Karpov-Anand (1998)

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 1997-1998

GRONINGEN- LAUSANNE

The World Championship 1997/1998 was the culmination of three years of preparation since the Players Council in Moscow 1994 endorsed the new format.

In 1995, newly elected FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov catalyzed the new World Championship and pledged to secure a record prize fund of US $5 million.

After several meetings between FIDE and IOC President, the IOC gave its patronage to the World Chess Championship. It was a further step forward in FIDE’s drive to be fully integrated into the Olympic Movement.

FIDE officials Willy Iclicki, Chairman of the World Championship Cycle Committee, and Stewart Reuben, Chairman of the Organizers Committee, polished the regulations which were then passed by the 1997 FIDE Congres.

The stage was set for the new knock-out format of the World Championship which represents the 3rd turning point in chess history. The first period was when the strongest players arranged matches between themselves until FIDE took over after the death of Alexander Alekhine. In the second period, FIDE instituted a three-year cycle with Interzonals and Candidates matches far apart. Now, the new format of knock-out matches in one straight series adapts to the fast-paced life of modern times.

In an effort to bring Garry Kasparov back into the FIDE family, he and Anatoly Karpov were seeded into the semi-finals. President Samaranch kindly issued invitations to both players but Kasparov declined.

In accordance with regulations, Karpov exercised the traditional privilege of the champion to defend his title against a Challenger.

Also seeded but declining to participate were former Challenger Gata Kamsky of the USA and Women’s World Champion Zsuzsa Polgar. Kamsky was busy in medical school while no reasons were given by Zsuzsa.

The Groningen organizers had requested FIDE to avoid a clash with its traditional end-of-year tournament. President Ilyumzhinov agreed to have the World Championship preliminaries in Groningen.

Previously, the semi-finals were scheduled in Elista, Kalmyk Republic. Since the two Russians (Karpov and Kasparov) would not be in the semi-finals, the FIDE President, who is also the President of Kalmykia, made the sacrifice of foregoing the move to Elista and agreed to have the semi-finals in Groningen as well.

Pairings were drawn up by Chief Arbiter Geurt Gijssen of the Netherlands and announced to give players time to prepare. 

Just after its release, Vladimir Kramnik advised on his withdrawal from the championship in protest against Karpov’s seeding as defending champion into the final, as stipulated in the regulations. Kramnik pleadged at the 1997 FIDE General Assembly to give equal chance to all top players but the Body refused to change the regulations which were already sent to all participants. However after a long debate, the Body decided to reduce priviledges starting from the next World Championship where only eight players will be directly seeded in round 2. 

A total of 97 players took part in Groningen. The Egyptian player, Esam Mohammed, could not obtain a visa and GM Vadim Milov of Switzerland, next in line by rating, took his place.

Zonal qualifiers, recent World Junior Championships and other seeded players competed in the first round with a guaranteed prize fund of US $6,000 each in accordance with FIDE regulations. Former Candidates and high rated players entered in the second round while GM Boris Gelfand took the place of Kamsky in the third round. Qualifications from the previous cycle were thus given due credit, but in future all players shall be seeded only as far as the second round.

“It’s a bloodbath” GM Jonathan Speelman of England commented about the more sporting format. 

A great day for chess, FIDE and its President as Ilymzhinov expressed it in the following interview to Dagobert Kohlmeyer:

Q: What went through your head when the world championship started?

A: I had a feeling of great happiness. December1995 I had declared at the FTDE congress in Singapore that chess was on the brink of a great revolution. Things had stayed the same for a very long time and there was hardly any noticeable progress. It was too conservative while other branches of sport were in a state of flux. Two years of hard work followed, and that paid off. At the opening of the knock-out WCC I mostly felt fulfilment. It was an historic day for the chess world. We put an end to a tradition that had lasted over 110 years.

Q: In the autumn of 1995 you were elected President of FIDE. What did achieve in the past t years?

A: Since my election in Paris a lot of things have happened. We have had the women’s world championship in Spain, the match Karpov-Kamsky in Elista, the Olympiad in Yerevan, and two FIDE congresses. The chess world has further developed, chess I life was reactivated, we found friends and money. The inner conflict of the divided world chess federation was appeased.

Q: Not all your decisions within FIDE are democratic. Take, for example Bagdad. where you wanted the WCC match Karpov Kamsky to be played. The world protested. it was said then: “ sells it soul to the devil.’ Do you now consider it a mistake to have planned the WCC there?

A: No, I did not regret this move, nor do I afterwards. I always say that chess has nothing to do with politics, and I would like to stress it again. Why shouldnt one play chess in Iraq? Why must lovers of the game suffer? The sanctions were economic, not sportive. Politics are politics, and chess is chess.

Q: Your main goal as President of TIDE was to reunite the divided chess world. You have not yet finished your task. Kasparov still is not playing at one of the boards here. Do you keep on hoping to convince him some day?

A: Kasparov has behaved very negatively towards FIDE during the past few years. I thought he needed some time to come to his senses, so I left him in peace. I never attacked him and never said anything ugly about him. Our door was wide open all the time. Kasparov has had the chance to return to the family, but he preferred calling off his participalion in the WCC instead.

You no longer walk after him?

No. under no circumstances. That is not what I call reuniting the chess world. The most important things that the top 100 players finally get the chance to earn some real money. In the old days only Kasparov and Karpov could manage that. Where Kasparov is concerned: he always said himself that chess should be commercialised so there would be more money available for the professionals. Chess had to become an Olympic sport. Fine! We have worked hard to achieve these goals. And IOC President Samaranch himself supports our efforts. It turns out that Kasparov is not as good as his word. He has simply lied to the chess world.

Q: Does it hurt you personally that Gary Kasparov does not participate?

A: It was very inconsiderate, but not so much directly to me. After all, Juan Antonio Samaranch has invited him in person. He put the Olympic Museum at our disposal for the WCC finals and assumed the patronage of the world chess championship. Kasparov rejected all this, because he only thinks of himself. Once chess is an Olympic sport it will get extra support from the state. That will be an incentive for a hundred thousand chess players to perform even better. Kasparov is not interested in all that. He only has eyes for his own goals and thus betrays the interests of the other grandmasters. 

Q: Vladimir Kramnik, number two on the world rating list, has lodged a protest on behalf of his grandmaster colleagues in Kishinev, September 1997. They could not accept that Karpov was directly seeded to the finals. Their proposal was rejected. Why?

A: Kramnik did not call off in Kishinev. He signed the player’s undertaking for his WCC participation, but changed his mind later. It does not make any difference to me whether he or any other grandmaster in his place – in this case Azmaiparashvili – is playing. We should keep in mind that we are talking chess here, not politics. The new WCC regulations exist independent of the wishes and ambitions of the great artists at the chess board. Today, Kasparov and Kramnik are the best players, but it may be someone else tomorrow. There are many young players who want to reach the top. Let Krainnik prove what he is worth by compet ing for the world title!

Round 1 

The first round acted as a sort of preliminary round. Most of the top rated players were seeded through to the second round. Nevertheless there were a number of casualties amongst the well known names who did have to play. Peter Leko lost a strange match to Roman Slobodjan. He seemed to be completely thrown by a strange and probably not very good novelty from the young German and drifted into a bad position. The second game saw him get a completely winning position before time trouble and nerves saw it frittered away to a draw. Gretarsson’s elimination of Illescas was also a shock. A terrible blunder in the opening of the second game put the Spanish player out.

Stefan Kindermann eliminated the highly rated Yermolinsky in the playoffs. Vadim Zvjaginsev a last minute substitute outlasted Joel Benjamin in the playoffs in the tie of the round according to many good judges. The last to finish was the Christiansen – Andersson match.The American blundered a pawn away and went out at around 12-30a.m. on the 11th.

The tie break games were two Rapid games of 25 minutes and 10 second increment followed by a sudden death system if the played are still tied.

  1. Aleksandrov BLR – B. Gulko USA 0.5 0.5 (2-1)
  2. Benjamin USA – V. Zvjaginsev RUS 0.5 0.5 (1-2)
  3. Rublevsky RUS – K. Spraggett CAN 1-0-1-0
  4. Kindermann GER – Yermolinsky USA 1-0 0-1 (2-1)
  5. Rozentalis LTU – K. Lerner UKR 0.5 1-0
  6. Petursson ISL – L. Oll EST 0-1 0.5
  7. Krasenkow POL – Van der Sterren.NED 1-0 0.5
  8. Christiansen USA – Andersson SWE 0.5 0.5 (1-2)
  9. Chernin HUN – A. Istratescu, A ROM 0.5 0.5 (1-2)
  10. Slobodjan GER – P. Leko, P HUN 1-0 0.5
  11. Seirawan USA – A. Anastasian ARM 0.5 0.5 (2-0)
  12. Kurajica BIH – Z. Granda Zuniga PER 1-0 0-1 (0.5-1.5)
  13. Giorgadze GEO – E. Bacrot FRA 0.5 0.5 (2-1)
  14. Fominyh – V. Tkachiev KAZ 0-1 0.5
  15. Malaniuk – H. Hamdouchi MAR 1-0 1-0
  16. Peng CHN – Z. Almasi HUN 0.5 0-1
  17. Alterman ISR– P. Wells ENG 1-0 0.5
  18. Van Der Wiel NED – J. Ehlvest EST 0.5 0-1
  19. Korchnoi SUI – G. Hernandez MEX 1-0 0.5
  20. Luther GER – L. Portisch HUN 0.5 0.5 (2-1)
  21. Adianto INA – Z. Wang CHN 1-0 1-0
  22. Barua IND – Z. Hracek CZE 0.5 0.5 (1-2)
  23. Hjartarson ISL – S. Sulskis LTU 0.5 0.5
  24. Glek – F. Nijboer, F NED 1-0 0-1 (0.5-1.5)
  25. Hansen DEN – I. Miladinovic GRE 1-0 0-1 (0.5-1.5)
  26. Shaked USA – I. Morovic CHI 0.5 0.5 (2-1)
  27. Milos BRA – N. Murshed BAN 1-0 1-0
  28. Smyslov RUS – A. Morozevich RUS 0-1 0-1
  29. Sutovsky ISR – Garcia COL 0-1 0.5
  30. Gretarsson ISL – M. Illescas ESP 0.5 1-0
  31. Kotronias GRE – V. Milov SUI 0.5 0.5 (0.5-1.5)
  32. Hoeksema NED – A. Nenashev UZB 0.5 0-1
  33. Sokolov RUS – W. Kobese RSA 1-0 0.5
  34. Umgayev RUS – V. Bologan MDA 0-1 0-1

Round 2 

Round 2 saw the top players entered into the tournament and demonstrated with a mixture of nerves and overoptimism seeing off a few of the more high profile names. In tournament chess you take risks to extract the maximum amount of points. Here the avoidance of loss and awaiting opportunities to show superior ability are the abilities required.

The most high profile losers in round 2 were Vassily Ivanchuk and Topalov. Both were victims of what might be described as their gross overoptimism as black. Ivanchuk knew of Seirawan’s unusual line against the Kings Indian since 1991 when they looked at it together. Ivanchuk decided on a setup solely predicated on getting his setup with 13. …Qb6 to work, but once he realised 14…Qxb2 15.dxc6 bxc6 16.Rxd6 he could not find a satisfactory continuation. His whole position was dreadful.

Its was not necessary to play in this uncompromising yet careless manner. In the second game he also got an advantage but blitzed his way through the game missing 16. g4! Bg6 17. f4 exf4 18. Bxf4 Re6 19. Bh3 which was thought after the game to give him a huge advantage. He simply ended up in a level position. Topalov too had a strange match against Piket. He drew his first game with white when he might have pressed harder at the end rather than steering to a draw and then again chose a strategically dubious opening with black. he did not manage to justify his compromised position at all going astray almost immediately 17. …h5 was compulsory to keep him in the game and 18. Qh6 left him looking at a dreadful position. Again a more cautious approach and going into the playoffs should have been his first thought.

Elsewhere there were a number of impressive performances. Predrag Nikolic looked a hard first round for Viswanathan Anand but he made it look all too easy. After Nikolic’s poor 18. Bb1 he gradually took the initiative increasing the pressure on the centre until it collapsed. He finished it off with a pleasing flourish. The second game was totally dominated by Anand finishing off with a nice combination winning the Queen. Things look promising for Anand, except he plays Khalifman in the next round.

He completed a reasonably comfortable win against Nijboer 2-0. Indeed this half of the draw still looks reasonably tough with Gelfand, Dreev, Seirawan (who seems to be enjoying the format) Almasi, Jussupow and Shirov still in the event. Judit Polgar seemed to be pressing for a win in her second game against Almasi when, just before the first time control she found the poor 39. g3 in a sharp position, and just 8 moves later had to resign. Shirov almost blew his one game advantage against Granda Zuniga. The Peruvian missed several opportunities to win allowing Shirov just to hold the draw and go through.

In the top half of the draw Bareev made light work of Malaniuk, he will meet Krasenkow who is a very strong player. Beliavsky is offically the strongest player left in the top half but Peter Svidler’s almost casual win against Adianto (who is an extremely tough customer) makes him the man most likely in my opinion. His crushing win in the first of their games consisted of a barage of tactics culminating in an attractive Queen sac. Michael Adams is at the very top of his form and is has just the right kind of personality to win the event entirely. He was a very comfortable winner against Giorgadze.

There were some heart breakers on Saturday in the tie-breaks. How Ivan Sokolov even ended up in a tie break is a mystery to me as he contrived to lose a favourable position the day before (33…Na8 looks the likely culprit) .Epishin won the tie-break 1.5 – 0.5. Ulf Andersson was in the lead against Vadim Milov both after the first normal game and after the first 25 minute game but lost the first sudden death game. Korchnoi and Short drew their way through their games until the Englishman won with black in the second 15 minute rapidplay game. Vadim Zvjaginsev is a young player with a future. He just squeaked past Gregory Kaidanov in the playoffs. Matthew Sadler also got past Ehlvest in the playoffs and although I don’t expect him to advance to the final stages will be a dangerous customer in these matches.

Aleksandrov is a player to watch rated 2660 and winner of the Rubinstein Memorial earlier in the year.

  1. Azmaiparashvili.GEO – R. Slobodjan GER 0.5 0.5 (1.5-0.5)
  2. Aleksandrov BLR – J. Hjartarson ISL 0.5 0.5 (1.5-0.5)
  3. Bareev RUS – V. Malaniuk UKR 1-0 1-0
  4. Krasenkow POL – G. Garcia COL 1-0 0.5
  5. Beliavsky SLO – J. Timman NED 0.5 1-0
  6. Rublevsky RUS – T. Shaked USA 0.5 1-0
  7. Short ENG – V. Korchnoi SUI 0.5 0.5 (2.5-1.5)
  8. Istratescu ROM – A. Sokolov RUS 0-1 0-1
  9. Topalov BUL – J. Piket NED  0.5 0-1
  10. Van Wely NED – I. Miladinovic GRE 0.5 1-0
  11. Georgiev BUL – B. Alterman ISR 0.5 0.5 (1.5-0.5)
  12. Andersson SWE – V. Milov SUI 1-0 0-1 (1.5-2.5)
  13. Adams ENG – G. Giorgadze GEO 1-0 1-0
  14. Rozentalis LTU – S. Tiviakov RUS 0-1 0.5
  15. Svidler RUS – U. Adianto INA 1-0 0.5
  16. Sokolov BIH – V. Epishin RUS 1-0 0-1 (0.5-1.5)
  17. Hracek CZE – J. Lautier FRA 0-1 0.5
  18. Gelfand BLR – Bye
  19. Tkachiev KAZ – V. Salov RUS 0.5 0.5 (2-0)
  20. Morozevich RUS – L. Oll EST 0-1 0.5
  21. Seirawan USA – V. Ivanchuk UKR 1-0 0.5
  22. Kaidanov USA – V. Zvjaginsev RUS 0.5 0.5 (1-3)
  23. Ehlvest EST – M. Sadler ENG 0.5 0.5 (1-3)
  24. Nenashev UZB – A. Dreev RUS 0.5 0-1
  25. Nikolic BIH – V. Anand IND 0-1 0-1
  26. Nijboer NED – A. Khalifman RUS 0-1 0-1
  27. Almasi HUN – J. Polgar HUN 0.5 1-0
  28. Gretarsson – A. Jussupow GER 0.5 0-1
  29. Granda Zuniga PER – A. Shirov ESP    0-1 0.5
  30. Milos BRA – S. Kindermann GER 1-0 1-0
  31. Luther GER – V. Akopian ARM 0.5 0-1
  32. V. Bologan MDA – R. Vaganian ARM 0-1 0-1

Timman: “The new set-up makes it all much more interesting, as it did today. These are quick, nerve-racking battles. One bad day and you are out.

Round 3 

The nearest casualty was tournament favourite Viswanathan Anand. He got out of a bad position with black in the opening against Khalifman to get a short draw. He was on the verge of resigning his second game against the Russian when Khalifman moved his e pawn too early which introduced complications which convinced the Russian to take a draw (even though he was still probably winning). Possibly not just a lucky escape for Anand but also for interest in the tournament. Right from the time I saw the draw I thought this would be a key match. Khalifman on his day is one of the very best players in the World and although Anand is good at fast chess Khalifman is still not out of this match.

Krasenkow eliminated Evgeny Bareev when the Russian went horribly wrong in game one of their match. Bareev couldn’t generate any winning chances with black in their second game. Loek Van Wely couldn’t see a win at the death in his game against Piket, 48. e6!!

Almasi also was pretty lucky to beat Jussupow in a sharp game.

The tie of the round was Khalifman vs Anand. Khalifman not yet made the impact at the very top that his talent deserves but he continues to improve. Against Anand he dominated the whole match only to find that the Indian took his one and only chance. With white in game one he built a nice advantage only to dissipate it by playing cautiously. Probably if he had chosen the full blooded 18. bxc3 followed by f3 and e4 (a plan suggested by Anand) he would have had a big advantage. Instead the game ended in a draw. The second game was his biggest chance. Anand’s initiative as white faultered in a Sicilian. He said he realised that the opening hadn’t gone well when he saw 18….Rd8 and this have been the direct cause of his inferior continuation 19. Bh3 instead of 19. Bd3 and trying to neutralise black’s advantage.

When Khalifman got to a double rook and pawn ending with two connected passed pawns Anand was already to resign. He felt there were complications after 42. …e3 and perhaps the change in body language had its effect on Khalifman. A few moves later with still some time on the clock he could have chosen 50….Ra5 51.b4 Ra1+ 52.Ke2 Ra2+ 53.Ke1 Rf2 which is winning. He could have gone for this with only the danger of perpetual check but chose simply to repeat. Khalifman started out dominating the speed chess in particular building up a nice position in particular in the 2nd 25 minute game. Anand got out of jail with 31.. …Nd3. Khalifman was even slightly better in the first 15 minute game but after Anand equalised he lost the thread of the game and lost. Anand comfortably held the draw to go through.

Yasser Seirawan also had reason to rue missed chances. He agreed to a draw when short of time but better against Zvjaginsev in game one. In the second game he built up a winning position but in order to build up more time on the clock decided to repeat the position. He carelessly repeated once too often allowing his relieved opponent to claim a draw by three fold repitition. This kind of miss can have a disturbing effect. Its not clear that happened here but Seirawan was held comfortably in the first game of the playoffs and then demolished by Zvjaginsev in a beautiful game.

Perhaps Dreev is convinced Sadler is stronger with black than white, much of the currently highly rated Sadler’s results have come as black in team competitions. Here Dreev offered a brief draw as white and then comprehensively outplayed the Englishman in the second game to go through.

The battle between Dutchmen Loek Van Wely and Jeroen Piket was a generally messy and unsatisfactory affair. Van Wely sneaked through after 4 playoff games. The exception was their second normal time rate game is probably one of the most interesting and difficult games of the event so far. A Van Wely Kingside attack was being repulsed with the help of a potentially queening pawn from Piket. After the game Piket suggested 42. Nh4+ Kg7 43. e6 was winning for Van Wely but it was certainly an interesting struggle.

Nigel Short qualified 2-0 against Andre Sokolov. He’s playing with great spirit in this event. In the first game Sokolov at first seemed to have the better of the opening after an inaccuracy. When Sokolov missed 17. …Ne5! 18. fxe5 Bxe5 with good chances Short quickly put him away.

In the return game he also lost the opening battle and if Sokolov had found 22. Qh5 Bc6 22. Qc5 may very well have turned things round. Short then played excellently and even won in the end.

Michael Adams won an impressive positional game against Tiviakov (who know each other’s styles well after having played a tough match together) and then mananged to hold off strong pressure (28. …Qa6 was a star move) to take the match by drawing the second game.

Adams next opponent Peter Svidler seemed in full control of his match against Epishin. He took a few risks in Epishin’s time trouble and after a couple of errors the Russian’s position collapsed. He easily got the draw he needed in game two.

Krasenkow should not be underrated. He is capable at times of playing excellent chess and here he equalised with black against Bareev using the Dutch defence. When Bareev tried to overcomplicated Krasenkow blew apart his king position. He easily held the draw in game two.

Another sad story as Vadim Milov tried to press for a win in game two of his match against Kiril Geogiev. He overpressed, missed a couple of things and lost.

Gelfand showed that he has nothing to fear from the fast chess as he won 3-1 against Lautier in overtime. Shirov edged past Milos in the speed games.

Almasi won through after winning the second game of his match against Jussupow which featured the move 39. f6+ a shock which could have been met by Jusupow’s immediate resignation.

Tkachiev drew two games against Oll at normal timerate and chose to rely on his skills at faster chess. Oll sacrificed a pawn unsoundly in game one and lost and Tkachiev easily held the second game to go through. Beliavsky too could only qualify after speed games. Akopian and Vaganian showed how dull speed chess could be (but very serious for them given the money involved) eventually Akopian won the first sudden death game. Azmaiparashvili won a tough first game against Aleksandrov and then drew game two to go through.

  1. Lautier FRA – B. Gelfand BLR 0.5 0.5 (1-3)
  2. Oll EST – V. Tkachiev KAZ 0.5 0.5 (0.5-1.5)
  3. Zvjaginsev RUS – Y. Seirawan USA 0.5 0.5 (1.5-0.5)
  4. Dreev RUS – M. Sadler ENG 0.5 1-0
  5. Khalifman RUS – V. Anand IND 0.5 0.5 (1.5-2.5)
  6. Jussupow GER – Z. Almasi HUN 0.5 0-1
  7. Milos BRA – A. Shirov, A ESP 0.5 0.5 (0.5-1.5)
  8. Vaganian ARM – V. Akopian ARM 0.5 0.5 (0.5-1.5)
  9. Azmaiparashvili.GEO – A. Aleksandrov BLR 1-0 0.5
  10. Bareev RUS – M. Krasenkow POL 0-1 0.5
  11. Beliavsky SLO – S. Rublevsky RUS 0.5 0.5 (1.5-0.5)
  12. Short ENG – A. Sokolov RUS 1-0 1-0
  13. Piket NED – L. Van Wely NED 0.5 0.5 (1.5-2.5)
  14. Georgiev BUL – V. Milov SUI 0.5 1-0
  15. Adams ENG – S. Tiviakov RUS 1-0 0.5
  16. Svidler RUS – V. Epishin RUS 1-0 0.5

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