CHESS
Title deeds
Raymond Keene THE WORLD chess championship does matter. That is, unless one accepts the cyni- cal view of Viswanathan Anand that after Kasparov's defeat by Deep Blue last year the public at large simply regard the IBM computer as the true champion. In Anand's scenario, the activities of Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, Shirov and Anand himself would have little bearing on who or what is the strongest chess-playing entity in the world.
I take the opposite point of view. Deep Blue certainly has claims but, given that IBM have withdrawn it from competition and are seemingly happy to sit on their lau- rels, the computer's pre-eminence, if that is what it is, can never be confirmed. The lau- rels will wither unless constantly refreshed.
Deep Blue's win against Kasparov last year reminds me of the Battle of Jutland during the first world war. The German high seas fleet sank more ships during the fighting, but swiftly retreated from the scene of battle and never emerged again, thus leaving the Royal Navy in command.
We now know that Kramnik and Shirov will play a qualifier to determine the chal- lenger to Kasparov later this year (for details see last week's column). Meanwhile, Anand has refused an invitation, which is quite consistent with the contract he signed with Fide (the World Chess Federation), and for this consistency he should be con- gratulated. However, let us not get carried away. The eminent US grandmaster Lubosh Kavalek, writing after Anand's tournament victory at Linares, has hailed the Indian grandmaster in the Washington Post as 'the best chess player in the world at the moment'. Again, I beg to differ. Anand has had a number of cracks at Karpov and Kasparov in official matches, and has failed miserably on every occasion. Additionally, he suffers from a small minus score against Vladimir Kramnik, while his results against Kasparov are horrendous, Kasparov lead- ing by 12 wins to 3, with many recent victo- ries, including their one decisive game from Linares in March.
Anand has a long way to go, particularly in the matter of conquering his nerves in crucial encounters, before he can claim to be the world's best. His refusal to play in the qualifier to meet Kasparov is a setback for Kasparov's plans, but not a fatal one. It should not be overlooked that Anand's adherence to principle also lets him neatly off the hook of having to play another match against Kasparov.
The real problem is that if Kasparov wishes to unify the world championship title, he must issue an invitation to the Fide champion, Anatoly Karpov, to join the qualifier. This column has campaigned repeatedly for such an act of recognition on Kasparov's part. Karpov would almost certainly refuse, but Kasparov would be seen to be building bridges.
If Kasparov truly wishes to consolidate the rival titles, one might ask why he did not simply accept his own invitation to the knockout Fide championship, in which Karpov ultimately defeated Anand in their match in January.
I believe, though, that Kasparov was jus- tified in rejecting this option. Ever since the title was founded officially in 1886 by Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, the two strongest players of the day, the championship has been a mighty clash of arms in extended competition between the very best players. In spite of the very high prizes on offer in the Fide championship, a mass knockout where tie-breaks are decid- ed by quick-play games simply lacks the essential quality of gravitas. I would have no objection to Fide rebranding their event as a world open championship, world knockout or world masters, but to confer the title world championship on such an evanescent structure is wrong.
I conclude this week with the key part of Kasparov's win against Anand from Linares.
Kasparov–Anand: Linares 1998.
In the above diagram, Kasparov has just played 22Bf5. It is a hallmark of his play that a quiet strategic exploitation can suddenly burst into tactical flames. If now 22 ... Bxc4 23 Rxe8 Rxe8 24 Bxd7+ and White wins, or 22 ...13xf5 23 Rxe8 Rxe8 24 Nd6+ Kd8 25 Nxf5, when Black's defences have collapsed. 22 ... Nf8 23 Qh5 Kb8 24 Bxe6 Nxe6 25 a4 If 25 Qxh6 b5 26 Nd2 Rg8 27 Rgl Qe5. 25 Qe7 26 QeS+ Qc7 27 Qh5 Qe7 28 b3 Not 28 Rxd8+ Rxd8 29 Qxh6 Qb4 winning. 28 ... Q16 29 Ne5 Re7 30 Ng4 Rxdl+ If 30 ...Qg6 31 Qe5+ Rc7 32 Rxd8+ Nxd8 33 Nf6 Kc8 34 Qd6 threatening 35 Qxd8+. 31 Rxdl Qg7 Again if 31 ... Qg6 32 Qe5+ Kc8 33 Nf6 Qg7 (to stop Ne4) 34 Rd8+! Nxd8 (33 ... Kxd8 34 Qb8 mate) 35 Qxe7 Ne6 36 Ne8 and wins. 32 f3 Re8 33 Qf5 Ka8 34 h5 Rf8 35 Rd7 Black resigns If 35 0g5 36 QxgS hitg5 37 h6 and the h-pawn quickly wins the game.
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