 |
        |
|
 Kasparov
vs. the World
22 October |
|||
|
THINGS GET UGLY
This was supposed to be the greatest battle in the history of chess: World number one, Garry Kasparov, taking on all comers in an online competition at Microsoft's Gaming Zone. Instead, it has turned into a virtual mudslinging contest. A little background: The match started June 21, with Kasparov playing the white pieces and the World Team, coached by teen chess stars Etienne Bacrot (16), Florian Felecan (19), Irina Krush (15) and Elisabeth Pähtz (14), playing black. The time control is one move a day, giving each side 24 hours to ponder their decision. The World Team's move is decided by registered members casting their votes, and the move receiving the majority vote is subsequently played. Simple enough, wouldn't you think? Not by a long shot! OK, things were running along smoothly for quite a while. The World actually giving Kasparov a run for his money, as Irina Krush, who seemed to be the only one taking this coaching business seriously, managed to get her moves elected 95% of the time.
Krush spent several hours every day analysing the game, and her analysis and arguments were most convincing. At move 50, Kasparov had an obvious advantage in a rather messy Queen-ending, but most experts seemed to think black might hold with accurate play.
And that's when the fun started:
After Kasparov's 51.Qh7, 51...b7-b5? (Pähtz's recommendation) received the majority vote instead of 51...Kb1-a1, which Krush, and several other "black-belts", considered to be the best defence. How could this happen? Had the World lost its collective mind? Apparently not. Someone calling himself Jose Unodos (an alias, for sure) claimed that he had "rigged" the vote. Was that possible? Another BBS member, Martin Sims, decided to find out for himself two moves later. Creating multiple Zone IDs, he subsequently cast about 250 votes for 53...Qd1-e2??, hanging the black Queen! Barring overexposure to hallucinogenic drugs, no sane player would, of course, ever make such a move. Mr Sims' experimental Queen-sac didn't win the vote, but it did make it into the top five! Meanwhile Microsoft was claiming that vote-rigging, or ballot-stuffing, was impossible. A claim prompting a collective "Yeah, right!" at the World Team BBS. Fives moves later, on October 13, things really came to a head, when Krush, due to e-mail server problems, failed to get her recommendation (and supporting analysis) in by the standard deadline. She managed to send it later in the day, but, according to Microsoft, it was too late to have it posted at the game site. As a result, Krush's move, 58...Qf5 (probably black's best try), never entered the discussion, and the World Team ended up playing 58...Qe4?, which, according to Krush's delayed analysis, leads to a rapid defeat. Now Microsoft found themselves accused with everything from stuffing ballots to the Kennedy-assassination! Microsoft's claims of being "totally agnostic" about the outcome were effectively drowned out by cries of injustice from disgruntled World Team members. Krush in turn retired as "World Team Coach". The World, now finding themselves in a hopeless position and without their favourite counsel, protested by electing 59...Qe1??, putting the black Queen en prise and effectively resigning the game. A form of mass suicide, if you will. But the boys at Microsoft weren't having any of that! They simply deleted all the votes for 59...Qe1, which paved the way for the more rational 59...Ka1-b2, moving black's King out of check. Can you say "censorship", boys and girls? I mean, in a normal game, resigning is your God-given right. Throwing in the proverbial towel is, however, not an option according to the rules of this particular contest, which state that the game can only end with checkmate or stalemate. So the game continues. In the current position, Kasparov is one move away from making a new Queen on g8. Black can prolong the game by checking white's king, but there seems to be no hope of drawing by perpetual check. Two of the World Team's three remaining coaches are now recommending resignation (apparently they don't know about the play-until-you're-clinically-dead rule). My guess is Kasparov won't be able to deliver checkmate for another 15-20 moves, so the game will probably go on for another month or so. Meanwhile, Kasparov's "pre-mortem" statement that he is proud to have won this fiercely contested battle, has further enraged those who subscribe to the "Microsoft Conspiracy Theory". Protest Web sites are popping up left, right and centre, and you can be pretty sure the squabble will continue long after the actual game is over. Now, there's no denying the fact that "Kasparov vs The World" has given the game of chess a tremendous boost by bringing it to the masses via the Internet. But it does raise some disturbing questions about the wonderful world of online democracy. LINKS: http://www.salonmagazine.com/tech/log/1999/10/20/chess/index.html http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-919059.html http://www.clubkasparov.ru/index0e.htm http://bbs.msnbc.com/bbs/kasparov-team/index.asp http://www.smartchess.com/smartchessonline/default.asp?theURL=/SmartChessOnline/Krush/index.htm http://www.zone.com/kasparov/play.asp http://www.shamema.com/row.htm http://ProtestMsn.web.com/ Game viewer generated with ChessBase 7.0 - Einar Gausel |
