John Henderson on the Terence Chapman vs Garry Kasparov Charity Odds Match

Game 4

AS YOU LIKE IT

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances...

IT was simply the best show in town. The way you like to see a major chess event being run in London after the unmitigated disaster of the Brain Games fiasco at the Riverside Studios. And there were many people who put in the hard work to make sure that this event caught the imagination of the public (which it did), and more crucially, ran trouble free.

First of all, thanks must go to Terry Chapman for putting his money where his mouth is, and Garry Kasparov of course for rising to the challenge of this unique odds match. Sure, they were the main players. But the supporting cast more than rose to the occasion. Special thanks has to go to Sharon Walsh and the team she assembled from the Terence Chapman Group to organise the match; technical director Malcolm Pein; Arbiters Bob Wade and Stewart Reuben; the Commentary team of Danny King, Julian Hodgson and Jonathan Rowson; Lost Boys’ for the live internet coverage; and, of course, Robin Eastman and his highly efficient staff at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand. Well done everyone! It was an event to remember.

There were so many good things about this event. One of the more enjoyable aspects of the match was the amusing live commentary from two of the best chess commentators in the business: Danny King and Julian Hodgson (ably supported by Malcolm Pein, Jonathan Rowson and Jon Speelman). They certainly kept the spectators entertained (so much so that by the start of game three, the arbiters had to ban the use of the headsets in the first two rows due to the laughing!) with their Duracell Bunny-like non-stop performance. I really liked the following little exchange between Danny King and Owen Williams, Garry’s Agent, during a critical moment in game three when Garry was coming under extreme pressure. DK: “Will there be a similar challenge next year, Owen?” OW (as only an Agent could reply): “Only if there’s half the handicap – and twice the fee!”

But full credit to Terry Chapman – he probably put as much work into this match as a challenger would to fight for the world title! He had spent eight months working toward the match, and four months of intensive training. He had behind him a formidable team: Dr John Nunn and Jon Speelman, who prepared openings for him, and he played training matches; losing 3.5-1.5 to Nunn, and 2.5-1.5 to a fringe member of the team, British Champion Julian Hodgson – and lets not forget his many training matches against Fritz! Garry said it all during the closing ceremony: “His [Chapman] level of passion for the game and for winning is amazing.”

In the lavish reception after the match hosted by Chapman (my kinda guy!), he echoed the words of a former frequenter of Simpson’s, Siegbert Tarrasch, to recall in full one of the German masters most famous quotes: “Chess is a form of intellectual productiveness, therein lies its peculiar charm. Intellectual productiveness is one of the greatest joys - if not the greatest - of human existence. It is not everyone who can write a play, or build a bridge, or even make a good joke. But in chess everyone can, indeed must, be intellectually productive and so can share in this select delight. Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy’. And added, “Well, that’s how I felt after game three!”

With a sense of occasion being at Simpson’s, Chapman also presented Kasparov with a very personal gift of a small wooden chessboard he had acquired from the estate of the former Girls World Champion, Rowena Bruce. Not just an ordinary chessboard; one with some history. An English internationalist of long standing, Rowena took her little board to just about every major event she could, and had an illustrious array of chess stars autograph the back, which Chapman read out a few before handing over to Kasparov: Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Tal, Smyslov, Spassky, Keres, Bronstein, Bogoljubow, Flohr, Vidmar, Tarrasch, Reshevsky, Fine…and the list went on, and on, and on. It was only left for Kasparov to add his name to it for an amazing collection of autographs on the one board!

In his reply, Kasparov stated the obvious – the handicap was too much! “Odds games have been out of fashion for over a century and the value of this material balance was unknown. One thing became clear when I started to prepare: a two pawn disadvantage is much more than double a one pawn disadvantage. My biggest blunder was accepting these odds, I sacrificed myself for an experiment!”

“It is worth pointing out that in games 1-3, playable positions were reached by professional chess standards. Analysis backs this up. It was more interesting from a chess perspective than most GMs say. There was real chess! Chapman gets credit here for hiring big guns to help him and for playing for the result like a professional.

”There is a future for a return of odds play. In the professional environment this is new terrain, but it’s not just for novelty value. And what better place to bring back handicap tournaments than Simpson’s-on-the-Strand!”

Until recently, London had been a happy hunting ground for Kasparov. Up until he lost his crown here last year in his infamous match to Kramnik, London had been lucky for him: defending his title twice to Nigel Short and Anatoly Karpov, as well as his Candidates Match here against Vassily Smyslov in 1983 on the road to winning the crown. Kasparov admitted that the whole experience of his last visit to London and the badly organised Brain Games match had put him off the city he once loved. “However,” he added, “this match has gone a long way in salvaging London’s image. It was high class and all professional organizers could learn from Chapman’s group. Chapman saved London’s reputation in professional chess. I wish the standards demonstrated here would be more widespread in the chess world, because often I have to settle for far worse.”

And now to the final game, which unfortunately ended in a spectacular collapse for Chapman who seemed to tire at just the wrong moment to allow Kasparov to take the match 2.5-1.5.

Game four was the handicap Kasparov feared most - the loss of the centre pawn. What's White to do? There's no use developing the bishop on c4 on move one, as Black will play a French Defence set-up, rendering White's bishop useless. Well how about 1 d4? Too risky, according to Kasparov, as Black will just exchange the center pawn leaving him vulnerable. After the match, Kasparov explained that he had simply regarded this position as "lost". Fifteen minutes before the start, he had phoned Boris Alterman in Israel and they had agreed on the following plan of action – all aimed at trying to confuse his opponent by taking him out of anything he could have prepared for.

Kasparov,G (2827) - Chapman,T

1 f4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 g3 b6 Nice and solid. 4 Bg2 Bb7 5 0–0 Be7 6 d3 0–0 7 Nbd2 d6 8 h3 c5 9 g4 Qd7 10 Qe2 Nc6 11 c3 Covering the knight heading for d4, from where Black can make his task all the easier with the exchange of pieces. 11 ..Rae8 12 Nc4 Qc7 [12 ..Nd5!? with the follow-up of b5 and swapping on e3 looked better.] 13 Nfd2 b5 14 Ne3 Bd8 15 g5 Nd5 16 Ne4 Nxe3 17 Bxe3 a5

18 Rf2 White has "some" pressure for the pawns - but surely not enough for capitulate? 18 ..Kh8 [18 ..Qd7!?] 19 Qh5 Nb8? 20 Nxd6 Qxd6 21 Bxb7 Nc6?

Chapman thought that the pawn sacrifice would allow him to swap off more minor pieces, but hadn't reckoned on Kasparov next move. 22 g6! fxg6 23 Qxc5 Qxd3?? [A sad end to an intriguing match. However, 23 ..Qxc5 24 Bxc5 Ne7 25 Ba6! Rf5 26 Bxb5 didn't look appetizing either.] 24 Bxc6 1–0

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

You can contact John Henderson at: jbhthescots@cableinet.co.uk