ICC News Item #1091

NEWS 1091 (26-Nov-98)
Final details, Kasparov-Kramnik $24,000 Blitz Match

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The big match starts on the Internet Chess Club at noon tomorrow,
Friday!  Here are instructions for last-minute ticket purchases,
and more details on the match.

TO BUY TICKETS:

1) Get out your Visa, Mastercard, or American Express Card.
2) When logged into your ICC account, type "c-buy".
3) Answer the questions.
4) After c-buy is successful, type "c-offer ticket 16 kkmatch".

You should now have a ticket for the two-day match.  Just type
"follow Kasparov" when the match starts to watch.

(If you want to watch one day only, type "c-offer ticket 10 kk1"
for Friday, or "c-offer ticket 10 kk2" for Saturday instead).

MORE MATCH INFORMATION:
(original announcement is in news 1086 on ICC).

GAMES:
24 game match.  12 games on Friday Nov 27.  12 games on Saturday
Nov 28.  Games start at 12 noon EST each day.  One game starts each
15 minutes (12:00, 12:15, 12:30, etc.), with a 30-minute break after
the 6th game each day.  Kasparov get White in the first game on
Friday.  Kramnik gets White in the first game on Saturday.  Games
are played in The Casino of the Kosmos Hotel in Moscow.

TIME CONTROL:
Both player start with 5 minutes on the clock.  If a player has less
than 20 seconds, then his clock will not move for the first 2 seconds
when it his his turn.  A further complication is that if a player
moves in under 2 seconds, the opponent gets that time added to his
clock, but only if he has over 20 seconds.  Don't worry if you don't
understand this!

SPECIAL BROADCAST EQUIPMENT:
An Electronic Sensory Board and Electric Buttons will serve as clock
press signaling units. The move and clock information will be
transmitted immediately to the ICC server over the internet.  Each
player has a clock button on his right!  No arguments about placement
of the clock.  The Sensory board is very advanced, recognizing that
pieces might get knocked over, and properly handling castling and
en passant. It also handles pre-moving (the opponent replies before
the move is actually completed).  If the board gets totally messed
up, it can switch from sending individual moves to sending the whole
position to ICC.

The match will be interesting because of the new technology, in
addition to the fact that this is the strongest blitz match in
history!

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