ROUND FIVE REPORT
 
 
This round is a watershed. All shall be revealed. The six round so to speak is for the semi-finalists only. Some top grandmasters had their fate all worked out. GM Vassily Ivanchuk was one of them. FIDE and the organisers had made it clear that a player who leaves without playing all Five will forfeit a portion of the generous fund. This was over and above the fact that the comfortable accommodation (Six Star!) and full course meals were covered. To make it more interesting, the positions one to six were remunerated according to standings. So, this is still going to matter a great deal. To make matters iron clad fools proof, the ELO rating will be affected in relation to overall performance!


Good. You will agree that every base is covered for an exciting last round in this batch. Hell no! The way Vassily played in his last round game, at least to my observation, was scandalous. The man who beat the world # 1 player twice in the last two encounters played a disgraceful game of chess as if to wreck havoc to the two best players in this group, GMs Giovanni Vescovi (Brasil) and Bartlomiej Macieja (Poland). The two respectively had come to play fighting chess in this event! They played their hearts out I tell you. In this last game of the group stage it was the Polish player who quickly offered a draw. "I was simply tired!" is what he said when I asked him about offering to share the points early. The Brasilian revealed, "I had spoken to my wife earlier over the phone... she said to me do not take chances honey! Make sure..." Meaning, go out and fight for a win, if you draw you may still qualify as you have played a plus ONE.
 

The permutation to make it with a draw result was based on the fact that GM Vassily Ivanchuk wins or draws GM Malakov. At this point, something  that will make me never to respect the silly Vassily, begin to unfold. It was clear that the Ukrainian was not impressed with his performance thus far. Strolling around aimlessly he studies his group players positions more than he cared about others let alone his. He makes quick move but all symmetrical. His opponent is surely was not happy about this, in my opinion. He even was seen outside on the giant score board standing and studying the permutations and possible outcomes! The only time when he knuckled down and seriously played (or pretended to!) was when one: Viscovi-Macieja was drawn. Then to the astonished delight of his opponent, he made a silly move on a complete drawn position and Mr. Malkov benefited with a berth in the semi-finals.
 
Now you may think this is sensationalism, but I challenge anyone to look at the game and see for yourselves what I conclude! This is a total disgrace. "Come on!" I asked a FIDE official.  "What do you call that!" I show him the body language of this crazy GM as collaboration onto my camcorder and he goes on, "Look! Are you saying he would risk loosing ELO points to just revenge on these other chaps? What's the motive?" I seem to lose the argument, but not until I spoke to the two stunned young GMs staring disgustingly at the monitor now replaying continuously the Malakov-Ivanchuk game. This nonsense has denied us some serious good chess in that Malakov and Ye have been handed a qualification on a platter expect them to lose badly onwards!!! Yeah, apparently there was an skirmish in the hotel corridors between Ivanchuk and one of the "Ivanchuk's chess justice/punished" Grandmaster.

My humble opinion; if FIDE can justifiable disqualify players who try and use computers in Internet knock-out situations, then this clear rotten malice by a strong GM like Vassily should be attributed accordingly (penalty ELO points deductions, not excluding suspension I say, think about it!).
 

Folks! I must tell you this, IM Watu Kobese and GM Hichem Hamdouchi came together briefly to access each others performance (see picture below) like true brothers after this round! They even offered each other a chance to look at their respective last game which incidentally ended in credible draws for both. Watu even revealed that the super GM was completely uneasy and offered an earlier draw and he refused and smiled for a while after that. Take a look at their faces "in the ring" picture, it is evident. Hicham revealed how he was going to fight for a WIN after stunning the Super cool Indian genius with home preparation! Draw was agreed in good spirit!


This showing by the Africans is very encouraging. IM Kobese was cautiously pleased with his performance. He did not come last in his group as Yermolinsky faced the teenagers wrath! He again lost with white against GM Teimour Radjabov! Hichem came fourth in his tough group. GM Jaan Ehlvest enjoyed joking about Yermolinky's woes when we had a little more drinks for his birthday later that evening. These top players take the ratings as panacea you know! But soberly praised Kobese for the sterling display of power chess. Amazingly, he had the same advice as GM Nigel Short about IM Kobese's play.That he must not try and win every game! He even emphasized this... "Just play for draws! You will see many wins!" He qualified his opinion by revealing that he is a top psychologist! And chess is even more psychological than any other sport he expressed with his somewhat German accent.

In other news here: Winning, they say, is not an important thing. It is the only thing! GM Krishnan Sasikiran hit his head against the Wall of China when he failed to gain something from GM Xu Jun. He just could not go through! The hidden  Dragon stealth, but the crouching tiger made it! GM Ye Jiangchuan was up against a GM seeking something away from humiliation... GM Saidali Iuldachev. With a berth in the Quarters for the Chinese, he took no prisoners with a killing 32..Qb8! Down went the Asian vice Champ!

GM Nigel Short, using supreme psychology he readily advised Kobese with, patiently waited like a hawk for Ganguly's youthful tricks, then he pounced swiftly! "Call a taxi home!" it is as if he ordered the promising Indian star! [Picture below]
 

Now, our man under the spot-light Jaan Ehlvest miscalculated badly! He punished his body with drinks after Round four after playing magnificent. In round five he was the first to stroll around hoping he is preserving energy for a playoff at least, or an outright qualification to the quarters. A funny old game chess is, things turned bad right in front of his eyes, a hope for the tie-break also fizzled into thin air by a FIDE system called "Koya" (The Indian chief organiser: FIDE VP Ummer Koya). Well Ehlvest is now campaigning vehemently for Olympics 2006 in Estonia and himself for EU Presidency!!!

The super GM Alexander Morozevich had a torrid time. To cap it all, an elusive victory was "Harkrishnally denied," by the young Indian GM. Harikrishna, who once was punished for underestimating the hugely talented Zambian IM Amon Simutowe, came, saw a trick, and conquered for his first and last win in the event!

In the women section, USA's Irina Krush got what she wanted by stopping Humpy's juggernaut trail. WGM Xu Yuhua, WGM Matveeva Svetlana, WGM Antoaneta Stefanova, and WGM Li Roufan will stay-on.
 

Folks! We have to pack and go! Hopefully next time we will stay to the end! The feeling in the camp is great cause IM Kobese has had to answer a lot as to why he is not GM. For the first time I heard him say, "I must just quickly collect this Grandmaster title!"

My impressions about India, an amazing country of two tales. One not so nice when it comes to this accepted CASTE crap! One which all who endure it seem to appreciate as some form of promise for a better next life!!!! I really do not feel good about this!? The other is a good up-rising of chess like you will never believe! Watch-out for this part of the world in chess!

Jackie Ngubeni reporting from Hyderabad, India.
15 October 2002