The Miles Report

by Tony Miles
Odd One Out
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the new World
Champion Alexander Khalifman. Perhaps I am a little late, but as
far as I can see I am still one of the earliest. The reason for this is
that almost every article I read refers to him as the FIDE Champion
or even just the winner of the FIDE knock- out tournament in Las
Vegas.
It seems that there is a widespread reluctance to accept as World
Champion anyone who is not called Kasparov or Karpov - at least
Khalifman has the right initial! However, fairly obviously (or not?)
the World Champion is the winner of the World Championship, and
in the absence of any alternative competition, that should be that.
There are many sports where the World Champion is not the
generally accepted top player, and indeed if this were not the case
there would be no point in holding World Championships at all - we
could just declare Kasparov Champ in perpetuity and forget it - as
he seems to have done himself. Personally I think Khalifman
deserves the title for the incredible character he showed in coming
back from early losses. Also it gives the rest of us hope! I think I
was only seeded about four places below him! Next year...
Without changing topics, let me set you a puzzle. Which of the
following is the odd one out?
Anand, Fischer, Morozevich, Kamsky, Karpov, Kasparov,
Khalifman, Kramnik, Shirov or Short? (In alphabetical order in case
you were wondering).
Too hard? OK, let's try an easier one. Same logic, other sex. Which
is the odd one out of Galliamova, Judit Polgar, Susan Polgar or Xie
Jun?
Got it? Well, the answer is Xie Jun. She is the only one not to have
refused to play in, or been thrown out of a World Championship (so
far!!). In case you have not been following the Women's World
Championship too closely, let me summarize the highlights. At
Groningen in 1997 Galliamova won an overwhelming victory in the
Candidates tournament . However, according to the - rather strange
- regulations that only qualified her to play the final match against
the second placed Xie Jun, to decide the challenger for Susan
Polgar.
The match was originally scheduled to be half in Russia and half in
China. However, in the pre-match preparations the Russian half
collapsed, so the whole match was awarded to China. Galliamova
refused to accept this and was duly forfeited when she failed to
show up in Shenyang.
So, Xie Jun progressed to play Susan Polgar. However, when FIDE
tried to arrange the match, Polgar asked for a postponement to let
her recover from childbirth. FIDE refused and forfeited her. And
replaced her by... Galliamova!!! So now Xie Jun and Galliamova
had to meet for the title. So they did, and Xie Jun won. But in the
meantime FIDE had postponed the women's knock-out that was
supposed to succeed the old system and concluded that there wasn't
such a hurry anymore, so Susan could have her postponement after
all. So now Xie Jun is not the Champion but the challenger again..
What a farce! It could never happen again, could it?? No?? Then
please recall the history of the PCA/ WCC.
Long, long ago, when computers were still in nappies (diapers to
my American readers) Nigel Short qualified to challenge Kasparov
in the FIDE World Championship (or The World Championship as
we used to call it in those innocent days). But FIDE didn't offer
Nige as much money as he wanted, so he and Gazza walked out
and created the Professional Chessplayers Association (PCA),
leaving Karpov to re-inherit the FIDE title by beating Timman, in a
match that also had a hard time finding its prize fund.
Anyway... so Gazza beat Nige and became PCA Champ, an
organisation with precisely three members at the time ( the third
was Kasparov's lawyer, in case you wondered). So, In order to gain
a bit of credibility, the PCA decided to stage its own World
Championship cycle, and quite a reasonable job it did. An
Interzonal type tournament (don't ask about the zonals!) was held in
Groningen (looking at the results I see a certain A. Halifman was
equal 44th - maybe he needed the K - and Zsuzsa Polgar clear last)
and the qualifiers played old FIDE style matches to determine a
challenger for Kasparov. Anand was triumphant, but was
nevertheless flattened by Gazza.
So far so good, but now the trouble starts. Gazza, as he tends to do,
fell out with the PCA sponsor. So, no money for another cycle. So
no more PCA. So Gazza and a couple of mates decide to invent the
World Chess Council (WCC) to replace it. Again, needing to retain
some credibility, Gazza decided he needed a challenger. So, times
being hard, he decreed that Anand and Kramnik should play a
match to produce one. However Anand had signed an agreement
with FIDE that he would not take part in a rival championship and
decided to honour it. So Kasparov decreed that Shirov (who had
just had a good result) should replace Anand.
So Shirov played Kramnik. And Shirov won. That wasn't in the
script. And neither was any prize money, as the players discovered
to their annoyance at the end of the match.
Anyway... so Shirov should play Kasparov. But Kasparov couldn't
find a sponsor, and Shirov understandably wasn't too happy about
playing for nothing either. So Gazza decreed that it was pretty
much Shirov's fault for being unmarketable, not to mention beating
Kramnik when he wasn't meant to. Personally, from a chess
spectator's point of view, I would have thought he was the most
marketable player on earth, and,along with Ivanchuk perhaps, one
who can do things that Kasparov can't and therefore has a serious
chance of winning. Which is perhaps why Kasparov threw him out
and replaced him by... errrr... Anand.
Currently that match too seems to be having a hard time getting off
the ground. I am reminded of a note by Peter Svidler to one of his
games that it is remarkable what lengths the human mind will go to
justify doing what it wanted in the first place.
So... have you got the answer yet???
The answer is Khalifman. He is, amazingly, the only one on the list
not to have refused to play in, or been kicked out of, a World
Championship, Anand declined to play in the PCA/WCC cycle,
Fischer has declined everything since 1972, Kamsky gave the last
FIDE cycle a miss to study medicine, Karpov missed Vegas (and
wouldn't have been too welcome at the PCA festivities), Kasparov
has avoided anything connected with FIDE for the last six years,
Kramnik declined the FIDE Groningen, Morozevich didn't like the
Vegas small print, Shirov got ignored out of the PCA/WCC final,
and Short wasn't invited to the FIDE cycle after his attempt to
sabotage the previous one.
One can only sympathise with Ilyumzhinov as he tries to create a
united championship! Maybe a couple more zeroes on the prize
fund might do it!!
As the men's World Championship games have already been
widely publicized - and also because the final ones were rather less
than classic - I take this month's game from the Xie Jun v
Galliamova match. The second game of the match set Xie Jun on
the road to victory, as well as having a truly beautiful finish
White: Xie Jun Black: A. Galliamova
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2
a6 8.O-O-O Nd4 9. Qd4 Be7 10.f4 b5 11.Bf6 gf 12.e5
A trendy line brought into fashion by Kasparov. Since it is still
being developed I will not pretend to give authoritative opening
notes!
12...d5 13.Kb1 Bd7 14.Qe3 f5 15.g4
An enterprising sac, in the spirt of the Benko, which is new to me at
least. For a pawn white gets free piece play and makes the kingside
uninhabitable for the black king.
15...fg 15.h3 gh 16.Bh3 Qc7
Black has the bishop pair and an extra pawn, but her position is
lifeless and depressing. In particular the extra h pawn hardly looks
likely to be of any use.
17.f5 O-O-O 18.Rhf1 Kb8 19.fe fe 20.Rf7
Increasing the pressure on the black position. Probably the passive
Rde8 is best now, but Galliamova thinks she sees a chance to break
out.
20...d4
With the idea that Qd4 is met by Be8, and Rd4 by Bc5.
21. Rd4! Bc5 22. Ne2!
Simple and elegant. If black plans Bd4 Nd4 followed by Bg2 leaves
black unable to contest the long diagonal.
22...h5
No thank you...
23.b4!
But I insist. In passing white cuts out any back rank tricks.
23...Bd4 24 Nd4 Rc8 25.Bg2
Threatening simply Qe4
25...Rhg8 (See Diagram)
Hoping to take the bishop, but....
26.Nc6+ Ka8
If 26...Bc6 27. Bc6! wins easily.
27. Rd7! Qd7
Or 27...Rg2 28. Qa7+
28.Nb8+!!
On 28...Kb8, 29.Qb6 mates, so 1-0