by Aviv Friedman

As the tournament is coming to a close, the luck of the draw matched the two leaders against each other in the penultimate round - and what a match up this is! The world's #1 player, titleless as mentioned before, versus the young FIDE champ, the new kid on the block. Never even seen each other before this event, except in photos, their over-the-board rivalry took no time to develop. No one here, including Ruslan, has forgotten Kasparov's words about him: not yet tested against the elite and how the fast time control was a leading factor in his success. In their first match Pono already signaled he might have respect for his elder, but no fear. His refusal to trade rooks in that game (38.Bf3 instead of 38.Ra8) interpreted as 'playing for a win' earned him a lot of respect. This time around, he has his hands full: Not only is Kasparov white in this all-important game, but he is often a person who rises to the occasion when he needs to. Who will ever forget the 24th game of his match with Karpov in Seville where there was nothing to speak of but a win, and sure enough he delivered. Or take Astana 2001, where after drawing twice against tail ender Sadvakasov, Kasparov had to win his last round against Kramnik, and once again came through. If this record is not enough, there is the small element of superstition: Today is round 13 of the tournament - Kasparov's favorite number that symbolizes so many milestones in his career and life. One might laugh and brush this off, but be sure that for Gazza this means a good sign. Now for a little change of topic:

One of the biggest faults of this great event, especially if one compares it to the Corus one, is the accessibility of the journalists to the players. In Corus, the players are contracted to avail themselves to the press. Every day there would be a press conference, often with a game demonstration by the winner one of the day's games. Here there is none of that - and so most players are almost incommunicado or give the journalists one-line answers to their questions. That is a true pity that not only makes the journalists' work harder, but also denies the organizers and sponsors of some well-deserved publicity. The worst of the players in that department is Kasparov. Never seen in the pressroom at all, he avoids most members of the press and speaks only to those he is close to. Rumor is he is shunning the "Sport express" representative because that magazine criticized him during his match with Kramnik earlier this year. This is after a long history of favorable coverage and publicity… I have seen Garry's mother telling Spanish and Russian TV reps with a pseudo-apologetic face that her son will not speak with anyone during the event but only after that. Quite ridiculous - the players here, topped by Kasparov of course, get many tens of thousands of dollars as appearance fees and think that they can just come, play and leave about their business without partaking in any PR. Some readers who might have followed my reports in Corus, must notice the difference that there I could interview 3 of the top players live on ICC, and have the transcripts on the web (all arranged with the help of the organizers) and here there is none of that. But(!) there is hope! In the official reception with the mayor, who as I mentioned is the head of the organizing committee, and after many of us journalists spoke about this problem, we got one of us, IM Dirk Poldauf from Schach magazine in Germany (who speaks Spanish too) to address this and he was promised that for next year a clause in the players' contracts will be added to make sure the problem is solved!

'Da' games:

Click to replay Anand - Adams:

Anand - Adams:   I was actually hoping for a revenge-hungry Anand to push hard to even the score here. Vishy is probably not thrilled about how this tourney has been going, and is eager to have it behind him. The start didn't reveal it: The classical Petroff from round 5's Kasparov-Adams was repeated, and everyone was eager to see when and where the first detour will happen, alas… when it did happen as late as move 26 (26…Qc6! instead of Adams' 26…Qd5) white played one more move and a draw was agreed. After the game, Anand said he didn't mind repeating the line because he got a good impression of it, but upon seeing the improvement of 26…Qc6! he realized had nothing, and hence offered a draw. As I am expressing my mandatory whine about fight-less draws, I will also mention that Adams doesn't subscribe to Ljubo's claim that 20…Bg6 is a mistake and repeated it. Keep your eyes peeled for new developments in this line in future events.

Click to replay Vallejo - Shirov:

Vallejo - Shirov:   The 3.Bc4 line against the d6 Sicilian came as a surprise for black, who took some minutes trying to decide on a set-up against it. Top players, such as Anand, Adams and Morozevich have used it before. For example, the same 12 moves occurred in the game Adams-Lutz Frankfurt 1999, where white went 13.Bc2. Here 13.Ba4?! and taking on c6 was tried, leading to a structure similar to that of a French defense where the light squared B were traded. These are almost always trouble-free for black, and this seemed like no exception. With nothing moving in the center or the kingside, where white usually tries to get is play, black slowly gained space on the other wing, doubled Rooks on the 'c' file and around move 21 or so I could hear Adams' second, GM Emms saying that maybe this is going to be black's first win in this event. Well, it is not easy to beat the confident Spaniard sometimes! Paco decided to sacrifice his 'b' pawn to try and mobilize some forces on to the right, clearly his only chance to generate enough counter play. He succeeded in making some progress and maybe 28…Rd3!? was worth a look. The point is to discourage 29.Bg5 because of 29…Rc4 harassing the 'd' pawn. It is hard to say if black could somehow combine defending and realizing his extra pawn - amazingly the out-of-form Shirov allowing his opponent some initiative that combined mating threats with eventually picking up the extra pawn. After the time control, Shirov looked quite grouchy, having to defend a position where all he could do is sit and wait. All the while, Vallejo slowly improved his position with moves like 47.Kg1 (Rozentalis in the pressroom: "A Dvoretzky type move") and then penetrated aesthetically. The final position was quite picturesque where black resigned in an even material, but zugzwang position. Finally a win for the local hero! Applause and cheering was all around in appreciation of this achievement.

Click to replay Kasparov - Ponomariov:

Kasparov - Ponomariov:   The main event of the day and of the tournament! Before the start of the game, and for the first few minutes of it, it was almost impossible to see the players with all the photographers (yours truly included) who were hovering all over their table angling for photos. Kasparov was stern-looked as always, and Pono looking quite serious himself. After all, this was the acid test for both of them in these 2 and half weeks of chess. The opening did not start well for the young Ukrainian. There were many guesses about which opening would be seen today, some thought Kasparov would prepare something for the QGA and play 1.d4, others predicted the Petroff. But as it turned out, the Rubinstein French is what appeared on the board. Inexplicably, Ruslan went for a line with a very suspicious reputation for black and as early as move 9(!) ICC commentator Alexey Dreev, as well as other titled players in the pressroom, opined that black is having some serious difficulties. A few lines were looked at, including the game's 9…Bd6 10.Qg4, frowning heavily at the black position. As the game progressed, pessimism is all one could hear about from black's point of view. White correctly sacrificed the center pawn for quick development. Compensation was never in question, but Kasparov was consuming oodles of time. Always in total control, Gazza played some fantastic chess. 20.Rh3! was very strong since black was facing new threats all the time and couldn't complete his development or consolidate. Kasparov's pieces were all over black - even the time trouble didn't faze Gazza who in grand style (22.g4) continued to pound the black structure. In his attempts to ease off some of the pressure, Pono had to advance e5 and b5, which meant more operating room for white. 28.a4! signaled the beginning of the end for black, who for better or worse, should have tried 28…Rf8 and an eventual Kg8, although even then it is hard to believe there is a saving. One can only try and imagine the pleasure of executing the finishing touch of 38.Rxe6! forcing resignation. I can only tell you it was executed flashingly. So once again Garry delivers! The old lion is still boss, the young ones will have to wait just a little bit longer for the dethronement.