BREAKING DOWN THE BERLIN WALL
by John Henderson

IT seems that after my heavy-handed treatment on the first day in the Braingames press centre, it now looks as if there's been a "sudden" thaw in my icy relations with the organisers. Yes, there was definitely a spirit of glasnost about the place. Maybe it was my natural charm and personality that won them over? Then again, it could also have had something to do with the fact that they just discovered that CNN had signed me up for daily reports on the K-K match!

It was a complete change. Rather than the shoot-first-ask-questions-later policy of day one, day two was more of a touchy-feely-lets-all-work-together sort of atmosphere. To be honest, I don't know what frightened me more! However, if "suddenly" during the course of this match these reports fail to appear, can someone out there urgently contact Amnesty International? Freedom of the press and all that.

But, even under a nice, new cuddly dictatorship, rules simply have to be obeyed. And sure enough, on arrival at Checkpoint Charlie, we were all issued with a nice, new shiny set of them - printed in red-paper just to make sure it looked serious; instructing us exactly what was strictly verboten in and around our fourth-floor prison camp. To show you how bad the oppression is, a minion warned me yesterday, while taking a picture of Match Director Ray Keene OBE esq., that taking photographs in the Pressroom was a punishable offence! Even the great Raymondo, after a quick check of the rules just to be on the safe side, told him he was talking through a hole in his head and then had him taken out and shot.

Ray Keene

I don't know about the other journalists, but the issuing of these rules certainly put my mind at ease - just about the right size for the bottom of the budgie's cage! Of course, that's my cavalier attitude to being issued with a set of rules. After all, what are rules for if not to be broken? Some old hands like Leontxo Garcia and Hans Ree just laughed them off. For others, like our erstwhile columnist Mig, it simply brought out the lawyer in them.

Leonxto Garcia	Hans Ree
"Hello? Amnesty International"

The editor-in-chief of KasparovChess.com eagerly devoured every word, full stop, comma, colon, semicolon, to find any loophole that could somehow let us get information on the game to the outside world. Guess what? He found one!

However, that victory aside, the Kasparov team are starting to look a little bit apprehensive with the way things are going in the match so far. As yet again their boss fails to breakthrough Big Bad Vlad's Berlin Defence, you can see them franticly logging onto the internet in order to see if anyone has registered www.KramnikChess.com!

Mig and the Kasparov Chess Team

Not content with having problems on the board, Kasparov is now facing chess problems off the board with the news that the world number six, Alexei Shirov, has launched legal action against Kasparov and his former chess association, the World Chess Council (WCC).

Responding to the charges after his game with Kramnik yesterday, Kasparov shrugged the legal challenge aside, claiming, "He had nothing to answer for and would easily deal with him [Shirov] in the courts."

Shirov has raised the civil action in a court in Cazorla, Spain over the financial losses he incurred following an aborted title match with the world champion in 1997, after he had defeated Kramnik for the right to play the champ.

Shirov

Rentero

He's demanding the sum of $1,300,000. The original agreement between Shirov, Kasparov and match organizer Luis Rentero was that Shirov get $1,300,000 for winning against Kasparov and $600,000 for losing. However, both Rentero and Kasparov say that the cancellation of the match was not their responsibility because the local Andalusian government pulled out of staging the match.

Forget about the lawyers, Garry. Just put all the relevant papers in Mig's In-tray!

G Kasparov - V Kramnik
Berlin Defence [C67]

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 How long can it be before we see Kasparov lashing out with a Scotch? However, the more interesting question is this: What exactly has Kramnik and his team prepared for it, and in return is this what Kasparov is afraid of? 3 ..Nf6 Once again the Berlin Defence! It was generally accepted that this would have been a one off for Kramnik, however his team obviously believe that the key to coping with Kasparov's legendary opening preparation is to exchange queens as quickly as possible. 4 0-0 Nxe4 5 d4 Nd6 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 dxe5 Nf5 8 Qxd8+ Kxd8 9 Nc3 Bd7 10 b3 h6 11 Bb2 Kc8

Up to here we'd been following game one. Obviously looking for something a bit more adventurous than 12 h3 - which to be fair, Kramnik easily handled - Kasparov follows up with a more aggressive idea that Alexei Shirov played recently. 12 Rad1 b6 [12 ..a5 13 h3 b6 14 a4 Bb4 15 Ne2 Re8 16 Nf4 g6 17 g4 Ng7 18 Rd3 Ne6 19 Nxe6 Bxe6 20 Nd4 Bd7 21 Ne2 Bd6 22 f4 f5 23 exd6 Rxe2 24 dxc7 Kxc7 25 Be5+ Kc8 26 Rfd1 Be6 27 Rd6 1-0 Shirov,A-Krasenkow,M/Polanica Zdroj POL 2000/The Week in Chess 303 (27)] 13 Ne2 c5 14 c4 Bc6 15 Nf4 Obviously White stands better, but the problem for Kasparov is that, as is traditional in the notoriously tough Berlin Defence, Black has no weaknesses so its White who has to find a breakthrough. 15 ..Kb7 16 Nd5 Ne7 17 Rfe1 Rg8!

[It does look a bit strange but in fact it's a nice prophylactic move. In many other lines where Black tries to free himself, the rook on h8 becomes a liability: 17 ..Bxd5 18 cxd5 Rd8 19 e6 (19 d6? Nc6! 20 dxc7 Kxc7) 19 ..f6 20 Nh4 Rxd5 21 Rxd5 Nxd5 22 Ng6 Rg8 23 e7 Bxe7 24 Rd1! (24 Nxe7 Re8!) 24 ..c6 25 Nxe7 Re8 (25 ..Nxe7? 26 Rd7+!) 26 Nxd5 cxd5 27 Kf1 and White wins.] 18 Nf4 g5!? Not exactly in the spirit of the rock-solid Berlin but I suppose in his defence, Kramnik didn't like the idea of letting Kasparov do all the running while his pieces were so passive. 19 Nh5 Rg6 20 Nf6 Bg7 21 Rd3 Bxf3 22 Rxf3 Bxf6 23 exf6 The little flurry of exchanges have made Kramnik's defensive task a little easier. 23 ..Nc6 [I think in essence Kramnik's plan of centralising the knight is probably the correct idea, he could also have opted for the retreat 23 ..Ng8!? 24 Kf1 Rd8, and although Black's knight is stuck on g8, by the same token, White is similarly tied down to the defence of f6. But to be frank, Kramnik's choice looked the easier to make.] 24 Rd3 Rf8 25 Re4 Kc8 26 f4?! [26 h4!, was the suggestion of Kasparov after the game, with the idea of h5. And sure enough, his options do look better: 26 ..Nd4 (26 ..gxh4?! 27 Rxh4 and suddenly White has active rooks; 26 ..Rd8) 27 Bxd4 cxd4 28 Rdxd4 Rxf6 , and just look how much better the White rooks are.] 26 ..gxf4 27 Rxf4 Re8 28 Bc3 Re2 29 Rf2 Re4 30 Rh3 a5 31 Rh5 a4 32 bxa4! This came as something of a surprise in the pressroom. After showing great control, Kasparov now suddenly destroys his pawn structure and allows the game to take a tactical swing. The only reason for this I assume is that, unless he did something "drastic", he had every confidence that Kramnik would easily defend the position. 32 ..Rxc4 33 Bd2 Rxa4 34 Rxh6 Rg8?

[Kramnik shows signs of cracking! Instead, he could claim an advantage by simply taking on h6: 34 ..Rxh6! 35 Bxh6 c4, with ..Nd4 and ..c3 posing problems for White.] 35 Rh7 Rxa2 36 Rxf7 Ne5 37 Rg7 Rf8 38 h3 The dust has finally settled and Kasparov can lay claim to an advantage. He wants to play Re7 but can't due to ..Ng4. Also, 38 h4, trying to gain a tempo in the game, looks like it's ok for Black: 38 h4 c4 39 Bc3 (39 Re7? Ra1+ 40 Rf1 Rxf1+ 41 Kxf1 Rxf6+ 42 Ke2 Ng4!) 39 ..Rxf2 40 Kxf2 Rxf6+ 41 Ke3 Re6 42 Kd4 Nd7 43 g4 b5 44 Bb4 - White has to stop ..c5+ followed by ..b4 - 44 ..c5+! 45 Bxc5 Nxc5 46 Kxc5 c3! 47 Rf7 Re4 48 Kxb5 Rxg4 49 Rf3 draws. 38 ..c4 39 Re7 Nd3 40 f7 Nxf2 41 Re8+ Kd7 42 Rxf8 Ke7 43 Rc8 Kxf7 44 Rxc7+ Ke6 45 Be3 Nd1 46 Bxb6 c3 47 h4?!

[All pretty much forced up to here. But, just at the crucial moment, Kasparov takes his eye of the ball to allow an easy draw. Instead, 47 Kh2! and we could be in for a long haul with big possibilities of a Doc Nunn-type fantasy of R+B vs. R.] 47 ..Ra6 48 Bd4 Ra4 49 Bxc3 Nxc3 50 Rxc3 Rxh4 51 Rf3 Rh5 52 Kf2 Rg5 53 Rf8 Ke5 ½-½ and Kramnik has a book draw as he will easily reach a Philidor position the White king cut off and his own in front of the pawn. Certainly an interesting game - but perhaps one that Kasparov could regret later that he didn't convert. However, for Kramnik, it goes down as a marvellous rear-guard action. He'll be happy that he can defend such positions against Kasparov. Any bets on another Berlin coming Kasparov's way?