Terminate with extreme prejudice by Mark Crowther
Editor of TWIC.

The waiting is almost over. Garry Kasparov will play Vladimir
Kramnik for the Brain Games Network World Chess
Championships at The Riverside Studios, London from 8th October
to 4th November, 2000.

This is Garry Kasparov’s 3rd defence of his title since he broke
away from the international ruling body FIDE in 1993 and the first
one in five years. Two years ago he was supposed to play Alexei
Shirov under the banner of the World Chess Council (WCC) but
this match did not take place. The new organisation “Brain Games
Network” (BGN) is fronted by controversial GM Raymond Keene
and they first approached Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand.
The negotiations went badly and eventually were broken off with
Anand complaining about his treatment. Vladimir Kramnik was
then approached about a match with Kasparov and agreement was
swiftly reached.

These controversies are as of nothing for the moment. Whatever
you think of the status of this match the result will matter.
Kasparov needs again to prove himself against a worthy opponent
in a match to continue to make his claims to be World Champion.
The game needs a great sporting rivalry as Kasparov’s domination
is not good for the game, or indeed I would suggest, for him.
Kasparov’s rivalry with Karpov spurred both to greater heights than
they would otherwise have achieved. A win for Kramnik, especially
a convincing one, if it comes to pass will undeniably have seismic
consequences.

The match is sadly only over 16 games, which is as a result of
Kasparov last two matches. In 1993 when Kasparov played Nigel
Short in London after four games the match score was 3.5-05 and
then after seven games 5.5-1.5 which ended the match as a
contest, even though the match (best of 24) crawled onto game 20.
In 1995 when Kasparov played Viswanathan Anand in New York
the match was closer for longer. After eight draws Anand won in
game 9 to take the lead. However then Kasparov struck back in a
decisive fashion. He scored wins in games 10 and 11 and then
after a draw in game 12, wins in games 13 and 14 finished the
match as a contest (best of 20) which was finally put out of its
misery in game 18. All of which goes someway to explain (but not
excuse) the choice of 16 games in total for this match. There is a
fear that the longer the match the more danger of dead games for
which expenses are incurred without return. It’s a pessimistic view
because it is potentially throwing away 4 or 8 games of a classic
match played under the highest media scrutiny and public interest.


This is the first match since 1935 when Max Euwe beat Alexander
Alekhine where the challenger is not there as of right but has been
appointed. Kramnik has failed to qualify to play Kasparov on two
previous occasions losing a match to Gata Kamsky in 1994 and to
Alexei Shirov in 1998 (the Kasparov-Shirov match did not take
place). He has not had any better luck in the FIDE Championships
either. However he does have a few things going for him. He is
World Number 2 and in the best form of his career. Both
Viswanathan Anand and Alexei Shirov who were Kasparov’s
alternative opponents have big negative scores against Kasparov.
Kramnik’s lifetime score against Kasparov is very close.

Kramnik is now twenty-five, if he is to mature into a tough
competitor he has to do it this time. His first tasks will be to start
confidently and sow some seeds of doubt in Kasparov’s mind about
the result of the match. Not only does he have to play his best
chess in London, he has to match Kasparov in finding better than
best when the match reaches its crucial points. Kramnik has the
ability but can he martial these skills to damage Kasparov?
Kasparov’s force of will and personality allied to great ability make
him a great player. If Kramnik is to be a serious challenger he
needs to match this.

There is an old wisdom for matches that the champion is dethroned
when he is attacked where he is perceived to be strongest, not
where he is supposed to be weakest. An example of this was when
Tigran Petrosian beat Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1963 World
Championships. Botvinnik portrayed himself as the iron logician
who confessed to having tactical weaknesses. Petrosian was an
excellent tactician who nevertheless a very positional style and
decided to take Botvinnik on where he was supposedly strongest. If
we are to follow that logic for this match then Kramnik should take
Kasparov head on in opening battles of a sharp tactical nature.

The main battleground will be the openings. Kasparov has raised
opening preparation to new levels. Kramnik’s task will be to make
sure that Kasparov doesn’t dominate the choice of openings.

Opening Battlegrounds:

1) Kasparov plays 1.e4. Kramnik has had a fairly consistent
repertoire in this regard. He plays almost exclusively a mixture of
the Petroff Defence and the two or three variations of the Sicilian he
specialises in (mainly the Richter-Rauser, Sveshnikov, and
obviously additional lines such as the Sozin, c3 and Bb5 Sicilians
if his opponent plays for them).

Some scenarios in this key area:

Kramnik decides that he will go to draw all eight games with the
Petroff Defence. Kasparov will no doubt have prepared for this, he
will either have detailed lines which put new pressure on the line or
he will decide he needs to avoid this with either the Four Knights,
Bishops Opening or Kings Gambit (any takes for this as a surprise
addition to Kasparov’s repertoire?).

Kramnik decides to play the Sicilian either because he wants to
fight for the full point with both colours or because he suspects that
the Petroff will not survive Kasparov’s scrutiny under match
conditions. Hard to predict how this will turn out as both sides have
many choices.

Outside chance: Kramnik switches to another opening such as the
Caro Kann or Ruy Lopez as his main weapon against 1.e4.

2) Kasparov decides to return to 1. Nf3, 1. d4 or 1. c4 (against
Anand in 1995 he teased him by playing the first two of these
options before turning to his main 1.e4 option) if he feels the switch
will expose Kramnik to more troubles. Here the likely battlegrounds
are the Nimzo-Indian, Queens-Indian, Semi-Slav, Queens Gambit
or in the case of the English a symmetrical variation. Kramnik will
have to prepare for all these options, they will almost certainly crop
up sometime but a switch to them as Kasparov’s main weapon is a
least a small possibility to be considered.

3) Kramnik plays his normal mixture of 1.d4, 1.Nf3 or 1. c4.
Kasparov’s normal response is a mixture of the Gruenfeld, Semi-
Slav (which he has played against Kramnik), Queens Gambit or the
Nimzo Indian/Queens Indian complex.

4) Kramnik decides to play 1.e4 in the expectation that he will be
meeting Kasparov’s Sicilian. This has been Kasparov’s key weapon
throughout his career. He scores many wins with black and loses
very few. He trusts this part of his repertoire completely. Nigel
Short in 1993 showed it was possible to put pressure on this
repertoire in 1993 where he was pretty successful in the opening
phases against this. An all out assault on this might be the
Kramnik surprise for the match.

The above lays out the expected options and the possible
surprises. Kasparov usually prepares one wholly new opening
system for a match. Against Anand this was the Sicilian Dragon
where he’d spotted a weakness in Anand’s play. Kramnik may try
to second guess this by asking the question “What variation do I
feel uncomfortable against that Kasparov doesn’t play at the
moment?”. Kramnik too should be trying to introduce an
unexpected variation or system for the match. He may decide, as
Short did, to keep the target moving, especially with black, playing
one shot variations which he does not intend to employ again.
These have the advantage that they will also use up the time of the
Kasparov’s team.

There will be other battles also, small but important ones of status.
Who offers and accepts the draws? Disputes over lighting, board
design and the timing of the arrival of players have all served as
areas where the battle is continued beyond the 64 squares. Will
one of the players decide that all games will be played out virtually
to King versus King?

Long matches between closely match opponents are about slowly
undermining your opponents until at last they collapse. It’s about
controlling the match and by extension your opponent. This is why
great chess matches are talked over and discussed years later as
they live long in the memory. They are more than just the moves
played on the board. It is also why I’m predicting a fairly wide
margin for final victory for Kasparov, superiority tends to be
magnified in a match situation. I do however think the match will be
competitive for a long time.

Kramnik can only win this match if his entire purpose is to
terminate Kasparov with extreme prejudice by whatever means he
has available to him, he can be entirely sure that Kasparov will
have this attitude. Kasparov is heavy favourite for this match
because he has consistently shown all the essential attributes of a
champion.

Predictions: Kasparov to win 8.5-5.5 (At the start of the match you
have to say this, for Kramnik to compete he’s going to have to
show competitive abilities he previously hasn’t). There will be at
least one terrible blunder in this match. If Kramnik does win it will
be by the score of 8.5-6.5. The match will remain competitive until
at least game 12.