Chess News

Chess News by Jude Acers

March 27, 2000. London, England. World top five chess grandmaster V. Anand of India has shocked the chess world today by rejecting a two million dollar ($2,000,000) -16 game match with world number one rated superstar G. Kasparov. Mr. Anand reportedly demanded $300,000 from the fund being held in escrow in advance , withdrew when the cash did not arrive. Mr. Malcolm Pein (The Daily Telegraph) reports that V. Kramnik of Russia will be offered the challenger's role with launch date April 5, 2000 for all arrangements....the startling developments today complete the near miracle luck of Mr. Kramnik, now guaranteed $665,000 loser's purse and the Kasparov match in one of the apparently great rip-offs of all time --.Mr. Kramnik was badly beaten, losing two and drawing 8, winning NONE versus superstar A. Shirov for a Kasparov match two years ago...Readers will recall that Mr. Kramnik WAS PAID A REPORTED 200,000 FOR LOSING, Mr. Shirov left with huge bills, received nothing for winning when world number one Kasparov disappeared with collapse of the "guaranteed 3 million dollar" Kasparov-led match arrangements. Mr. Shirov, ALREADY deprived of one million dollars PLUS a match with Kasparov earned one thousand times over, must now only watch in agony as fate robs him of everything anew. Mr. Shirov, probably a de-facto world chess champion after defeating all of the top three available chess players in MONACO last week ( including Anand, Kramnik, Karpov etc. with a tremendous first place score: 14.5/22 in the Melody Amber half blindfold play/half rapid event, is so far quite the most unlucky chess grandmaster in history...

March 19, 2000. Des Planes, Illinois USA - after Oxford American Magazine (March - April 2000 issue 250,000 copies) ran an 8-page profile on him in ("The Chess King of Decatur Street", Jude Acers, the New Orleans professional chessmaster and ChessLab's own monster road touring machine (see Jude Acers chess tours) will present an address "American chess immortal: Frank J. Marshall -- Chess Apache" at the huge (90th birthday!) celebration for Arthur W. Dake -- the world's oldest chess grandmaster at the Henry Ford Restaurant, Portland, Oregon April 8, 2000.

March 10, 2000. Linares, Spain. In Linares Super GM 6 Player double round robin tournament, the first prize ( $50,000) was shared between V. Kramnik and G. Kasparov (both 6/10). Khalifman, Leko, Shirov and Anand shared tied for 3-6 places. A. Khalifman (FIDE World Chess Champion fully paid now -- $600,000 richer) -drew both thrillers with world number one rated chess player: Kasparov. Note: Mr. Khalifman has never lost a single game to Kasparov while Anand has a minus 10 score versus Kasparov...All games in ChessLab.

March 8, 2000. Oxford, Mississippi. An incredible 7 page coverage (3 photos) on New Orleans professional chess master Jude Acers (ChessLab's very own road monster touring chess master!) went on sale worldwide today (Oxford American Magazine....March -April issue) 250,000 copies were printed already...(see more on J. Acers here)

March 8, 2000. Winnipeg, Canada. "The man who beat Botvinnik" and later stopped Fischer cold in a thrilling "last hurrah" draw (Israel 1968) is dead at age of 74. International Chess Grandmaster Daniel A. Yanofsky ( March 26,1925- March 5,2000) died after three months in a Canadian hospital following a broken hip injury on December 8, 1999. Cause of death was cancer with congestive heart failure. On the scene, Mr. Cecil Rosner recalls that even while approaching the end a month ago.. the 8 times Canada champion was trying to help chess by letter, trying to save the Winnepeg Chess centre from financial extinction from his hospital bed. An attorney by trade, Mr. Yanofsky wanted no part of the bureaucratic idiocy of US- Canadian amateur chess federations, and wisely chose to avoid chess as a profession for his entire lifetime. He was, unquestionably, as an amateur, the greatest Canadian chess player of all time...

February 21, 2000. Bermuda. 8 game world rated match February 8-19, 2000. Adams (England) 5 (won 2-drew 6-lost none!) vs. Seirawan (U.S.) 3. All games in ChessLab.
February 20, 2000. Haifa, Israel. GM Jerome Piket of Holland today outplayed world number one rated superstar Gary Kasparov with one draw and one win (Piket 1.5-Kasparov 0.5) to score the greatest chess upset.. Piket (a 472-1 long shot) scored big in time pressure to take home $20,000. All games in ChessLab.

February 15, 2000. San Francisco, CA. Chess immortal GM George Koltanowski dies at age 96. Full text here.

January 31, 2000. Wijk aan Zee, Holland. 14 player international tourney. 1-st place -- Kasparov (50,000 Guilders) undefeated (6 wins, 7 draws) 9.5/13 2-d place -- tie: Kramnik, Leko, Anand (also entirely undefeated!!) 3 wins, 10 draws 8/13. All games in ChessLab since Feb 2, 2000. All games in ChessLab.

January 25, 2000. Moscow, Russia. A. Vyzmanavin dies ..... Another great young world chess federation (FIDE) 2600+ ELO player has died amidst reported poverty, depression. Alexey Vyzmanavin, age 40, died of apparent natural causes while living alone, his body not being found for six days. Mr. Vyzmanavin, a legendary competitive demon in Moscow "blitz" chess parks was USSR co-champion in 1990. Well known worldwide, he won "serious money" in long forgotten Kasparov "PCA" events. Mr. Vyzmanavin had not played in two years.

January 13, 2000. Budapest, Hungary. In exhibition challenge match between Peter Leko (Hungary, 2701) and current FIDE champion Alexander Khalifman (Russia, 2628), P. Leko has prevailed with the score 4.5 : 1.5. The winner took $10,000 while the loser's portion was $5,000. Match was conducted Jan 3 - Jan 9, 2000. All games will be in ChessLab after Jan 15, 2000. All games in ChessLab.

January 6, 2000. Linares, Spain. The world's top competitive grandmasters Kasparov and Khalifman will face each other at the fantastic Linares World Tourney February 28-March 10th -- double round robin.

January 5, 2000. Russia. Another GM got a free ticket to the three million dollar 2000 FIDE world chess championship (November)/100 player event! And he is the winner of Russia's national knockout chess championship -- Konstantin Sakaev -- won two straight games versus Bezgodov in the finals held December, 1999.
December 27,1999 Bermuda. Adams (UK)-Seirawan (US). Two world class grandmasters, already seeded automatically into FIDE world chess championship 2000 ($3 million minimum guaranteed/ November 2000) face each other in a fantastic vacation setting... a 10 game match! Location: Canadian Pacific Hamilton Princess Hotel (Feb. 8-18,2000) . Their last year's wild and woolly match was drawn with the score =2-2=6. All games in ChessLab.

December 16,1999. New Windsor, New York. Two world top - 50 grandmasters are already placed in the November 2000 $3,000,000 world Knockout (100 players) FIDE chess championship by default! The U.S.Chess federation policy board (facing financial ruin and massive desertion of long time adult members) has announced total cancellation of the 2000 Zonal national chess championship, leaving Y. Seirawan (Seattle) and B.Gulko (New Jersey) guaranteed FIDE world title players based on 1999 tourney results.

December 12, 1999. Lausanne, Switzerland. FIDE World Chess Champion A. Khalifman has pledged his full support of the FIDE world chess title event in 2000 and will defend his magnificently earned ($600,000 paid for!) honors November 25 -- December 14, 2000 (approximate dates for the next FIDE World Chess Championship).

December 6,1999 Lucerne, Switzerland. World Chess Federation top 100 ratings show the leading six grandmasters are: 1. Kasparov (inactive) : 2851, 2. Anand (India) 2767, 3.Kramnik(Russia) 2756, 4.Morozevich (Russia) : 2746 5. Adams (England): 2735 6. Shirov (Spain) : 2729. FIDE World chess champion Khalifman is listed as number 28th only despite having mowed down 7 of the worlds strongest players while winning 600 grand to boot in the Las Vegas, 1999 world title competition! Two US players remain atop the world top 50 list: Seirawan (Seattle)#37 ELO 2646 and U.S. champion Gulko (New Jersey) #42 ELO 2643.

November 22, 1999 Budapest, Hungary. After shocking news that the entire Polgar superstar chess family will evacuate Hungary en masse - good cheer was indeed at a premium for this serious chess Mecca...Lo, for Budapest, the coup of a FIDE world chess champion who ACTUALLY PLAYS! Mr. A. Khalifman, the FIDE official world chess champion, having bested 100 players for $600,000 plus in Las Vegas showdown faces the Hungarian number one Peter Leko in a 6 game match (January 3-9,2000).
November 20, 1999. Until now, Macintosh has been the only platform that did not work correctly with ChessLab.com. Daren Dillinger, the Mac ChessLab user and the chess columnist for the Florida Times-Union newspaper, has just discovered that the latest Netscape 4.7 browser for Mac works perfectly with ChessLab: Daren Dilinger used Power Mac and iMac with OS 8.6 and Netscape 4.7 (you can download Netscape 4.7 from www.netscape.com)

November 19, 1999. Isle of Man. For the second year in a row, this prestigious annual chess tournament was won by GM Emil Sutovsky (ISR 2610), who shared his 1-st place with GM Sergei. Shipov (RUS 2662). 16 grandmasters were taking part including Short (ENG 2675) , Tiviakov (NED 2650), Sutovski (ISR 2610), Baburin (IRE 2593), Emms (ENG 2597), Psakhis (ISR 2581), Kiriakov (RUS 2554), Lalic (CRO 2550), Shneider (UKR 2550), Kudrin (USA 2543), Hebden (ENG 2510), Rowson (SCO 2494), Ward (ENG 2473), Agnos (GRE 2455), Kosteniuit (RUS 2324).

November 9, 1999. St. Petersburg Russia. Chigorin Memorial in St. Petersburg, Russia has attracted chess players from 10 countries, including 39 grandmasters. After 7 rounds, S. Volkov (2575), A. Lastin (2552), A.Grischuk (2549) and E. Najer (2562) are ahead with 5 points. All games are online in ChessLab database.

November 7, 1999. Bastia, France. In the match between E. Bacrot (2592) with J. Polgar (2671), Bacrot won 3:1. All chess games are online in ChessLab database.

October 23, 1999. In the Internet match Kasparov vs. World, the World team has resigned. The game is now searchable online in ChessLab database. Kasparov vs. World match wraps up with a horrible fiasco with Microsoft losing a move suggestion by I. Krush (?). Reuters, Yahoo,world wide media now hot on the story, fraud charged. Jude Acers/ChessLab believes that Kasparov's victory was richly earned -- he hung in there grimly, kept the game alive period. The World's move 58...Qe4?? suggested by E. Bacrot was listed as losing in all variations given on October 10-th by FIDE champion Khalifman and Grandmaster Chess School. It appeared full one week before the World was led astray by French grandmaster and national champion E. Bacrot. Bacrot's suggestion lost outright-immediately at 2:04 AM EST Friday October 15, 1999. World News Reaction here ** Full game commentary/analysis here.

October 3, 1999 Yerevan, Armenia. Alexander Galkin (Russia) became the new World Junior chess champion of the world. (10.5/13), 67 players. Among girls, Maria Kouvatsou (Greece) became the World Junior champion. All games have been loaded into ChessLab database. Results are at: http://www.armchess.am/afterround13.html

September 23, 1999. At ChessLab.com you will find a new September issue of ChessLab Online Interactive Magazine with problems, puzzles, interactive commented games. In this issue we continue the daily coverage of Kasparov vs. World.

September 15,1999. New Delhi, India. The dreaded day has come -- the virtual cancellation of the 3 million dollar Kasparov - Anand 1999 "ultimate chess match" has been confirmed by Mr. Kuruvilla Abraham, (Anand's manager). Sponsors reportedly now back out,unable to overcome the enormous promo connection of MSN-Zone and Microsoft in the public eye with Number One chess player Kasparov that reportedly discouraged a silicon-based sponsor from coming forward. (There is also another shadow called A. Khalifman - the new FIDE chess champion!).... Canadian rock mega promoter Serge Grimaux has reportedly been party to a million dollar guarantee to Mr. Anand regardless!

September 15, 1999 Canada. The candidate from Canada for the new FIDE year 2000 $3,000,000 world chess championship is Alexandre Lesiege, Canada's champion, having bested (7-2) 26 players in the first ever Swiss zonal. An interesting feature of the event: all players scoring 66% automatically become international masters. Three of the players have already qualified. All games are loaded in ChessLab database.

September 9, 1999 Salt Lake City, Utah. Boris Gulko won 1999 Interplay US Championships by defeating Gregory Serper in the finals 2.5 - 0.5 (http://www.uschess.org/news/world99/usgames) ALL of the Salt Lake 1999 games are already in ChessLab database You can search on Salt Lake for location with 1999 for year, optionally adding names of players.

September 7, 1999 Rotterdam, Holland. Jan Timman, Holland's only world class grandmaster has done it again --.he defeated the world number one rated player Garry Kasparov in an international chess festival exhibition game... Mr. Timman, eternally young wizard, just keeps on trucking, absorbing setbacks here and there like a real sportsman...strictly class...Years ago he beat Kasparov (one win and one draw) in the $80,000 first prize- Immopar tourney final round at Champs Elysee theater in Paris, France. And I will have you know... he used the Petroff Defense "Acers-Trifunovic" variation in a game that was voted a world top ten theoretical game by Informator.

September 3, 1999. London. G. Kasparov shares his thoughts on Kasparov vs. World Match. Full text here.

August 30, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. A. Khalifman, the FIDE World Chess Champion! ALL Las Vegas 1999 games are now online and searchable in ChessLab.com database. See Finals here.

August 28, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. In the $1,000,000 final FIDE World chess championship title match Khalifman achieved a 3.0-2.0 lead with one game remaining, where Khalifman is almost certain to become the World Champion as he plays White. This match gives new meaning to the word endgame, with most games going all the way in marathon work for both players.

August 22, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. With a worldwide internet audience tuned in... A. Khalifman (Russia) received an unexpected ("unforced error") extra piece from V. Akopian (Armenia) while defending the Black pieces in a nevertheless fiercely contested first round. This provides huge impetus to the world title aspirations of the St. Petersburg veteran grandmaster. Akopian 0- KHALIFMAN 1 with Mr. Khalifman having the white pieces next time at bat, $1,000,000 cash riding on the six game set. See Finals here.

August 22, 1999. China- The $200,000 Women's World Chess Championship Match has ended with a Xie Jun (China) victory over Svetlana Gallimova (Russia) 8.5 : 6.5.

August 19, 1999. In its August, 1999 issue of ChessLab Interactive Magazine, Kasparov vs. World game is published with comments along with puzzles and problems. Kasparov vs. World will continue to be published throughout the month of August as the game proceeds. You can view the ChessLab Interactive Magazine from the tab control 'Magazine 8/99' on the right-hand side of the ChessLab board.

August 19, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. The $3,000,000 chess championship of the World Final 6-game match will be played by Vladimir Akopian of Armenia, the victor in two endgames versus English world top ten player Michael Adams. His opponent is either Alexander Khalifman (Russia) or L. Nisipeanu (Romania) who are tied up in their match -- each player won with White. Round 6 results here. A strong St. Petersburg grandmaster A. Khalifman had a $300,000 blunder . Needing only a draw for victory in the four game match (and guaranteed world title million dollar final match versus already qualified Akopian (Armenia), Khalifman faced a bishop against knight endgame versus Romanian meteor, true overnight sensation L. Nisipeanu of Romania..with nerves of steel. With an unexpected "Scotch Game" opening, Nisipeanu waited for the one in a million opportunity to win a blocked position. As a miracle, it came suddenly when for no reason whatsoever. Mr. Khalifman opened the position up increasing the scope of the sole remaining Nisipeanu piece- the bishop. The rest was endgame history ala 27 year world chess champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker, chess history with a huge multimillion dollar playoff at fast time controls today that determines who plays Akopian for the championship of the World!
It is not known whether one can recover from an (at least $300,000) single move unforced error but we are about to find
out this evening. I wouldn't want to be in Mr. Khalifman's shoes! (Wait...scratch that. ..he gets over $100,000 even if he loses today. As a favor to Mr. Khalifman, I will go instead!) It all ends in 2-4 hours of fast play for the chess championship of the world, $600 grand dollar six game final match. Who will win? Do not ask me -- I do not know either one of these gentlemen..it is wonderful indeed for the whole chess world, just when a huge promotion boost was appropriate. Armenia, Russia and Romania are of course now totally chess mad nations as they watch their countrymen up close and personal playoff for a $600 grand live on internet- television feed. It really is pure blood chess, matador in the arena..

August 17, 1999. ChessLab.com has added a new feature to the site -- there is a new hyperlink 'Load Game' under the ChessLab board. You can use this feature to load your own PGN games into ChessLab board for analysis or search by position.

August 15, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. In the most sensational chess upset,, four players have eliminated including all heavily favored 2700 plus ELO scale rivals (V. Kramnik, A. Shirov) leaving only 2700+ Michael Adams (England) as likely coming chess champion of the world. A great chance for England to challenge Kasparov/Russian chess dominance on promo dollars and make Adams an instant millionaire in 14 days! They will now play $100,000 plus! 4 game elimination matches to determine the chess champion of the world and who gets $600 grand... As always, all games are loaded and searchable online in ChessLab database.

August 13, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. In a surprise development in Round 5 day 2 of FIDE World Chess Championship, L. Nisipeanu (Romania) has defeated A. Shirov (Spain), the main contender for the championship title. L. Nisipeanu has advanced to Round 6 together with A. Khalifman (Russia) who won his match with J. Polgar (Hungary). For such an important game, A. Shirov's style was wild beyond imagination. The total cost of this single loss for Shirov could be as much as $600,000.. This also appears to present a $100,000 plus to the courageous defend- like -granite Romanian sensation L. Nisipeanu. It is projected that A. Khalifman (IF he gets by Nisipeanu!) will play Kramnik (not yet qualified by any means!) for the chess championship of the world in Round 7. Kramnik is now favored to win it all. Full Round 5 results here. All games are loaded and searchable online in ChessLab database.

August 11, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. With a fabulous, stunning, wild victory that showed attacking genius of the highest order, followed by 2-d day's great defense -(versus N. Short's King's Gambit (!!), A. Shirov has qualified for round 5 advancement in the $3,000, 000 FIDE World Chess Championship... along with Akopian.. All other players had to face a grueling, murderous Round 4 tie-break finale. ChessLab readers, you owe yourself the treat of a lifetime.....Shirov's games must be seen, played over to be believed. The attacking rage of Tal, Alekhine is again upon us. All Round 4 games have been loaded into ChessLab database. You can search on Las Vegas for site & 1999 for year or on names of players. Round 4 results can be seen on ChessLab.com here. After tie-breaks, J. Polgar, A. Khalifman, V. Kramnik, M. Adams, M. Movsesian and L. Nisipeanu were victorious and will also play in Round 5.

August 10, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. First day of Round 4 results of $3,000,000 Las Vegas FIDE World Chess Championship are available here. Out of 8 games played, 7 were draws, and only A. Shirov (Spain) scored a victory over his opponent N. Short (England).

August 09, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. In another surprise development in $3,000,000 Las Vegas FIDE World Chess Championship, P. Leko (Hungary) lost to S. Movsesian (CZE) and E. Bareev (Russia) lost to V. Akopian (Armenia) in tie breaks of Round 3. A. Shirov (Spain), however, scored 2 victories over G. Milos (Brasil) and remains one of the 2 main favorites along with V. Kramnik (Russia) to win the championship title. Full results of Round 3 here.

August 08, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2-games knock-out format of the FIDE Las Vegas World Championship can be pretty tough on the pre-tournament favorites. P. Svidler (Russia), one of the favorites, got eliminated in Round 3 (see Round 3 results). Another favorite, A. Shirov (Spain) is having a tough fight with Milos (Brasil) -- their match went into overtime. Those who advanced to Round 4 early include Khalifman, Ivanchuk, Zvjaginsev, Judit Polgar, Kiril Georgiev, Fedorov, Dreev, Adams, Short, Topalov and Kramnik.

August 05, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada All 9 of the American contestants in the 100 player $3,000,000 world chess chess championship were eliminated at the conclusion of Round two, tiebreak day. Round 2 results are here.

August 03, 1999. Las Vegas USA. Only 3 (out of 8) American players who played in round 1 have advanced to join Gata Kamsky in round two. Defending US Open co-champion Boris Gulko advanced in two games, defeating Reinderman. Two Americans advanced in tie-breaks: Alex Yermolinsky defeated Ken Spraggett and Tal Shaked pulled off an upset, defeating Babula in two games. $3,000,000 FIDE World Chess Championship is proceeding with round 2 starting today and seeded players joining the action. During Las Vegas event, ChessLab.com database is updated within 1 -2 days. You can search on Las Vegas for site & 1999 for year or on names of players. Round 1 results can be seen on ChessLab.com here. Official site is here. Be warned: FIDE's official site is very slow.

August 02, 1999. Las Vegas, Nevada. World Chess Federation (FIDE) president Kirsan Iljumzhinov, fresh from signing a giant blown up theatrical $3,000,000 check on stage for all to see, announced Hong Kong as the site for the 2000 world title event --the last week in November- all December 2000..... The world top- 100 available players WILL AGAIN RECEIVE A MINIMUM of $3,000,000 NATURALLY. . Anything less would be positively uncivilized... During his all- aglow -with -rapturous -joy Las Vegas press conference, Mr. Iljumzhinov expressed complete delight with the $22 million U.S. dollars he has spent on chess so far, explaining that while some people enjoy investing in cars or the stock market "I like investing in chess." I certainly like that!

July 30, 1999. St. Petersburg, Russia. The Grandmaster Chess School has released A. Khalifman's comments, backing the worldwide chess-to-all-people FIDE Chess Championship worth $3 million dollars. With red hot remarks that will make tycoon sponsor -Fide president Kirsan Ilumzhinov positively bask in Las Vegas sunshine, Mr.Khalifman is "Leaving for Las Vegas" where he will play with team mates Peter Svidler (a potential FIDE world champion ) and Konstantin Sakaev (see Interview).

July 30, 1999. Kazan, RUSSIA. It is for $200,000 and it is for real: The Women World Chess Championship starts on the very day of the FIDE World title event in Las Vegas...Alisa Galliamova (Russia) versus Xie Jun (China) with the games going all the way through August 28th if necessary. Second half of the match will be in Shenyang, China ... World Chess Federation official Willy Iclicki has confirmed that the former champion Z. Polgar (New York) turned down a guaranteed by FIDE $200,000 match in China before being forfeited, losing together with her title a much coveted $3,000,000 Las Vegas world title slot as well. My verdict: worst career move of all time. We are going to send Irene Krush next time.

July 28, Las Vegas. Substitute players were just invited for the 3 million dollar world chess championship...(Las Vegas, July 31 1999) A. DREEV is flying in with uncertain participation status and there were last minute calls to: ANDERSSON, LAUTIER, MILOV. Not playing: Karpov, Morozevich, Z Polgar, Velimirovic. More invitations are possible at this late hour ...

July 28, Los Angeles. Jack Peters, Los Angeles Times Sunday chess columnist for two decades wrote: "Less than a year ago, many observers predicted that Anand and Kramnik would soon surpass Kasparov. In 1999, though , Kasparov has won four straight elite tournaments with apparent ease.... His rating, a record 2841 before his Frankfurt success seems unapproachable by Anand (#2 at 2771) and Kramnik (#3 at 2760) We should enjoy the sight of an outstanding champion in his prime."
July 24, Las Vegas, Nevada. There has been a stunning development that may propel U.S. World top 50 - rated grandmaster Yasser Seirawan (Seattle) into the the three million dollar world chess championship July 30 -- three players are now almost certainly out of the list and SEIRAWAN IS STANDING BY. The usually reliable Club Kasparov news index confirms (July 21,1999) that WORLD TOP RATED # 1 seeded player MOROZEVICH, S.POLGAR , KARPOV ARE OUT ALMOST CERTAINLY. None have signed their player contracts. An interview of Karpov is cited at Club Kasparov, where Karpov is stating flatly that he is "90% certain" he will NOT play.
July 18, 1999. Prague, Czechoslovakia - With five wins, one draw A.SHIROV (Spain)-world number two ranked chess grandmaster- rolled to victory and a $65,000 prize following the Eurotel Cup challenge match versus JUDIT POLGAR (Hungary). (http://chess.lostcity.nl/eurotel99/default.cfm) Mr. Shirov was deprived of one million dollars (and a world title match he richly earned by defeating V. Kramnik with a two wins, 8 draw wipeout).... only to see the unquestioned world number one player Kasparov disappear into the sunset with no cash, no"as agreed guaranteed match".... A coming world champion (if there ever was one) Mr. Shirov arrives to play in Las Vegas for the $3,000,000 world title in the second round at Caesars Palace August 2,1999.
July 8, 1999 Frankfurt, Germany SIEMENS GIANTS WORLD 4 PLAYER GRANDMASTER TOURNEY (25 minutes per game for each player, 4 games contested with each opponent) FINAL: Powered by a three draw and one victory performance versus A. Karpov (FIDE world chess champion), the world number one rated Garry Kasparov raced to a full point and a half first place margin. 1.KASPAROV 2812 7.5/12 (2.)ANAND 2781 6/12 (2)KRAMNIK 2751 6/12 4.KARPOV 2710 4.5/12 The event is considered remarkable as Kasparov has been beaten repeatedly by Kramnik, Anand,Timman and others in quick play chess and was not considered even their equal in this rapidly coming of age media event chess.Mr. Anand is generally referred to worldwide as the best speed, rapid transit, 5 minute player in the world... (In a five minute world speed championship game -$50,000 first prize was won by Tal over both Kasparov, Karpov.) Kasparov once stalemated his opponent while a queen and bishop up, striking his forehead, shouting "What am I doing?". Also ...in a wild press conference Mr. Karpov stated that he wanted the coming July 3Oth- 100 player 3 million dollar world chess championship( Caesars Palace, Las Vegas) be renamed "The World Cup", cleverly retaining his title by nomenclature.
July 6, 1999. Lucerne, Switzerland World Chess Federation monthly July 1999 ratings show the world top ten grandmasters: 1.KASPAROV 2841 2.ANAND (India) 2771 3.KRAMNIK 2760 4.MOROZEVICH 2751 5.SHIROV (Spain) 2722 6.GELFAND (Israel) 2713 7. KARPOV 2709 8.ADAMS (England) 2705 9. IVANCHUK 2702 10.LEKO (Hungary) 2699...The only United States player in world top 50 is #30 SEIRAWAN of Seattle, Washington. Amazingly, VICTOR KORCHNOI (Switzerland), now approaching 70 years of age, is easily in world top 20, in seventeenth place with ELO 2676! World leading woman JUDIT POLGAR of Hungary(far and away the strongest female player in history) remains the only woman ranked in the entire 100 top players, at 19-20 place with 2671 ELO points.
July 1, 1999 Prague, Czechoslovakia- A $100,000 guaranteed Euro-Tel challenge match ($65,000 paid to the winner) will take place July 11 between J. Polgar and A Shirov. J. Polgar is the world number one female player and the strongest female player of all time -- she has defeated both Karpov and Spassky in their previous matches. A. Shirov is the world number two ranked super grandmaster who was denied a "guaranteed" one million dollars and a match with Kasparov last year after his two wins 8 draws crush of Kramnik. World number one rated player Kasparov will present the trophy! (Courtesy Mr. Russell Miller, Inside Chess)
June 30, 1999. San Francisco, California. The oldest competitive chess grandmaster in history, 89-year old Arthur Dake will appear here at the Dake Honorary Chess Tournament July 11-20, 1999 (commentary)
June 28, 1999. Pairings have been announced for the (July 30 - August 27) FIDE World Chess Championship in Las Vegas Nevada (commentary and pairings). Karpov has confirmed his participation starting with round 2.

June 25, 1999. KASPAROV VS. THE WORLD is the most exciting and, potentially, largest online gaming event ever! Moves made so far: (Garry Kasparov plays White) Four internationally renowned Chess Analysts are on hand to help the players with game analysis and suggested moves, but the final call is up to the player's votes. Online voting tool can be used to submit responses: http://www.zone.com/kasparov/Join.asp. Etienne Bacrot, 16, Florin Felecan, 19, Irina Krush, 15 and Elisabeth Pähtz, 14 comprise the World Team experts. Just as a baseball umpire, the referee of the match (GM Danny King) has the power to remove any player. The prizes will include the autograped chess set and a chance to meet world number one rated player. Sicilian defense was chosen -- this is already a real risk (1...e7-e5 and 1...c7-c6 are strongest versus Kasparov, period.) Sicilian is also what Kasparov knows beyond words as a priest knows his pater noster.... see match commentary

June 24, 1999. Shenyang, China A $100,000 women's world FIDE chess championship match Xie Jun (China) versus Alisa Galiamova (Russia) will be held here July 3-27,1999. Z. Polgar (New York), the current champion, was unable to reach an agreement with FIDE and refused to play in China, demanding a $200,000 minimum. FIDE has informed Z. Polgar that her title was forfeited.
June 22-New York, NY World Chess Federation and U.S. National chess federation both confirm that the World's top 10 player Gata Kamsky of USA has accepted his invitation to 3 million dollar (100 players) FIDE chess championship, Las Vegas, Nevada July-August at Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino. Kamsky emerges from his three year retirement (medical student). He still maintains his colossal 2700+ world rating.
Las Vegas, Nevada. June 20, 1999. The representative of the FIDE Mr. Shiloh Quinn of Montreal Canada confirmed that there was a serious movement and some compromise between FIDE and A. Karpov concerning A. Karpov's participation in the three million dollar world championship July 30- August 27, 1999 in Caesars Palace. V. Anand of India was declared out of Las Vegas championship..lured by a reported one million dollar guarantee,. Anand has agreed in writing to play an October match with world chess federation number one rated player -- G. Kasparov. The dilemma of Las Vegas officials was that the personable (voted number one player in the world 1998- with Kasparov only fourth) Anand was guaranteed one million dollars. If Anand had agreed to play in Las Vegas with 8 other players, he would have been forced to sign a mandatory exclusivity contract with FIDE-World chess federation. There would have been no guarantees remotely approaching one million dollars.
Lima, Peru. June 15, 1999 Julio Granda Zuniga has retired. The colorful South American number one player has retired with no complaint whatsoever, simply preferring agriculture and attention to his family. Zuniga passed on participation in Peruvian national championships and world title play in Las Vegas. Coming directly from his farm(!), he won premier honors in New York and Amsterdam events, played electrifying games during his ten year international career and spiced up the world chess literature...

Leon, Spain. June 14, 1999. Advanced Chess Match between Karpov and Anand has completed with the overwhelming Anand's victory 5:1. Both players used computer databases to aid their play. All of the games are loaded in ChessLab database (Location: Leon ESP).
New Windsor, New York. June 14, 1999. The United States Chess Federation confirms the final list of three million dollar USA world title players in Las Vegas; Nick DeFirmian (US champion), Joel Benjamin, Dmitry Gurevich, Tal Shaked, Boris Gulko, Sergey Kudrin, Alexander Ivanov. The world chess championship hotline number is 1-888-243-7748

New Orleans, Louisiana - Confirmed rating lists of the Kasparov-led 3 million dollar World Chess Council" (WCC) show YASSER SEIRAWAN of Seattle, Washington (USA) now rated above the World Chess Federation Champion (FIDE) Karpov. This is the first time in chess history that an American not eligible for World title play (eliminated on tiebreak playoff) has ever been so ranked..... Seirawan will require a special nomination by megabuck financier Kirsan Iljumzhinov, the president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) who slipped a cool 50 million dollars (ironclad guaranteed) to finance five world title events open to 100 plus players from all over the globe- set for July30- August 30 l999 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada... Seirawan has defeated both Karpov and Kasparov in world rated play, beat world top five player V. Ivanchuk in the (Holland) event where Iljumzhinov shelled out $6 million in December 1997. Seirawan held world top ten ADAMS of England to a drawn match in Bermuda during the winter..A former junior chess champion of the world and a (former!) Cosmopolitan Magazine "Bachelor of the month" Seirawan is also somewhat of an oddity: a nice person amidst a world of chess cannibals...He has published INSIDE CHESS MAGAZINE for 11 years and will publish it fully online in January 2000... A classic dresser with a master of ceremonies winner image, Seirawan has admitted that just the wardrobe threads alone for Las Vegas are going to cost a veritable fortune, with a new duds daily a must. Anything less would be uncivilized in a world of chess cannibals...
Phoenix , Arizona More than 1,900 children competed in the 1999 NATI0NAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS MAY 14-16, an all time record.
Phoenix , Arizona. The 15 year old world chess sensation IRINA KRUSH (U.S. Women's Chess Champion) has stunned the chess world by drawing a 4 game match with International Grandmaster TAL SHAKED (World title qualifier in Las Vegas.) She is scheduled to play for the $500,000 prize fund in the FIDE Women's Chess Championship later this year. Krush,Irina USA 2375 0 =1 = (2) (2477) ; Shaked,Tal USA 2477 1 =0 = (2) (2375)

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