Dark horses vie for chess championship

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS - Vladimir Akopian and Alexander Khalifman spent the last week facing one another on a stage in a nearly empty, silent ballroom at Caesars Palace, locked in a battle to become chess' 14th World Champion.

At stake was $660,000 of the $3 million prize fund distributed by the Federation Internationale des Eches and the title of champion in an internationally watched event that has been mired in controversy for years. The loser would get $396,000.

Khalifman led 3-2 going in to today's game and only needed a half point to be named champion. If Akopian were to win the sixth game, the tie-break match would be held Sunday.

The event, which drew 100 chess grandmasters and masters from 52 countries, has lasted for a month with negligible attendance much of the time. Organizers want to make it an event that attracts large crowds, like tennis, but acknowledged that hasn't yet happened.

"Our concept is to change directions. This is one of the oldest games in existence. But it's never been a money maker," said Arnold Ferolito, a federation executive vice president. "Right now, we're being treated like a convention, but in the future this will be an event."

Top chess players have criticized the event, which has changed in style, and contend it promotes inferior chess and a less worthy champion. Several chess players refused to participate after the federation decided the traditional three-year cycle of selecting a challenger to play the reigning champion was outmoded and implemented an elimination knockout-style tournament.

The event, which originally was scheduled for late 1998, was postponed because of various protests by champion Anatoly Karpov, but Emmanuel Omuku, executive director of the federation, said his organization has finally drawn a line in the sand. The federation said it would welcome the participation of Karpov and other top players only if they were willing to abide by the federation's rules.

Shiloh Quinn, Karpov's agent, has announced plans to sue the federation because he believes the champion has a right to defend his title against the winner here. Karpov won the world title in the first federation knockout-style tournament, held in 1997.

He refused to participate when he was seeded into the second round, meaning he would have had to compete with 63 others rather than walking into the six-game final round.

Most of the contestant's here, including top-seed Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Alexey Shirov of Spain, the second seed, and Michael Adams, the English fifth seed, have disagreed with those criticisms.

All said, after they were eliminated, that the winner of this event will be a worthy world champion, since many of the world's elite had competed here.

They also pointed out that the other players had the opportunity to participate here.

Of the entrants, 72 competed in the first round and 28 were seeded into the second round. The six-game final round began Aug. 22, with a tie-breaker to be played Aug. 29 if needed.

The event also has failed to attract much attention in this gambling mecca, where attendance has been negligible since the federation started charging an admission of $10 in the semi-finals.

Khalifman said the poor attendance was OK with him, citing lack of disturbing noise when he was short of time. He was pumped up anyway since the world title was at stake, and he knew that many thousands of fans are following the games live on the Web.

He was not overconfident, however, "during this whole tournament I've been blundering and losing, and then I have to win back my advantage.

Both Khalifman and Akopian were expected to win a match or two, then be eliminated from the monthlong, knockout-style event. Instead, they fought through six grueling matches, upsetting some of the world's best, to earn the right to vie for the title.

Khalifman, a 33-year-old tall, blonde Russian, has taken smoking breaks and paced relentlessly while waiting for his turn. His demeanor is in stark contrast to Akopian, a 27-year-old much shorter and dark Armenian, who can usually be found staring at the board with his head cradled by his hands.

The Russian, ranked 36th, knocked out fourth-seeded Gata Kamsky of the United States and Israel's Boris Gelfand, rated 12th. He also defeated woman sensation, Judit Polgar of Hungary.

Akopian, seeded 31st, eliminated England's Michael Adams and Evgeny Bareev of Russia, both seeded in the top 15.

While Akopian was undefeated through his previous matches, Khalifman was twice on the verge of elimination.

He lost his first game against the unsung Dibyendu Barua of India in round one and again against Kamsky in the next round.

In the initial game of the finals, Khalifman was pleasantly surprised when Akopian uncharacteristically sacrificed one of his pieces for little compensation. The Russian cashed in on his advantage and took the lead.

After a short draw, game three saw the Armenian play an opening series of moves that he has never played before. Khalifman was not well prepared for this novelty.

Akopian gained an advantage which he converted into victory with a wonderful performance in the endgame, evening the match.

Khalifman was better throughout the game as he regained his one game advantage Thursday.

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