December 2005 Archives

It's not Friday, but we'll make do. Happy New Year and an open thread for a present. And cat photos. My two keeping my legs warm and then a pair of reader cats (or maybe their owners are readers). Black and white, of course!

Thanks to Rusty Miller and IM Dave "fluffy" Vigorito for the kitties.

So what should we expect, and hope for, in 2006? New leadership in FIDE that will bring back matches and bring in corporate sponsorship? Corus and Linares with fewer than 50% draws? Who medals at the Turin Olympiad?

The top 100 January 2006 FIDE rating list is out. I'm sure Mark will have his usual summary top list up soon enough. [ChessBase has some stuff up now, though without the handy gainers and losers info Mark usually has.] As expected, Topalov completes an amazing 2005 and comes in as the top active player at 2801, becoming only the third ever to crack 2800. These marks are fun but irrelevant. 2700 used to mean world championship class; now that would cover the top 19 players.

Aronian arrives at #5 in a big leap although Corus, starting in a few weeks, will be the true test of his status. Kramnik is #6 at 2741, a point ahead of Leko. Mamedyarov jumped past Radjabov on the list. Amazing to see names like Shirov, Adams, and Bareev barely clutching to the top 20. A new generation is coming up and there are still only ten spots in the top ten, which has proven far less exclusive in recent years than it used to be. Only Kasparov, Anand, Topalov, Kramnik, and Leko can really be called permanent members. Svidler looks like a rock at #4, but a few years ago even he was out of the top ten. Ponomariov is back at the ten spot after a few difficult years and he's again looking like the star that won the FIDE KO in 2001.

Not that 2800 is a piece of cake just yet. And it's fair to say that with Bareev as #20, "championship class" really does include 20 players. This is the way it has always evolved. It was almost inconceivable for someone outside of the top few beating Lasker or Capablanca in a single game, let alone a match. Now you've got a few hundred players who can take games from the elite and Sergey Rublevsky just finished ahead of Kramnik, Svidler, and Morozevich in a round-robin. (Naiditsch who?!) So the new age of parity has come in ways other than Kasparov's retirement. Now if only the rating system were more dynamic to allow even greater movement and more accuracy we'd really have some excitement.

I'm trying to track down some players to solicit their input for the next volume of Garry Kasparov's My Great Predecessors book series, this one on the opening revolution of the 1970's. Either their contact information is expired or they are ignoring me. Hoping for the former, if you have up-to-date contact information for these people, or know them, or are them, please drop me a note at mig at chessninja.com or call me at +1 718.369.3316. Many thanks.

Robert Byrne, Jonathan Speelman, Jonathan Mestel, Zoltan Ribli, Gyula Sax

I've tried phone numbers and email addresses for all of them, but no responses so far. So if you are a friend of theirs tell them Garry wants their help! (The list of players we have talked to already is much longer, natch.)

It's going to be hard to stop Sergey Rublevsky from winning the Russian championship superfinal in Moscow. He has a full point lead and has white against one of the tail-enders tomorrow. The favorites have mostly disappointed, at least result-wise. There have been many spectacular games (far more than in the World Cup, certainly). Bareev-Morozevich is worth the price of admission alone, as are, as usual, most of Moro's games, although he lost that one. There was a brief interview with Rublevsky before he sprinted from Siberia to Moscow.

Back online for a few minutes and in 12 hours I'll even be back in cell phone land. Really, it's a scandal that the hills in the East Bay have such lousy coverage. But I'm leaving the Bronze Age tonight and the normal pandemonium will resume shortly with our interview of Bessel Kok, our biggest stories of 2005, our hopes, promises, and predictions for 2006, and a chat with Garry Kasparov, who is just a few months away from a full year away from the board. What else do we need to cover?

[Update: I put up a new version of the same poll so you can pick four stories instead of one to make it more interesting. The obvious winner (with 73%) was Kasparov's retirement, but there should be more variety with the third and fourth spots. So vote again!]

There's a week left in 2005 and it's been a big year in the chess world. I'm putting together a year in review item that will focus on the most important stories. Of course some of the biggest were things that didn't happen, or may happen, but I didn't include those in the message board poll up now. In no particular order:

None of these require explanation to Dirt readers, so go get your vote on. (Again!) "Important" is open for debate, just like "great" and the other adjectives that fuel our endless discussions. I mostly considered relevancy and the amount of debate sparked. I tried not to get too abstract (six supertournaments this year, for example). Feel free to go through the monthly archives on the left, very handy. I have my own opinions of course, but won't spin yet.

It's still a log jam, although Sergey Volkov has distanced himself by taking charge of the cellar with .5/4. Svidler, Rublevsky, and Zvjaginsev lead with 3/4. Zvjaginsev flaunted his good form, almost tempting fate, by playing the King's Indian against Kramnik. This is the same Kramnik who was responsible for driving Kasparov away from one of his favorite openings by beating his KID in the famous Novgorod, 1997 game. Kasparov never played the King's Indian again (except in a blitz game against Kramnik the next year; he lost that one too).

Zvjaginsev had some new ideas and managed to suffer and survive by keeping all the play on the c-file. I don't think anyone has dared the KID against Kramnik since KID die-hard Smirin in the 2002 Russia vs the World rapid tournament. Smirin won, but the KID has been in decline at the top level since Kasparov gave it up. Radjabov is the other current adherent.

Most of the talk about the early rounds has now switched from Kramnik's first-round loss to Svidler to Morozevich's loss to Jakovenko in the third round. Morozevich, a GM at being a flake, apparently overslept and forfeited the game. He came back today to beat Khalifman in a fascinating game.

Back in July I wondered if 13-year-old American Fabiano Caruana might be on the Olympiad team in 2008 or 2010. I believe he just received his third and final International Master norm by winning the latest "First Saturday" IM event in Hungary. And he might be playing in the Olympiad next year! But not for the US. John Henderson writes in to say that it's almost certain Caruana will be changing his federation from the US to Italy, where he will be residing with his family. Turin hosts the 2006 Olympiad and since the home nation gets multiple teams, it's very probable he'll be get a spot. (Indeed he may already have been promised one.)

Now there are several reports about Max Dlugy's acquittal. ChessBase also has an item up.

The Kommersant report says he was behind bars for over two years, which is not the case. (The usually excellent Chess Today repeats this error.) Eight months is certainly long enough, especially for completely spurious charges. I'll post an item when he gets home to New Jersey. Best wishes to Max and Marina.

A fluffy Reuters item on CNN.com has Veselin Topalov talking about chess and computers. Interesting timing since he's not doing anything with them in public right now. Or is he? Perhaps he was sought out by a reporter under the influence of the recent New Yorker item on computer chess.

Not exactly the tough talk you might expect were Topalov angling for a big-money match with Hydra. I agree with the comment in the article that says GMs often don't take computer games seriously. For most they are occasional exhibitions and treated as such. Kramnik and Kasparov prepared hard for matches against Fritz and Junior in 2002-03 and could only draw. Kramnik and Kasparov! I doubt lesser players think they can survive against stronger machines with little or no preparation. They simply don't much care. If they lose, they're almost supposed to and there is no loss of Elo, reputation, or pride.

This powerful event started today in Moscow with Svidler, Morozevich, and Kramnik leading the field. Continuing a dubious tradition for this event there were two last-minute drop-outs. Grischuk publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the prize fund days before the event. Najer apparently withdrew due to health reasons but I don't have any more information than that. They have been replaced by Zvjaginsev and Tomashevsky.

The $40,000 first prize was unknown until days before the event started, which only somewhat mitigates Grischuk's bail-out. (FBF posts the full prize list below and this year's event has a larger total fund, so Grischuk's move is bizarre.) Last year the event had Kasparov and a $125,000 prize fund. The first prize he won was more than this year's, $50,000. All these drop-outs are ridiculous. This isn't an open; it's a prestigious national event and one of the strongest of the year. But ad hoc organizing is going to engender equally unprofessional behavior by the players.

Rublevsky and Bareev sprinted in from the World Cup and faced each other in the first round, a win for Rublevsky. Svidler is playing for a win against Kramnik in a R+N endgame right now. Maybe Kamsky could stop by on the way home with some advice?! Svidler missed a pretty winning shot with 40.Rc7! but still has good chances for the full point. (Update: he found it a move later. Now 1-0, I believe Svidler's first classical win over Kramnik.)

Update: Misha posts below that Najer required an operation, but is out of danger. And that the Russian site e3e5 is providing some coverage in English. Games in PGN at TWIC.

Levon Aronian of Armenia is the winner of the 2005 World Chess Cup. He beat Ruslan Ponomariov 2-0 in the rapid tiebreaks to take the title and the $80,000 first prize. (I subtract the 20% "FIDE tax" first. Prize funds should be stated in the amount that goes to the players. Armenian or German taxes are Aronian's problem.) In the first game Ponomariov blundered against Aronian's provocative opening play and was down a piece by move 20. Aronian held easily with black to take the title.

It capped off a tremendous run of fine chess from the young new star. He played at a high level throughout and is unquestionably a deserving winner. He only required tiebreaks twice: against Vallejo Pons in the fourth round and Ponomariov in the final. His tournament performance was over 2800. He never lost a single game at any time control (nor had Pono until today). Aronian will be the top seed in the candidates matches next year.

The 23-year-old Aronian has lived in Germany for the past five years. This result will solidify his place in the top ten. His real trial by fire begins in a month when he goes up against the big dogs at Corus Wijk aan Zee. There was a pre-final interview with him on the FIDE site and here's one from a few months ago at ChessCafe (pdf).

Grischuk and Gelfand saved their worst for last and were demolished by Bacrot and Bareev, respectively. A solid 3rd place for Bacrot, who will also be at Corus. So will Gata Kamsky, who beat Carlsen in a pair of interesting games. As he pointed out to me by email, as against Smirin he was again saved in a R+N endgame. Carlsen will be playing in the Corus B group, but after this event he probably wouldn't be picked to finish last in the A.

Ponomariov and Aronian rocked the chessboard again today. No matter who wins on tiebreaks tomorrow they both deserve our applause. Aronian again had the upper hand, so you could say he would be the more deserving winner if you want to nitpick. He tackled Ponomariov's creative kingside invasion with admirable sang froid and ended up with a knight and pawn endgame that definitely looked winning for White. But Ponomariov dug in and with Aronian playing on increment he managed to save his Ukrainian bacon.

Kamsky, yet again showing he's lost none of his steely resolve, came back to beat Carlsen and send their match into tiebreaks. It was looking like a long defense would be required of the Norwegian, but he missed a pawn push deflection and had to resign immediately. Vallejo Pons couldn't make any progress against Malakhov so the Russian wins their match to finish 11th. That gives him the inside track on sneaking into the candidates matches.

Bessel Kok and Ali Nihat Yazici are the "Right Move Team" for the 2006 FIDE presidential election. Their website covers some positions and policy, if not heavy on the specifics. They agreed to an interview that will run here and at ChessBase and I thought I would open up the floor. The best questions will be added to mine and submitted next week, with publication likely to come in January. Please read their website materials, including their bios, to avoid too much redundancy.

Before you ask, I'll be happy to extend the same questions to the current FIDE administration. It would be a positive step if they showed any sort of openness, even if it is only brought on by this first serious challenge to Ilyumzhinov's power. Speaking of, Anatoly Karpov apparently gave an interview in Russia a few days ago confirming that he was running. Having another well-known candidate in the race could have serious strategic consequences. Everyone seems to assume that Ilyumzhinov has already bought off X number of smaller federation votes, though this general assumption of corruption is rarely backed up with anything approaching evidence.

The finals are here and in just two more days it will be all over. Ponomariov and Aronian played a sharp, interesting draw today. It is great to see Super-Mariov back on track, playing powerful, risky chess again. Aronian was up to the challenge, though it's a shame they didn't play out one of the pretty fireworks lines that lead to dead equality from the final position. It looks like Grischuk and Bacrot have decided to play rapids for the few thousand dollars that separate the 3rd and 4th places. In the last round all four short draws in the first game were matched by equally short draws in the second. Tacky.

In the other match that (probably) matters, Malakhov outplayed Vallejo Pons in a wild one. Turn off Fritzy and enjoy trying to figure out these lines, very sharp stuff. The winner of this match will finish 11th, which should be good enough for a spot in the candidates matches, unless FIDE changes its qualification rules or unless either Kramnik or Kasparov shock the world and play. (Again: K and K are in by rating. If they don't play, Shirov and Bacrot are in by rating. Bacrot is also a World Cup qualifier. He goes in by rating, creating an extra spot from the World Cup, lucky number 11.)

Kamsky's tremendous defensive effort was on the verge of ruining a spectacular attacking game by Carlsen, but the American blundered a piece and, as Alekhine would say, "the game arrived to its most logical conclusion." (36..Bc3 37.Rxd6+ Kc5 and Black should hold.) White's stereotypical sacrifices against the Sicilian were still fun to watch. The kid is dangerous and he's not getting tired! Isn't it past his bed-time? Gata may have been a little winded after yesterday's stress blender against Vallejo Pons.

There are quite a few more interesting – if abysmally translated – interviews on the official site. Also some fun, if also technically terrible, photos in today's photo report instead of just the usual boring at-the-board shots. The correct score of van Wely-Dreev is almost certainly 44.Qxg8+ Ka7 45.Qg5.

Jon Jacobs sends in a link to the online version of an anti-cheating petition he helped organize and send to the USCF. More than anything it's a flare and a call to action regarding the potential for cheating at open events with big prize funds. One incident mentioned in the petition was covered here. (Links to the HB rules were dug up by Duif here.)

Cheating has recently been in the news at the top level as well, when one of the San Luis FIDE WCh players hinted that Topalov might have been aided by a spectator with access to a computer. Kasimdzhanov's similarly themed comments in the latest New In Chess leave seem to finger him as the one involved. His comments in NIC only mention that the conditions in San Luis made such a thing possible, but it's not hard to imagine a listener running such statements into an accusation.

I seriously doubt a pro with much riding on his reputation would risk trying to get assistance, at least not at the top where reputation means invitations. (I'm talking OTB here; even strong GMs have been nabbed listening to Fritzy during online tournaments.) When it comes to amateurs playing for big prizes, that's a different matter, which is why the petition's talk of penalties is so relevant. With consumer electronics getting smaller and faster, having a hall full of players with nothing to lose and thousands of dollars to gain is unattractive.

So far this sort of thing has been left up to the organizers. We know about Ponomariov's cell-phone forfeit, but the same rules aren't universally applied. Having your phone go off shouldn't be treated the same as being caught in the bathroom stall running Fritz. Being caught cheating should result in a serious penalty by the federation, not just the loss of a game. Conclusive evidence will be hard to come by, one of the things that makes it tempting. But a watch list is certainly a good start.

An ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure, we need some ideas about how to control the playing environment without turning the hall into a prison. Checking all electronics at the door is not very practical, unfortunately. Prohibiting spectators is a drag, as is forbidding the players from leaving the hall, or only using one or two authorized restrooms. So deterrence may be the best solution and that means a coherent penalty system that is actually implemented. Are there any federations that have policies about this?

Amazing! Sure, it's rapid and blitz but the drama was stupendous today. Partially because I'm rooting for fellow Brooklynite Gata Kamsky, who seconds ago took out Vallejo Pons in the second blitz game! This guarantees him at least the 10th spot in the World Cup and a slot in next year's world championship candidates matches. Gata came back from losing the first rapid game with white. (He's had more trouble with white than with black throughout.)

Kamsky will now face Norwegian 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen, who beat Malakhov in blitz after a must-win rapid victory. It will be former prodigy versus the latest model, though it's an anti-climax because both of them are into the candidates. It's good news to keep Carlsen in the cycle as the towheaded teen means mucho PR. (Plus, he's playing at a 2700 level.) Vallejo Pons vs Malakhov still has something at stake, the 11th mystery candidates slot that should exist because Bacrot is likely already in by rating. ("mystery," "likely," "should"... must be FIDE rules.)

Speaking of rocks, Ukraine's Ruslan Ponomariov beat Grischuk with black in the first wild rapid game and comfortably held the next game to move into the final, where he will face Levon Aronian of Armenia. Nice to see the best chess rewarded, which isn't always, or even usually, the case in these KO's. Aronian beat Ponomariov in route to the world under-12 title in 1994! They played three times in 2001 with two draws and a win for Aronian. Of course Ponomariov went on to win the FIDE KO WCh later that year and shoot into the top 10. That's where Aronian is today and where Ponomariov looks ready to return. Hard to pick a favorite; I'll settle for two full games.

PS: In case you haven't been following the comments to yesterday's item, the score was correct and the diagram is of the final position. (Thanks to Gennady in Khanty-Mansiysk.) No one on site has said anything about a time loss. The final position is definitely drawn. Further notes from GMs Yermolinsky and Shipov are in yesterday's comments. I'm cringing in anticipation of Bacrot's statement about this. He may want to stay in Siberia.

Too busy for details, will get to the topic backlog tomorrow. Finally some news as Aronian beat Bacrot to move into the final. All the other relevant matches are going to tiebreaks. Carlsen-Malakhov was the only full-bodied game of the three.

France Surrenders! Thanks so much to Bacrot for resigning and forcing us to look up and/or figure out the way to win that endgame position instead of playing it out. I know that the stronger side should win if the pawns are five files apart as they are here, but doesn't the black h-pawn change anything?

From the final position 51.Kf4 h5 is not easy to crack. The h-pawn will arrive on h4 and be a nuisance. The black king can play to d7 to stop the white king from penetrating on the queenside. If White then plays f6+ the pawn is on a dark square and can't be protected by the bishop. White can't set up a barrier with pawn on f6 and bishop on e6 because the h-pawn will deflect the bishop so the king can get to the f-pawn. Looks drawn to me, but I just woke up.

Update: Some have suggested that the score of the game is wrong, always a thought when these things happen. If the pawn is still on f4 things change, of course. 50.Kf3 looks much stronger. (But it's still probably drawn, see below.) As for the diagrammed position, other sources seem to agree it's drawn, including GM Shipov over at chesspro.ru. But we might be spending time on the wrong position. (Not) Either way, he should have played it out! [Update 2: Diagram is correct final position. Someone in Khanty-Mansiysk looking at the scoresheet confirms 50.f5 Ba7 1-0.]

The final four didn't show many signs of life. The four young stars should make for exciting chess, but Grischuk-Ponomariov was a brief Petroff draw. Bacrot allowed Aronian to play the Marshall – rarely seen these days – and felt obliged to force a draw by repetition on move 23. In the fight for the last qualification spots, Kamsky-Vallejo Pons was one of the shortest draws of the entire event. It was an antique anti-Berlin line (revived by Ivanchuk against Kramnik at Corus a few years ago) and since it seemed to be Kamsky's choice one wonders how and where Black improved in the space of three obvious moves. With that ten-mover in mind I guess I shouldn't also wonder why Malakhov-Carlsen went on so long in a drawn position. (Actually the game is still going, so if somebody manages to lose this will require an epic retraction.)

Grischuk beats Gelfand in blitz to become the final member of the final four along with Aronian, Bacrot, and Ponomariov. I wish the matches moved to four games at this point. In the second section Vallejo Pons fended off van Wely's piece sacrifice to win and keep Spanish hopes alive for a place in the candidates matches. The official site has many interesting interviews to check out. Funny to see in the Bologan interview that the old myth of supercomputers in "Kasparov's secret laboratory" is still alive. (Suggested by the interviewer and dismissed by Bologan, in case you're too lazy to RTFA.)

According to Cafe Press, this week is the last chance you have to get ChessNinja.com gear you can be sure will arrive in time for Christmas. The ideal holiday gift for a fellow chess geek or for yourself. You can drop subtle hints to your friends and family. Kids' sizes available! Over 100 items sold so far, to seven countries and 16 states. (I think my total commission is around nineteen cents but that might be high.) Personally I'm very fond of my hooded sweatshirt with handy pockets. I'm still waiting to receive photos from people posing in their Ninja goods. Send'em in and I'll post them here. (Especially the three of you who bought thongs. You know who you are. Okay, maybe I'll keep those pics private.)

Of course email training newsletters also make a fine and very inexpensive gift. And those can be ordered on and received on the same day, including Christmas. Plug over.

US champ Hikaru Nakamura might just be biding his time to see if FIDE will finally turn the world championship into a blitz event. The Internet Chess Club recently started a winner take all blitz tournament every other Saturday. The next one is Dec. 17. But despite the dozens of strong GMs and IMs who have come to play in the first three events it looks like they should just call it a "Hikaru take all" tournament. Three swiss system events of 3+0 blitz and three wins for Nakamura! The prize is a cool five hundred bucks and there is no entry fee. But the competition is stiff.

I don't know (or care to know) all the secret and not-so-secret identities of all the Grandmasters who have participated in these events, but I recognize a few and Hikaru ("smallville") is definitely not the only top-50 player in the mix. Of course now I've jinxed him for the next one, but three in a row is impressive. The last one went to a tiebreak, where he beat "zdr" 2-0. (To give equal time, he's more often at Playchess.com as "Star Wars.")

3-0 is the standard online blitz speed and has been for quite a while. My feeling has always been that this is because strong players (and probably all players) think 5-0 gives too much time for computer cheating. Weak players are just as paranoid about this as strong ones. 3-0 is largely reflex and the ever-popular 1-0 bullet chess is close to insanity. Of course they're all good fun, but novices playing these speeds makes the coach in me queasy. A lot of these "white belts" just play chess for fun as they would any other game or video game. But a majority sincerely want to improve and one two-hour game will do much more for them than 20 blitz games. There are groups who play longer time control games online, and of course we have Ninja tournaments!

All four of the top-tier games were decisive today, amazing. Just seconds ago Grischuk converted against Gelfand to level the score and force tiebreaks. None of the other matches will require the third day. Ponomariov ground down Bareev, Aronian beat Gurevich, and Bacrot took out Rublevsky. So we are guaranteed four 2700s in the final four, which is great. Note that the matches do not get any longer in this event. The semifinals and finals are still two games and then rapids. Next year's candidates matches are planned to run six games.

In the second group the only decisive game was Carlsen's excellent win with black against Lautier. After various miracles Kamsky held off Sakaev to win that match. I don't think I've ever seen a game in which so many rooks were placed in take by so many bishops! Malakhov drew to win his match with Dreev. van Wely - Vallejo Pons will go to tiebreaks. If you're trying to keep track, this means Carlsen, Kamsky, Malakhov and either van Wely or Vallejo Pons continue fighting for the two or three spots in next year's candidates matches. Pairing discussion below.

Bagley in the sink, what's not to like? Open thread, suggestions, questions, the usual. I can't believe Argentina got another brutal group this year. The USA is toast. England got a pansy group.

Just hanging out on the sofa and enjoying watching people trudge through the snow and slush on the way to work. Thanks to the miracle of time zones, all the games in Khanty-Mansyisk are already over. The only decisive top-tier game was Gelfand baring his fangs and beating Grischuk with white. Against Sakaev it looked like Kamsky was getting into trouble again against the Sicilian, but he came through the complications better and won. Malakhov beat Dreev.

For me, the suspense of the event is largely gone since the eight finalists are all going to the next stage anyway. I'm more interested in who else will make the cut than in who will win. It illustrates how much interest the concept of a world championship can generate, even a rather weak tea version of a cycle like this one. That this cycle is designed to kill the great drama of matches with a final tournament is still beyond me. Tournaments should lead to matches, not vice-versa.

Tom Ewers sends this in as coming from a Minnesota chess discussion group. Apparently the HB Foundation, which sponsored the huge HB Challenge tournament in May this year, is kaput. That event didn't get the number of players it needed to be considered a financial success, at least not according to the pre-event comments of the organizers. Their website is now offline.

That's a lot of money to go through. A shame, as they had some interesting projects even without the big tournament. If you have more information, send it to me or post it below and I'll move it up here. [Update: HB Challenge organizer Maurice Ashley has posted at length below.]

I updated the US Championship website this week. Five new qualifiers, plus confirmation of the new, Morelia-friendly schedule. Not really a date change, just condensing things a bit by moving the first round back a day, to March 2. Full schedule here.

The fifth qualifier is Andrei Florian, who won the online state champion of champions event. Florian, like La Rota last year, has been here for a while but hadn't changed his federation with FIDE. He hasn't played for Romania in a long time and obeyed the AF4C's stricture to file the paperwork to change it before the qualification finals. (By registered mail to the USCF, just in case.) So all is well.

There are still eleven spots to fill. Six will come from the North American Open at the end of the month. That will also decide the Grand Prix qualifier, unless there is a tie. Then there is a special scholastic spot that will be settled in a playoff. Then there are two wildcards named by the AF4C. (One is a lock, the other still under consideration...) But wait, that's only ten. There was a spot left over from the National Open since only one woman participated. This oddity wasn't covered under the rules and various methods could be used to to award this last spot, essentially making it a third wildcard. I think it should go to someone who tried to qualify and lost on tiebreaks, or maybe to the second-place Grand Prix finisher.

The Great Eight are now known. This also means we know eight more of the participants in the candidates matches, the next stage of the 2007 FIDE world championship cycle. Bareev-Ponomariov, Rublevsky-Bacrot, Aronian-Gurevich, Gelfand-Grischuk. The other eight players will continue to play for the other two spots (likely three since Bacrot won and will probably be in on rating). What we do know is that, barring extraordinary circumstances, losing another match leaves you out of the cycle. So these guys playing for 9-16 have more to lose in the next round: Carlsen-Lautier, Kamsky-Sakaev, Malakhov-Dreev, Vallejo Pons-van Wely.

Carlsen was preparing another shocker with a queen and passed pawns versus Bareev's motley assortment of pieces. But the teen missed several winning moves and eventually even let the draw get away to lose the first game with white. Painful. Bacrot played a fine game to take out Lautier in the French duel.

Chess seems to be everywhere lately, at least in the newspapers and magazines I read. First we had op-eds on chess in the New York Times. This month there is a long article on Kasparov (politics, not chess) in The Atlantic. Now there is a nice piece on computer chess by Tom Mueller in this week's New Yorker. (Dec. 12 issue. This article not available online, unfortunately. Go pick it up.) Not too much new information for this crowd, but a some good interview clips with Hydra programmer Chrilly Donninger and Junior team Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky. Even my ChessBase chum Freddy Friedel gets a nod at the end. The Adams-Hydra match gets attention, the programmers express boredom with playing against humans, and credit their machines with playing chess that is more creative than that played by humans.

That last is a bit of devil's advocate, but I suppose it's true if creativity is defined as lack of dogma. By definition computers don't have entrenched prejudices that prevent them from finding objectively superior moves, as often happens with humans. But no matter how well they play I will always take issue with any claim of computer chess meaning intelligence. Chess is but a sophisticated equation and from a human perspective (i.e. beating humans) it has been almost completely broken by the brute force of today's computer technology. This is not surprising and not quite yet horrifying.

This leads to a separate entry, but I've been getting a fair amount of mail about computer chess lately thanks to a program you've never heard of. "Rybka" is all the rage with the computer chess geeks this week. You'd think it was the second coming of Deep Blue meets Petrosian. It may well be! More on that in a bit.

Just so you have a place to chat as the games end. Pono wiped out van Wely and is through. Playing a must-win with black is a lot of pressure and there's no clear strategy to employ. Risk it all early with a very unbalanced and risky opening? (van Wely's choice) or try to keep pieces on the board for as long as possible and wait your chance? Rublevsky drew to beat Sakaev.

Remember it's not strictly elimination anymore. The defeated players continue playing each other to settle the places. The top 10 go into the candidates matches. Kasparov and Kramnik likely won't play, so Bacrot will be in by rating (along with Shirov). That means if Bacrot finishes top 10, 11 of these 16 players will likely pass to the next stage in the end, not 10. No conspiracy theories in a KO format!

You never know what a Technorati blog search for chess will turn up. (NSFW)

Games and such at ChessBase. (Not my report.) Grischuk played a very powerful game to beat Kamsky today. The finishing combination was very nice, but it was very strong from start to finish. Kamsky has been getting by on talent and grit and this was the first 2700+ opponent of his comeback, so a rough time was to be expected. He's a famously hard worker, but it's tough to get up to speed when you've got a family. He'll have less than a month after the World Cup to patch holes before going Corus Wijk aan Zee.

There's an interview with Gata on the World Cup site, and also an interesting one by America's Onischuk, who talks about Kamsky's comeback. I agree with his impression that Kamsky has been playing a sort of "old" chess so far. But surviving a super-sharp player like Smirin in rapid and blitz shows his instincts are still there. When the Turin Olympiad rolls around the US will have a strong young team. Nakamura will continue to rise, Kamsky and Onischuk are super solid, and Akobian could make it aboard. The USCF recently released new team qualification guidelines but I haven't sifted through them yet.

Bareev played a line against Carlsen that has been doing horribly and didn't fare much better. He had to force a draw. That Nimzo line has roots in the Kasparov-Short WCh match. Sakaev was playing creatively and managed to get himself entirely tangled up against Rublevsky, who kicked the ball softly toward the open goal. Thanks, chum! Ponomariov ground down van Wely in his finest style. Pono is looking very good so far.

At 8:00pm on A&E, Knights of the South Bronx with Ted Danson. From all the PR info it looks like a nice love letter to chess in the classroom and in general. (It also tells the entire plot for some reason, not that we couldn't have guessed.) Official site here with trailer and a contest. I don't know if I can handle two hours of cute kids and made-for-TV uplift, but I'll put it on the DVR so I can at least skip the commercials. Bonus points to the first commenter to point out a chess mistake in the film. Should take around nine seconds. There's a positive review of the film at the NY Times today:

Hmm, sounds better than I would have imagined. Direction by Allen Hughes is a surprise. Btw, it runs at 7pm in the Central time zone, apparently. Check your local listings.

Bleh, I'm feeling a bit sick today. I hope this doesn't have anything to do with my new pet duck from Cambodia. Results and 4th round pairings up now. At least the tiebreak gods were merciful and spared us further sudden-death horror. Only three of the eleven matches even needed blitz. Rapids are ugly enough, but at least they have increment and are much closer to chess. Few surprises of any kind, although there weren't many clear favorites anyway. The last real underdog, America's Yuri Shulman, was duly demolished by Alexander Grischuk in the first rapid game.

Aronian has played the most impressive chess so far in my mind. Bacrot has also been strong, usually better through the middlegame if prone to adventure in time trouble. But his first two pairings were relatively easy. He now has a grudge match against Lautier, so France is guaranteed a player in the final eight. Kamsky never looked healthy on the white side of the Sicilian against Smirin and will need to be at his best to dent Grischuk.

Report up here. A remarkable 11 of 16 matches are going to tiebreaks, involving most of the top seeds. Quite a few blunders today, although not all of the players can blame exhaustion. A few of the worst were by players who haven't played on both previous tiebreak days. But the stress of the KO format and the quick time control rarely produce memorable games, as has been well documented over the years. Sad to see Shirov go out before making the next stage, but at least Gurevich played a fine game to beat him. Nice interview with Khalifman at the official site. Also one with Ivanchuk if you missed it.

Just flipped on the marvelous Mel Brooks film "Blazing Saddles" for a minute. Came in around the middle, right when the sheriff is asking Gene Wilder's character what he likes to do for fun, "Play chess..." he answers, "screw." The sheriff's deadpan reply, "Let's play chess." They have a brief chess scene and the pieces are used as props to illustrate the hand speed of the Waco Kid (Wilder).

Report and photos up at ChessBase. Lots of good chess on the first day of the third round. Also some pretty bad chess, fairly typical of the short time control. Bareev was in a tricky position against Bruzon but probably didn't have to blunder it away in a single move. Sutovsky, after an amazing defensive effort against Bacrot, missed an endgame win. It's not simple enough to make me wonder if the score was wrong, but it's something he would have found with more than the increment left.

Russian superfinal dates: December 18th to 30th. That is, starting the day after the closing ceremony in Khanty-Mansyisk. Note that it's not only a sprint if you reach the World Cup final, but the final 16, since they all keep playing every day to decide the candidates spots. Participant list not 100% confirmed, at least not to me. Five of the players on the list I've seen are still playing* in the World Cup. Svidler, Kramnik, Grischuk*, Dreev*, Morozevich, Bareev*, Khalifman, Motylev, Najer*, Volkov, Jakovenko, Rublevsky*. There's even a poll to pick the winner in the Ninja boards. Thanks to Atarov.

Tiebreak results up at ChessBase. Some wild matches today, will be updating that page with some selected games and notes late tonight. It's all tough battles from here on out. Russia has flexed the old muscles and have seven of the final 32 participants.

Morrigan with her favorite toy. Open thread, suggest topics, look at the cuddly kitty and forget your woes and rancor...

Bessel Kok's campaign for the FIDE presidency is on in earnest. At the least the website for it is. There is no doubt that Kok is something of a dream candidate for all of us who have been hoping for someone with the business and corporate sponsorship chops to move FIDE into the 20th century, even if it's already the 21st. He has a long history of good works in chess. Supporters include respected Dutch GMs Timman and Sosonko as well as Holland-based American GM Yasser Seirawan, who garnered a great deal of support for his efforts behind the 2002 Prague agreements. (Many had expected and/or hoped to see a Seirawan candidacy.)

As for me, I've been co-opted, if only as as a photographer. I recognized the pic of Bessel they're using as one I took on the terrace of the Zofin Palace during the Prague Eurotel tournament in 2002. Well, I'm a supporter anyway and I hereby donate that pic. I know, I know, such generosity. It's nice that Kok and Yazici are presenting themselves as a real ticket and team with complementary strengths. It speaks of openness instead of what we have now, which is waiting in fear to see what rolls down from Elista. Half of Ilyumzhinov's ideas first float out in bizarre magazine interviews and are turned into law by little more than decree.

I've developed grudging admiration for Ilyumzhinov's ability to wrangle money from the most outlandish locations. Sure, most of them have been out of the way or sponsored by dubious regimes, but at least some of the money has ended up in chessplayers' pockets. But political sponsorship is an unpredictable mess and the sheer opacity of it keeps commercial sponsorship away.

Results and games in PGN up at ChessBase now. I'm working on the games and photos. Another exciting round, a pity that all this gets reduced to rapid and blitz garbage time every third day. Cheparinov held Ivanchuk with black in a weird game to eliminate the Ukrainian wizard. Radjabov won back with black when Kazhgaleyev totally collapsed under pressure. This could be good news because I have no trouble spelling "Radjabov." Kamsky was in trouble, then not, then totally lost, but Bocharov missed the crusher 55.Qf1+. Onischuk and Shulman are also in tiebreaks.

A melancholy little item from a Peruvian radio website (Spanish). It laments the exit of national chess star Julio Granda Zuñiga from the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansyisk. He was eliminated in the first round by Alexander Ivanov. That's not even the sad part. According to the writer (whose only comment on the games is totally wrong, for what that's worth), Granda's return ticket is for December 7 and changing it would require a fee. But Granda doesn't have any money because he paid his own way to Siberia and is also paying all his own expenses. The Peruvian federation has "internal problems" and was unable to pay out anything. Horrible if true, especially considering that Julio is one of Peru's best-known exports. No wonder he periodically quits the game.

The brain scanners are at work again. This study purportedly illustrates that caffeine improves short-term memory, as demonstrated by brain activity and memory tests. The description of the latter is giving me flashbacks to that episode of WKRP in Cincinnatti in which Dr. Johnny Fever gets better and better scores on a portable sobriety reflex test the more alcohol he drinks.

The long-documented efficacy of caffeine in improving alertness illustrates the silliness of drug testing in chess. IOC standards allow the caffeine of a dozen cups of coffee to be found in your system. But a far smaller amount of this routinely available drug – more like unavoidable – is generally performance enhancing. Unless we have a drug situation that is 1) patently performance enhancing and 2) demonstrably harmful, who cares? If there were a smart pill with no side effects shouldn't we all take it? (Of course what would happen is that they would cost $10,000 each, creating a brain/income gap. Not that countries that charge $50,000 a year to go to university don't already have that.)