Here are the individual results:
Sergey Karyakin
|
1/2
|
Konstantin Sakaev |
Viktor Kortchnoi
|
1-0
|
Laurent Fressinet |
Teimour Radjabov
|
1/2
|
Peter Svidler |
Alexander Khalifman
|
1/2
|
Vladimir Kramnik |

Viktor Korchnoi playing in St Petersburg
The players had 15 minutes for the entire game plus an increment of ten seconds
per move. The event was played in public and with arbiters (Geurt Gijssen in
St Petersburg, Yakov Damsky in Paris). The moves were transmitted by a new digital
clock in algebraic notation. A chess arbiter executed the moves of the remote
opponent on the board.
The event was given the somewhat uninspired title "Distance chess match"
and was played on May 28 2003 to celebrate the 300 years anniversary of the
city of St Petersburg.
The St Petersburg team: 1. Aleksander Khalifman, winner of the FIDE
world chess championship 1999, Russian champion; 2. Peter Svidler, three-time
Russian champion:3. Victor Korchnoi, two-time world champion challenger; 4.
Konstantin Sakaev, Russian champion; reserve Evgeny Alekseev, youngest Russian
GM; commentators in St Petersburg: ex world champions Anatoly Karpov and Boris
Spassky.

In the St Petersburg venue during the match
The NAO chess clubteam in Paris: 1. Vladimir Kramink, classical chess
world champion; 2. Teimour Radjabov, Moscow Grand Prix 2002 finalist; 3. Laurent
Fressinet, 2002 champion of Paris in 2002; 4. Sergey Karjakin, at thirteen the
world's youngest grandmaster; reserve Igor-Alexandre Nataf; commentator in Paris:
Joel Lautier.

The prematch press conference was held in the International Media Centre
for the celebration of the 300 years anniversary of St Petersburg. Ex world
champions Anatoly Karpov and Boris Spassky participated, as did the legendary
grandmasters Victor Korchnoi and Mark Taimanov.
The media room in St Petersburg
Links
The Sport Express article by Yuri Vasilev is in Russian, but here are some
quotes:
-
"This is an excellent method of the popularization of chess!"
said FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. "Tt has now become possible
to arrange matches between continents, countries and cities without expenses
for planes and hotels. It is not impossible that this technology could be
used in the qualification competitions of the FIDE World Championships."
-
"A lot of people play in Internet," said classical chess world
champion Vladimir Kramnik. "I seldom play on the chess servers
because I am not good with the mouse. But it is different when you play
on a regular chess board. It feels just like you are playing in a regular
tournament. I think 'Distance Chess' has a good future."
-
GM Peter Svidler, participant in the Petersburg-NAO match, drew
attention to some basic necessities in such events (to avoid cheating):
"It is very important that the arbiter must be presented at the same
playing room, and if in addition you can see your opponent on a monitor
then all the questions are dropped. I do not think that this kind of chess
can be used in official events."
- GM Joel Lautier, Paris: "The most important aspect of this match
is that new technologies are coming into chess. Today's match is a great achievement."