Players receive one point for a win, half each for a draw. The first player
to 8.5 points wins the match although all 16 games will be played.
Kasparov retains the world title in the event of a 8-8 draw.
The players alternate colors. Kasparov will play white in game one.
The standard international rules of chess will apply. The rules will be
enforced by two arbiters; Andrzej Filipowicz of Poland and Eric Schiller of
the USA (picture).
The chief arbiter is Yuri Averbakh of Russia but his functions are primarily
ceremonial.
In the event of a dispute which the arbiters cannot resolve, there is a Match
Committee of five:
1 Yussuf Sharawi, chess champion of Bahrain
2 Tony Buzan, world authority on the brain
3 Lord Julian Hardinge. Former county strength chess player
4 Fridrik Olafsson, Grandmaster and former President of FIDE, the world chess
federation
5 Lothar Schmid, Grandmaster and International Arbiter
TIME
The games are timed and the rules governing this are quite complex. A digital
chess clock ( picture) is used with a graphical display so the players know
how much time they have at any point in the game. The clock has two displays,
one for each player and records the amount of time used by both players so it
is two clocks in one.
Only one clock runs at a time. At the start of the game the arbiter starts
the clock for the player of the white pieces. When a move is made a player
hits the button on the clock and start his opponent's clock.
There are two time controls at which point both players must have made the
required number of moves in the time they are allowed. Failure to make the
required amount of moves in the time allowed results in immediate loss of the
game.
The first control is at 40 moves. Both players must have made 40 moves in
less than two hours thinking time. They then receive an extra hour each to
make the next twenty moves. Time in hand is carried forward.
Once 60 moves have been made both players receive an extra 30 minutes for the
rest of the game and for every move made they receive an extra 10 seconds.
This incremental time control is known as a 'Fischer time control' because it
was first suggested by the mercurial American chess genius who won the world
championship in 1972.
Games are played every Sunday, Tuesday Thursday and Saturday and there are no time outs. If a player does not make it to the board by 3pm local time, his clock is started and at 4pm he loses the game.
Equipment
The players have to write their moves down on specially prepared scoresheets.
The moves are also recorded by the electronic sensory board. The board is
made of nut and maple wood. The black pieces are made out of rosewood and the
white pieces out of boxwood. Each piece has a magnet in the base each with
a field of differing strength. This enables the sensors underneath the board
to detect a move as soon as it is played. Even when moves come
instantaneously the board can transmit the game to a nearby computer and onto
the web.
