Russia vs the Rest of the World
Report from Moscow
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By Anna Dergatscheva
Our correspondent Anna Dergatscheva was born on 26.02.1969
in Moscow. She studied Russian language and literature.
As the daughter of grandmaster Abram Khasin she was a
keen chess player, going to the same chess school as Jussupow, Krasenkov,
Tschutchelov and Zvaginsev ("but they pulled ahead of me in chess").
Her father was the trainer of Bareev and Gulko.
In 1992 Anna came to Germany as an au-pair girl and married
Peter Daus in Essen a year later. She plays in Germany's top women's division
and in the men's regional league for the chess club SK Holsterhausen.
All pictures in this article were sent to us directly
from Moscow by Anna Dergatscheva
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The first round in Moscow was full of surprises. After the openings speeches
(by Vladimir Zirinovski and hockey star Slava Fetisov), in which there was some
lamentation at the absence of top GMs Adams and Topalov in the World team, Russia
went through the first round with a resounding defeat.
The World team
Maybe we were too confident (I still say "we", although I have lived
in the West for a long time now), relying on our "dream team" with
the three great Ks being completely unassailable. But two of the Ks, the 12th
and 13th world champions, both lost their games, Kasparov to Vassily Ivanchuk,
who really appears to be Garry's prime nemesis.
The start of Ivanchuk vs Kasparov. In the background ex world champion Vassily
Smyslov, FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, ex world champion Boris Spassky,
and ex FIDE president Florencio Campomanes (right).
Smirin vs Karpov about to start
Anatoly Karpov was not not at all in form. He played much too slowly, and against
Ilya Smirin he almost appeared to fall asleep, After 20 moves he had just seconds
left on his clock. The loss was what could have been expected in these circumstances.
Peter Svidler coping with his soccer injury
A preparation camp in Zvenigorod was supposed to strengthen the team. Apart
from chess there was a fair amount of physical training. Unfortunately Peter
Svidler tore a tendon while playing football on a very uneven field. He has
to use crutches during this tournament. Fortunately this does not seem to affect
his chess abilities and he is playing with good success in Moscow.
Alexei Shirov and wife Viktoria Cmylite
The World team was greatly relieved after the first day, with Shirov and Ivanchuk
laughing and joking during the press conference. Only the reigning FIDE world
champion Ponomariov was not so relaxed. He claimed that the direction this tournament
was going, after two rounds, was not encouraging: +2, +1 – we know where
this is leading. Maybe he was just being a bit flippant.
Anand, Svidler (on crutches) and Judit Polgar
GM Anand won both his game quite effortlessly. First he defeated the young
Russian champion Alexander Motylev, who played a somewhat strange game. Vishy's
second game was nominated the best of round two. It was a brilliant win against
Vadim Zvjaginzev. Naturally Aruna Anand is at the side of the Indian Super-GM.
Preparing for motherhood? Judit Polgar
A weak link in the World team would appear to be Judit Polgar. I personally
believe that the strongest female player of all times is preparing for motherhood.
Perhaps that is her highest priority at the moment.
It is a fantastic chess festival, with many very illustrious visitors. I can
only name a few: Vassily Smyslov, Boris Spassky, David Bronstein, Nana Ioseliani,
Andre Liliental and many younger players. Alexandra Kosteniuk and her whole
family is there as well.
This is going to be an exciting event, and I will try to keep you informed
with pictures from Moscow. There are 300 journalists here and 2500 spectators
following the games. I will stay here right to the end.
Picture Gallery
Smog over Moscow – and the crowds flocked to the Kremlin to watch chess
The audience in the Kremlin hall
The games on giant screens
A dance pagent to open the event
Rising Russian star Alexander Grischuk
Alexandra Kosteniuk (right) |
Mrs Bareev with daughter Anja |
