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This article was first published in Russian, in the Ukrainian sport newspaper KOMANDA, on January 25th, 2003.
The super tournament that opened the chess year has already seen ten rounds completed, thus leaving only three games remaining before the final result is known. Judit Polgar, representing the gentle sex in the chess elite, outpaced a group of five pursuers by a point, and now occupies a clear second place in Wijk aan Zee. As such, only Vishy Anand, FIDE ex-champion, has outscored Judit by a half-point.
It seems that everybody tired of writing about Anand's unique chess crisis. In 1998, Vishy played better than any other player on Earth, only to subsequently weaken and drop rating points. But nowadays, Anand has returned to winning super tournaments. Certainly, the Indian chess player still enjoys both the game itself and his own creative work. One might assume that a probable consolidation of world championships into a single generally accepted version would help Anand to obtain the ultimate goal, which his talent deserves.
So, returning to The Netherlands, it is impossible to overlook Anand as a number one contender for victory. After all, a leader is always a leader. Therefore, predicting Anand's victory isn't unfair to Judit Polgar, who now shows no evidence of any crisis in her career either. Polgar's previous defeats at the hands of Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand, plus the licking she got in the match against Shirov, are all behind her now. A new era began for Judit following her first victory over the 13th World Champion at the Russia vs The ROW summit, held in Moscow in 2002. Still, the forthcoming game between Anand and Polgar might decide the final outcome of the Wijk aan Zee tournament. But if the leaders play unsuccessfully in their two other duels, someone else from the group of five who now share third place may win first place (Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Van Wely, Radjabov and Bareev).
It is common knowledge these days that Ruslan Ponomariov has to fight not only chess adversaries, but also FIDE, which threatens to deprive him of his title. Fortunately, this second front slackened, at least by the time that this review was being prepared. The latest news was of an unofficial message regarding a possible transfer of the forthcoming Presidential Council from New York to Europe at the beginning of February. This was done so that Ruslan Ponomariov may attend it.
We hope that FIDE would not go so far as to exclude Ponomariov from the world championship. That would result in Ponomariov bringing legal action against FIDE. It seems that the final steps in this direction have not yet been taken. Meanwhile, Vassily Ivanchuk, whom FIDE views as Ponomariov's compulsory replacement, has not expressed his position publicly. So we hope that all of the parties officially involved in this very complex situation can reach a compromise.
Let's analyse how the chess world entered this difficult crisis. After all, FIDE's motto is: «GENS UNA SUMUS» («We are one family»). Almost every family experiences quarrels which remain unresolved until their true causes are clarified. It is clear that such a quarrel recently arose in our chess family - so all family members should now have the right to express their opinions. But a genuine conflict can't occur in the absence of earlier unfortunate and illogical happenstances. Therefore we should not be surprised that this conflict's foundation was laid unconsciously by those who are not directly involved in the situation now.
In 2001, a grandiose Online World Chess tournament was announced (later transformed into the Prague tournament) and a list of participants was immediately made public (current information is that Grandmaster Timman was responsible for this list). The list included all of the world's strongest players, but it omitted the name of Ruslan Ponomariov, the highest-rated junior player. His high rating in the international ranks justified inclusion onto the list, regardless of his junior status. But even prior to this time, the organizers of the largest tournaments of 2001 preferred players other than Ruslan, for unknown reasons. So the Online World Chess tournament announcement caused a shock within Ponomariov's team. Being an Internet activist, I was asked to contact the organizers, and an exchange of email ensued. One vacant place remained in the tournament lineup, and the organizer's response suggested the possibility that Ruslan could still be nominated, an action which is something more than a polite come-off. However, quite soon the entire Online World Chess project (related, by the way, to Kasparovchess), as it was initially composed, came to an end. We dwell upon this episode primarily because we are convinced that a small error on the part of the organizers, has, together with all the rest, predetermined Ponomariov's opposition to the system of breaches of sporting principles, and to the endless protectionism that existed in chess for many years.
The manner in which the events unfolded is now common knowledge, but it is advisable to recollect them once again. In the same year of 2001, FIDE's President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced to the whole world that the next FIDE World Champion would play a match against the strongest chess program. In January 2002, eighteen year old Ponomariov became the FIDE champion, having won the Final match against the other Ukrainian, Ivanchuk. Ponomariov won and his victory placed him at the intersection of all chess related interests. Subsequently, complications with the Linares tournament organizers followed. This lead to press conferences and Ponomariov's eventual participation in the tournament, where he won second place behind Kasparov.
Yasser Seirawan authored proposals that favored unification of the chess world. His plan called for bringing together Ponomariov, classic chess champion Kramnik, and the rating leader Kasparov, within the framework of a reunification championship to be played with classical time controls. A super tournament was organized in Prague with the participation of 16-chess players. Concurrently, the Prague unification summit meeting was held, but Ponomariov was the only top player who wasn't represented. This time he was invited, but no mutual understanding with the organizers was reached. So the Prague unification summit took place in Ponomariov's absence. Long-time FIDE opponent, Kasparov, who did not agree to participate in any of the two parallel championships (FIDE and Classical) within the existing formulae, was now ready to cooperate with FIDE. However, Kramnik's classical chess championship had already scheduled an event to determine his future contender, so this process had to be honored. Following difficult negotiations, it was decided that Kramnik would play as originally scheduled against the winner of his qualification tournament, while Ponomariov would play against Kasparov. The winners would meet in the unification final. The participants at the summit, along with the entire chess world, entertained the the false belief that FIDE either represented Ponomariov, or somehow controlled his opinion. The necessity of inviting Ponomariov as an equal (!) to approve of the summit resolutions, was completely ignored.
As a consequence, a group of leading players found themselves thrown overboard from the consolidation ship, and (at least for some time) without FIDE regular championship prizes. They wrote an open letter of protest, but without any real consequences. Peter Leko subsequently won the qualification tournament, thus gaining the right to play against Kramnik. Ruslan Ponomariov split with his sponsors, who had made efforts earlier to establish working contacts with FIDE. Mikhail Ponomariov became Ruslan's chief coach again.
Ruslan Ponomariov received an offer from Boris Alterman to play a match against the software program «Deep Junior», for a fee that is less than modest for a World Champion. Ruslan rejected the offer. But then Garry Kasparov, with FIDE's participation (!), was offered a match against the same program for a fee that was ten times greater. Kasparov agreed. Ruslan Ponomariov gave an interview, and the complete computer match story was made public. Mikhail Ponomariov criticized the Prague agreements in the press, making the strain between FIDE and the Ponomariovs appreciable. By the end of September, Mikhail Nikitovich Ponomariov suffered a sudden stroke and died, never seeing the FIDE Congress in Bled where the Prague agreements were to be discussed. This was the heaviest blow for the world champion, who considered his homonym and coach to be his second father. Ruslan lived many years with Mikhail Ponomariov's family.
The Chess Olympiad and the FIDE Congress took place later in Bled. Staying almost alone, Ruslan Ponomariov entrusted Silvio Danailov, Veselin Topalov's coach, to represent his interests (he cooperated with both of them during the FIDE world championship). At the Congress, Danailov declared Ponomariov's terms for playing the unification match against Kasparov - Ponomariov wins in case the match ends in a draw (Kramnik enjoys the same advantage in his match against Leko), and retention of the faster FIDE time control, which was used when Ponomariov became FIDE World Chess Champion. Ponomariov's terms were not accepted. At approximately the same time, it was announced that Yasser Seirawan, the pioneer of world chess championship consolidation, may become the head of one of FIDE's divisions. Following the Bled Congress, the situation entered a period of long and fruitless talks between Ponomariov's representative and FIDE. Danailov announced in public that Ponomariov will agree to play in the next championship, starting from its earliest stage, in accordance with the old knockout formula. Meanwhile, Kasparov's match versus Deep Junior was transferred from Jerusalem to New York, due to the lawsuit brought against Kasparov in Israel. The Ukrainian Chess Federation became involved in the process. They contacted FIDE and requested the Bled Congress documents and resolutions regarding the world championship. On the day of Ruslan Ponomariov's departure for Wijk aan Zee, the Ukrainian Federation published its summation, clearly indicating at last that no agreement exists at all. Ponomariov was unwilling to sign FIDE's drafted contract. FIDE's response was to deliver an ultimatum to Ruslan: either sign the contract or there will be an announcement of a match between Ivanchuk and Kasparov.
FIDE's representatives came to Wijk aan Zee, and the «negotiations» ended with Ponomariov's open letter to Ilyumzhinov. Several days later, FIDE issued a tough press release signed by Omuku, which stated that FIDE's patience came to an end and that it is ready to take action. Ilyumzhinov commented on the situation for the TV media. The Ukrainian press published a communication that Ponomariov was ready to defend his rights in court.
The entire story of the emergence and management of FIDE by an extraordinary leader, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, reminds one of a fairy-tale, though not necessarily an Eastern one. I believe that many of you saw the movie «Lady's Visit» starring Vasilyeva and Gaft [a well-known USSR movie, based on Duerrenmatt's famous story «Besuch einer alten Dame». M.G.]. Once having experienced previously unseen financial opportunities, decent citizens go out of their minds, if not out of their consciences. And all that was once human, becomes soaked with cynicism. It is similar to what has happened in the chess world lately. To make an even greater similarity, there was no visible victim until now. If no compromise is reached, then it is FIDE World Champion, Ruslan Ponomariov, who unfortunately risks becoming this victim (thankfully not to the same radical extent as Gaft's hero). In reality, should no real unity occur, the victims will be all those who still love chess.
Edited by Steve Ham
© Chess-Sector.odessa.ua
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