by Aviv Friedman

Some readers have asked me to write a bit about the companions of the players, as I did for Corus at Wijk aan Zee. This year, perhaps as a testimony to the strength and importance of the event, all 7 players have brought some support with them, no exceptions. Some are new, some are old, some are for chess and others for encouragement and a feeling of home.

As always, Kasparov has with him his very loyal second Yuri Dokhoian and his beloved mother Klara. Dokhoian, a strong GM by his own right, has given up on competitive chess and is serving as the full time main assistant to Garry. He visits the pressroom occasionally, but almost never says anything. Sometimes he has a brief exchange with a Russian or ex-Russian friend or acquaintance. He never has any facial expressions. I have never seen him smile, although I was told that has happened. This is quite a contrast from his flamboyant and expressive boss. I suppose it is fair to say they complete each other perfectly.

Anand also has his long time second and companion GM Elizbar Ubilava at his side. The two seem at great ease with each other. While one could see a distance and hierarchy between Kasparov and Dokhoian, Anand and 'Ubi' seem like friends. Ubilava is a frequent visitor to the pressroom and is quite approachable. Also present with Vishy, is Aruna, his lovely wife, who is always in good spirits and proves to be very helpful as a translator to English with her fluency in Spanish. The Anand's, despite Vishy's high status in the chess world, are quite down to earth, talkative and very unsnobbish. When Vishy heard I was writing for ICC, he had mentioned the pleasure he had watching game 5 of the FIDE championships at the club, at his leisure, seeing the amazing developments as they were unfolding. I won't mention the amount of the bet he had on the outcome of the match, but I will reveal he bet on the 'right horse'.

A third long term relationship is between Alexey Shirov and his friend and second Estonian GM Mikhail Rytshagov. The two are often together, taking walks, chatting and dining together too. Rytshagov is also the silent type, breaking his silence only very rarely.

Mickey Adams is (as usual) with his significant other Zoe. This time they are joined by British GM John Emms as his chess second. The three are inseparable. I have only seen Emms visiting the pressroom once or twice, briefly.

Vallejo has with him his long time trainer and friend the personable GM Zenon Franco. Along with another friend whose name escapes me at the moment, this cheerful threesome is always in a good mood (maybe Paco's fine result so far has something to do with that too). One can often hear them chat and laugh loudly.

Ivanchuk is also not alone, he brought along a sharply dressed friend, who seems to be a chess player, but no one knows who he is! Not even Ljubo! Perhaps we will simply ask him one of these days.

Ponomariov's companion was also unknown to all, but rumor has it he is his 'manager'. More on the last two if and when we learn it!

Today's games:

Ivanchuk - Kasparov: Once again, Ivanchuk was in a blitz mode. Playing a boring Reti as white, he was quick to deviate from theory. In this type of position, one can make many 'new' moves that do not promise much and yet won't be mistakes. He would often leave the board on his opponent's turn and move within seconds after he returned. Make no mistake here: this is NOT any home analysis -- this is Chuky unmotivated.

Amazingly, after 13 moves that seemed like a draw offer would follow any second, Ivanchuk sank into the think tank before playing 14.g4!? This is hardly a move of a player trying to draw, so what's going on?! There was even more mystery since after black's 17…Ng8 and 18…Qe8 white was had a slight pull. White kept improving his position, and around move 20 voices were heard dreaming about trouble mounting for Gazza. The advantage was certainly not that large. 24.Qd2?! gave black a golden opportunity to play 24…Ne4! since white couldn't afford to take twice on e4 due to a trade on c1 and Nd3 forking. Instead, we saw 25…Kg7?! And after a3 and b4 white was again a little better. The final oddity came when after 34.g5 (which was certainly not the only good move in the position) white offered a draw, which was accepted. Isn't white still a bit better in the final position? I think so.

Adams - Vallejo: Once again a Berlin defense with 9…Ne7 was played, like Vallejo did against Anand. Here, Adams went 'mainstream' with the plan of 10.b3. Vallejo replied with a move I have not seen before or find in my databases: 10…Bg4. The value of this move is still questionable to me since white went 11.Ng5 as he often does, gaining a tempo and besides, the N often lands on e4. Evidently, his plan was to provoke h3 and g4 and later attack them by h5. As it turned out, white was faster - first he removed the black N from d5 with 16.c4, (Paco admitted to forgetting about that move here…) then he played the strong 17.Rad1! threatening Nxf7. Paco obliged, by entering this variation and the position was a total mess. After the game it was suggested to give up an exchange in the line: 20.R1d1 Nd5 21.R7xd5! cxd5 22.cxd5+ with tons of compensation for the exchange. Adams wasn't sure about this during the game, but some analysis showed this might have been the most challenging. In the actual game, black got extremely active and white had to worry about trouble along the h file. The star move for black was 22…g5! freeing his N from defending against Nf4+ and eyeing f3, and so white decided to 'play it safe' and offer a draw which was accepted. In the post mortem, black wondered if he could have played on with 24…Ng6 but it was agreed that after Nd4+ and Rh1, white was holding everything together. A draw is a fair result then.

Ponomariov - Shirov: White didn't get anything tangible after this Sicilian 3 knights opening. After playing the provocative line with 7.h4 black played the topical 7…Bxd2+. Soon, we arrived at a structure which is familiar from the Italian opening but with one difference: Black doesn't have his dark squared B. Also similarly to this opening, black played 9…Be6 to answer 10.Nd5 with …10.Bxd5 and 11…h6 trading two sets of minors. Since short castling was no longer an option, Pono had to resort to moves like 15.Kf1 to try and complete his development, black was doing fine. Still, white was of course not worse, and how could he be with such a good B on c4? The ever-aggressive Shirov certainly did all he could to muddy the water and sacrificed a pawn to lure his opponent's queen away from the center and then another to cut its way back. White's position was very resilient and black needed to try and open the white king - he succeeded in his task, but only half way: His rook sacrifice was enough for a perpetual. I didn't see any missed opportunities for Alexey, but of course someone had to remark that 'the Shirov of old' would have made a game out of it and tried harder to win'…