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Links
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Results of Semifinals
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam |
UZB |
2652 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
2
|
Topalov, Veselin |
BUL |
2737 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
2
|
|
Radjabov, Teimour |
AZE |
2670 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
|
1½
|
Adams, Michael |
ENG |
2731 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
|
2½
|
Report on semifinals game four
After surviving a scare yesterday Mickey Adams was back in control today against
Teimour Radjabov. A 44-move draw put England's hope into the six-game final
match that starts Tuesday. He wasn't ruffled by the teen's bizarre opening twist
on move two (!): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qe7!?. This isn't total insanity and a few GMs
have tried it in the past. Okay, very few. Black wants to unbalance things by
quickly castling queenside.

Adams used to be known for eschewing main-line theory, back when he went to
bed later and studied less. He is quite a home in unorthodox positions. He wasn't
worried about fighting for an advantage here, needing only a draw to qualify
for the finals. He kept the pawns symmetrical and also put his king on the queenside
to avoid any wild attacking scenarios. Radjabov tried in vain to make something
of the only open file, but Adams kept the position locked down.
Adams now gets a day of rest while waiting to see who is finals opponent will
be. Whoever it is will have his hands full. With Tim Henman joining Beckham
in England's sporting dog-house, it looks like Adams is on a mission to give
his country a champion. (All the Russians are out of the KO but at least they
have Sharapova,
even if she's lived in Florida for ten years.)

After scoring a stunning 9.5/10 Veselin Topalov has been held to four consecutive
draws by Kasimdzhanov. The Bulgarian had his best chance yet to avoid rapid
and blitz tiebreaker games today when he got a winning queen and knight endgame
in the Uzbek's time trouble. Kasimdzhanov was saved when Topalov's aggressive
instincts got the better of him.
Topalov
- Kasimdzhanov after 38...e4
Topalov went for the natural 39.Ng5, allowing Black to start checking
with both his pieces after 39...Qa2+ 40.Ke3 Nc4+ 41.Kxe4 Qg2+. Here White
can go for a pawn-up queen endgame that looks drawn after 42.Nf3 Qxg4+ 43.Kd5
Qxf3+ 44.Kxc4 d5+. Instead Topalov acquiesced to a draw by repetition that was
agreed on move 45.
Black would have had a hard time finding a move had Topalov instead retreated
his knight in the diagram with 39.Nd2. This looks a bit silly because Black
can shut the door on the knight with 39...d5, but our computer pals point out
that if White continues his prophylactic play with 40.Ke1!, Black is almost
in zugzwang.
With his king now safe from checks, White can focus on advancing his pawns
or picking off the black ones. The knight can be powerfully rerouted via f1-e3.
If Black tries to relieve the pressure by allowing a queen exchange, all the
resulting knight endgames should be winning for White. Simply walking up and
giving up the white knight on e4 for the two pawns is a relatively clear win,
if perhaps unnecessarily flashy.
Rustam
Kasimdzhanov is still something of an X-factor in Tripoli. He hasn't dazzled
with his play, but he is always alert and almost never blunders. In a pressure-packed
KO those are the most critical qualities.
Many in the chess world (and certainly FIDE) will be hoping for a finals showdown
between two of the best and best-known players in the world in Topalov-Adams.
The man from Uzbekistan has a different plan (and we can't really root against
him since he plays regularly at Playchess.com). He has already eliminated other
top seeds Ivanchuk and Grischuk and will clearly be a dangerous and worthy finals
participant if he gets by Topalov (who, as the #1 seed, hasn't faced anyone
rated higher than Kasimdzhanov's 2652.)
It's worth noting that this is the first time in the tournament that Topalov
will have to play tiebreaks while Kasimdzhanov has now done so in four of his
six matches, although never needing more than the two rapid games to decide
the issue. Topalov might find it difficult to adjust to the faster rate of play
after two weeks of slower games and there is no time to adjust. Adams can't
but benefit from his opponent having to play a stressful day of tiebreak chess
while he is resting and preparing.
Previous reports
General information
The FIDE site, which is being hosted by Libya
Telecom And Technology, contains the schedule, list of players, results
tree, games, reports, pictures and videos. The start page is http://wcc2004.fide.com
and http://wcclibya2004.com.
Live coverage
The live game transmission from Tripoli, apparently of all games, requires
you to have Java Virtual Machine installed on your PC. This program is distributed
free of charge by Sun Microsystems (and is useful for many other applications).
Visit the Java
check page to see if you have everything required for the live coverage
and install Java if you don't. To follow the games click on "Live coverage"
in the link list above. There is a "View" button behind each pairing of players.
Many of the key games will also be covered and discussed on the Playchess.com
server.
Schedule
Note that local time in Tripoli is the same as in Central Europe. The
start of the games is generally at 14:30h, which is GMT + 2 and translates
to 13:30 London, 8:30 a.m. New York, 16:30 Moscow, 18:00 New Delhi, 20:30 Hong
Kong, 21:30 Tokyo, 22:30 Melbourne, and 03:00 a.m. (on the next day) in the
French Polynesia-Marquesas Islands of Taiohae.
World Chess Championship
2003-2004 18 June - 13 July 2004 – Schedule |
Date |
Day |
Events |
Games |
Time |
18 June |
Friday |
Opening Ceremony
Players' Meeting |
|
18.00
22.30 |
19 June |
Saturday |
Round 1 |
Game 1 |
14.30 |
20 June |
Sunday |
Round 1 |
Game 2* |
14.30 |
21 June |
Monday |
Round 2 |
Game 1 |
14.30 |
22 June |
Tuesday |
Round 2 |
Game 2* |
14.30 |
23 June |
Wednesday |
Round 3 |
Game 1 |
14.30 |
24 June |
Thursday |
Round 3 |
Game 2* |
14.30 |
25 June |
Friday |
Rest Day |
|
|
26 June |
Saturday |
Round 4 |
Game 1 |
14.30 |
27 June |
Sunday |
Round 4 |
Game 2* |
14.30 |
28 June |
Monday |
Round 5 |
Game 1 |
14.30 |
29 June |
Tuesday |
Round 5 |
Game 2* |
14.30 |
30 June |
Wednesday |
Rest day |
|
|
1 July |
Thursday |
Round 6 |
Game 1 |
14.30 |
2 July |
Friday |
Round 6 |
Game 2 |
14.30 |
3 July |
Saturday |
Round 6 |
Game 3 |
14.30 |
4 July |
Sunday |
Round 6 |
Game 4 |
14.30 |
5 July |
Monday |
Round 6 |
Tie-Breaks |
14.30 |
6 July |
Tuesday |
Final Match |
Game 1 |
14.30 |
7 July |
Wednesday |
Final Match |
Game 2 |
14.30 |
8 July |
Thursday |
Final Match |
Game 3 |
14.30 |
9 July |
Friday |
Rest Day |
|
|
10 July |
Saturday |
Final Match |
Game 4 |
14.30 |
11 July |
Sunday |
Final Match |
Game 5 |
14.30 |
12 July |
Monday |
Final Match |
Game 6 |
14.30 |
13 July |
Tuesday |
Final Match |
Tie-breaks |
12.30 |
13 July |
Tuesday |
Closing Ceremony |
|
18.00 |
* Tie-breaks at 20:30h |