26th March, 2003

WORLD number one Garry Kasparov once remarked a few years ago, that
"chess is the perfect medium for the Internet." He was proved right as
chess fans around the world now watch in their thousands live, online
coverage of big tournaments such as Linares and Wijk aan Zee.

Sometimes the GMs don't even have to leave the confines of their homes
to earn a living thanks to the growth of Internet chess. With a total
prize fund of 4,850 euros, players can opt for events such as the IV
Internet Chess Tournament Ciudad de Dos Hermanas, hosted by the Internet
Chess Club (ICC), held 14-22 March.

This online event, sponsored by the Spanish city of Dos Hermanas and now
in its fourth year, proved popular as ever - 1,117 players (from 75
countries) entering to play online, among them 67 Grandmasters and 103
International Masters.

Eventually the field was whittled down to 32 top players who met in the
knockout finals over the weekend. Russian GM Vladimir Potkin (whose
playing handle on the ICC is "PORTER") won through to the best of two
game final to play Argentinean GM Pablo Zarnicki. In final, Potkin
defeated Zarnicki 2-0 to take the first prize of 1500 euro (with the
runner up taking 750 euro). Top placed British player was GM Luke
McShane, who lost out 1.5-0.5 in the quarterfinals to the beaten
finalist.

1 GM V Potkin (Russia); 2 GM P Zarnicki (Argentina); 3-4 GM V Golod
(Israel), IM R Reinaldo (Spain); 5-8 GM K Sakaev (Russia), GM L McShane
(England), GM C Bauer (France), IM C Balogh (Hungary).

V Potkin - P Zarnicki
Dos Hermanas ICC, (5.1)
Sicilian Sozin
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bc4 Qb6 7 Nb3 e6 8 Bf4
Ne5 9 Be2 Bd7 10 Qd2 Be7 11 0-0-0 0-0 12 g4 Bc6 13 f3 Rfd8 14 Be3 Qc7 15
g5 Ne8 16 f4 Nd7 17 Nd4 Nc5 18 Bf3 Rac8 19 h4 d5 20 exd5 exd5 21 Bg4 Rb8
22 h5 Nd6 23 g6 Nc4 24 Qe1 Re8 25 h6 hxg6 26 Ndb5 Bxb5 27 Nxb5 Qb6 28
Bd4 Bf6 29 Qc3 Re3 30 Bxf6 Rxc3 31 Bxc3 Qxb5 32 hxg7 f6 33 Rh8+ Kxg7 34
Rxb8 Qa6 35 Kb1 Ne3 36 Re1 Ne4 37 Bc8 Ng2 38 Rxb7+ Qxb7 39 Bxb7 Nxc3+ 40
bxc3 Nxe1 41 Bxd5 g5 42 Kc1 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON