The big day has arrived and two of the top world chess players sat down to face each other over those critical 64 black and white squares. The prize is $100,000 for the winner and $70,000 for the loser. There may be some slight adjustments in the case where a player tied in the qualification matches.
Organizers have prepared special rooms behind the stage for Mr.Adams and for Mr. Kasimdzhanov. Both finalists have all conditions to play fantastic chess.
On the one side, we have Michael Adams, 32 years old from England and rated 2731. He has breezed through the World Championship qualifying stages winning every match without having the need for any tie-breaks.
On the other side we have Rustam Kasimdzhanov, 24 year old hailing from Uzbekistan. His rating is 2652 and he has eliminated three of the biggest names in chess on his way to the top in Tripoli : Ivanchuk, Grischuk and Topalov. Will he do it again . we’ll have to wait and see ?
From my database it appears that these players have played three times in the past . all draws ! Given the historic importance of the match I’ve appended all three games below. Now we come down to the actual chess on the day.
As can be expected from the start of a world championship match both players wanted to open the score as early a spossible so a draw was forecasted and duly arrived. Adams tested his opponent’s opening preparation in the Sicilian Paulsen.
Here is the first game of the World Chess Championship Final 2004 with some very light annotations :
Adams,M (2731) – Kasimdzhanov,R (2652)
WCC Ch Tripoli, Libya Game 1 06.07.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.c4 Nc6 8.Nc3 Nge7 9.0-0 d6 10.Kh1!?
White’s objective is clear. He wants to play f4 and start attacking on the king side [ Another try here is 10.Re1 which was played in the famous Junior vs Kasparov match last year. 10…0-0 11.Be3 e5 12.Nd5 a5 13.Rc1 a4 14.Bxa7 Rxa7 15.Nd2 Nd4 16.Qh5 Ne6 17.Rc3 Nc5 18.Bc2 Nxd5 19.exd5 g6 20.Qh6 f5 21.Ra3 Qf6 22.b4 axb3 23.Rxa7 bxc2 24.Rc1 e4 25.Rxc2 Qa1+ 26.Nf1 f4 27.Ra8 e3 28.fxe3 fxe3 29.Qxf8+ Kxf8 30.Rxc8+ Kf7 31.Rc7+ Kf8 32.Rc8+ Kf7 0.5-0.5 Deep Junior-Kasparov,G New York 2003]
10…e5 11.f4 exf4 12.Bxf4 Ng6 13.Bg3 Nge5 14.Be2 0-0 15.Qe1
OK so all this has been played before and now the other two games went.
15.Nd5!? += Be6 16.Rc1 ( 16.Bf2 Bxf2 17.Rxf2 Bxd5 18.exd5 Na5 19.Qd4 Nxb3 20.axb3 Qc7 21.Raf1 a5 22.Bd3 Rae8 23.Bb1 b6 24.Rf4 g6 25.g4 Qc5 26.Qc3 Nd7 27.Be4 Re7 28.g5 Rfe8 29.Qh3 Nf8 30.Qf3= 0-1 San Segundo,P-Ninov,K EUchJ Groningen 1986 (45)) 16…a5 17.a4 f6 18.Qd2 Rf7 19.Bh5 Rd7 20.Na1 Rc8 21.b3 Nd4 22.Bf2 Ndc6 23.Bh4 Nd4 24.Rc3 Ng6 25.Bf2? 1-0 Meier,G-Nuesken,N DEM U16 Willingen 2003 (47)
Adams’ choice of Qe1 is interesting but maybe not the best since the queen would not be in a position to take back on d5 and the centre becomes closed very quickly as a result. .
15…Be6
15…Qg5 may be also interesting here
16.Nd5 a5?!
This move was not necessary and creates a small weakness. Maybe [ 16…Qg5!?]
17.a4 Bxd5 18.cxd5=
And Adams proposed a draw here. Time on the clocks White : 54m Black : 46m
[18.exd5 Nd4 19.Nxd4 Bxd4 20.Qd2 gives white a small advantage. After the game move the position offers equal chances.] 0.5-0.5
PREVIOUS GAMES between Adams and Kasimdzhanov:
Kasimdzhanov,R (2693) – Adams,M (2746) [C78] World Cup (Rapid) Cannes (3), 21.03.2001
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2 d6 8.a4 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.axb5 axb5 11.Rxa8 Qxa8 12.b4 Bb6 13.d3 0-0 14.Bg5 Nd7 15.Bb3 Nd8 16.Nbd2 Ne6 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Qa7 19.Qe1 Bxf3 20.Nxf3 Qa3 21.Bd5 c5 22.bxc5 Ndxc5 23.d4 Nd7 24.Qa1 Qxa1 25.Rxa1 exd4 26.cxd4 Rb8 27.Nd2 Nf6 28.Ra6 Ne8 29.Bb3 Kf8 30.Kf2 Rb7 31.Ke2 N6c7 32.Ra1 Ke7 33.Kd3 Nf6 34.Nb1 b4 35.Nd2 Nb5 36.Nc4 Rc7 37.Ra5 Na3 38.e5 dxe5 39.Rxe5+ Kd8 40.Ra5 Ke7 41.g4 0.5-0.5
Adams,M – Kasimdzhanov,R Bundesliga, 10.06.2001
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 e5 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.d3 Bg4 8.Nbd2 Nf6 9.Nc4 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Qe7 11.Bd2 0-0 12.a3 Qe6 13.b4 cxb4 14.axb4 Nd7 15.Qe3 a6 16.Ra5 Bf6 17.Qg3 Rae8 18.h3 Bg7 19.Bc3 Re7 20.Qg4 Rc8 21.Rb1 f6 22.Bd2 Rd8 23.Qg3 Nf8 24.Be3 Qf7 25.Bb6 Rb8 26.f4 exf4 27.Qxf4 Ra8 28.Rf1 Qe6 29.Qg3 Nd7 30.Be3 Ne5 31.Nb6 Rd8 32.Raa1 Rf7 33.Bc5 Re8 34.Rae1 Qa2 35.d4 Nd7 36.Nxd7 Rxd7 37.Qd3 Qe6 38.c3 Rb8 39.Qg3 Rbd8 40.Rf3 Re8 41.h4 Rf7 42.Rff1 Bf8 43.Bxf8 Kxf8 44.h5 Kg7 45.hxg6 hxg6 46.Rf4 Rh8 47.Ref1 Rh5 48.Rf5 Rxf5 49.exf5 Qe4 50.Qxg6+ Kf8 51.Qh6+ Ke7 52.Qd2 Rg7 53.Rf4 Rxg2+ 54.Qxg2 Qxf4 55.Qg7+ Ke8 56.Qg8+ 0.5-0.5
Kasimdzhanov,R (2695) – Adams,M (2742) [E12] Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (7), 20.01.2002
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 Bxc6 10.Qe2 d6 11.g3 Be7 12.Bg2 0-0 13.0-0 Rc8 14.Rd1 Qc7 15.Bf4 Qb8 16.Rd2 Rfd8 17.Rad1 h6 18.h4 Ne8 19.Rd3 a6 20.b3 Qa8 21.Nd5 Qa7 22.Nxe7+ Qxe7 23.a4 e5 24.Bd2 Qb7 25.Bb4 f5 26.Bxd6 fxe4 27.R3d2 Nxd6 28.Rxd6 Qe7 29.c5 bxc5 30.Qc4+ Kh8 31.Qxc5 Rxd6 32.Rxd6 Rc7 33.Qb4 e3 34.fxe3 Bxg2 35.Kxg2 a5 36.Qd2 Rc8 37.Qd5 Qf8 38.Qxe5 Rc2+ 39.Kh3 Qf1+ 40.Kg4 Qe2+ 41.Kf5 Qf3+ 42.Qf4 Rc5+ 43.Ke6 Qa8 44.Ke7 Rc7+ 45.Rd7 Rc8 46.Rc7 Re8+ 47.Kd6 Rd8+ 48.Ke7 Re8+ 49.Kd6 Rd8+ 50.Ke7 Re8+ 0.5-0.5
Special thanks to Ali Nihat Yazici and Geoffrey D Borg for their reporting of this event.
E. “Doc” Smith is a former Rhode Island Amateur Champion, and has won divisional titles in the U.S. Amateur Team Championships for Brown University as well as the Rhode Island Chess League Championships. He has also taught chess to kids in S.F. schools, where he has recently directed several successful citywide tournaments.
