by Aviv Friedman

"All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others."

This satiric Orwellian quote, sadly too often true in our world, is amusingly true for Linares. You probably have already guessed to whom I am referring, haven't you? Indeed, Garry Kasparov, the man with no official title, is now accompanied with the (quite impressive in itself) adjective of 'the world's number 1 ranked player'. It is unclear exactly how this absence of a title bothers him - one would imagine that he would like to be termed as the "world chess champion" but even without it he certainly is the BMOC here in Linares. From a personal point of view I must confess, that as much as some of the controversies that are a part of him make me sigh in real life, (at home when I read about them,) being around him and seeing even little events as they unfold can be quite entertaining. No wonder that Kasparov - like him or not - sells! I have spoken before about his charisma and presence. They really are second to none. The other night, I was dining in the table next to the Anand's when Kasparov entered. After a few seconds' hesitation, he approached Vishy and started talking about their game. "So… you know the final position was winning yes?" and before I knew it, moves were flying over and variations mentioned in the speed of light, all of course without a board. I could feel the genuine excitement in his voice and the almost child-like happiness of not only having found that long searched-for truth of that game, but also the conclusion of it: Yes, he was winning even at the very end. His gestures and facial expressions on and off the board are also known trademarks. I wish all of you could have been at the pressroom watching the TV screen when in time trouble, the hotel waitress that brings the players their refreshments, approached Anand's side of the table with his drink, and calmly proceeded to pour it into a cup, completely oblivious to the time pressure that was going on, and the importance of silence and privacy at that moment. Yes, dear chess friends, there were a lot of head shakings and hand gestures by Gazza. I suspect it was only the obvious recognition of 'chess ignorance' of a non-player that saved her from worse. Another little incident during that game that was actually anticipated in the pressroom, occurred after Kasparov following a long thought (which was naturally accompanied by constant body movements and looks of frustration!) played the move that would allow a 3-fold repetition. Anand wasted no time announcing that after his intended move the position repeats and he is claiming a draw. Now… do you think Kasparov didn't know that already? After all he is a guy who knows a thing or two about chess. He knows how the horsie moves and he also knew it was a repetition. So, do you think there was a smile and a handshake in agreement to the draw? Heck no! An arbiter had to come and resolve this while Garry was fidgeting and looking at the board and his score sheet in amazement. To Anand's credit, he was sitting quietly awaiting the expected verdict; after all he has played the big guy a few times before…

I will finish by telling one last testament of the respect and treatment Kasparov receives here: A few days ago, I see a waiter bringing to his table one of the dishes I have had before - it was a fish served in good Spanish style with the head and bones and the whole 'enchilada'. I was sitting there with a little smile wondering if he knew the amount of work he would need to put into this thing to actually get to eat it when no more than 30 seconds later I saw the same waiter taking the plate to a nearby table. After about 5 minutes of surgery, 'his majesty' could enjoy a filleted version of the fish. Bon appetite maestro!

P.S. We have finally found out who Ivanchuk's mystery friend is: IM Emil Hermansson, a young Swedish IM.

Round 5 games:

Kasparov - Adams: Against Kasparov, Adams no longer sent any invitations to play the Marshall. Instead, the order of the day was a Classical Petroff defense. The players were following only one game that seemed to have been played in this line, and it was a correspondence one. In that game, as in ours, black decided against the lines that sacrifice the c7 pawn (sometimes black ignores the attack on it and goes …Na5) and defended with 15…Rac8. The first new move is probably 16.c4 which was played relatively quickly, as was black's reply of 16…Qe4 and white's logical 18.Rb2. Consensus was that white is at least slightly better, mostly because of his better mobility of pieces. 20…Bg6? was likely a mistake. 20…Bd7 had to have been better. After that Kasparov played extremely energetically, making central progress and trading Bg6 for his N. That certainly accentuated the power of the B pair and white's edge, white kept on strong with 24.c5. The tactics worked well for Kasparov, typically to a better position, and 27.Bf4! took full advantage of the disharmony of the black army. Black didn't help his game with 28…c6?! where 28…Qc6! Was his last try. 30.Qe5 was interesting but maybe not best. 30.Qa6 was quite annoying but Kasparov must have felt Adams missed the wonderful shot (not missed by Ljubo and others in the pressroom!) 32.d5!. Try it on your analysis engines, they think black is winning. Not so, they simply don't have the horizon to see that far (I must admit I did not let mine churn for too long, so maybe if given a lot of time… they might) It seems that accepting the exchange sac did black in, whereas the switch-back move 32…Na5! defending c6 would have been enough to hold. In the game, Black had to give up his rook for the white "c" pawn. Adams didn't test Kasparov long, knowing full well it would be a waste of energy. A nice first win for Gazza, even if not a perfect game.

Anand - Ivanchuk: The game quickly developed into the well analyzed lines of the Sveshnikov Sicilian, a sub-variation that is actually considered pretty OK for black. Ivanchuk, who was actually thinking quite a bit after 15.f6, had answered it with the less common 15…h6 in place of the well-known 15…e4. That prompted his opponent to take some time of his own - 16.Qf5 was seen before but not with great success. The game text also doesn't leave the impression of 'more' as black's position only looks ugly, but in reality maybe it is not. 19.h4 was designed to both prevent Qg5 and activate Rh1, but with black playing 19…Qf6 and 23…Qg6, he took over a slight initiative. Maybe white should have tried 24.Qf3 instead of the exchange of queens. The endgame was somewhat better for black, but Anand defended it passively without making any weaknesses (Kd1 Ke1 etc). Indeed, he had nothing easy to attack and black's advantage in space was really hard to exploit. I can only guess that 39…a4 which was played in the haste of time trouble, was too committal and helped white. After time control, Black had a minimal advantage which was kept after the trade of the last minor piece, but Anand easily played the best moves and assured himself a half a point.

Vallejo - Ponomariov: Vallejo continues to hold his own against the world's elite! In the very flexible reversed Sicilian 4 knights' variation, the players were in familiar territory (one of many ways to play for both sides) until "little Karpov" played 16…Bd5 which I can't find in the databases, 16…Qd7 was played previously. Black was fine at first, but when he declined to trade his Na4 for white's Bb2, allowing him to retreat it and go Rc1, white was nursing a slight edge. Some in the pressroom preferred 27.Rd2 (with the idea of pushing the passed "d" pawn in due time) to 27.Rxc7. White still looked better after the queens came off, and white won black's b5 pawn for his e4 pawn, but maybe this is illusionary. His maneuver of 33.d6+ with 34.Bd5 and 35.d7 seems justified to me, else black might have corralled the "d" pawn by bringing his K closer. As usual, Paco was in serious time trouble. I think his extra moves with his light squared B were not as urgent as organizing his other pieces. After time control, some were worried for the Spaniard, mainly because of the proximity of the black K to the arena. White chose wisely, actively threatening to liquidate the black kingside, which kept the black K from advancing much. One move that needs some checking was for black to try 48…Nb5 in place of 48…f4. The active white N should be enough for white's counter chances, but only deeper analysis could really tell. With the text, the two players entered a wholesale pawn exchanges with the now expected result of a draw. A fight almost to the last pawn!