A personal Tripoli photo tour
Paul Hoffman, a writer in Woodstock, New York, went to Tripoli with Pascal
Charbonneau, the Canadian champion. Paul expected just to watch the chess but
he was pleasantly surprised to have a chance to play. Here is his story.

Antoaneta Stefanova, the new women's world champion, finds her partying cramped
when she learns she can't get beer or wine in Tripoli.

But she finds a way to pass the evening by playing 14 Libyans in a simul.

Commotion ensues when a small child
is evicted from the simul because the organizers believe he is too young to
play.

Dressed in traditional garb, American journalist Paul Hoffman passes for a
local and

easily reaches a comfortable position because his

friend and second, Canadian champion Pascal Charbonneau, had adequately prepared
him and pumped him up by blasting Nirvana before the game.

Paul doesn't like it when a woman turns her back on him.

So he goes into a deep think,

though not as deep as Alexander Ivanov's.

Unusual play on Paul's part has Pascal closely following the game.

When Paul wins a pawn, Antoaneta becomes so enraged she sets the room on fire.
Paul accepts her draw offer so that the woman will calm down and he can go eat
dinner. [The best excuse for a botched photo we've ever heard -ed.]

World chess czar Kirsan Ilyumzhinov demands a game to avenge Stefanova's performance,
but he is surprised by Paul's choice of the King's Gambit and his spirited,

zealous play. But Paul, confused about his second's loyalties, offers a quick
draw and is rewarded with an invitation to the Kasparov-versus-whoever match.
Text by Paul
Hoffman
Photos by Pascal Charbonneau and Paul Hoffman
General information
The FIDE site, which is being hosted by Libya
Telecom And Technology, looks well equipped to handle live coverage of
the event. The schedule, list of players, results tree and games are all in
place, there are reports and picture galleries. 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 |