World Chess Federation

With a burst of flags and gleaming glass, a hodgepodge of turrets and candy-colored eaves rises from the barren hillside like a postmodern version of Dorothy's Emerald City. Outside, the compound's gates are guarded by police in camouflage. Inside, a five-story yurt coated in mirrors is ringed by pastel townhouses and new lawns studded with sculptures. Some depict Mongolian-looking shepherds and warriors. Others are based on chess pieces: kings, queens, knights, pawns.

Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen died Sept. 9 at age 75 in Buenos Aires, his home since the 1970s. Larsen was the most successful tournament player of the late 1960s, when he rose to third in the world behind Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. Only losses to those two stars in Candidates matches kept him from playing for the world championship. Larsen had a lively mind and strong opinions, enabling him to speak knowledgeably about many subjects in more than a half dozen languages.

Florencio Campomanes of the Philippines was unanimously reelected president of the World Chess Federation after his challenger, Lincoln Lucena of Brazil, withdrew minutes before the vote. Campomanes, 59, had the support of the Soviet and many Third World delegations. He has been criticized by some players, including world chess champion Gary Kasparov, for his authoritarian style. The election was held during the 27th World Chess Olympiad which ends Monday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Position No. 6120: White to play and win. From the game Jimmy Mardell-Joel Eklund, Sweden 2010. Solution to Position No. 6119: White wins with 1 e5! Bc6+ 2 Kf2, as 2…dxe5 permits 3 Rxh6+! Qxh6 4 f6+ e4 5 Qg7 mate. Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez of Costa Rica won the 111th U.S. Open in Irvine last Sunday. Ramirez, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, yielded draws only to top-seeded GM Varuzhan Akobian and his former UTD teammate, IM Julio Catalino Sadorra.

The marathon world chess championship will move from the glittering and prestigious Hall of Columns to the outlying Hotel Sport starting with Monday's 48th game, chess officials said Friday. The high cost of renting the Hall of Columns--reportedly the equivalent of about $8,000 a day--and the extreme length of the competition that began nearly five months ago were cited as reasons for the move.

A controversial $2.4-million chess tournament without the sport's three biggest stars winnowed its numbers from 100 combatants to two Thursday. The finalists will face off for the 1999 World Chess Federation world championship beginning Sunday in Las Vegas. Alexander Khalifman, a 33-year-old grandmaster from Russia, defeated Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, a 23-year-old Romanian grandmaster, in a tiebreaker after they had deadlocked their four-game semifinal, 2-2.

World chess champion Anatoly Karpov resigned the adjourned first game of the world championship match today without resuming play, giving challenger Gary Kasparov the victory. It was the first time Kasparov has had the lead in the prolonged title series. Their first match was halted in February by the head of the World Chess Federation, who said both players had become exhausted. The 22-year-old Kasparov, playing white, had a one-pawn advantage when the game was adjourned Tuesday night.

Gata Kamsky of New York has had a spectacular year, highlighted by four victories in world championship qualifying matches. The latest rating list issued by the Professional Chess Assn. (PCA) takes into account Kamsky's 5 1/2-1 1/2 mauling of English grandmaster Nigel Short in September. The PCA now ranks the 20-year-old Kamsky third in the world at 2741, behind only PCA world champion Garry Kasparov (2813) and World Chess Federation (FIDE) champion Anatoly Karpov (2758).

David Bronstein, 82, a chess grandmaster who nearly became world champion, died Tuesday in Minsk, Belarus, the World Chess Federation said. It did not give the cause of death, but the Russian Chess Federation said he died of a stroke. Bronstein, born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, was champion of the USSR in 1948 and 1949.

The tense match between former U.S. champion Gata Kamsky and Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand is deadlocked at 4-4 in Las Palmas on the Canary Islands. The winner of the best-of-12-game series earns the right to challenge the world's top player, Garry Kasparov of Russia, in the 1995 Professional Chess Assn. world championship, scheduled for September in Cologne, Germany. Kamsky, who accurately described his play as "kind of shaky," might easily trail by two points.

Timur Gareyev, an Uzbek grandmaster who attends the University of Texas in Brownsville, won the National Open last weekend in Las Vegas. Gareyev yielded a first-round draw to IM Joe Bradford of Texas but won his next five games. He was particularly tough on Southern Californians, inflicting defeats on IM Andranik Matikozyan and, in the final round, GM Varuzhan Akobian. Tied for second at 5-1 were Akobian and GMs Arthur Kogan (Israel), Alex Lenderman (New York) and Alejandro Ramirez (Costa Rica)

Position No. 6110: White to play and win. From the game John Daniel Bryant-Andranik Matikozyan, Memorial Day Classic, Los Angeles 2010. Solution to Position No. 6109: White wins with 1 d7 Bc7 2 Rxc7! Kxc7 3 Rc1+ Kb8 4 Rc8+ Rxc8 5 Qa8+! Kxa8 6 dxc8Q mate. Both 3…Kxd7 4 Qd5+ Ke8 5 Rc8+ and 3…Kd8 4 Qa8+ Kxd7 5 Qd5+ lead to mate. Ukraine grandmaster Pavel Eljanov, probably the least-known of the world's leading players, won the sixth Grand Prix tournament in Astrakhan, Russia.

Position No. 6107: White to play and win. From the game Yuri Vovk-Peter Varga, French League, Mulhouse 2010. Solution to Position No. 6106: Quickest is 1…Rgh8! 2 cxd6+ Kd8 3 Bg2 Rh2, foreseeing 4 Kf1 Rh1+. If 1…Qh6 2 cxb6+ Kd8, White can delay checkmate by 3 Qc7+. Viswanathan Anand of India, world champion since 2007, retained his title by defeating Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, 6-1/2 - 5-1/2 in their match in Sofia, Bulgaria. Anand won Tuesday's final game, as Black, to end the most exciting championship of the last two decades.

May 2, 2010 Position No.6105: Black to play and win. From the game Farrukh Amonatov-Azat Sharafiev, Russian Team Championship, Dagomys 2010. Solution to Position No.6104: White wins with 1 Qd8+ Bf8 2 Qc7, threatening 3 Qh7 mate and 3 Qxc4+. If 2…Be6+, both the routine 3 f5 and the amusing 3 Kg5 Bg7 4 Qb8+ Bf8 5 Qxb7 Bg7 6 Qb8+ Bf8 7 Qxa7 Bg7 8 Qxe3 win. The long-awaited world championship match between champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov did not start on time, because volcanic ash prevented Anand from flying to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Position No. 6104: White to play and win. From the game Tornike Sanikidze-Alexander Fedorov, Dubai 2010. Solution to Position No. 6103: Black wins with 1… Nxa1 2 Qxa1 Qc2! 3 Rxc2 bxc2, setting up 4 … Rd1+. The world championship match, which began Saturday in Sofia, Bulgaria, will determine the champion for the next two years. There is a hefty prize fund of 2 million euros (about $2.7 million), of which the winner will receive 60%. But even more is at stake.

April 18, 2010 Position No. 6103: Black to play and win. From the game Darwin Yang-Irina Krush, Lubbock 2010. Solution to Position No. 6102: Not convincing is 1 . . . Rh6? 2 Rd1, but Black wins with 1 . . . Re3!, threatening mate with 2 . . . Rxg3+ 3 fxg3 Qf1+. If 2 Rxe3 dxe3 3 Re2, then 3 . . . Qf3+ 4 Kg1 Rh6 mates. If 2 Rd3, then 2 . . . Qe4+ 3 f3 Rexf3 4 Rgxf3 Rxf3 5 Rf3 Qxc2+ wins. And if 2 Qd1, Black leaves White helpless by 2 . . . Rxg3+ 3 fxg3 Qe4+ 4 Kg1 Qe3+ 5 Kg2 d3. For example, 6 a3 permits 6 . . . Qe4+ 7 Kg1 Rh6 8 Rg2 Qe3+ 9 Rf2 Rf6 10 Qd2 Rxf2 11 Qxf2 d2. The world championship match between champion Viswanathan Anand of India and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria begins Friday in Sofia, Bulgaria.

As if an excuse was necessary for the cancellation of the world chess championship, Florencio Campomanes, the president of the World Chess Federation, called off the match only to reschedule it again for next September. The match has "exhausted the physical and psychological resources of not only the participants but of all associated with the match," says Campomanes. After all, no one figured out exhaustion was part of the match! The Chess Federation never thought a match could go beyond six games when it voted in favor of the rule that the player who wins six games first would be the champion.

Feb. 14, 2010 Position No. 6094: Black to play and win. From the game Stephen J. Horrocks-Giustino Mancini, Gibraltar 2010. Solution to Position No. 6093: White wins a Rook by 1 d6! Qxd6 2 e5. Tougher is 1 . . . Qa5 2 dxe7 Bd7, but White wins anyway with 3 0-0 Qc7 4 g3! Rxf3 (or 4 . . . Rg4 5 Qh6) 5 Bc4+ Rf7 6 Rf3 Be8 7 Rxf7 Bxf7 8 e8Q+. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced that the final Grand Prix tournament will begin May 5 in Astrakhan, Russia. The six-tournament series was supposed to conclude in 2009, but three of the six cities that promised to host tournaments backed out. FIDE deserves credit for finding replacements, despite the delay in the schedule.

Position No. 6088: Black to play and win. From the game Michael Hennigan-Roland Berzinsh, London 2009. Solution to Position No. 6087: White wins a piece with 1 Qh8+ Rg8 2 Rh6! Rxh8 3 Rxh8+ Ke7 4 Rdh1 Kd7 5 R1h7+ Qe7 6 Rxe7+ Kxe7 7 Rxb8. If 2 . . . Nd7, then 3 Rdh1 sets up 4 Qxg8+. White can refute the counterattack 2 . . . Qxe4 by either 3 Qxf6+ Ke8 4 Qe6+ or 3 Rxf6+ Ke7 4 Re6+ Qxe6 5 Qh7+ Qf7 6 Re1+ Kf8 7 Qh6+ Rg7 8 Qxd6+ Kg8 9 Qxb8+ Qf8 10 Re8. After the turbulent 1990s, the world of chess needed a calmer period.