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Day of the avengers at Las Vegas

Rustam Kamsky gesticulating wildly as son Gata lost. The Kamskys dashing off a letter (see addendum at the end of this story) of protest to FIDE. Immediately after his loss, Kamsky appearing in the press center to sit at a computer to write his protest letter. Father Rustam excitedly explaining to journalists that Gata had been disturbed during his game...

Suddenly, with the return to competitive play of the enfant terrible of chess, the game takes on a familiar hue all over again.

It was the day of the avengers at the Hotel Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Alexander Khalifman was back in business as he levelled his match against Kamsky, so was Alexei Shirov, who with black pieces beat the Bosnian player Ivan Sokolov in 24 moves. Both play-offs, between Kamsky and Khalifman and between Shirov and Sokolov promise to be wildly exciting and unpredictable.

Then came another eqauliser, as Sergei Dolmatov, crushed by “Old Man” Viktor Korchnoi in the first encounter, paid back the compliment in an equally brutal finish.

As if all this action was not enough, when Korchnoi was leaving the playing hall shaking his head in disgust, Tony Miles must have echoed the feeling. He had a great position against Michael Krasenkov. The Polish player, who was in a must-win situation, complicated the position and a nice attack evened the score in their match.

Young Ruslan Ponmoriav was taught a lesson by Veselin Topalov, and yet another match went into the play-off. Topalov must have been pleased with his play against Ponomarev in the second game. The youngster gave up his bishops early in the game. Topalov gained some space, won a pawn and had no difficulties securing the point.

The game that drew most attention during time trouble was the one between Evgeny Baree and Jan Ehlvest. Players who had finished and players who had already reached their own time control gathered around the board to see two combatants make 8 moves in a minute or so. Ehlvest, who was already in trouble on the board, couldn't resolve his problems in both areas.

It was not a good day for the American players. Boris Gulko lost an interesting fight in time trouble against Fedorov and crashed out. Tal Shaked, too, got eliminated by Kiril Georgiev and Kamsky hangs by a thread, as does Alex Yermolinksy. They have to prove in the tiebreak that they can stay in the race.

Jan Timman played another long game against Aronian. The Dutchman was at one point a pawn up but drew after five hours and advanced into the next round.

The day before, lack of match practice hardly seemed to bother Gata Kamsky as he mauled Alexander Khalifman, first-round conqueror of Dibyendu Barua, in the first game of the second round of the FIDE World Chess Championships. Kamsky, who quit chess three years to pursue a career in medicine, may well have continued to play a bit of practice chess with friends (though the joke is, there aren't many around) or with his father, Rustam, a former boxer and much feared by opposing camps.

In a Sicilian game that lasted just 37 moves, Kamsky was simply beautiful in his play leaving some shaking heads and wondering what may have been had he continued chess and not veered towards medicine. Khalifman, who survived a tough first round against Barua, was completely outplayed.

Kamsky looked every inch the player who had defeated Vishwanathan Anand in the world championships qualifiers at Sanghinagar some years back.

While Kamsy held a lot of attention, Ivan Sokolov created the big upset in defeating pre-Championships favorite Shirov. Shirov was in big time trouble when his position crumbled. When Sokolov followed up with a nice attack on his King, Shirov couldn't avoid the mate. Shirov lasted 47 moves in a Petrofff defence where he had white.

The young and promising Ruslan Ponomariov stunned Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in a 53-move Sicilian-Najdorf where the Russian had white. Ponomariov introduced a new idea to which Topalov found a creative answer. However Topalov got into a Queen ending that was worse for him. The 15-year old Ukrainian, rated 2616, didn't let it slip away and was responsible for one of the major upsets of this round.

In other surprises Sergei Tiviakov drew with Vladimir Kramnik despite being a pawn down and Zoltan Almasi lost to the Chinese Peng.

In some other interesting results, Vassily Ivanchuk beat Wahls, Short beat Fridman and Milos beat Valery Salov and Tony Miles scored a smooth win over Michael Krasenkow. Judit Polgar, who had a crushing loss against Shirov in Eurotel recently won her second round comfortably against Nielsen, who had come through a tie-breaker win against Joel Benjamin.

The old man of chess Viktor Korchnoi is still more than a handful as Sergei Dolmatov discovered. Dolmatov played the Leningrad variation, an opening that Korchnoi knew and mastered before Dolmatov was born. Dolmatov was hopelessly crushed in 22 moves.

The first big blunder of the championships came from Jonathan Speelman of England. The Englishman overlooked simple tactics against Boris Gelfand, lost his Queen and a pawn against a Rook and Bishop and Gelfand ground him him out in a 53-move Nimzo Indian in which Gelfand was white.

Summary of Round two, day one:

Shock of the day: Ivan Sokolov upsetting the seedings beating one of the favourites Alexi Shirov. But there is still one game for Shirov to come back and fight.

Rising star of the day: Ruslan Ponmariov, who upset Super Gm Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

Blunder of the Day: Jon Speelman overlooking a simple tactic that resulted in him losing the queen and a pawn against a rook and a bishop. Result: he lost to Gelfand.

Daddy Cool: Viktor Korchnoi crushing young Sergei Dolmatov in 22 moves of an opening he was playing before his opponent had been born.

Game of the day:

Kamsky, Gata - Khalifman, Alexander, Sicilian Defence

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 e5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Kh1 Be6 12. Bf3 Bc4 13. Re1 Nd7 14. b3 Ba6 15. f5 Nf6 16. g4 h6 17. g5 hxg5 18. Bxg5 Nh7 19. Be3 Bb7 20. Rg1 Bf6 21. Rg3 d5 22. exd5 cxd5 23. Nxd5 e4 24. Nxf6+ Qxf6 25. Be2 Qxf5 26. Qd4 g5 27. Rf1 Qg6 28. Bc4 Rac8 29. h4 Rxc4 30. bxc4 g4 31. Rxg4 Qxg4 32. Rg1 Qxg1+ 33. Kxg1 f6 34. Qxa7 Rf7 35. Qb8+ Kg7 36. Qg3+ Kh8 37. Bh6 1-0

Text of letter sent by Gata Kamsky to FIDE:

This letter is to make a request regarding the rules of play. During the game of Khalifman – Kamsky, certain players, Sakaev, (who resides at the same city as Mr. Khalifman), Yermolinsky and Smirin disturbed me greatly.

After these players finished their games, (during the first half-hour!), they then proceeded to analyze the positions in the hallway. After their discussions, they would visit my table, making gestures and pulling faces. I felt that their actions were clearly helpful to my opponent, Mr. Khalifman.

In the Olympiad there is a very clear rule that after the players finish their games they are not allowed back into the playing area. This rule is to prevent collusion amongst the players. I believe that this sensible rule should be applied in the World Championship as well. In short, when the players finish their games, they should act as spectators and remain in the spectator area, not the area of play.

In particular, I request that the above-mentioned players be given notice to stay out of the playing area, after they have finished their games. After all, this is a World Chess Championship and not just a St. Petersburg championship.

Sincerely,
GM Gata Kamsky
cc: Appeals Committee, Organizing Committee, FIDE President.