8th May, 2003

THIS week marks the first anniversary of the so-called ŒPrague
Agreement‚, a Unity Plan devised by America‚s Yasser Seirawan that
promised much to end the bitter schism that divided the chess world with
two rival world titles, yet so far has failed to deliver.

Last year in Prague, both warring parties faced up to the reality
outlined in Seirawan's plan that unification was the only way forward
for the good of the game, and a timetable to accommodate this with a
winner-takes-all showdown between the two champions scheduled for
November being agreed to. Unfortunately, the peace process looks (for
now) to have been derailed as both the FIDE world title match in
Argentina between Kasparov and Ponamariov, and the Einstein world title
match (as yet to be announced) between Kramnik and Leko, has been beset
by problems.

In reality, one of the biggest problems is that there doesn't seem to be
anyone coordinating both camps with the same vigour and enthusiasm as
there was in bringing the rival groups to the negotiating table in the
first place. Last year in Prague, despite all his valiant efforts to
reunite the chess world, Seirawan had to sit back in despair at seeing
the fruits of his many months of diplomacy and tender negotiations being
'hijacked' by others.

Despite the setback, life goes on as normal. A novel new event was
recently held in the small Basque town of Santurtzi, near Bilbao in
Spain, featuring three of the world‚s elite players: Vishy Anand, Judit
Polgar, and former world champion Anatoly Karpov.

They took on the Basque GM team of Félix Izeta, José Luis Fernández and
Mario Gómez over the three disciplines of Blindfold, Rapidplay (50
minutes + 5 sec/move) and Advanced Chess, where the players are allowed
to consult computers during the game. The top trio ŒBasqu-ed‚ in glory
with a convincing 14.5-3.5 victory. Again the female of the species
proved to be the deadlier, with Polgar, on 5.5/6, being the top scorer
ahead of Anand on 5/6 and Karpov on 4/6.

According to the main sponsors, the local town council, the aim of the
event was to combine the sporting, cultural and spectacular sides of
chess. Apart from the play at the board, the players took part in a
debate on the film "Searching for Bobby Fischer", based on Fred
Waitzkin's true story of the pain and anguish of a father standing on
the sidelines as he saw his son, Josh, develop from a beginner to become
one of America's top juniors.

A Karpov à F Izeta
Basque Match (rapid)
Bogo-Indian Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 c4 Bb4+ 4 Bd2 c5 5 Bxb4 cxb4 6 g3 b6 7 Bg2 Bb7 8 0-0
0-0 9 Qd3 d6 10 Nbd2 Nc6 11 Ne1 e5 12 Nc2 a5 13 Rfe1 Re8 14 Bxc6 Bxc6 15
e4 Qb8 16 a3 bxa3 17 Nxa3 Ra7 18 f3 h5 19 Nf1 Rb7 20 b4 exd4 21 b5 Bd7
22 Qxd4 Be6 23 Ne3 Rd7 24 Nb1 h4 25 Kf2 Qc7 26 Nc3 Qc5 27 Qxc5 dxc5 28
Na4 hxg3+ 29 hxg3 Rb8 30 e5 Rd2+ 31 Re2 Rxe2+ 32 Kxe2 Nh5 33 Kf2 f6 34
Rd1 fxe5 35 Rd6 Kf7 36 Nxb6 Nf6 37 Na4 Nd7 38 Ra6 Rh8 39 Kg2 e4 40 fxe4
Ne5 41 Nxc5 Bxc4 42 Nxc4 Nxc4 43 b6 Rb8 44 b7 Ne5 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON