5th May, 2003

THE Dundee International of 1867 in Scotland, with a field that included
the likes of Steinitz and Blackburne, proved to be a landmark event for
the evolution of chess praxis by being the first tournament where draws
counted as a half-point and were not replayed.

In those good old days of yore, the thought of a quick draw would have
been an abhorrence to such a swashbuckling group of masters. Nowadays,
the notorious "grandmaster draw," a short, uneventful splitting of the
point between players too lazy, too bored, too tired or too scared to
fight at the board, has long been a problem for the game.

There was controversy at this year's US Championships in Seattle ran by
the America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C), as most of the top players -
almost as if in unison - all agreed bloodless draws in the final round
rather than fight for the title and the huge prize fund at stake - much
to the chagrin of the sponsors, media and chess fans, who eagerly
anticipated a thrilling shootout with tens of thousands of dollars up
for grabs.

American GM Maurice Ashley decided to "do something about it," by
organizing a Category 10 round-robin tournament at the famed Marshall
Chess Club in New York with a twist: Draw offers can't be made before
Move 50. The penalty for those who do take short draws at the
Generation Chess International is a fine of 10 percent of their prize
money and a tenth of the GMs appearance fees being donated to...the
AF4C!

The line-up for this new event, is: GM J Ehlvest (Estonia), GM L
Yudashin (Isreal), IM V Akobian (USA), GM L Christiansen (USA), IM E
Perelshteyn (USA), IM M Bluvshtein (Canada), IM I Krush (USA), IM W
Paschall (USA), IM A Simutowe (Zambia), FM S Muhammod (USA).

E Perelshteyn - L Yudasin
Generation Tournament, (3)
Caro-Kan Defence
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Ng5 Ngf6 6 Bd3 e6 7 N1f3 Bd6 8
Qe2 h6 9 Ne4 Nxe4 10 Qxe4 Nf6 11 Qe2 c5 12 dxc5 Bxc5 13 0-0 0-0 14 c4 b6
15 b3 Bb7 16 Bb2 Qe7 17 Rad1 Rfd8 18 Ne5 Kf8 19 Bg6 Qc7 20 Bxf7 Rxd1 21
Rxd1 Rd8 22 Rxd8+ Qxd8 23 Bxe6 Qe8 24 Bf5 Kg8 25 Bg6 Qa8 26 Nd7 Ne4 27
Bxe4 Bxe4 28 Qg4 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON