Conversation with World Chess Champion GM Alexander Khallfinan
Q: What can you tell us about your today performance? (after the first game)
A: Anand has already demonstrated here that he is very well prepared in the opening for this tournament. It is probably very good for such knockout format to have very solid and very hard to beat opening with black I tried some opening variations which he had aheady played against Kramnik but then he played some little improvement (Knight on a6 instead of Knight on c6 and then itbecame clear to me that all my active play would lead to nowhere. There are enough pieces in the final position but I don’t have any active plan. If I play actively it leads only to some new pieces exchanges and just total draw.
Q: In the first tiebreak match with Anand weren’t you slightly worse at the moment when you propose a draw after 22.Qd4?
A: No, I don’t think so. I had a blackout when I played 18.Bc7. I was very angry with myself. It was a loss of a very important tempo. He did’t play well in the opening. 18.Be5 Ne5 19.Re5 instead would have led to a stable advantage for White.
Q: What about the second game? No doubt u had a huge advantage, even a forced win twice.
A: Yes. I was just destined not to win it
Q: And the third one?
A: Just a catastrophe. I simply didn’t recover after the second game. Hadn’t I discovered the win immediately after l had missed it. ..hadn’t so simple… I could have continued the fight. But this feeling of having missed something so simple, the victoryk in the math being so close, it just knocked me down
Q: It’s interesting that in this tournament all top tated pla except Mortzevich have qualified for the semi-finals.
A Yes, it is true. What can I say; they all play well and deserved it
Q: Have you heard that in the Indian game show Kramnk was called world champbnship white you were not even mentioned?
A: That very sfrange. But it just up to you, umal ists. A world charnpbn in people’s minds is the person whom you present as a world champion. There has been a bit of noise about that private match in London between Kasparov and Kramnk In reality it was just a private match, A world thampbnship is what we are having here.
And Shirov:
Q: Do you it is better to lose the first game or the second one?
A: It is better not to lose at lose atall, especially in the knockout format. Bareev is such a tough opponent that you never know whether you beat him when you need to. Actually I won many matches against him. Today I won him for the 10th time while he won 4th games against me. In fact we have many decisive games and very few draws. But one thing is to win in the normal tournament, the other thing is to win here.
- Anand, V. (IND) – Khalifman, A. (RUS) – 3.5-2.5 (0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1-0, 0.5)
- Adams, M. (ENG) – Topalov, V. (BUL) – 1.5-0.5 (1-0, 0.5)
- Grischuk, A. (RUS) – Tkachiev, V. (FRA) – 2.5-1.5 (0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1-0)
- Bareev, E. (RUS) – Shirov, A. (ESP) – 1.5-2.5 (1-0, 0-1, 0-1, 0.5)
Round 6
GM Alexei Shirov scored a crushing victory in the very first game of his 4-game semi-final match against Russian Alexander Grischuk. In game 2, the teenager bounced back to level the score against Shirov. Speaking to the press, Grischuk said “Qh2 here is not easy for a human to see in defense, maybe it’s easy for computers.”
Shirov once again showed that here he is the best-prepared player with white. In game 3, he played a sharp variation against Grischuk’s Ruy Lopez Classical defence and caught Grischuk in the opening. After a battle of threats and counter-threats, Shirov succeeded in scoring over his young, inexperienced, 17-year-old Russian opponent. Needing a draw to move into the finals, Shirov played the solid Russian defense in game 4, something his opponent was not really prepared for and clinched a berth in the finals with a draw.
The first SF game between Adams and Anand was mainly a psychological battle. It certainly requires great courage to employ a variation against its specialist. Adams did not succeed to get much from the Russian defense and the players agreed to a draw in an equal middle game. Anand took the lead by scoring a fine technical victory in the second game of their semi-finals match. In game 3, Adams appeared to be much better prepared in the opening than the first game of his match. Anand played the Russian defence and went for the …Bf5 sideline once again and the game was again drawn..In game 4, Anand made it to the finals by safely cruising to a draw against Adams, who played the same line that he had earlier opted for in the second game.
“When I had to defend, I defended well. I was calm throughout,” Anand said. “The knockout is a fair format. I don’t want a change in this format,” he added.
For the finals, Anand told the press “Shirov is a dynamic player. He creates chances both for himself and others. I have a plus two score against him in classical chess and some plus score in rapids too.”
- Adams, M. (ENG) – Anand, V. (IND) – 1.5-2.5 (0.5, 0-1, 0.5, 0.5)
- Shirov, A. (ESP) – Grischuk, A. (RUS) – 2.5-1.5 (1-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0.5)
Michael Adams who lost for the tirth time in a match to Anand talked to the journalists
Q. What do you think about today’s game?
A. I had slight edge in the opening but then all Anand wanted was a draw and I couldn’t do anything.
Q. What do you think in general about your performance in this match?
A. I always had a slight edge in the openings but could do nothing. We have been playing each other from the junior years and he was always better. He is stronger for long and is a bit more confident.
Q. You are around the top five in the world rankings now. What do you think about it?
A. I wanted more.
Q. You said home ground will put extra pressure on Anand. What do you think about it now?
A. He got used to it after few days.
Q. Whom do you think will win the title?
A. Anand is the favourite to win but then I don’t know. It will be a close match.
Shirov very tired but happy to stay in the race:
Q: What do you think about your semi-final match?
A. I didn’t have a rest day. But ok.
Q: How do you feel closing out this match without entering the tiebreak? (He played all the other tiebreaks so far)
A. Frankly speaking I didn’t think about it. May be one-day rest.
Q. How do you feel being in the finals?
A. Fine. I had to play Kasparov but that didn’t materialise and now at least I am playing a world championship final.
Q. Are you at a disadvantage against Anand for he is higher rated to you?
A. I don’t think it is a disadvantage. But Anand seems to be very fresh and has also prepared very hard for this championship. May be that is the difference. I was playing few tournaments before this championship whereas he was fresh.
Q. Anand has remained unbeaten in this championship so far whereas you have lost few games. What do you think about it?
A. It’s true. But I was not eliminated.
Q. What are your prospects in the finals?
A. I will fight.
Before his departure for Tehran, Anand comfirmed: “There is no pressure. I am not carrying any baggage (of 1995 and 1998) with me. Now the final is the big one. Both of us know it is the big shot and a six-game match is always tough.”
Shirov, not one to be intimidated, has however been very generous in his praise of Anand. He said, “Anand seems to be very fresh and has also prepared very hard for these championships.”
In the all-Chinese women’s finals, defending champion Xie Jun played her favorite King Pawn opening. Qin surprised Xie by playing the open variation of the Ruy Lopez. and was saddled with several isolated Pawns. Xie, who had only two ‘Pawn islands,’ conducted the technical part of the game well to take 1-0 lead in the match. In game 2, Xie Jun played solid chess and had little difficulty in drawing with black pieces. Game 3 ended in a draw after a long battle. Qin Kanying, who had lost the first game in the open variation of Ruy Lopez Spanish, changed her opening by opting for the more solid Tchigorin variation.
Xie Jun retained her crown by winning her four game match in the Women’s world Championship by a 2.5-1.5 margin against compatriot Qin Kanying.
During the break, the FIDE President clarified the world championship’s legitimity and other decisions to few Yugoslav Journalists:
“The choice of Iran was not accidental, the game of chess started to be exported from India via Persia and other countries. You are aware that in Iran only 7 years ago the leadership allowed the population to play chess legally. Our decision to play here is also based on the reason that there is a necessity to help National Chess Federation and to polularize chess. . I would like to underline that chess is out of politics, but this game ia able to teach politicians the ways the conflicts and contradictions should be settled, following example of the players at the chess board.”
Q: Please tell us, what problems do you see between FIDE and the versons of chess structure of G. Kasparov?
A: I would like to clear at once that the way this question is put is not a mistake of journalists, this is a wrong direction shown ealier by Mr. Kasparov to the media members. Why? Because he was and he is the 13th FIDE World Chess Champion. He did not win this title in any other Championship.
I have been elected to t office c tie FIDE President 5 yeas ago, during this period of time Mr. Kas parov has created about 4 organisations, consisting of 2 people. Our organisation an international body, founded in 1924 in Paris. It comprises 159 National Chess Federations, representing their countries. The highest body of FIDE is the General Assembly which has its session every 2 years, in turn with the Executive Board meetings. In other words, FIDE is a normally functioning international beurocratic orgazation with its traditions. The structures created by Kaspaov, e.g. GMA or others, used to comprise 1 or 2 persons and he did not organize the World Championship as it is. He tried. In 1998 he organized a qualification match, where A Shirov won over V. Kramnik, who received 80 thousand US dollars as prize money, and Shirov was told “You will play with Kasparov and will receive the whole amount at once”. However Mr. Kaspaov had not found sponsors for this match. As a result, Shirov was left with no money. By the way, he recently officially filed a suit against Kasparov in a Spanish court.
Last year there also was a case when V. Anand dd not go to Las Vegas, though Kasparov invited him to play a match. But Kasparov again failed to find the sponsor for the prize fund and tie match did not take place. Then he simply named Kamnik to play with him. At the same time, Kasparov could name me, or you. Or today we might organize Tass World Chess Championship. That is why, on one hand, the value of the final match is that the challanger has to face a serie of the qualification tournament. On the other hand last year chess was recognize as a sport by IOC and FIDE as the sole international sports chess Fedeaton, to represent interest of chess players in the Olympic movement After this date no aguments are possible.
Q: So, we can say that the level of the players of this final match is higher that one of those players whose match was widely cover in the mass media?
A: If we look at the version organized by Kasparov then first, Shirov won over Kamnik and had to play against Kasparov, but he did not play. Last yea, Anand was also supposed to play against Kasparov but the match did not take place.
These players represent a reneeneration of the players, which I highly respect as well as I respect Kaspaov, who has made a very considerable contribution to the historyr of dess. The older chess players had to be in peace with the idea that a new generation of players came to their place and they dictate new conditions and terms. And the fact that the match in Teheran has the strongest players is reccgnized by everyone, including the ill wishers. Shirov and Anand through a series of stages proved that they are able to claim Chess Olympus aid won the right to fight for the chess crown.
Krannik today is the BG (Brain Games) World Chess Champion. OK tomorrow Pizz Hut will organize the Championship and then Mc Donald. ALso, Mr Bill Gates has a lot of money and he might decide to have 5 strongest players and decide to organize the Championship. What could you say about this?