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From Dublin Chess Club Secretary Jonathan O'Connor: "I'm amazed that you missed the new business model FIDE have cooked up. Being the world chess federation, they have always had a monopoly on mating. In a remarkable effort at improving their finances and taking advantage of their traditional strengths, FIDE have gone into match making. The first couple to tie the knot are Ireland's Mark Heidenfeld and Kalmykia's Dzhirgal (Dzhiga to her friends) Ulyumdzhieva. Kirsan brought the happy couple together in 1998, and they finally married in Dublin on September 8. We all wish them long life and happiness together. Further details and a photo of the bride and groom with some friends can be found here: http://www.fide.com"
Of course FIDE has been in the matchmaking business for decades unofficially, the Olympiads in particular. There are so many chess couples the main point of interest has been trying to determining the highest rated one. Of course many of them don't last long.
"The person who makes a program for playing chess naturally needs to know how to play chess. So if a mediocre chess player makes a program for the computer, and the computer could come around and beat the mediocre player, doesn't this suggest that the computer is thinking?"
Umm, no. No it doesn't. But if you're up for more about western science and eastern philosophy, this article on a Tibetan website has lots more. We'll add here that FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's republic of Kalmykia is a Buddhist nation.
The new documentary "Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine" will likely be seen by British audiences on the BBC before anyone in the US or elsewhere sees it. Barring festivals, the BBC has first dibs on showing the film. I spoke with producer Hal Vogel and he said that they would definitely show the film in New York at some point. He's sending me a copy, but I just want to see my shiny head on the big screen.
A friend suggested that if it is released here I should take dates to go see it without first telling them that I'm in it. That would be funny, but if you are taking your dates to chess documentaries you aren't going to see them again even if you are in the chess documentary. Or maybe especially if you are.
The field for the 2004 edition of the Corus Wijk aan Zee supertournament has been finalized. At a time when events are being cancelled left and right, having one confirmed over three months in advance is nice. The field: Kramnik, Anand, Leko, Shirov, Svidler, Bareev, Adams, Akopian, Sokolov, Morozevich, van Wely, Zhang Zhong, Bologan, Timman.
Fantastic field, as always. Kasparov, winner in 99, 00, and 01, said the invitation didn't fit his schedule. The last time Kasparov had a similar long layoff due to a cancelled world championship match was in 1998. Wijk aan Zee 99 was the beginning of the road back from his relatively poor 1998 Linares and the start of a 10-tournament win streak. Quite a few parallels there to the current situation. That streak ended in Linares this year, so you might think Corus 2004 would be a good chance to try and continue the symmetry for Kasparov. If not, he's waiting for Linares in February, which hasn't been confirmed yet.
English GM Nigel Short's latest column in the Sunday Telegraph is dedicated to some recent books, mostly Kasparov's "My Great Predecessors, Part I." In short (ha ha), he loves it. The Nige shows himself to be a GM of the blurb: "It is probably the most enjoyable chess book I have ever read. Here is a master artist deftly painting the giant canvas of chess history with broad and powerful brush-strokes."
In my recent article on his book I compared it to Spielberg writing about great movie directors. Perhaps Garry Kasparov might be interested in writing that book himself. The documentary film "Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine" just debuted at the Toronto Film Festival and the early reviews are excellent. In fact, they might be better than Kasparov's own opinion of it, although not for reasons of content.
"I could be a little tighter, shorter," was his summary, although he said he enjoyed the film and thought it "a good look at human ego and corporate greed." The Vikram Jayanti directed film is feature length at 86 minutes instead of the usual hour for a documentary. Kasparov hopes it might be edited down a bit for its upcoming release on the BBC to make it more dramatic.
It hasn't been released in NY yet but I don't think you mess with success! As Kasparov himself pointed out, he is so familiar with the facts and the story that all the background info needed for someone who isn't makes the film drag in parts for him. I don't know, for the rest of us familiar with the details (or who are actually IN the film, ahem ahem) we'll be so excited to see a chess documentary we won't notice a bit, I'm sure.
If you thought that chess already was a school subject in Russia, this article from Pravda (in English) will disabuse you. Getting chess into the curriculum, and not just as an after-school or lunchtime school-sponsored activity, has been a holy grail for many groups. In 2001 I went to Mexico with some other people from KasparovChess Online (including the now new president of the US Chess Federation, Beatriz Marinello. Hey, I did tequila shots with the USCF Prez!) as part of a KCO initiative to put chess into Mexico. Garry had been there earlier to meet with all the government education bigwigs and there was a great deal of fanfare. (Photo) In the end pomp didn't lead to pawns and things petered out along with KCO.
The most amusing part of that trip for me came after my requisite trip to the fantastic Fine Arts Museum in Mexico City. (I lived in Guadalajara for two years and visited this museum whenever I came through the capital to commune with the murals.) There are a huge number of chessplayers in the large park in front of the museum. Not just on little chess tables, but with covered areas and clubs that organize tournaments.
Of course I had to stop by for some blitz and was warmly greeted, especially when they found out I could speak Spanish. I told them I worked for KasparovChess and showed them my card. A few moments later I heard that "an advisor of Garry Kasparov is here to play blitz!" over a loudspeaker! Suddenly there was a big crowd around my board and a line of people waiting to play me. I was trying to explain that I ran his website, I wasn't his coach, so my chessboard exploits shouldn't be held against me. But it turned out well in the end when I managed to go undefeated with a few draws and even a win against a local IM (admittedly IMs in Mexico have a 50-50 chance of being rated around 2100 due to a title-giveaway scandal a few years ago).
The Dirt is back from vacation and with news about a Kasparov match. No, not against Ponomariov, but against the current European Champion, Zurab Azmaiparashvili. They will play four rapid and four blitz games in Crete on 23th-24th September as a warm-up for the 2003 European Club Cup. Both will also be playing in that, Kasparov a late addition to the already powerful "Ladia Kazan 100" team from Russia.
FIDE gave Kasparov and Ponomariov special exemptions to allow them to play in the ECC as the cancellation of their match came after the deadline for naming team members. Khalifman played first board for Ladia-Kazan last year but this year their listed top board is Rublevsky. Pono didn't play for Donetsk last year and I don't know if he will play in this event or not.
Azmai, as he is known, is also a FIDE politician and was a member of Kasparov's team during several of his world championship matches against Karpov. According to the organizers the games will be broadcast live here: http://www.venizelia.gr/clash/
The American Continental Championship is over in Buenos Aires. Victory was shared by Goldin (USA) and Vescovi (Brazil) with 8.5. Seven players qualified for the next FIDE world championship, supposedly to occur in December 2003. The rest were Morovic, Nakamura, Bruzon, Onischuk, and Shulman. Notable misses include Granda Zuniga, Shabalov, and Kaidanov.
Charbonneau had already qualified from the Canadian zone. It looks like there will be a quite a passel of Americans in the next KO. Nakamura will be 16 by then (or maybe 26 with the mess FIDE is in these days) and might be the youngest player unless Karjakin is there.
When Ponomariov refused to agree to the player contract, FIDE cancelled the match with Kasparov, breaking their own rules. In Bled the FIDE Congress decided that if someone didn't play he would be replaced by Ivanchuk. Instead, they dumped the match entirely and say that Kasparov will face the winner of the next KO instead. Why?
Word on the street says FIDE Prez Ilyumzhinov still needs Ukrainian cash for the KO. Canceling the match lets Ponomariov keep his title, for whatever that's worth. The KO title was barely worth anything anyway and it's certainly not worth two years. I'm certainly not calling him the world champion anymore! He was the last FIDE champ, but he's nothing now. If the KO depends on some of the same Ukrainians that sunk the Ponomariov-Kasparov match, they may have an equal incentive to sink the KO too. Without transparency this is the way it's going to be.
We've put all our eggs into the basket of shadowy politics and funny money and are reaping the painful rewards. When the sun was shining on Ilyumzhinov in the late 90's all was well, but now that he's out of money we're screwed. There is no infrastructure for bringing corporate sponsorship into the game, and who would want to put money into the mysterious black hole FIDE has become?
Srini Karri writes in to point out this announcement in The Hindu about a supertournament to be held in India next December. Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, and Karpov are listed as participants, as well as most of the top 20. And the big FIDE KO world championship, touted by FIDE as taking place in December?! It looks like the players aren't going to listen to FIDE's cries of wolf. But from what I can find out, this participant list is far from confirmed. Some of the parties named have agreed "in principle" but some haven't even been contacted yet (!) and no dates are set.