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BALISSIMO!
It’s been
a long time since the First Lady Cups of 1982 and 1983 when Indonesia staged
Asia’s biggest and best international chess tournaments. Now, in 2000, it has
just completed its strongest chess event yet—the Japfa Chess Classic International
—which topped even the famous Marlboro tournaments held in the Philippines back
in the 70s. The Japfa Category 16 all-play-all, held in Sanur, Bali, 22 April-2
May, fielded FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman (2656), Anatoly Karpov
(2696), Judit Polgar (2658), Gilberto Milos (2620), Yasser Seirawan (2647), Jan
Timman (2655), Jaan Ehlvest (2622), IM Zaw Win Lay (2633), Utut Adianto (2584)
and Ruben Gunawan (2510).
It seemed
that all the participants enjoyed the tournament, held on the ‘heavenly’ island
of Bali, even if Khalifman, from the northern climes of St Petersburg,
sometimes could’nt cope with the local weather. But the 14th FIDE champion
looked to be in good form after his fine showing in Linares 2000. In addition,
even though it was a tough tournament, Khalifman (helped by his former second,
Estonian Jaan Ehlvest) found time to send comments on games to his internet
site. So it’s no wonder that from the very first round the FIDE champion—alone
among the players—wanted his hotel room equipped with an internet-connected
computer.
Only
Anatoly Karpov was accompanied by a second, the veteran Mikhail Podgaets. Jan
Timman came with his grown-up daughter and Judit Polgar with her boy-friend
Gustav Font. Her performance turned out to be amazing—in contrast to Ehlvest,
whose tournament seemed to came to a halt after a loss to local hero Utut
Adianto.
For some
of the grandmasters travelling to Bali, Japfa had been an unknown quantity. But
the home players knew that this company, in conjunction with the Bali Jeff
Chess Center, would do a great job. They have already staged some strong
tournaments here and built a Chess Center—and, in the near future, they will
also be opening a Chess Institute. When Judit received a Holanda bouquet from the sponsor she quipped: “It’s for Mr. Timman,
I’m from Hungary!” But in fact this is the sponsor’s trade name for its snack
and biscuit products ...
“I can’t
put it into words. But it’s incredible! I often play against Mr. Karpov, but
kicking Khalifman is another story. I seldom meet him—and moreover he is the
reigning FIDE world champion,” Judit said at the end of the tournament.
But the
habitually black-suited Khalifman was not so satisfied: “In fact, I’m very
disappointed. It is not only the prize I was fighting for in this tournament,
but prestige and reputation. Naturally, as the 1999 world champion, I wanted to
be the best. So it was frustrating not to come out on top”. It’s a
pity that the two home players did’nt do so well, although Ruben Gunawan almost
beat Khalifman in an ending and made Judit suffer in a difficult position after
sacking a knight for three pawns against her Najdorf Sicilian.
And
finally a word about IM Zaw Win Lay who came to Bali with an outrageously high
Elo rating obtained in internally- organised Myanamar tournaments.
Nevertheless, even though he was a marked man for most of the competitors, at
times he played like a strong grandmaster. He drew with Karpov in 76 moves,
lost to Judit in 72—and finally beat Ehlvest!
“There are
many factors in chess. Rating is not the only thing. If I did’nt get many
points, that was because of the strength of my opponents. Many of them are
champions,” Zaw said.
So, in the
end Judit won the tournament with a last round defeat of Gilberto Milos —while
Khalifman and Karpov were drawing their final game. 1. Judit Polgar Hungary 6|; 2-3. Alexander Khalifman Russia and Anatoly Karpov Russia
6; 4. Gilberto Milos Brazil 5|; 5.
Yasser Seirawan USA 5; 6-7. Utut
Adianto Indonesia and Jan Timman Holland 4; 8. Jaan Ehlvest Estonia 3; 9-10. Ruben Gunawan Indonesia and Zaw Win Lay Myanamar 2|. Jan Timman
White Judit
Polgar Black Queen’s Indian Defence 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 b6 3 d4 e6 4 a3 Bb7 5 Nc3 d5 6 cxd5 Nxd5 7
Qc2 Nxc3 8 bxc3 Be7 9 e4 0-0 10 Bd3 c5 11 0-0 Qc8! 12 Qe2 Ba6 13 Rd1 cxd4 14
cxd4 Bxd3 15 Qxd3 Qa6 16 Bb2 Qxd3 17 Rxd3 Nd7 18 Rc1 Rfc8 19 Rdc3 Rxc3 20 Rxc3
Nf6 21 Nd2 b5 22 Rc6 Rf8 23 f3 Re8 24 Nb3 24 ... Nd7! Heading for the c4 square,
when the a3 pawn becomes a target. 25
Rf1? 25 d5 is better. 25 ... Nb6 26
Nc5 Nc4 27 Bc1 Now the d4 pawn falls.
27 ... Rd8 28 a4 Rxd4 29 Nb3 Rd3 30 axb5 Ne5 31 Rc8+ Rd7 32 Ra8 Rxb3 33 Rxa7+
Re8 White resigned. Gilberto
Milos White Judit
Polgar Black Sicilian Defence 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3
b5 8 0-0 Be7 9 Qf3 Qb6 10 Be3 Qb7 11 Qg3 Nbd7 12 f3 Nc5 13 Rfd1 13
Qxg7!?. 13 ... Bd7 14 Rh1 b4 15 Nce2 0-0 16 Bh6 Ne8 17 c4 Leading to the
loss of a pawn. 17 ... bxc3 18 Nxc3 Bf6
19 Bg5 Bxd4 20 Rxd4 Nxb3 21 axb3 f6 22 Bd2 Qxb3 23 Nd1 a5! 24 Qe1 If 24 Bxa5?
Rxa5! 25 Rxa5 Qb6 26 Rda4 Bxa4 27 Rxa4 Qb5 hitting the rook and the f1 square. 24 ... Qb6 25 Rd3 a4 26 Bb4 Rf7 27 Qd2 Bb5
28 Rd4 e5 29 Rd5 Rb7 30 Bc3 30 Bxd6?
Bc4 31 Bc5 Qc7!. Bc6 31 Rd3 Qa6 32 Ne3 Bb5 33 Rd5 Qb6 34
Nf5 Ra6 35 Rd1? He should provide a retreat for his rook on d5.
35 ... Bc4! 36 Nxd6 Nxd6 37 Rxd6 Qxd6 38 Qxd6 Rxd6 39 Rxd6
a3! 40 b4 Rc7! 41 Rg1 To get out of back rank mate
threats, but it is too late. 41 ... Bb5
42 Bd2 a2 43 Rd8+ Rf7 44 Ra8 Rc2 White resigned. If 45 Be3 Rc1 or 45 Be3 Rb2
followed by ... Rb1 in both cases threatening to queen the a-pawn. |
