December Throwback #2: World Championship: Editor's Notebook

CLO is combing through its archives to bring readers blasts from the past this holiday season. Look for throwback articles throughout December.

December Throwback #2: In this report from November 12, 2016, Daniel Lucas, then-Chess Life editor and current Senior Director of Strategic Communication, reported on the sights and events surrounding the first World Championship match to be held in the U.S. in 21 years. While the world has changed drastically since this report appeared, the palpable excitement surrounding a world championship remains the same.

 

Chess Life editor Daniel Lucas reports on the sights and events surrounding the first World Championship match to be held in the U.S. in 21 years. Also see Vanessa West’s preview and for viewing options,  Ian Rogers’ “Couch Potato Guide.”

The Fulton Fish Market opened in 1822 on the site of the current South Street Seaport in New York City. The market moved to the Bronx in 2005, leaving the Seaport to reinvent itself as a prime Manhattan tourist destination and now host location for the World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin. No fish smell, either literal or (“chessically”) figurative, will mar this match.

This is the first World Championship match in the U.S. since the 1995 Kasparov-Anand match held at the top of the former World Trade Center (there was a FIDE World Championship in Las Vegas in 1999, but that was a knockout event, not a classical world championship match).

From the Seaport, you can see the new 1776-foot-tall 1 World Trade Center tower standing just to the side of where the former twin towers once did. When the Seaport was in it’s prime as a working market and port, the first World Championship match was being held 130 years ago in 1886 at 80 Fifth Avenue further north on Manhattan island, between 49-year-old Wilhelm Steinitz and 43-year-old Johannes Zukertort. Steinitz won 10-5. The current match will be decided in 12 games, with the first to 6.5 winning.

Everything kicked off on Thursday, November 10 with a press conference that featured the usual official platitudes and some attempts by the assembled world chess press, and some mainstream media outlets, to generate useable copy such as: Press: Who is the best player in the world right now? Carlsen: “That’s going to be decided in the next couple of weeks. But if I may be so bold, right now, I am.” (Editorial comment: Well, he is the World Champion, so, “Yawn.”) Press: How embarrassing is it for FIDE that their president could not enter the U.S. for this match? Israel Gelfer, FIDE VP: “We know there is a case between U.S. and the FIDE President, but this isn’t the time to discuss this.” (Editorial comment: “Yawn.”)

Press: What is your opponent’s best quality? Carlsen: “Sergey is very well prepared. He is extremely resilient in defense.” (Editorial comment: “Yawn.”) Press (To Carlsen): There was a report that Microsoft was helping you defend against possible Russian hacking into your preparation. Carlsen: “The fear of hacking--that was not the word from me or anyone on my team. I don’t fear that Sergey is hacking me.” (Editorial comment: At least it is somewhat newsworthy that the champ denies his camp made the hacking claims as reported in various outlets.)

Champ, Challenger, Chess Life

Mentioned many times on media day is that this is the youngest championship ever, with the players’ combined ages adding up to 51 (Steinitz-Zukertort combined ages: 92; Kasparov-Anand 1995 combined ages: 57). Magnus is 25 (turning 26 on the last scheduled match day) and Sergey is 26. Since they are so young it hasn’t been so long since they made their first appearances in Chess Life magazine.

In the May 2004 issue, FM Aviv Friedman, reporting from Wijk aan Zee, wrote, “If there was a prize for the player who left the best impression in the festival, it would go with overwhelming consensus to 13-year-old IM Magnus Carlsen. I saw him two year ago in Oslo--a small, unassuming kid who as I was told by friends was taking chess very seriously, attending GM Simen Agdestein’s chess school and is considered a great promise. Since then he got his IM title, became known in the chess circuits, got sponsorship from Microsoft Norway. During Corus he was in the midst of a sabbatical year (with his entire family) in pursuit of playing in as many strong chess events as he could. “His performance and level in Wijk aan Zee were nothing short of amazing. Like a hot fire in a thorn field the young Norwegian scorched through his field in the GM C group mercilessly. Projecting the calm of an experienced player, innocent-looking Magnus collected point after point winning nine games and losing only one.” This game was included, which Friedman labeled “A brilliant performance!”

[pgn] [Event "Corus Group C"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2004.01.24"] [White "Magnus Carlsen"] [Black "Sipke Ernst"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B19"] [WhiteElo "2484"] [BlackElo "2474"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2004.01.10"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Ngf6 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Ne4 Qa5 14. Kb1 O-O 15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Ne5 Rad8 17. Qe2 c5 18. Ng6 fxg6 19. Qxe6+ Kh8 20. hxg6 Ng8 21. Bxh6 gxh6 22. Rxh6+ Nxh6 23. Qxe7 Nf7 24. gxf7 Kg7 25. Rd3 Rd6 26. Rg3+ Rg6 27. Qe5+ Kxf7 28. Qf5+ Rf6 29. Qd7# 1-0[/pgn]

Sergey Karjakin, who holds the record as youngest GM ever by earning the title at age 12 years, 7 months, made his first appearance in US Chess’ flagship publication in the January 2005 issue. Current US Chess News editor Jennifer Shahade wrote of the now-challenger in her Olympiad report: “A star on the Ukrainian team was the 14-year-old prodigy Sergei Karjakin (editor’s note: Karjakin adopted Russian citizenship in 2009). Karjakin was benched for most of the beginning of the tournament, and could often be found around town, dancing and socializing with players twice his age. When they started to play him, he won game after game, and after each victory, he walked around the tournament grinning ear to ear. Sergei ended with 6 ½-7, earning the sixth-board gold medal. The teenaged prodigy likes Eminem and winning, and doesn’t care much if it’s in the endgame or in a wild attack, although he did tell me the following game was his favorite:”

[pgn] [Event "Calvia ol (Men)"] [Site "Mallorca"] [Date "2004.10.26"] [White "Quesada Perez, Yuniesky"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2513"] [BlackElo "2576"] [PlyCount "142"] [EventDate "2004.10.15"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "14"] [EventCountry "ESP"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2005.01.27"] [WhiteTeam "Cuba"] [BlackTeam "Ukraine"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CUB"] [BlackTeamCountry "UKR"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O Nb6 11. Qf2 Nc4 12. Bxc4 bxc4 13. Nc5 Be7 14. N5a4 Rb8 15. Nb6 O-O 16. Kb1 Rb7 17. Ncd5 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Rb5 19. Bb6 Qd7 20. a4 Rxd5 21. exd5 Bf5 22. g4 Bg6 23. f4 exf4 24. Rhe1 Bf6 25. g5 Bxg5 26. Bd4 Qxa4 27. Rg1 Bf6 28. Bxf6 gxf6 29. Qd2 Rb8 30. Qc3 Rb5 31. Rd2 f3 32. h4 Ra5 33. Qa3 Qxa3 34. bxa3 Kf8 35. Rd4 Rxa3 36. Rxc4 Re3 37. Rf1 Be4 38. Kc1 f5 39. Rf2 Ke7 40. Ra4 Bxd5 41. Kd2 Re5 42. Rxa6 Be4 43. c4 Rc5 44. Ra4 Kf6 45. Ke3 Ke5 46. Rd2 h5 47. Kf2 Rc8 48. Ke3 Rc6 49. Ra5+ Ke6 50. Ra4 Rc8 51. Ra6 Rxc4 52. Raxd6+ Ke5 53. Ra6 Rc3+ 54. Kf2 Rc1 55. Rh6 Rh1 56. Kg3 f4+ 57. Kf2 Rh2+ 58. Ke1 Rxh4 59. Rh8 Kf5 60. Rg8 Kf6 61. Kf2 Rg4 62. Re8 Kf5 63. Rf8 f6 64. Rh8 Rg5 65. Rh6 Rg2+ 66. Ke1 Rxd2 67. Kxd2 Kg4 68. Rh8 Kg3 69. Rg8+ Kf2 70. Rh8 h4 71. Rxh4 Kg3 0-1[/pgn]

Trumpowsky

As game one got underway, there was some mild buzz in the media center about Carlsen’s choice of the Trompowsky, wondering if this was the champ’s sly nod to the Presidential election three days ago, an event that is seemingly keeping any coverage of the championship buried in mainstream media outlets.  Carlsen was nonplussed by the second raising of this question at the round-one press conference following his draw, telling the media, “If I had known how many questions I would get, I would have played something else.” His response suggests he just wanted to play the Trompowsky on its own merits.

[pgn] [Event "Carlsen - Karjakin World Chess Champions"] [Site "New York NY USA"] [Date "2016.11.11"] [White "Magnus Carlsen"] [Black "Sergey Karjakin"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A45"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2016.11.11"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Bb5 e6 7. c4 dxc4 8. Nd2 Bxc5 9. Ngf3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Rc1 Be7 12. Qc2 Bd7 13. Bxd7 Qxd7 14. Qc3 Qd5 15. Nxc4 Nxc4 16. Qxc4 Qxc4 17. Rxc4 Rfc8 18. Rfc1 Rxc4 19. Rxc4 Rd8 20. g3 Rd7 21. Kf1 f5 22. Ke2 Bf6 23. b3 Kf8 24. h3 h6 25. Ne1 Ke7 26. Nd3 Kd8 27. f4 h5 28. a4 Rd5 29. Nc5 b6 30. Na6 Be7 31. Nb8 a5 32. Nc6+ Ke8 33. Ne5 Bc5 34. Rc3 Ke7 35. Rd3 Rxd3 36. Kxd3 f6 37. Nc6+ Kd6 38. Nd4 Kd5 39. Nb5 Kc6 40. Nd4+ Kd6 41. Nb5+ Kd7 42. Nd4 Kd6 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

President-elect Trump certainly looms large at this event. The night before the first game an Opening Gala was held at the Plaza Hotel, just a few blocks from Trump Tower where a large anti-Trump rally was being held. (And the Plaza Hotel was owned by Trump from 1988-1995.)

The “Trumpkowsky” questions were at least partly fueled by the memory of  October 10, when Trump raised the ire of the U.S. chess community with his statement about trade pacts: "... you can't terminate -- there's too many people, you go crazy. It's like you have to be a grand chess master. And we don't have any of them." Of course, the U.S. has 90 grandmasters. The December Chess Life will have more on the Trump/American chess connection in an article by GM Pal Benko.

The gala was hosted by Entourage star Adrian Grenier. The color selection ceremony for game one took place, with Carlsen getting white for the first game. Hollywood A-lister Woody Harrelson made the actual ceremonial first move for game one the next day. The organizers have promised that every game will feature a first move made by someone that will vary from celebrities to representatives of nonprofit organizations of note.  

US Chess was well-represented at the gala, with Executive Director Jean Hoffman in attendance, along with Executive Board member Anjelina Belakovskaia and Director of National Events Francisco Guadalupe, who is doing double duty as Deputy Chief Arbiter for the Championship. Another attendee was FIDE Vice President Beatriz Marinello, a former US Chess President.

Chess Life’s first editor (when it went to a magazine format from a newspaper one) Dr. Frank Brady attended, as well as our two longest-serving columnists, GM Andy Soltis and Bruce Pandolfini. GM Lev Alburt, our “Back to Basics” columnist and former US Chess Executive Director Al Lawrence, whose column “Faces Across the Board” appears on our “First Moves” page each month, rounded out the Chess Life attendees.

  Round two will be played Saturday, November 12 with Sunday the 13th as a rest day. Keep checking uschess.org and the official championship site worldchess.com for more on the 2016 World Championship.