THE GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY
By John Henderson

“STRAIGHT UP, guv! It wasn’t me – I had an alibi! I’ve been banned from the Riverside Studios – at least during office hours anyway.” The scene of all the action at the Braingames match is still the pressroom as yet another crime against humanity was perpetrated - the ‘Gulag’ was burgled, with three computers stolen!

I leave it to our former columnist Mig to describe what happened, in his inimitable style, on Chesswire - Take it away, Mig (The inside info that is, not the computers!): “The real excitement happened before game 10 even started. The last time there was excitement in the pressroom was when journalist John Henderson was kicked out of the building(!) for writing a satirical article critical of the BrainGames organizers. Today it was that some of the computers had been stolen from the pressroom during the night! So the pressroom was off limits for the first hour of the match while the police were called in to poke around and look for fingerprints. There are dozens of security personnel to make sure people don't enter the venue with cell-phones or other electronic devices, there are burly goons to keep the chess journalists in line, but someone takes a few boxes full of computer equipment en passant?!”

And while we’re on the subject, the thief is believed to have also committed another heinous crime on the chess world. Overnight, the Hardy Boys, Ray Keene and Eric Schiller, had left behind a large collection of their books in the pressroom. Sadly, as the police raced to the scene of the crime, (where were they when I needed them?) the books could still be found untouched. This proved to be a crucial piece of evidence: Police have now narrowed the field down to a chess player!

But seriously, folks, breaking and entering is no laughing matter - no matter how bad the organisation is. So, in an effort to help the police with their enquiries, we have placed a picture of one of the stolen computers above. Should you be offered one at a big discount while in a pub in the Hammersmith area, can you please contact your local police station immediately?

David Levy

Coincidently, one of Raymundo’s former associates and former brother-in-law, Scottish IM and computer chess expert David Levy, popped in to see me yesterday. Now the CEO of the rival organisation to Braingames, Mind Sports Organisation Worldwide Ltd. (http://www.msoworld.com), David had a well-publicised spat with Keene over the legality of the formation of Braingames.

So in a remarkable coincidence, David has rubbed shoulders with some of the protagonists in the Great Brain Robbery and the Great Train Robbery - He also wrote the biography of the escaped Great Train Robber and upstanding citizen of Rio, Ronnie Biggs!

Ronnie Biggs: My Own Story, was published in 1981 and, despite getting around £20,000 for writing the book, David ended up having to squander all of his fee to rescue Biggs from an illegal kidnapping-come-extradition charge from Barbados in 1981 – which he won!

Own up, where is Garry's Brain?

And, while we’re on the subject of “the great brain robbery”, can someone tell me who has stolen Garry’s brain? I don’t know about you, but I get this feeling that this is not the Kasparov sitting at the chess board we’ve come to love and know over the years.

Like Superman up against Kryptonite, Garry seems to have lost his cerebral powers at the hands of Kramnik. The world no.1 is now a shadow of his former self as his 15-year reign as world champion looks as if it’s drawing to a close following the shortest defeat of his illustrious career.

Surprisingly, Kramnik didn't even have to play particularly well to win - – all that was required was to remember some analysis published both in ChessBase (Hazai v Danielsen Valby 1994) and New in Chess Yearbook no 44 in 1997 by Lazlo Hazai and Peter Lukacs. The position after 21 Nd6 was already known to be clearly favourable to White.

From here on in, Kasparov has to gamble all in a do-or-die effort to hold onto the world crown he so covets. For the next few games he’s going to have to employ a risky strategy (probably playing the Scotch in game 11) in an effort to somehow pull back the 2-0 deficit which will allow him to hold onto his title should the match be tied at 8-8.

Kramnik,V - Kasparov,G [E54] Game 10

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 Instead of 4 Qc2 as game eight, Kramnik now heads for the Rubinstein Variation - a line that for 50 years was the mainstay for White before Kasparov "reinvented" the Capablanca system with 4 Qc2. 4 ..0–0 5 Bd3 d5 6 Nf3 c5 7 0–0 cxd4 8 exd4 dxc4 9 Bxc4 b6 The Karpov line from Kasparov! The typical isolated QP from this position can also arise from the Caro-Kann Panov-Botvinnik variation. 10 Bg5 Bb7 11 Re1 Nbd7 12 Rc1 Rc8 13 Qb3! Be7

13 ..Bxc3! 14 Rxc3 h6 15 Bh4 Bd5! 16 Bxd5 Rxc3! 17 Qxc3 Nxd5! 18 Bxd8 Nxc3 19 Bxb6 Nxa2 20 Bxa7 Ra8 21 Bc5 Nxc5 22 dxc5 Rc8 23 Re5 (23 Ra1 Nb4 24 g3 (24 Rc1 Nd3 25 Rc3 Rxc5 26 Rxc5 Nxc5 27 b4 Nd7=) 24 ..Rxc5=) 23 ..Nb4 was soon drawn as in Lukacs-Macieja, Budapest 1996.; 13 ..Qe7? 14 Bd5!! Ba6 (14 ..Bxc3 15 Bxb7 Rb8 16 Rxc3 Rxb7 17 d5!) 15 Qa4! Bxc3 16 bxc3 Nb8 17 Bb3 with a decisive advantage, Browne-Ljubojevic, Tilburg 1978. 14 Bxf6 Nxf6 Of course, 14 ..gxf6? 15 d5! crashes through. However, this was the point of no return for Kasparov. He spent so much time thinking here that Nigel Short suggested the obvious: the Champion was unfamiliar with the line. He had to swallow his pride and retake on f6 with the Bishop, even although it gave Kramnik a big beast of a Knight on d6: 14 ..Bxf6! 15 Nb5! Ra8 16 Nd6 Bxf3 17 Qxf3 with an advantage to White - but crucially no forced win! 15 Bxe6 Remember Kasparov's infamous game six against Deep Blue from 1997? In many ways this game resembles that, as Kasparov gets caught like a rabbit in the headlights of an oncoming juggernaut. 15 ..fxe6 16 Qxe6+ Kh8 17 Qxe7 Bxf3 18 gxf3 Qxd4 19 Nb5!

19 Qxa7? Ng4!, gets Black out of a hole. 19 ..Qxb2 19 ..Qf4? 20 Rxc8! (20 Nd6? Ng4!=) 20 ..Rxc8 21 Nd6 Ra8 22 Ne8 Nxe8 23 Qxe8+ Qf8 24 Qxf8+ Rxf8 25 Re7 Ra8 26 Rb7 with a big endgame advantage. 20 Rxc8 Rxc8 21 Nd6 Rb8 22 Nf7+ Kg8 23 Qe6 Rf8??

Incredible, Kasparov only thought for one minute. Black is threatened with the famous Philidor Legacy checkmate - if it was White to move he plays 24 Nh6+ Kh8 25 Qg8+!! followed by Nf7 mate. Kasparov's move guards against Nf7, but loses trivially. His only hope - slim though it was - is 23 ..h5 24 Ng5+! (24 Ne5+? Kh8 25 Ng6+ Kh7 survives.) 24 ..Kh8 25 Qf5!! intending Re6, xf6, and if necessary Qg6 and Re7 will eventually crash through for White. 24 Nd8+ Kh8 25 Qe7 1–0

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center.