Tuesday, October 17, 2006

CHESS PIECE: KRAMNIK IS UNIFIED CHAMPION

[Bobby Ang]

World Championship Match, Elista, Russia
12-Game Match:
GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2743, 6.0-6.0
GM Veselin Topalov BUL 2813, 6.0-6.0

Playoffs:

1 Topalov vs Kramnik, Slav D18 ½ 47 moves
2 Kramnik vs Topalov, SemiSlav D45 1-0 45 moves
3 Topalov vs Kramnik, Slav D12 1-0 50 moves
4 Kramnik vs Topalov, SemiSlav D47 1-0 45 moves

Overall Tally:

Kramnik vs Topalov, 8.5-7.5

The Russian Vladimir Kramnik won the playoff match against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov with a score of 2 wins 1 draw 1 loss to crown himself as the undisputed World Chess Champion.

Topalov did not roll over and play dead. On the contrary he fought well and scored a mighty victory in the 3rd game.

Topalov,Veselin (2813) - Kramnik,Vladimir (2743) [D12]
WCh Unification Playoffs Elista (3), 13.10.2006

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5

[4...e6 5.Bd3 is game 7]

5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2

[7.Nxg6 hxg6 was used 3 times in their 12-game match - that's 25%. The interesting thing is that Topalov played white in games 9 (which he won) and 11, while he was black in game 12]

7...Nbd7 8.0–0 Bd6 9.g3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nb6 11.Be2 0–0 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.e4 e5 14.f4

Topalov also used this move in games 9 and 11. You know, many years ago when Bent Larsen was rampaging over the chess world (this was in the late 60s, 70s and early 80s) many journalists wrote that his favorite move was h2-h4. During Mihail Tal's best years he boasted that his favorite maneuver was to play Ne5, sacrifice it soon on f7, and then mate his opponent. After this match perhaps f2-f4 will be forever connected to Topalov's name.

14...exd4 15.Qxd4 Qe7 16.Kg2

[16.e5?? Bc5 wins the queen]

16...Bc5 17.Qd3 Rad8 18.Qc2 Bd4 19.e5 Nfd5 20.Rf3 Nxc3

If Topalov was handling Black I'm sure he would have played 20...g5!?

21.bxc3 Bc5 22.Bd2 Rd7 23.Re1 Rfd8 24.Bd3

White is obviously building up for the f4-f5 advance.

24...Qe6 25.Bc1 f5

The pin on the e-file against white's rook makes this move possible, but white's attack is not that easily parried.

26.Qe2 Kf8 27.Rd1 Qe7 28.h4 Rd5 29.Qc2?! Nc4! 30.Rh1 Na3 31.Qe2 Qd7! 32.Rd1

Kramnik is milking the d-file for all its got.

32...b5 33.g4! fxg4 34.Rg3

Threat is 35.e6 followed by 36.Rxg4.

34...Ke7


Caption: position after 34...Ke7

Now Topalov breaks through.

35.f5! gxf5 36.Bg5+ Ke8

[36...Kf8 37.Bxf5! Qxf5 38.Rf1; 36...Ke6? 37.Bxf5+! Kxf5 38.Rf1+ Kg6 39.Qe4+ and mate]

37.e6 Qd6

Kramnik did not allow the brilliancy 37...Qc7 38.Rxg4! fxg4 39.Bg6+ Kf8 40.Rxd5! cxd5 (40...Rxd5 41.e7+! Bxe7 42.Qe6! forced mate) 41.Qxg4 Qe5 42.Qf3+ Kg8 43.Bf7+ Kf8 44.Be8+!

38.Bxf5!

Kramnik's idea was that 38.Bxd8? Kxd8 and it is he who is winning.

38...Rxd1 39.Bg6+ Kf8 40.e7+ Qxe7 41.Bxe7+ Bxe7 42.Bd3! Ra1 43.Qb2 Rd1 44.Qe2 Ra1 45.Qxg4! Rxa2+ 46.Kh3 Bf6 47.Qe6 Rd2 48.Bg6 R2d7 49.Rf3!

The end.

49...b4 50.h5 1–0

The fourth and final game was vintage Kramnik – he took a tiny endgame advantage and nursed it into a winning game, one which ended abruptly when a depressed Topalov blundered a rook and resigned.

Kramnik,Vladimir (2743) - Topalov,Veselin (2813) [D47]
WCh Unification Playoffs Elista (4), 13.10.2006

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Be2 Bb7 9.0–0 Be7 10.e4 b4 11.e5 bxc3 12.exf6 Bxf6 13.bxc3 c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5!?

This position has already come up several times in the international tournament circuit, but Black has always castled his king to safety at this point. Topalov just grabs the pawn and dares Kramnik to prove him wrong.

15.Bb5+ Kf8 16.Qxd8+ Rxd8 17.Ba3 Rc8 18.Nd4

White's pawns are fragmented but he has the freer play. This is the type of position which Kramnik specializes in, and true enough he converts it into a winning position.

18...Be7 19.Rfd1 a6 20.Bf1 Na4 21.Rab1! Be4 22.Rb3! Bxa3 23.Rxa3 Nc5 24.Nb3! Ke7

I was watching this game live and the GM consensus was that Black is already out of the woods. Not quite.

25.Rd4! Bg6 26.c4 Rc6!? 27.Nxc5 Rxc5 28.Rxa6 Rb8 29.Rd1! Rb2 30.Ra7+ Kf6 31.Ra1 Rf5 32.f3 Re5

The threat is ...Bb1.

33.Ra3!

Probably overlooked by Topalov. Now the worse that can happen to white is a draw.

33...Rc2

[33...Bb1? 34.Rb3! Rxb3 35.axb3 and, with two connected passed pawns, White has an easy win]

34.Rb3 Ra5 35.a4 Ke7 36.Rb5! Ra7 37.a5 Kd6 38.a6 Kc7 39.c5 Rc3 40.Raa5 Rc1 41.Rb3 Kc6 42.Rb6+ Kc7 43.Kf2 Rc2+ 44.Ke3

White is probably winning, but there is no clear path yet if, for example, Black plays 44...e5, 45...Bf5 and 46...Be6. However, Topalov cracks and plays ...

44...Rxc5?? 45.Rb7+! 1–0

The controversies introduced into the match by Topalov’s manager, IM Silvio Danailov, brought a lot of unneeded tension and conflict into the match atmosphere. He accused Kramnik of going to the toilet too many times (at least 50, but this claim has been debunked) and therefore “might” be cheating, and later on took it one step further by charging that the 78% of the Russian’s moves matched the suggestions of the popular chess playing software “Fritz”.

The tactics were successful, and Kramnik rather stupidly fell into the trap and did not show up for the 5th game. This violated the rule that in controversies there should be no pussy-footing – either you tough it out (the grin and bear it method) or you put your foot down and completely refuse to give an inch. Anything in between and you get shafted – witness Kramnik’s forfeit loss in the 5th game, which FIDE would not invalidate.

He should have listened to Karpov, the last representative of the bygone age of Soviet chess, who advised Kramnik not to resume the match after the forfeit loss and walk away. Of course you cannot expect anything else from Karpov, who made it his trademark to make a lot of small demands from organizers (games must start half an hour earlier, change the schedule of free days, etc) and refuse to budge over every single issue.

Anyway, Kramnik rather generously agreed to resume the match under protest with the handicap of a forfeit loss, even though he knew that in a match of 12 games this will count heavily. Because of this Topalov was able to catch up (he even took the lead briefly in the 9th game) and earn a tie-break match.

But don’t get me wrong, I am not implying that Kramnik was hands-down the deserved winner. When it comes to purely “chess reasons” I would think that Topalov had the better claims - it cannot be denied that he was the aggressor throughout the match, showed a lot of creative ideas, and luck had a lot to do with the two zeroes he got in the first two games. Topalov was also the reason why there were no short draws in the match – he kept fighting on even in lifeless positions and forced his opponent to give his best to resist.

Nevertheless, Kramnik also showed strong and consistent chess to repulse Topalov’s attacks and a ruthless efficiency to take advantage of whatever opportunities presented themselves.

Both Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov showed us a high class of chess in Elista. Personally I much prefer Topalov’s relentless attacking rather than Kramnik’s wait-for-your-opponent-to-err approach, what Kasparov called “anti-chess”. But we cannot deny that the match had already been tainted when Topalov got a forfeit point, and if the Bulgarian had gone on to win with that early Christmas gift then the dispute over who is the real world chess champion will never end.

What I am saying is that last Friday for the sake of unification of the title the chess world needed a Kramnik victory, and that is what it got. So we should all be happy.

Reader comments/suggestions are urgently solicited. Email address is bangcpa@gmail.com

"This article first appeared in Bobby Ang's column in Businessworld (Philippines) on 16 October 2006"

Monday, October 2, 2006

CHESSBASE: PRODIGIES & MINI-GM'S

Chess prodigies and mini-grandmasters
10.01.2006 – Our recent report on 12-year-old Parimarjan Negi achieving a GM norm brought the realisation that our records on the youngest grandmasters in history – contained on a page that is copied and quoted all over the web – are hopelessly outdated. For this reason we present a new list of child prodigies and record-breaking grandmasters.

Chess Prodigies and Mini-Grandmasters

By Frederic Friedel

Child prodigies are a well-known phenomenon in chess, which is one of the few sports or intellectual activities where children can compete with adults on equal ground (another is computer games). The great Capablanca learned the game at four, and was one of the strongest players in Cuba in his early teens. Samuel Reshevsky also started at four and was giving simultaneous exhibitions at six.


Four-year-old Capablanca playing against his
father, soon after learning the moves in 1892


Sammy Reshevsky playing Charles Jaffe at 11. He tied for third with
Janowski, Bigelow and Bernstein.

Youngest Grandmasters

In recent times we have seen the record for youngest grandmaster in the history of the game topple repeatedly. In 1991 Judit Polgar, a female at that, broke Bobby Fischer's 33-year-old mark by becoming a grandmaster a month earlier than he had done. In 1994 her record was broken by fellow-Hungarian Peter Leko, who a short time later was overtaken by Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov. The latter went on to become FIDE world champion.

In 1999 the Chinese player Bu Xiangzhi completed his final GM norm at 13 years and four months, but the circumstances were unclear and FIDE never fully recognised this record. In 2001 14-year-old prodigy Teimour Radjabov, who hails from the same town as Garry Kasparov (Baku), became the second-youngest grandmaster in history.


Sergey Karjakin, grandmaster
at the age of twelve

But all these records were shattered on August 20, 2002, when Sergey Karjakin (pronounced car-yack-kin) of the Ukraine fulfilled his final grandmaster norm at the age of 12 years and seven months. He did so at the international chess tournament in Sudak, a town on the Crimea Peninsula. His FIDE rating at the time was 2523.

In 2002 Sergey was also one of the seconds of world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. This was another record he achieved before he had reached his teens. Today (January 2006) at 15 Sergey is a top grandmaster, ranked 42 in the world, with a 2660 rating that is climbing rapidly. Although we must be cautious with such statements one must assume that his records will not be broken.

One extraordinary chess prodigy came close. In 2004 Magnus Carlsen of Norway completed his GM norms, eight months later than Karjakin had done. Carlsen is playing shockingly strong chess: in December 2005 he won tenth place in the FIDE World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk and qualifyied for the Candidates tournament of the next world championship cycle. Magnus' overall performance at the World Cup was equivalent to Elo 2713.


Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen

Below we have compiled a list of the youngest grandmasters in history. In the future we may be updating this list, as new GMs under 15 years of age emerge.

Youngest grandmasters in history

No.
Player
Nat.
years
months
days
year
1
Sergey Karjakin
UKR
12
7
0
2002
2
Parimarjan Negi
IND
13
3
22
2006
3
Magnus Carlsen
NOR
13
3
27
2004
4
Bu Xiangzhi
CHN
13
10
13
1999
5
Teimour Radjabov
AZE
14
0
14
2001
6
Ruslan Ponomaryov
UKR
14
0
17
1997
7
Wesley So
PHI
14
1
28
2007
8
Etienne Bacrot
FRA
14
2
0
1997
9
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
FRA
14
4
0
2005
10
Peter Leko
HUN
14
4
22
1994
11
Hou Yifan
CHN
14
6
2
2008
12
Yuri Kuzubov
UKR
14
7
12
2004
13
Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son
VIE
14
10
0
2004
14
Fabiano Caruana
ITA
14
11
20
2007
15
Koneru Humpy
IND
15
1
27
2002
16
Hikaru Nakamura
USA
15
2
19
2003
17
Pentala Harikrishna
IND
15
3
5
2001
18
Judit Polgar
HUN
15
4
28
1991
19
Alejandro Ramirez
CRI
15
5
14
2003
20
Bobby Fischer
USA
15
6
1
1958

Other famous chess prodigies and records

  • Paul Morphy, 1837-1884, beat Johann Löwenthal 3-0 at age 12.

  • José Raúl Capablanca, 1888-1942, learned chess at the age of four, beat his country's chess champion in a match when he was 13, and eventually became world champion (see above).

  • Samuel Reshevsky, learned the rules at the age of 4, and gave simultaneous exhibitions at the age of six (see above).

  • Arturo Pomar played in the Spanish Championship at age 10 and became a master at age 13. He drew Alekhine in Gijon in 1944 at the age of 13.

  • Boris Spassky became an International Grandmaster at 18 and went on to become world champion.

  • Bobby Fischer became US Champion at the age of 14 and a world championship candidate at 15. He went on to become world champion.

  • Henrique Mecking of Brazil learned the game at 6, gave some simultaneous displays at 9, won the Brazilian championship at 13, and South American Zonal at 14, and became an IM at 15. He won two Interzonal Tournaments in a row, at 21 and 24.

  • Anatoly Karpov became a grandmaster at 18 and went on to become world champion.

  • Garry Kasparov became a grandmaster at 17 and went on to become the youngest ever world champion (at 22).

  • Nigel Short finished joint first in the British Championship at the age of 14.

  • Viswanathan Anand became India's first International Grandmaster at 18 and went on to become the FIDE knockout world champion.

  • Michael Adams became an International Master at 15 and a grandmaster at 17.

  • Pentala Harikrishna became India's youngest grandmaster at 15.

  • Gata Kamsky had an Elo rating of 2650 at the age of 16.

  • Luke McShane won the World Under-10 Championship at the age of eight.

  • Ruslan Ponomariov became the youngest ever FIDE knockout world champion at the age of 18.

  • Alejandro Ramirez became a grandmaster at 15, a month earlier than Fischer. He is the first grandmaster ever in Central America.

  • Magnus Carlsen became the second-youngest grandmaster in history at 13, and broke Fischer's record by becoming a world championship candidate at 15 years and one month.

  • As of this writing (January 2006) Parimarjan Negi has achieved five IM norms and one GM norm. He is twelve years old.

  • Mona Khaled achieved the WIM title and two WGM norms in 2005, when she was eleven years old. At the same time she won both the Arabian and the African Girls Junior Championship in the under 20 group in 2005, although she was the youngest player in both tournments.

  • In July 2006 Parimarjan Negi of India completed his final GM norm to become the second-youngest grandmaster in the history of the game.

  • In January 2007 David Howell became the youngest grandmaster in UK history, at sixteen years and one month, breaking Luke McShane's previous record set in 2000 by six months.

  • On December 7th 2007 Wesley So of the Philippines made his final grandmaster norm at the age of 14 years, one month and 28 days to become the seventh youngest GM in history.

  • In 2008 Hou Yifan, born February 27, 1994, in Xinghua, China, became the youngest ever female in history (at the age of 14 years 6 months 2 days) to qualify for the title of grandmaster.