Dutch Treat
by Hans Ree

The SUPERTOURNAMENT

First Round Six geniuses in the supertournament, was the headline
I saw in one of the local papers of Las Palmas, the main city of the
Canary Islands. Indeed. Gary Kasparov, Anatoli Karpov, Vasily
Ivanchuk, Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir
Kramnik. The cream of the chess world. Gata Kamsky should be
among them, but after his candidates match last year against Anand
they do not want to see him here anymore. In some places where
the hoofprint of father Rustam Kamsky has been, there are no
chess events at all afterwards. Fortunately for the organisers
Kamsky dropped to seventh place on the interim FIDE list, so that
they can still say that they have the six best players of the world.

The strongest tournament in history, as they claim, it may be not,
but anyway it fills a painful gap. Now that there is no structured
cycle for the world championship, this tournament gives us a
chance to see who is best. "Who wins this tournament can call
himself the world's best player for the moment," said Kasparov
before it began, a sign that he took it very seriously. He arrived
here a week early and Karpov has been in the seaside resort
Maspalomas, on the other end of the island Gran Canaria, for two
weeks. All the players took seconds with them, some of them a
whole team of helpers.

Kasparov was the only one who won in the first round. A bit lucky
maybe, Topalov could have drawn, but on the other hand Kasparov
did wonders with his small advantage in the rook ending, while
Topalov underestimated the dangers.

Ivanchuk had prepared well for his encounter with Karpov. At the
opening ceremony the day before, as soon as he had received his
drawing number he ran away, so that in the photographs there are
only five players instead of six. He did not wait for the car with
driver that the organisers had put at his disposal, but jumped into
the first taxi he saw. "To the hotel!" he exclaimed. Which hotel?
the driver asked. But the name or location Ivanchuk did not know.
At least, such is the story as told to me by the head of Anand's
delegation.

It reminds one of Akiba Rubinstein, about whom it has been told
that once he arrived in The Hague by train, boarded the first
streetcar he saw and said to the driver: "Bring me to my friend
Oskam." Ivanchuk almost won, even though he was black.
Kramnik had to thread carefully through a minefield after Anand
had sprung a novelty on him in a sharp Sicilian. When Kramnik
had not exploded after twenty moves, a draw was agreed.

 When the four other players had already long gone, Kasparov and
Karpov were still seen together on the stage. A spy told me that
Karpov explained that Kasparov should never have won his game,
and that Kasparov made it clear that Karpov should have lost, or at
least suffered longer. They maybe rivals, enemies sometimes, but
they are bound together like Siamese twins.

Diagram: White: Kh1, Rc1, Re1; pawns: a4, b2, d5, h2 Black:
Kh8, Rb8, Rf4, Nd6; pawns: a5, c4, e4, h7

White: Topalov Black: Kasparov. Here white could make a draw
by 38 Nb5 Nxb5 39 axb5 Rxb5 40 Rxc4, though he will be a pawn
behind. Topalov afterwards said that he wanted more, but as he can
hardly have hoped for a win here, it probably meant that he wanted
a draw with equal material. He did not realize the dangers in the
position. Played was: 38 Re1-e2 Kh8-g7 39 Rc1-e1 Rb8-b4
Defending his pawn e4. After 40 Nxe4 Nxe4 41 Rxe4 Rxe4 42
Rxe4 black wins with 42...c3. 40 Nc3-b5 Nd6xb5 41 axb5 Kg7-f7
42 d5-d6 Kf7-e6 43 Re2-d2 Ke6-d7 44 Re1-g1 Rf4-f7 45 Rg1-e1
a5-a4 After 45...Rf6 46 Rxe4 Rxd6 white has a draw with 47 Rc2.
46 Re1-e3 Rf7-g7 47 Re3xe4 He thinks he finally can take it, but
he should have waited. 47...a4-a3! 48 Re3-e7+ Rg7xe7 49 d6xe7+
Kd7xe7 50 b2xa3 Rb4-b1+ 51 Kh1-g2 c4-c3 52 Rd2-e2+ Forced,
but now black can support his pawn with the king. 52...Ke7-d6 53
Kg2-f3 Kd6-d5 54 a3-a4 Kd5-d4 55 a4-a5 Rb1xb5 56 a5-a6
Rb5-a5 57 Re2-e4+ Kd4-d5 58 Re4-e3 c3-c2 59 Re3-c3 Ra5-c5
White resigned because of 60 Rxc5+ Kxc5 61 a7 c1Q 62 a8Q
Qh1+.

Second Round Three draws. Now and also on later days the
Canarian journalists were complaining about the high percentage
of draws. The players comments were to the effect that even God
cannot win a drawn position against a supergrandmaster. The most
interesting game was Kramnik-Topalov, a heroic fight. Kramnik
got an overwhelming position after the opening, a King's Indian,
but only gained a miserable pawn . Still he had good winning
chances. After sixty moves the instrument that they call here the
"guillotine" came into effect: the players get an extra half hour for
the rest of the game. At move eighty, with two minutes left,
Kramnik gave up his winning attempts. But even in the late
endgame the computer Fritz had spotted a win for him, and I think
the thing is right.

Diagram: White: Kf4, Re5, Ne4, Bg5; pawns: f3, h4 Black: Kf8,
Re2, Nd4, Bg2; pawn: g6

White: Kramnik Black: Topalov. Here, after more then six hours of
play, white missed his last chance. Strong would have been 66
Bh6+ Kf7 (after 66...Kg8 67 Re7 black is in a mating net) 67 Rd5.
Now both 68 Rxd4 and 68 Rd7+ are threatened, so forced is
67...Ne6+ 68 Kg3 and now again mate is threatened and also the
win of a piece by 69 Nf2 Bf1 70 Rd1. Black is forced to sacrifice
an exchange with 68...Rxe4 69 fxe4 Bxe4 but in the long run this
will not help him. Kramnik however played 66 Bg5-e7+ instead of
66 Bh6+ and fourteen moves later a draw was agreed.

Third Round Kasparov and Kramnik gave a draw in a position rich
in possibilities after 19 moves. Topalov-Karpov agreed to a draw
after 27 moves, which was quite justified by the position, but
earlier in the game Topalov had had a strong bind.

Anand won a fine game against Ivanchuk, sacrificing an exchange
right after the opening. The consequences could not be calculated,
but Anand followed the iron logic often invoked by Euwe: I have
white, I made no mistake, so I should have some advantage. If I do
not sacrifice there is no advantage at all, so sacrifice I must, come
what may.

White: Anand Black: Ivanchuk 1 e2-e4 e7-e5 2 Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3
Bf1-b5 a7-a6 4 Bb5-a4 Ng8-f6 5 0-0 Bf8-c5 6 Nf3xe5 Nc6xe5 7
d2-d4 Nf6xe4 8 Rf1-e1 Bc5-e7 9 Re1xe4 Ne5-g6 10 c2-c4 0-0 11
Nb1-c3 d7-d6 Usually 11...c6 is played, to prevent white's next
move. 12 Nc3-d5 Be7-h4 13 Qd1-h5 c7-c6 Diagram 14 Re4xh4 So
sacrifice he must, come what may. 14...Qd8xh4 14...Nxh4 15 Bg5
f6 16 Bxh4 cxd5 17 Qxd5+ Kh8 18 Bg3 is not attractive for black
and maybe white has even better. 15 Qh5xh4 Ng6xh4 16 Nd5-b6
Ra8-b8 17 Bc1-f4 Nh4-f5 18 d4-d5 Rf8-e8 Active counterplay, but
it fails. The test of white's sacrifice could have been the humble
18...cxd5 19 cxd5 Rd8 19 Kg1-f1 h7-h6 Anand thought 19...f6 20
h3 Re5 a better defence. 20 h2-h3 Re8-e4 21 Bf5-h2 c6xd5 22
g2-g4 Re4xc4 No choice. After 22...dxc4 there follows 23 Bc2 and
white wins. 23 Nb6xc4 d5xc4 24 Ra1-e1 Bc8-e6 25 g4xf5 Be6xf5
26 Bh2xd6 Bf5xh3+ 27 Kf1-g1 Rb8-d8 28 Re1-e8+ Rd8xe8 29
Ba4xe8 Material equality, but white's bishops control the board.
Probably black has no saving chances anymore. 29...Bh3-e6 30
a2-a4 g7-g5 31 a4-a5 Kg8-g7 32 Be8-a4 Kg7-g6 33 Ba4-d1
Be6-d5 34 Bd1-c2+ Kg6-f6 35 Bd6-c7 Kf6-e6 36 Bc2-h7 Bd5-f3
37 Kg1-h2 Ke6-d5 38 Bh7-c2 Bf3-e4 39 Bc2-d1 Kd5-d4 40
Bd1-e2 Be4-d3 41 Bc7-b6+ Kd4-d5 42 Be2-d1 f7-f5 43 Kh2-g3
Kd5-e5 44 Bb6-c5 Ke5-f6 45 Bd1-h5 f5-f4+ 46 Kg3-h2 Black
resigned as he can not protect all his pawns.

Fourth Round The highlight of the round was the game between
the two leaders, Kasparov-Anand, which Kasparov should have
won. After 63 moves of trouble Anand saved a draw. Kramnik and
Karpov did no harm to each other and Topalov showed again that
he is not himself in this tournament. He almost mated Ivanchuk,
who could just save himself n an endgame, but even then Ivanchuk
was convinced that he was losing, as he told the press afterwards.
Great was his surprise when he was allowed dangerous
counterplay, greater still his happiness when he met hardly any
resistance and won quickly.

White: Topalov Black: Ivanchuk 1 e2-e4 c7-c6 Ivanchuk plays
everything. 2 d2-d4 d7-d5 3 Nb1-d2 d5xe4 4 Nd2xe4 Nb8-d7 5
Ne4-g5 Ng8-f6 6 Bf1-d3 e7-e6 7 Ng1-f3 Bf8-d6 8 Qd1-e2 h7-h6 9
Ng5-e4 Nf6xe4 10 Qe2xe4 Nd7-f6 11 Qe4-e2 Qd8-c7 12 Bc1-d2
b7-b6 13 0-0-0 Bc8-b7 14 Kc1-b1 Ra8-d8 15 Rh1-g1 c6-c5 16
d4xc5 Qc7xc5 17 a2-a3 0-0 18 g2-g4 Qc5-d5 19 g4-g5 Qd5xf3 20
g5xf6 g7-g6  Diagram 21 Bd2xh6 The position is crying for 21
Bxg6, but with good reason Topalov pays no attention. After
21...fxg6 22 Rxg6+ Kf7 23 Rg7+ Kxf6 24 Bc3+ Kf5! there is no
clear follow up. 21...Bd6xh2 22 Rg1-h1 Qf3xe2 23 Bd3xe2
Rd8xd1+ 24 Rh1xd1 Rf8-c8 25 f2-f3 Bh2-g3 Black can just
prevent mate. 26 Bh6-g7 Quite out of play here. This is only good
when a mate can follow, but there won't. Strong was 26 Rd7 or 26
b4, avoiding the manoevre Rc8-c5-h5 and still playing with the
idea of mate, but not burning all his boats for it. 26...g6-g5 27
Rd1-d7 Bb7-c6 28 Rd7xa7 Rc8-d8 29 a3-a4 Bg3-e5 30 a4-a5 30
Ra6 still looks good. 30...Rd8-d2 31 Be2-c4 b6-b5 32 Bc4-b3
Bc6xf3 33 Ra7-e7 Rd2-d6 34 Re7-e8+ Kg8-h7 35 Bg7-f8 Rd6-d1+
36 Kb1-a2 Be5xf6 37 a5-a6 g5-g4 38 c2-c4 Time pressure panic,
but white was already in a bad state. 38...Rd1-d2 39 c4xb5 g4-g3
40 b5-b6 g3-g2 41 Bf8-c5 Be5xb2 White resigned.

Fifth round After almost three years of waiting finally another
Karpov-Kasparov game. Their last one was in 1994 in Linares,
when Karpov reigned supreme. Their long awaited game turned
out a disappointment. There had been two consecutive rest days, to
give Karpov the opportunity to go to Paris and come back in time.
Long before Karpov had agreed to play in Las Palmas, he had
signed a contract with Paris Disneyland to appear there at a chess
event for children, something he could not cancel.

Back from a tiring trip, Karpov appeared not in the mood to play a
sharp game. Right from the opening he seemed to be playing for a
draw and as he had white, nobody doubted that he would get one.
A boring game, but still they thought long and got into terrible
time trouble. For the players their own game is never boring, only
the spectators think so. And a day later it was found out that in the
last three minutes of the game exciting things had happened.
Maybe a missed win for Karpov. Then a missed win for Kasparov
in a pawn ending. Not so boring at all, but nobody had noticed it at
the time.

Kramnik was crushed by Ivanchuk. For this tournament Kramnik
has taken up a new opening as black, the King's Indian. It certainly
still needs some polishing. After his earlier game with Kasparov,
Kramnik said that he had not played the King's Indian for ten
years, so his experience dates from the time he was eleven years
old. Anand-Topalov was an uneventful draw.

The highlight of the day was the press conference that Ilyumzhinov
gave. The Executive Council of FIDE had had two days of
discussions in Las Palmas, invited there because the Canarians
want to have the Kasparov-Karpov match in 1997. Ilyumzhinov
announced that his knock-out World Championship tournament
would be held in Elista, December 1997 till January 1998. Five
million dollar prize fund, guaranteed by the Kalmykian
government. And what about Kasparov-Karpov, what kind of
world championship was that then?

Ilyumzhinov replied that in their provisional agreement Kasparov
and Karpov had not mentioned FIDE at all, so it was none of his
business. FIDE would go its own way. The Canarian chess
organisers turned white. Suddenly it appeared that their cherished
match would have no official status at all. And then came
something really weird. Ilyumzhinov announced that an
independent chess state would be founded on the territory of
Kalmykia in 1998, during the olympiad. With its own government,
parliament and laws. And, most important it seems to me, its own
tax system. In 1998 the king of independent Chessland would be
elected by the players in the olympiad, but everyone who was
present at the conference was also invited to take part in the
election. The words of comrade Stalin came to mind: it is not
important who is voting, important is who is counting.

When we staggered outside the room, a Kalmykian was waiting for
us, distributing booklets with drawings and photos of scale models
of the splendid chess palaces that would be built in the kingdom of
chess. After studying the booklet it became clear that Iljumzhinov
wants to make what he calls "an offshore economic zone," a tax
heaven for bankers and international investors, under the flag of
FIDE. We are in strange company nowadays.

White: Karpov Black: Kasparov 1 d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2 Ng1-f3 d7-d5 3
c2-c4 e7-e6 4 Nb1-c3 d5xc4 5 Qd1-a4+ c7-c6 6 Qa4xc4 b7-b5 7
Qc4-d3 Bc8-b7 8 a2-a3 Not in the mood for heavy fighting. With
the sharp 8 e4 he once won a beautiful game against Gelfand.
8...a7-a6 9 e2-e3 c6-c5 10 d4xc5 Bf8xc5 11 Qd3xd8+ Ke8xd8 12
Bc1-d2 Kd8-e7 13 Bf1-d3 Nb8-d7 14 Ke1-e2 Bc5-d6 15 Rh1-d1
Ra8-c8 16 Ra1-c1 Nd7-b6 17 Bd2-e1 Nb6-c4 After white's
unpretentious play black is somewhat better now. 18 Rc1-c2
Bb7xf3+ 19 g2xf3 Nc4-e5 20 h2-h3 Ne5xd3 21 Rd1xd3 Rh8-d8 22
Rc2-d2 Bd6-c7 23 Rd2-c2 Bc7-b6 24 Rd3xd8 Ke7xd8 25 Rc2-d2+
Kd8-e7 26 Rd2-d1 g7-g6 27 f3-f4 Rc8-c4 28 f2-f3 Nf6-d7 29
b2-b3 Rc4-c6 30 Nc3-e4 Karpov one minute left, Kasparov two,
after racking his brains to make something substantial out of
practically nothing. Without anyone noticing, white has gotten an
advantage. 30...Rc6-c2+ Diagram 31 Rd1-d2 "31 Kd3 was
tempting," said Karpov during the post mortem. Indeed it would
have been mighty strong. Kasparov intended to play 31 Rh2 and he
certainly would not have had time to change plans. After 32 Bb4+
Kd8 33 Ng5 white's advantage would have been huge. And also
after 31 Rb2 32 Bb4+ Kd8 33 Nd2 or 31 Rc7 32 Bb4+ Nc5+ 33
Ke2 black would be in big trouble. 31...Rc2xd2+ 32 Be1xd2 A
drawn position again although nobody had noticed that things had
temporarily changed. 32...Bb6-c5 33 Ne4xc5 Nd7xc5 34 Bd2-b4
Ke7-d6 35 Ke2-d2 a6-a5 36 Bb4xc5+ Kd6xc5 37 Kd2-d3 f7-f6 38
h3-h4 But this is very uncautious. He wastes a tempo that he will
need later. Also, with the white pawn on h4, it is much easier for
black to create an outside passed pawn. 38...Kc5-d5 39 b3-b4
a5xb4 40 a3xb4 Diagram 40...h7-h6 Not the best move before the
time control. Black returns the compliment. It seems that Kasparov
himself made it known the next day that he could have won with
40...e5. An important difference with the game is seen in the
variation 41 e4+ Kd6 42 Ke3 Ke6 43 fxe5 fxe5 44 Kf2 Kf6. Now
after 45 Kg2 follows 45...h5 and 46...g5 and black wins, while
after 45 Kg3 comes 45...h6, the move which in reality he
squandered on his 40th, and white is in zugzwang. 41 e3-e4+
Kd5-d6 42 Kd3-e3 e6-e5 43 f4xe5 f6xe5 44 Ke3-f2 Kd6-e6 45
Kf2-g2 Circumspection is still needed 45 Kg3 would lose. But now
there is nothing to do for black; draw agreed. Play out a boring
game to the end and funny things can happen; Fischer knew it.

Sixth Round Anand, who had shared the lead with Kasparov, fell
back losing to Kramnik. Topalov, who had seemed badly out of
form during the first part of the tournament, has regained his
strength and easily held a position against Kasparov that seemed
very difficult for him, with the totally wrecked pawn structure that
is typical for the Scotch when Kasparov plays the white side.
Ivanchuk forced an early draw against Karpov. Perpetual check
after fifteen moves.

White: Kramnik Black: Anand 1 Ng1-f3 Ng8-f6 2 c2-c4 b7-b6 3
g2-g3 Bc8-b7 4 Bf1-g2 e7-e6 5 0-0 Bf8-e7 6 Nb1-c3 0-0 7 Rf1-e1
d7-d5 8 c4xd5 Nf6xd5 9 e2-e4 Nd5xc3 10 b2xc3 c7-c5 11 d2-d4
Nb8-d7 12 Bc1-f4 c5xd4 13 c3xd4 Nd7-f6 14 Nf3-e5 Be7-b4
Anand likes to play against a strong center, but this seems to be
based on an oversight. 15 Re1-e3 Ra8-c8 16 d4-d5 If this is
possible, black has clearly gone wrong. And it is, for after
16...exd5 17 exd5 Nxd5 18 Rd3 the complications turn out
favourably for white. 16...e6xd5 17 e4xd5 Bb4-d6 18 Ne5-c6
Bb7xc6 19 Bf4xd6 Bc6-a4 19...Qxd6 20 dxc6 would be very
unpleasant for black, but maybe the lesser evil. Diagram 20
Bd6xf8 Fine play He could win a pawn by 20 Qxa4, but this queen
sacrifice is stronger. 20...Ba4xd1 21 Bf8-e7 Qd8-c7 22 Ra1xd1
Nf6-d7 23 Bg2-h3 White's bishops in combination with his terrible
passed pawn control the board. According to Kramnik black could
have defended better during the next stage, but it still would have
been an uphill fight. 23...h7-h6 24 Bh3-f5 b6-b5 25 Be7-b4 Rc8-d8
26 Re3-e7 Qc7-c4 27 Re7xd7 Rd8xd7 28 Bf5xd7 Qc4xb4 29
d5-d6 White is winning. His passed pawn is unstoppable and there
will be no perpetual for black. 29...Qb4-a4 30 Rd1-d3 Qa4-e4 31
Bd7xb5 Qe4-e1+ 32 Kg1-g2 Qe1-e4+ 33 Kg2-g1 Qe4-e1+ 34
Kg1-g2 Qe1-e4+ 35 Kg2-f1 Qe4-h1+ 36 Kf1-e2 Qh1-e4+ 37
Ke2-f1 Qe4-h1+ 38 Kf1-e2 Qh1-e4+ 39 Ke2-d1 Qe4-g4+ 40 f2-f3
Qg4-h3 41 d6-d7 Black resigned.

Seventh round A fantastic round. All three games decided, Anand
producing a work of art against Karpov, who had it coming to him,
because he spent a lot of time on an extremely dubious opening: 54
minutes on the first nine moves. Anand got a clear advantage and
Karpov was forced to shed a pawn.

What Anand did then, few players would have done in his place.
Taking the pawn would have given him reasonable winning
chances with absolutely no risk. He sacrificed a piece, Bxh7+,
which usually is trivial, but here it was extremely unclear In one
variation a second piece would have to be sacrificed, a third even.
Few people thought it was correct, computer Fritz 4 thought it was
absolute nonsense.

A day later Anand said after long analysis that he would not have
been in danger and would have winning chances in an unclear
position, even if Karpov had played the best defence. But Karpov
didn't and he could not have done it in the ten or so minutes he had
left after Anand's sacrifice. It was a joy to see Anand's play. A
quiet move with a pawn, followed by an unexpected queen switch
across the whole board. This is Tal, someone said. This is Anand, I
thought. Karpov overstepped the time in a hopeless position on the
36th move.

The important game between the leaders, Kasparov-Ivanchuk, was
hardly noticed, though this also was a fine attacking game, but less
spectacular and with no sacrifices. Like Karpov, Ivanchuk
overstepped in a lost position on move 36. Topalov won a good
positional game against Kramnik, who tried the King's Indian
again, to his regret.

White: Anand Black: Karpov 1 Ng1-f3 d7-d5 2 d2-d4 e7-e6 3
c2-c4 d5xc4 4 e2-e4 b7-b5 This risky variation is out of character
for Karpov. 5 a2-a4 c7-c6 6 a4xb5 c6xb5 7 b2-b3 Bc8-b7 8 b3xc4
Bb7xe4 9 c4xb5 Ng8-f6 10 Bf1-e2 Bf8-e7 11 0-0 0-0 12 Nb1-c3
Be4-b7 13 Nf3-e5 a7-a6 14 Be2-f3 Karpov's experiment is no
success; it is very difficult for him to develop his queenside.
14...Nf6-d5 15 Nc3xd5 e6xd5 16 Ra1-b1 Qd8-b6 17 Bf3-e2 a6xb5
18 Rb1xb5 Qb6-c7 19 Bc1-f4 Be7-d6 20 Be2-d3 Bb7-a6 He has to
give a pawn, otherwise he would lose quickly. 21 Bd3xh7+ But
Anand doesn't want a pawn, he wants to sacrifice and give mate.
21...Kg8xh7 22 Qd1-h5+ Kh7-g8 23 Rb5-b3 Diagram 23...Bd6xe5
Not good. After 23...Bc8 Anand would play 24 Rg3 Qe7 25 Bg5
with advantage. The crucial line is 23...f6 24 Rh3 (the second
piece) fxe5 25 dxe5 and now 25...Rxf4 (the third piece) 26 e6 is
winning for white, but 25..Qc4 keeps it very unclear according to
Anand, who thought 26 Re1 would be the best way to play for a
win. I got this from a Dutch chess journalist who visited Anand in
his hotel and was completely dazzled by the stream of fantastically
complicated variations Anand showed. 24 Rb3-h3 f7-f6 25 d4xe5
Qc7-e7 26 Qh5-h7+ Kg8-f7 27 Rh3-g3 Kf7-e8 27...Rg8 loses after
28 Qg6+ Kf8 29 exf6. White's attack is winning. 28 Rg3xg7
Qe7-e6 29 e5xf6 Nb8-c6 30 Rf1-a1 Ke8-d8 31 h2-h4 Underscoring
black's inability to do anything constructive. 31...Ba6-b7 32
Ra1-c1 Bb7-a6 33 Rc1-a1 Ba6-b7 34 Ra1-d1 Bb7-a6 35 Qh7-b1
Rf8xf6 36 Bf4-g5 and black overstepped.

Eighth round Not much to say about this one. Three boring draws.
Kasparov seemed in trouble against Kramnik, but he just managed
to save himself in a rook ending a pawn down. A clear theoretical
draw, but Kramnik played on for 30 more moves, though he could
hardly hope to win this against the world champion. Topalov
played a novelty which took the dangers out of a variation of the
Benoni which up to now had given Karpov and others a lot of
wins. Interesting for theory buffs, but not for the spectators, who
had to look at an totally drawn position. Karpov did wonders with
it, reached a queen ending a pawn up, but, pity for him, even this
was easily drawn by Topalov. In Ivanchuk-Anand not much of
interest happened.

White: Kramnik Black: Kasparov 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 d5 4 d4
Be7 5 Bg5 0-0 6 e3 h6 7 Bh4 Ne4 8 Bxe7 Qxe7 9 Rc1 c6 10 Bd3
Nxc3 11 Rxc3 dxc4 12 Bxc4 Nd7 13 0-0 b6 14 Bd3 c5 15 Be4
Rb8 16 Qa4 Bb7 17 Bxb7 Rxb7 Kramnik had this with black
against Anand in a television game shown by the German channel
WQR. Anand played 18 Rd1 and didn't get much. 18 Qc2 Rc8 19
Rc1 Rbc7 20 b4 Unpleasant for black; if he does not take measures
quickly as he will lose a pawn. 20...e5 21 dxc5 bxc5 22 Rc4 After
22 Nd2 black would have 22...c4. Now white is ready with 23 Nd2
and 24 Nb3 winning a pawn Diagram 22...e4 This way he saves
himself. After 23 Rxe4 comes 23...cxb4 and after 23 Nd2 or 23
Nd4 black has 23...Ne5 24 Rxc5 Rxc5 25 bxc5 Nd3 23 Qxe4 Qxe4
24 Rxe4 cxb4 25 Re8+ Rxe8 26 Rxc7 Ne5 27 Nxe5 Rxe5 28 Rxa7
h5 Pawn up for white but a clear draw. 29 h3 Rb5 30 g4 hxg4 31
hxg4 g6 32 Kg2 b3 33 axb3 Rxb3 34 g5 Kg7 35 Kg3 Rc3 36 Re7
Ra3 37 Kg4 Kf8 38 Rb7 Kg7 39 Kg3 Kf8 40 Rc7 Kg7 41 Re7 Kf8
42 Re5 Kg7 43 f4 Rd3 44 Kf3 Rd2 45 Ke4 Rd1 46 Rd5 Re1 47
Rd3 Kf8 48 Ke5 Kg7 49 e4 Re2 50 Rd7 Re1 51 Rc7 Re2 52 Ra7
Re1 53 Ra4 Re2 54 Kd6 Rd2+ 55 Ke7 Rf2 56 e5 Rf1 57 Ra6
Based on a miscalculation, but it makes no difference. 57...Rxf4 58
e6 He had overlooked that 58 Rf6 would be answered with
58...Rf5, after which white would be in trouble. But now they
agreed to a draw.

Ninth round Kasparov-Karpov again, their 165th game, and today
it was an exciting one. Remarkable how often the outcome of their
games is decided in the last few minutes. Remember Sevilla 1987,
last game. Twenty seconds before the first time control Karpov
was virtually World Champion. Then he made a blunder which
spoiled everything. Today everything was normal for a long while.
Chances for both sides, Kasparov having the two bishops, Karpov
a better pawn structure. Then in mutual time trouble Karpov
collapsed. A day later some very promising possibilities were
found for him. Kasparov said afterwards that immediately after the
game he had phoned his mother and said it had been an awful
game.

Topalov-Anand was a draw which could have been played on for a
while, and Kramnik won a good technical game against Ivanchuk,
who played on for much too long. Kramnik reacted jestfully by
postponing an inevitable pawn promotion for several moves.

So before the last round Kasparov was a full point up. But if
Anand were to beat him, they would not share first place, nor the
prize money. Anand would be first, because he would have beaten
Kasparov 1 -. White: Kasparov Black: Karpov 1 d2-d4 Ng8-f6
2 c2-c4 e7-e6 3 Nb1-c3 Bf8-b4 4 Qd1-c2 0-0 5 a2- a3 Bb4xc3+ 6
Qc2xc3 b7-b6 7 Bc1-g5 Bc8-b7 8 e2-e3 d7-d6 9 f2-f3 Nb8-d7 10
Ng1-h3 c7-c5 11 d4xc5 b6xc5 12 Bf1-e2 Qd8-b6 13 0-0 d6-d5 14
Ra1-d1 Bb7-c6 15 Nh3-f2 h7-h6 16 Bg5-h4 Bc6-a4 17 Rd1-d2
Ba4-b3 18 Nf2-g4 Nf6xg4 19 f3xg4 Ra8-b8 20 g4-g5 In the post
mortem Kasparov indicated 20 cxd5 exd5 21 Rf5 as more
promising. 20...h6xg5 21 Bh4xg5 Rb8-b7 22 Bg5-e7 Rf8-e8 23
Be7-h4 Nd7-f8 24 Bh4-g3 Re8-d8 25 Bg3-h4 Rd8-d7 After
25...Re8, would white have gone for a repetition of moves with 26
Bg3? He probably did not feel so confident at this stage. 26 c4xd5
Rd7xd5 27 e3-e4 Rd5xd2 28 Qc3xd2 Bb3-a4 29 Be2-h5 Ba4-e8 30
Bh4-f2 Qb6-b5 Neither in the game, nor in the post-mortem did the
players realize that 30...Qxb2 would have been very strong. After
31 Qxb2 Rxb2 32 Bxc5 Rb5 black is much better, maybe winning,
because of the unfortunate position of white's bishops. Then 33
Rc1 Nd7 34 Bd6 does not quite win a piece for black, but it is very
good for him, as is 33 Bxf8 Kxf8. White has other possibilities, but
none very good After 31 Qd8 (instead of exchanging queens) black
plays 31...Bb5, staying a very healthy pawn up. 31 Qd2-d8 Be8-c6
Here 31...c4 seems nice for black. 32 Bf2-g3 Rb7-d7 And here
32...c4 again. An interesting line is then 33 Bd6 Qxh5 34 Qxf8+
Kh7 35 Rf3 c3 36 b4 c2 37 Bf4 e5 and black seems to win. 33
Qd8-e8 (See Diagram) 

But now to his misery Karpov must have found out that he could
not protect f7. After 33...Qb7, 33...f6 or 33...g6 white has the
winning move 34 Bd6. 33...Qb5xf1+ Escape into a miserable
ending. 34 Kg1xf1 Rd7-d1+ 35 Bh5xd1 Bc6xe8 36 Bg3-f2
Be8-b5+ 36...Nd7 would have put up a relatively better resistance.
37 Bd1-e2 Bb5xe2+ 38 Kf1xe2 Nf8-d7 39 Ke2-d3 a7-a6 40
Bf2-g1 f7-f5 41 e4xf5 e6xf5 42 Kd3-c4 Nd7-e5+ 43 Kc4xc5
Ne5-d3+ 44 Kc5-b6 Black resigned

Tenth and final round. So Gary Kasparov did it again, showing the
crown princes and his eternal rival Karpov that there is still a
difference between him and the rest of the world. His score, he
said, was better than he had expected ("I expected to share first
place with Anand") but his play was not. "Everyone played under
strength here, many mistakes were made, because of the extreme
tension caused by playing a world class player everyday."

Once he was in trouble after the opening (with black against
Kramnik), his games with Karpov could have gone all different
ways, but on the other hand he should have won the first game
against Anand and anyway, being a full point up to the nearest
rival is something against which there is no argument. Anand tried
to beat him today in a long theoretical variation. Not much chance
against the king of opening preparation. Kasparov held the draw
cleanly and easily.

Karpov played a sharp and lively game against Kramnik, who
seemed to be lost at the final stage, but somehow managed a
perpetual check. Ivanchuk in full battle overlooked a simple check
and mate by Topalov, and after the game Ivanchuk said at the press
conference that the tension of this supertournament had been so
terrible, that he considered canceling some obligations in the near
future. Very bad news for the Dutch organisers of Wijk aan Zee,
who still expect him there and need him very much for their
tournament. Karpov and Ivanchuk shared last place on points, but
according to the tie- break system Karpov officially was last, a fate
without precedent in his long and glorious career.

And now for the future. Kasparov spoke at a press conference
about his coming match against Karpov. His position was clear and
uncompromising. Essentially it came to this: "With 100% certainty
there will be a match between me and Karpov, starting in
September 1997. But any talk of it being a so called reunification
match is completely groundless. There is nothing to unify, because
there is only one World Champion, me, Kasparov. The match will
be for the World Championship, me being the champion and
Karpov the challenger. If I win, I promise to defend my title in
another title match starting not later than September 1999. If FIDE
wants to organize its own events, let them do so, but the chess
world will recognize that they will have nothing to do with a real
world championship. The title is owned by the World Champion,
not by an organization which has lost legitimacy. I stand at the end
of a line which started with Steinitz in 1886, and this will be so
until I am defeated in a match. With FIDE I will have absolutely
nothing to do, and what they say and do is irrelevant."

Clearly the organisers in Gran Canaria, who have been bidding for
the Kasparov-Karpov match, had been thinking that they were
preparing a match under the auspices of FIDE, but privately
Kasparov was very clear about this too: "If they think that, there
will be no match here."

White: Anand Black: Kasparov 1 e2-e4 c7-c5 2 Ng1-f3 d7-d6 3
d2-d4 c5xd4 4 Nf3xd4 Ng8-f6 5 Nb1-c3 a7-a6 6 Bf2-e2 e7-e6 7
0-0 Bf8-e7 8 a2-a4 Nb8-c6 9 Bc1-e3 0-0 10 f2-f4 Qd8-c7 11
Kg1-h1 Rf8-e8 12 Be2-f3 Ra8-b8 13 g2-g4 Nc6xd4 14 Be3xd4
e6-e5 15 f4xe5 d6xe5 16 Bd4-a7 Rb8-a8 17 g4-g5 Re8-d8 18
Qd1-e2 Nf6-e8 19 Ba7-e3 Bc8-e6 20 Qe2-f2 All played in a
quarter of an hour. They were following Topalov-Kasparov,
Olympiad 1996, when Kasparov played 20..Qc4 and later won.
20...Rd8-c8 Indicated by Kasparov in Informant 67, but this book
was not yet in the possession of Anand, who started thinking here.
21 Ra1-d1 Be7-c5 22 Be3xc5 Qc7xc5 23 Nc3-d5 Be6xd5 24
Rd1xd5 Qc5xc2 25 Rd5xe5 Qc2xf2 26 Rf1xf2 g7-g6 27 Re5-d5
Ne8-c7 28 Rd5-d7 Nc7-e6 29 Bf3-g4 Ne6xg5 30 h2-h4 Ng5xe4 31
Rf2xf7 Rc8-c1+ 32 Kh1-g2 Rc1-c2+ (See Diagram) 33 Kg2-g1
After 33 Kf3 comes 33...Rf2+ 34 Kxe4 Rxf7 35 Be6 Re8 and black
wins. Without risk white could have tried 33 Kh3 Nf2+ 34 Kg3,
but after 34...Nxg4 this also is a draw. 33...Rc2-c1 Draw This
column first appeared in several parts in the Dutch newspaper
"NRC-Handelsblad" in December, 1996. Copyright 1996 Hans
Ree, All Rights Reserved.