Second seed shocked as big guns roll out in Chess Championship

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - The second seed, Alexei Shirov of Spain, was upset with white as the 28 top-seeded players jumped into action for the first time when the second round of the World Chess Championships began Tuesday.

They joined the 36 players who had qualified in the previous round of this month-long tournament at Caesars Palace hotel-casino here. The seven-round event will distribute $3 million in prizes with the winner receiving $660,000 and the title of World Champion.

The international chess federation ranks the players according to ratings that are based on player performance. These ratings begin at 2000. Most grandmasters are rated 2550 or higher, while anyone over 2700 is regarded as a superstar. Seven of the contestants here are over the 2700 plateau.

Garry Kasparov, the former World Champion, who still claims to be champion, is the only player in the world rated over 2800. Bobby Fischer's rating was 2780 when he retired after winning the championship in 1972.

Shirov at 2734 was a huge favorite over Ivan Sokolov of Bosnia-Herzegovina, who had never beaten him. Since white moves first, it has a significant advantage at this level. Shirov must win with black in game two of this round on Wednesday or go home.

Fifteen-year-old Ruslan Ponomariev of the Ukraine, the youngest player in the field, also produced a shocker when be bested the ninth seed, Veselin Topolov of Bulgaria.

At the other end of the spectrum, 68-year-old Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland, jumped off to a fast start with a victory over Sergey Dolmatov of Russia. Since chess players are generally considered to be well past their prime at 45, Korchnoi's qualification for this tourney as 17th seed is remarkable.

Judit Polger of Hungary, the only woman remaining in the field, smashed Peter Nielsen of Denmark, as expected. Polgar, who turned 23 last month, has been the strongest female player in the world for many years.

Anthony Miles of England managed an upset with the black pieces, besting Michael Krasenkow of Poland. Karen Asrian of Armenia surprised Matthew Sadler of England.

Gata Kamsky of the United States, the fourth seed at 2720, also won his first game. Kamsky, who lost a match to Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship in 1996, retired to attend medical school and has not played recently.

Among the other 2700 players, Vassily Ivanchuk of the Ukraine, Michael Adams of England, and Boris Gelfand of Israel won as expected. Top-seed Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and 19 year old Peter Leko of Hungary were held to draws. Both played black.

The three other players rated over 2700 declined to participate here. Kasparov and the current champion, Karpov are involved in disputes with the federation, while Viswanathan Anand of India is committed to playing Kasparov for his version of the championship this autumn.

In action earlier Tuesday, Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland became the final qualifier when he bested Vadim Milov of Switzerland in the second set of their delayed playoff match.

The score of Round 2, Game 1 between Shirov, playing white, and Sokolov game:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.00 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 00 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.h3 Be6 13.a3 Bf6 14.Ne4 Bf5 15.Qb3 Nb6 16.d5 Bxe4 17.Bxe4 Ne7 18.Be3 Nec8 19.Rac1 Nd6 20.Bb1 Qd7 21.Rc5 g6 22.Rec1 Rac8 23.Nd4 a6 24.Ba2 Rfe8 25.Qd3 Ne4 26.Ra5 Qd6 27.b4 Be5 28.Nf3 Bb2 29.Rc2 Bg7 30.Bc5 Qd7 31.Bb3 Rcd8 32.Be3 Qd6 33.Rac5 Rd7 34.Nd2 Nf6 35.Nc4 Nxc4 36.Bxc4 Ne4 37.Ra5 Rde7 38.Bb3 Be5 39.Ba4 Bh2+ 40.Kf1 Ng3+ 41.Ke1 b5 42.Rc6 Qe5 43.d6 cxd6 44.Rcxa6 Nf5 45.Bxb5 Nxe3 46.Bxe8 Qa1+ 47.Kd2 Qb2+ 01