Birth of Modern World Championship

May 11, 2001

Position #5637: White to play and win. From the game Moiseenko-Pelletier, Kharkov 2001.

Solution to Position #5636: Black wins with 1 . . . e4! 2 dxe4 Qg4 3 Rf1 Rxf3! 4 Rxf3 Ne5 5 Rf1 Nxf3 6 Rxf3 Rf8. If 2 Qxc6 Qxd3+ 3 Kf2 exf3 or 2 Nd4 Qg4+ 3 Ke1 Qh3, White must cede material to delay mate.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The first world championship match organized by the World Chess Federation ended 50 years ago today in Moscow. Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, then 39, retained his title by tying the match, 12-12, against 27-year-old challenger David Bronstein. Each player won five games.

Botvinnik, the greatest star of the 1940s and 1950s, became champion in 1948 when he won the federation’s first important event, a tournament of the five leading world championship contenders. The federation required that the champion defend his title every third year in a best-of-24-game match. Bronstein survived a complicated qualifying cycle to become the federation’s first challenger.

The match was excruciatingly close, with neither player ever taking a two-point lead. Botvinnik looked understandably rusty; he had not played a serious game in 34 months while he earned a doctorate in his second career, electrical engineering. Bronstein often outplayed him in the opening and middlegame but squandered chances in the endgame. The challenger’s high point followed his victories in the 21st and 22nd games, which gave him the lead at 11 1/2-10 1/2. As always, Botvinnik excelled under pressure, winning the next game in what he later described as “a very stubborn though far from error-free struggle.” A relatively easy draw in the final game secured his title for three more years.

Botvinnik contested six more championship matches over the next dozen years and remained a top grandmaster until his retirement from competition in 1970. He devoted the rest of his life to an unsuccessful attempt to create a master-strength chess program using a selective search of moves instead of “brute force” examination of all possibilities. He died at age 83 in 1995.

Bronstein tied for second place in the Candidates tournament of 1953 and third in 1956, but did not get a second chance at a championship match. An eccentric visionary, he advocated experiments such as faster time controls and multiple games against one opponent. Now 77, he has not competed since 1997.

The current world championship chaos forces one to credit the World Chess Federation for devising an effective world championship system. The federation used the 24-game format for its first 10 matches, up to the Bobby Fischer versus Boris Spassky match of 1972. After three tests of Fischer’s idea of an “unlimited” match to six wins, the federation returned to 24 games for the last four Garry Kasparov versus Anatoly Karpov matches.

Perhaps more important, the federation’s rigorous qualifying cycle selected the strongest challenger every time. Ah, the good old days!

Vladimir Kramnik, the Russian grandmaster with the best claim to the title of world champion, will play the Deep Fritz program in a match in Bahrain in October. Deep Fritz is a version of the popular commercial program Fritz, modified to run on multiple processors. Kramnik will earn $1 million if he wins the match and “only” $600,000 if he loses. Brain Games Network, which conducted Kramnik’s November match victory over Kasparov, will sponsor the match.

Kasparov revealed that his contract with Brain Games Network has expired. Kramnik said that he was uncertain if his own Brain Games Network contract requires him to face a designated challenger in 2002. Kasparov’s campaign to persuade Kramnik to give him a rematch this year seems to have failed. However, the two rivals will face each other twice in an elite six-player tournament scheduled to begin May 19 in Astana, Kazakhstan.

LOCAL NEWS

Recently the organizer of the annual Memorial Day Classic announced that he would not run the tournament this year. However, players still will have an opportunity to compete on Memorial Day weekend. Charles Rostedt, owner of Chess Palace, will run a five-round event May 26-27 at his club in Los Alamitos. There will be three games Saturday and two Sunday. Chess Palace can accommodate only 50 players, so players should register early. For details of this tournament and other Chess Palace events, call (562) 598-5099.

The San Joaquin County Championship takes place May 19-20 at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno. The five-round tournament includes an Open and an under-1600 section. Information: Bonnie Yost, (559) 275-0905.

The Exposition Park Chess Club held its May Open last Sunday in the public library at 3665 S. Vermont Ave. in Hollywood. Leland Farrar swept his section, scoring 3-0, and Roger Aramaya and Ramon Tolentino shared first at 2 1/2- 1/2 in another section. Johnny Ramirios scored 3-0 to win an accompanying Swiss system event, a point ahead of Christophe Carter and Ervin Ghevondian. The club meets at the library on Sunday afternoons and hosts a free tournament on the first Sunday of each month. For information and photos, see their Web site at https://members.tripod.com/expogang.

The May Octos, a three-round tournament, will be held Saturday at the Chess Center, 2651 Irvine Ave. in Costa Mesa. Call Mike Carr at (949) 768-3538 for details.

Games Hall of Fame, 348 N. Vermont Ave. in Hollywood, has announced new hours for its chess club. The store welcomes chess players 1-4 p.m. Mondays and 7-10 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call the new chess director, Dec Cuerdon, at (909) 874-3906 or at (909) 556-9114.

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TODAY’S GAME

GM Nijboer (Netherlands) - GM Sutovsky (Israel), Germany 2001: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 Fischer’s favorite against the Najdorf Sicilian. e6 7 Bb3 b5 8 0-0 Be7 9 Qf3 Fashionable. Qc7 Some prefer 9 . . . Qb6 10 Be3 Qb7. 10 Qg3 Nc6 11 Nxc6 Qxc6 12 Re1 Bb7 13 Qxg7?! Very risky. White maintains equality with 13 a3 0-0 14 Bh6 Ne8 15 Rad1. Rg8 14 Qh6 0-0-0 15 Qh3 An awkward spot, although it threatens 16 Nd5. Perhaps 15 f3 Rg6 16 Qd2 Rdg8 17 Re2 improves. Kb8 16 f3 Rg6 17 Be3 Rdg8 18 Re2 h5 Black has excellent compensation, thanks to White’s stranded Queen. 19 Rd1 White should consider 19 Qh4. If 19 . . . Ng4 20 Qxe7 Nxe3 21 Rxe3?? Qc5!, both 22 Rae1 Rxg2+ 23 Kh1 Qxe3 and 22 Nd1 Rxg2+ 23 Kf1 Qd4! win for Black. Yet 21 g3 seems to survive. Qe8 20 a4 b4 21 Na2 e5! Threatening 22 . . . Bc8. White’s only hope is 22 g3. 22 Nxb4? a5 23 Nd3 No better is 23 Nd5 Bc8 24 Nxf6 Bxf6 25 Qxh5 Rh8. Bc8 24 Qh4 Ng4! 25 Qxh5 Now the Queen falls. However, the alternative 25 Qe1 Nxe3 26 Rxe3 Rxg2+ 27 Kh1 loses to 27 . . . Qd7 28 f4 Qg4 29 Qf1 Qh4 30 Qxg2 Rxg2 31 Kxg2 Qg4+. Nxe3 26 Rxe3 Rxg2+ 27 Kh1 Against 27 Kf1, simplest is 27 . . . R2g7! (threatening 28 . . . Rh8) 28 Qh6 Qf8, winning White’s Queen. R8g5 Inviting 28 Qxf7 Rxh2+ and 28 Bxf7 Rxh5 29 Bxe8 Rhxh2 mate. 28 Qh7 Rg7 29 Qh5 Similar is 29 Qh6 R2g6 30 Qh5 Qg8 31 Ree1 Rh7. R2g5 30 Qh6 Qg8 31 Ree1 Rh7, White Resigns.