates a threat of 24 Bxg6. 23 Bc4 Qb6 24 Rd3 Rad8 Solid defense. The greedy 24 ... Qxb2? allows a breakthrough by 25 Re1 Bc5 26 Rxe6+ Kf8 27 Rf3 Ra7 28 Ref6 or 25 Re1 Qf6 26 Rf3 Qg6 27 Rxf7+! Qxf7 28 Rxe6+ Kf8 29 Rxd6. 25 Rf3 Be5 White refutes 25 ... f5 26 Qh5 Kf6 emphatically with 27 Rxf5+! Kxf5 28 Qf7+. 26 Re1 Later Topalov preferred 26 Rb3 Qd4 27 Qe2 Rb8 28 Rd1 Qc5 29 Re3 f6 30 b3. f6 Black struggles to survive. Neither 26 ... Bf6? 27 Qf5 nor 26 ... Rd4?! 27 Rxf7+! Kxf7 28 Qf5+ Ke7 29 Qxe5 seems satisfactory. 27 Qh5?! Hasty, as Black gets some counterplay. More annoying is 27 b3 Rd2 28 Qh5. Qb4! 28 Rxe5 Qxc4 Of course, 28 ... fxe5?? loses to 29 Qf7+ Kd6 30 Qxe6+ Kc7 31 Rf7+. 29 Re1 Qxa2 30 Qg6 Rhf8 31 Qxh6 Setting up a combination that may let Black escape with a draw. White could look for a middlegame solution in 31 Ra3!? Qc4 32 Rc3 Qd5 33 Qxh6. Qxb2 32 Qg7+ Rf7 33 Rxe6+ Kxe6 34 Re3+ Qe5 As 34 ... Kf5? 35 Qxf7 is hopeless. 35 Rxe5+ fxe5 36 Qxg5 Rdf8! At last, Black makes a threat! After the passive 36 ... Rd6? 37 h4, White’s passers soon decide. 37 Qg4+ Kd5 Avoiding 37 ... Kf6?! 38 Qe2! Ra7 because 39 Qf3+ Kg7 40 Qe3 Re7 41 h4 makes progress. 38 Qd1+ Kc5 Now Black rejects 38 ... Ke6?! 39 Qb3+ Kf6 40 Qd5! Kg6 because White wins with 41 Qe4+ Kh6 (or 41 ... Kf6 42 h4) 42 Qxe5! Rxf2 43 Qe3+ Kg6 44 Qxf2. 39 Qc2+ Kb4? White has no obvious win after 39 ... Kb6 40 Qb2+ Kc6. The logical sequence 41 Qa2 Rxf2 42 Qxa6+ Kd5! 43 Qb7+ Kd4 44 Qa7+ Kd3 45 Qxf2 Rxf2 46 Kxf2 only draws, as 46 ... Kd2! (threatening 47 ... e4) 47 Kf3 Kd3! 48 Kf2 Kd2! forces repetition. 40 Qb2+ Kc5?! Easing White’s task. However, White can reach a winning endgame after 40 ... Ka4 41 Qxe5 Rxf2 42 Qd4+ Kb3! 43 Qb6+! Kc3 44 Qxa6 or 40 ... Kc4 41 Qxe5 Rxf2 42 Qe6+ Kb5 43 Qd5+ Kb4 44 Qd4+ Kb3! 45 Qb6+! Kc3 46 Qxa6. 41 Qxe5+ Kb6 42 h4 White no longer fears 42 ... Rxf2 43 Qd4+ Kb5 44 Qxf2, as the h-pawn queens first. a5 43 h5 Rd7 Or 43 ... a4 44 h6 a3 45 h7, and Black must cede a Rook. 44 Qe6+ Kc7 45 h6, Black Resigns.