Kasparov still number 1, Utut slipped to rank 60
By Kristianus Liem
JAKARTA (JP): PCA's world champion Garry Kasparov achieved an all-time high Elo rating of 2820 when the July 1997 list was posted by FIDE. Vladimir Kramnik leaped up to 2770 and second place.
Viswanathan Anand maintains his 2765 rating but slipped one rank to be third. Veselin Topalov, the 22-year-old Bulgarian is fourth, pushing FIDE champion Anatoly Karpov into fifth.
Indonesia's best player super Grandmaster Utut Adianto drops eleven places to 60th since he lost five Elo points at the Najdorf Grandmaster Tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina, three months ago.
Here is the top 21 official FIDE Elo rating list, 1st July 1997:
1. Garry Kasparov 2820
2. Vladimir Kramnik 2770
3. Viswanathan Anand 2765
4. Veselin Topalov 2745
5. Anatoly Karpov 2745
6. Vassily Ivanchuk 2725
7. Gata Kamsky 2720
8. Alexander Beliavsky 2710
9. Alexei Shirov 2700
10. Boris Gelfand 2695
11. Michael Adams 2680
12. Valery Salov 2680
13. Kiril Georgiev 2670
14. Judit Polgar 2670
15. Evgeny Bareev 2670
16. Matthew Sadler 2665
17. Vladimir Akopian 2660
18. Aleksej Alexandrop 2660
19. Nigel Short 2660
20. Peter Svidler 2660
21. Joel Lautier 2660
...
60. Utut Adianto 2610
Kasparov's record 2820 rating was achieved through victories at the high quality Las Palmas and Linares tournaments. Below is one of Kasparov's most impressive displays, with the black pieces, against GM Alexei Shirov in the tenth round of the Linares tournament.
White: GM Alexey Shirov
Black: GM Garry Kasparov
Sicilian Najdorf Defense
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3
The idea of the text move is to bait Black into playing ...Nf6- g4 and pick up tempo against the exposed Knight.
6... Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.Be2 h5 11.Bxg4 Bxg4 12.f3 Bd7 13.0-0
Shirov hoped to prove that Black's king-side weaknesses would mean that the Black King would have a difficult life no matter where he resides.
13...Nc6
The grab 13...Qb6 14.Bf2 Qxb2 15.Nd5 would have cost Black the game.
14.Bf2 e6
This deprives the White Knights of the d5 and f5 squares at the cost of weakening the d6-pawn.
15.Nce2?
A passive, positional move in a sharp, combative position. White can't expect to gain an advantage in such a slow manner, because Black, with his two Bishops, has the long-term trumps. Furthermore, the e5-square is a superb outpost, courtesy of the extended g5-pawn. This mean that White is forced to play directly. His best would have been 15.Nxc6 Bxc6 16.Bd4 Be5 (other moves are weaker) 17.Bxe5 dxe5 18.Qxd8+ Rxd8 19.Rad1 Ke7 20.Rxd8 Rxd8 21.Rd1 Rd4 22.Kf2 f5 23.Ke3 with a small, but long-term advantage to White, courtesy of the doubled pawns.
15...Ne5! 16.b3
Covering the c4-square, a very normal move.
16...g4 17.f4 h4!
A poisonous little move. White is left having to face an attack by either ...g4-g3 or ...h4-h3. White avoids 18.fxe5? dxe5 since Black advantageously regains the piece. After 18.c4 Black could play 18...g3 19.hxg3 Ng4 with a strong attack.
18.Be3 h3 19.g3 Nc6 20.Qd3 0-0!
Not the first move that comes to mind, but quite logical, because the king-side is closed!
21.Rad1 f5!
A fine strategic move on several counts. Whatever else may happen, the king-side remains locked and that means that Black's King will remains safe, while the h3-pawn means that White's King must remain on the alert. Also, the White minors on e2 and e3 are kept in a passive state.
22.c4
The d6-pawn is poison 22.exf5 exf5 23.Nxc6 Bxc6 24.Qxd6 Qe8 25.Kf2 Qe4 is Black's ideal.
22...Qa5! 23.Nc3?
A mistake. White best move here was 23.Qd2 Qxd2 24.Rxd2. Now Black should be a bit careful and not try to push things too quickly, because after 24...Nxd4 25.Bxd4 e5 he would run into difficulties after 26.Bxe5 dxe5 27.Rxd7 exf4 28.Kf2 to bring the King to e3, and suddenly all Black pawns are weak.
23...Rae8! 24.Rfe1
See diagram.
24...e5!
Admirable consistency. Black is happy to explode the position open to provide chances for the two bishops.
25.Nxc6
Played with great reluctance, as Black's light-squared Bishop finds its best diagonal.
25...Bxc6 26.b4
Desperation. White hopes to salvage his position by 26...Qxb4 27.Nd5 with tempo.
26...Qa3! 27.b5
Trying his best to kick the Bishop off the long diagonal.
27...exf4
This is stronger than 27...fxe4 28.Qxd6 Qxc3 29.bxc6.
28.Bxf4 axb5 29.cxb5 Qc5+! 30.Be3? Qxc3 31.bxc6 Qxc6
After beautiful play, Kasparov has again achieved his ideal. White faces serious threats and is material down as well. Kasparov wraps up the game cleanly.
32.Qxd6 Qxe4 33.Qd5+ Qxd5 34.Rxd5 Bc3 35.Re2 Re4 36.Kf2?
A final mistake that limited the torture to just two more moves. 36.Bd3 would have given White the chance to prolong the fight.
36...Rfe8 37.Rd3 Bf6 38.Red2
White has no safe square for his Rook, for example 38.Re1 Bg5 39.Bd2 Bxd2 40.Rxe4 fxe4 41.Rxd2 e3+ wins, as does; 38.Rc2 Rxe3 39.Rxe3 Bd4.
38...Rxe3
White resigned here. A simply flawless performance by the world's number one. 0-1