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Ukrainian Chess Review: March 2001
March: Such Diverse Kasparovs...
Anatoli Jaworski
2.4.2001
March has been generous with all kinds of tournaments. Recently the chess life was rather temperamental but with the advent of spring it looks like it became tempestuous. So, the chess fans had to watch several tournaments in parallel. However, these cares bring pleasure...
When analyzing the March tournaments it is hard to tell which of them turned to be the most interesting. So, we shall commence with the official one. French Cannes hosted the Rapid Chess World Cup. And again, the title of such high-level tournament was formidable but the gist... No, I would not say that the composition was weak. Just think of it: Kasparov, Adams, Polgar, Bareev, Grischuk, Svidler... However, the principle of players' selection surprised us again. We should have taken offence - not a single Ukrainian in Cannes. Is it a discrimination of the kind?
Anyway, our presence in the World Cup Tournament would have not precluded Kasparov from his triumphal parade. The ex-champion is in a startling shape and it appears he is ready to massacre anybody. The Russian did not lose a single game throughout the tournament and won eight (!) games. For the third time running Kasparov became the first winner after his failure in the match against Kramnik.
Meanwhile Kramnik overpowered strong players as well. He beat high-class opponents in the Amber-Tournament in Monaco. This show consisting of two different programmes - quick chess and blind chess - awards the chess connoisseurs with few smart games. But how many jokes! Oversights of pieces, elementary mate attacks... On top of that, the intrigue at the Amber spins more and more interesting with every year. If at the previous tournaments our Vassily Ivanchuk was one of the stirrers of trouble, this time he played utterly unsuccessful sharing the 10th -11th places (with 12 participants) with the more and more retreating Anatoly Karpov. The cream was skimmed by the above mentioned Kramnik and a Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. They were followed by an Indian Vishy Anand and a Spaniard Alexey Shirov. Generally speaking, we could have expected something like that. But Ivanchuk! ...
Two other March performances by the Ukrainians turned to be a disappointment. An Odessite Viktor Moskalenko played not so well in the Spanish Badalona and Michail Brodsky from Kharkov caught at almost the end of the rope in Bucharest.
Anyway, in March there were interesting tournaments not only far abroad but also in Ukraine. A traditional Kiev Spring tournament took place in the capital. As regards the titles and names, this event is not up to the last year tournament. However, if we look at the ratings (the same 11th category) and, which is far more important, at the organization, then we must state that this tournament was evidently of a higher level. As regards the sports results, here we observe a chain of sensations. The chief bidders were the most experienced grandmasters Yuri Kruppa (rating favourite), Valeriy Neverov, Georgy Timoshenko... Still, quite unexpectedly, young international masters - a Russian Vladimir Potkin and two Ukrainians: Vladislav Borovikov and Spartak Vysochin - wiped all noses. These lads have lined up and gained 7 points out of the 11 possible thereby fulfilling their GM norms. This norm was particularly long-expected by a Kievite Vysochin. He lacked just one game to raise his class. Vysochin had to roam abroad for a long time to get his point but it is symbolic that he got it at his native land in the long run.
The GM norm could have been harnessed in Kiev by a Bielorussian Sergey Kasparov. To achieve his goal, he had to secure his great advantage against Timoshenko in the last round. However, it appears that the namesake of the World ex-champion believed in his victory a bit early and his adversary has found an interesting draw in the rook ending without two pawns. We are somewhat sorry for our Bielorussian guest. Still, the author of such a rebuff - Timoshenko - was right to comment after the game: «If a master wants to become a GM, he has to press his opponents down in the theoretically winning positions...»
The coming April will please us again with serious competitions. Of the primary interest for us are the Women's Championship of Ukraine which has already commenced in Kramatorsk and the Ukrainian Team Championship that starts on 7 April.
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