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The Ukrainian Final - sounds not bad, is it? Before the beginning of the FIDE World Championship even the most devoted friends of Vasilly Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov could not have supposed that both of them would be able to overcome the six stages of the tournament and make it so that the new world champion's name is an internal matter of Ukraine, and the name of Ukrainian chess leader of 2002 is an internal matter of FIDE and all chess world. Well, our thanks to the recently criticized championship pairing system that the Ukrainian stars happened to be in different halves of the tournament net (!). Thanks as well to the compilers of the Championship calendar for a monthly break before the final where we would be able to admire the phenomenon of two Ukrainian winners. One of them will become a new world champion by the end of January and there will remain one winner out of two. However, let us hope that the national team of Ukraine preserves two leaders, as it is just this resource that had assisted us in winning the 2001 Team World Championship.
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These days we receive plenty of congratulations and wishes of success to Ruslan Ponomariov. We thank one and all those who keeps an eye on Ruslan's performance and wishes him good luck. The young star's old friends from Guardamar del Segura (Alicante, Spain) sent in the Ruslan's photo taken during his simul at 30 boards (+27 =2 -1) in Spain in 1997. Gracias!
As to congratulations and messages from the admirers of Vasilly Ivanchuk's talent, it is definite that we would like to have more of these in the Ukrainian Chess Online! Vasilly Ivanchuk's official website (www.lvivchess.wertep.com/Ivanchuk) became the first Ukrainian chess resource in the Web in 1998, several months earlier than Chess-Sector.odessa.ua. Now the Ivanchuk's site is unavailable because of reconstruction - we hope that this transitory event does not become a permanent as it happens with all transitory categories... Before 2000 Olympiad in Istanbul, due to joint efforts of the Ukrainian Chess Online, Lviv Chess, Vasilly Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov we published a game Ivanchuk-Ponomariov (Shenyang 2000) commented by the adversaries. It was hard to suppose at the time that this game in China will remain the only tournament meeting of Vasilly and Ruslan before the commencement of their match for the World Champion title!
The historical duel commented by Ivanchuk and Ponomariov: Chess-Sector.odessa.ua/ol2000p.htm
On the background of victories in the team and individual world championship (the ending year has surely turned to be the year of Ukraine - let at least one year be ours!), the other achievements and results defy, even a series of sensational performances by Andrei Volokitin and the second place of Ruslan Ponomariov in the European Championship in Ohrid. To say nothing about the successful (in the absence of Ivanchuk who played for the Polish team) fourth place taken by Danko-Donbas in the European Club Cup (and saying nothing at all how the Ukrainian team performed without Ponomariov in the European Team Championship in Leon).
However, we should specially stress the fact that in 2001 (actually, first time in the decade of sovereignty!) really representative and successful Ukrainian championships among women (Kramatorsk) and among men (Ordzhonikidze) were held. In the preceding years the same sponsors (Danko and OGOK) supported the arrangement at high level of the FIDE Zonal Tournaments in Ukraine (Donetsk-1998 and Ordzhonikidze-2000). Still earlier (1993, 1995) two Zonal Tournaments of our «old» Zone (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbajan) were quite well organized in Nikolaev. It is much more complicated to attract the leading chess players to participate in a tournament that does not qualify for FIDE tickets, therefore the 2001-type championships are, undoubtedly, a serious achievement of the Ukrainian Federation and the leading sponsors of Ukrainian chess. God willing that the world championships are held at a high (commendable) level and that we might see there, at least sometimes, Ponomariov and Ivanchuk.
In conclusion, some, as far as possible, subjective assessments of the expiring year.
Everything that happened in 2001 around the classical chess and Brain Games line world championship may be called the disappointment of the year without any reserve. Vladimir Kramnik, a brilliant chess player and the world champion in the classical version, did, regrettably, nothing that might have cheered all who still hope to witness a world championship match like Capablanca-Alekhine, Botvinnik-Bronstein or Spassky-Fischer.
The discovery of the year turned to be, probably, the FIDE World Championship, more precisely, the evident fact that the leading world chess players adapted to the knock-out system and shortened time control. Having left the Ukrainian final alone, let us recollect, for instance, the pairs of quarter finalists: Anand-Shirov, Ivanchuk-Lautier, Gelfand-Svidler and Bareev-Ponomariov. The 1/8 Final pairs look not less convincing. The greatest mistake that FIDE could have done now might be any serious change in the system that, we should admit it, naturalized.
As to the unsuccessful experiment of the year, I dare say it was the qualification of players for FIDE World Championship from the continental championships.
On the other hand, the FIDE qualification through Internet might be called a successful experiment of the year. |
I call the game of the year the duel that really surprised me:
V.Ivanchuk - Z.Azmaiparashvili
European Club Cup Panormo (7), 29.9.2001
1.e4 d6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 c6 5.f4 Bg4 6.Nf3 exf4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nbd7 9.Bxf4 Ne5 10.Qe2 Nxc4 11.dxc4 Nd7 12.0-0-0 Qf6 13.Rhf1 Qe6 14.Qd2 Qxc4 15.Bxd6 Bxd6
(Diagram)
16.e5 0-0 17.exd6 Rad8 18.Rfe1 Nf6 19.g4 b5 20.g5 Nd7 21.Qf2 f5 22.Qxa7 Qh4 23.Re7 b4 24.Ne2 Qxg5+ 25.Kb1 Nf6 26.Rg1 Ng4 27.hxg4 fxg4 28.Ng3 Qg6 29.Ne4 Rf4 30.Qe3 Rdf8 31.b3 R4f5 32.d7 Rd5 33.Nc5 h5 34.Re8 Qf7 35.Rxf8+ Qxf8 36.Qe8 1-0
A local achievement of the year is the fact that the Ukrainian Chess Online remains on-line as before. To make this phenomenon permanent, we may count is as transitory.
It is not easy to summarise the global achievements of 2001. It seems, the mankind resorted to the trial and error method and cleared up that it is still possible to live (ergo, play chess) in the twenty first century. At least, the answer is as soon as not. Let us consider it to be a global achievement.
A Happy New Year!
© Chess-Sector.odessa.ua
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