Grandmaster Garry Kasparov promotes chess in Singapore
(contributed by Alvin Ong and Christopher Lim)

Following the successful organisation of Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov visit to Singapore on 17 July 2010, the Chess is for Everybody in Singapore (CES) movement organized yet another ambitious, action-packed chess promotion programme on 15 August 2010 with the 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov as the centre piece of attraction.

This is Grandmaster Garry Kasparov’s first visit to Singapore at the invitation of his friends in Singapore and more than 1000 enthusiastic chess fans attended the events which were held at 3 different venues at Thomson Community Club (10am to 11.30am), Conrad Centennial Singapore Hotel (12pm to 2pm) and the Serangoon Gardens Country Club (3pm to 9pm). The events were supported by Hyflux, Quantum Law Corporation, Sea Blue, Cisco Systems USA and Flip Video. The event was also well covered by the local mainstream media and attracted even a renowned photographer, Russel Wong.

First Stop – Thomson Community Club

The Thomson Community Club hall was all ready for Kasparov’s arrival at 10.15am and the crowds started streaming in from 9am onwards. During registration, slips of numbered papers were given to those who came early for a subsequent surprise gift. Specially printed scorebooks commemorating the event were also handed out to those who came.

Response was very encouraging with most of those who had registered turning up as well as many who just turned up on the day itself. As we believe that chess is for everybody, no one was turned away. In all, there were more than 250 people and the hall was fully filled up.

GM Kasparov arrived at 1015hrs, and was met by Mr Wang Mong Lin, as Member of Parliament, Mr Hri Kumar, was not able to attend due to an overrun of his program. Mr Wang is currently the Divisional Director at the National Environment Agency, and is no stranger to chess, having helmed SCF and played a pivotal role in raising sufficient funds for SCF to have their current building at Bishan during his tenure. He is also currently the official International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) delegate representing Singapore.

The crowd stood up to welcome Mr Kasparov as he entered the hall. Mr Sng Jin Poh, the Chairman of the Thomson Community Club Management Committee was also on hand to receive an autographed copy of Kasparov’s “How Life Imitates Chess”.

Things quickly settled down and Kasparov began by explaining how pleased he was to be present in Singapore despite his tight schedule. And without much fanfare, he zoomed into the analysis of his famous game against Bulgarian Grandmaster Veselin Topalov at Wjik Aan Zee in 1999, giving the background that he was not even originally supposed to be playing in that tournament. Despite being a last minute substitute, this was a tournament where he felt that he performed exceptionally well, pulling off a streak of seven victories in a row. Prior to this game, he had won 3 games in a row, and inspired by this win, he went on to win the next 3 games in succession, ending up as the winner of this tournament.

He moved quickly on his analysis of the game, running through the opening moves of a Pirc Defense which Topalov hardly played, and to his knowledge never played again after that game. As he analysed on the computer, the chess position was projected on a large screen for the audience to view and appreciate the intricacies. He also explained that had he opted for a safe game in the opening moves, then this game would have turned out to be totally uneventful and not even be discussed that day even if he had won.

He discussed how the idea of a possible combination came as early as the 18th move when he played Na5, but he never envisaged at that time that Topalov’s King would traverse all the way down from b8 to d1 less than twenty moves later, mostly forced. As the game developed, when it was time to play Rxd4 on the 24th move, it appeared to be a perfectly natural move in line with his plan. All his pieces that had appeared to be un-coordinated and all over the place somehow all came together in the combination.

He also demonstrated various other possible variations which all showed that White had the advantage, although there were moves where Topalov would have had a better game. And whilst this was considered a great game by him, he also showed where he missed a much better continuation that would have been more decisive.

When he completed his analysis, there was little doubt among the audience on why this was rated as one of the best attacking games ever in the annals of chess. The attention was then turned towards the audience during the Q & A sessions about this game as well as any other chess matters.

The drizzle outside not only did not dampen the enthusiastic questions that followed, rather it appeared that the continuous blessings from heaven spurred a likewise steady flow of questions from various members on the floor of all ages and nationalities.

Questions were raised on how he felt when he was 5-0 down in the first world championship match against Anatoly Karpov, and whether he had considered giving up. His very telling response was that he was fighting for his life in every game, taking every game on its own because he could not afford another defeat, and how as the marathon competition progressed, he grew in strength and confidence while Karpov waned. And when it was stopped at 5-3 in Karpov’s favour, the complexion of the game had turned entirely in his favour.
And comparisons were asked if the game of checkers and backgammon could ever be as beautiful as chess. GM Kasparov doubted that checkers could ever be because it could be completely analysed by a computer, whilst backgammon had an element of luck. However, he did highlight that Go was actually more complicated than chess with deep patterns to be recognized.

The questions further drifted towards his views on who would win the next world championship, and the succinct reply was that the competition first needed to be put in order. Kasparov went on to describe the strengths of the current top players, including grandmasters Anand, Carlsen and Kramnik.

As with any good speaker, there just wasn’t sufficient time during the Q & A, which was aptly concluded with a question from the emcee on how GM Kasparov was able to spend time on chess when he was about 13, as the current young chess players in Singapore found it a challenge to juggle with their studies. Perhaps the age mentioned was not too apt, because Kasparov remarked that he had already won 2 Russian junior titles by that age and was already a semi-professional.

With that, Kasparov gave away a set of his chess books to an early comer. It was then announced that all the other early comers would also be entitled to a set of similar books on teaching chess donated by GM Kasparov. As the lucky ones collected their books, we concluded the session at about 1130 am and ferrying him to his next destination at Conrad Centennial Singapore Hotel.

Next Stop – Conrad Centennial Singapore Hotel

At the Conrad Centennial Singapore Hotel, Kasparov was slated to deliver a talk, participate in 2 exhibition blitz matches followed by a book signing session. A crowd of approximately 300 chess and non-chess players eagerly waited with anticipation of Kasparov’s arrival into the ballroom.

The emcee of the day, Mr. Alvin Ong proceeded to give a short introduction of Kasparov and the profile of the 2 Singapore top players, IM Goh Wei Ming and FM Timothy Chan. Incidentally, Wei Ming was previously covered in a report on Chessbase here.

Kasparov addressed the crowd with a short speech where he touched on the topics of the relevance of Chess in life such as responsibility where one has to face the consequences, both good and bad, of the decisions that one make. He also feels that chess should be in the education curriculum and should be made available to as many children as possible.

IM Goh Wei Ming vs GM Garry Kasparov

The exhibition blitz matches commenced thereafter. First up was IM Goh Wei Ming, the Republic’s highest rated home grown, active player. Goh with the white pieces started with 1.e4 to which Kasparov played his favourite Sicilian defence. Both sides developed their pieces quickly and Goh blundered with Bh6 which Kasparov did not play the best move. After some missed opportunities probably due to his fatigue, Kasparov won.

GM Garry Kasparov vs FM Timothy Chan

Next up was FM Timothy Chan who just a couple of weeks ago managed to dominate the National Rapid Championship. Kasparov played the Scotch Game and Chan played well in the opening until he advanced his g pawn too far into enemy’s territory. Kasparov managed to consolidate his White position and won the game.

And so, despite the inevitable jet lag and spending 12 hours on a flight next to a crying baby, Kasparov remained equally relentless as he steamrolled over 2 of Singapore’s top players. The crowd responded with thunderous applause as they managed to witness, and appreciate first hand, the determination, fighting spirit and ruthless streak which we have grown to associate with Garry Kasparov’s games.

A book signing session followed, with the crowd eager to obtain the famous persona’s autograph on their beloved chess books. Here, you can see people of all ages lining up which aptly demonstrates the fact that chess is a popular sport across all walks of life, chess and non chess players alike.

Final Stop – Serangoon Gardens Country Club

The day’s events continued as he was swiftly transferred to the Serangoon Gardens Country Club, Kensington Ballroom, where he would give a 22-board simultaneous chess exhibition. The organisers have prepared a surprise for the World Champion, a “theoretical novelty”, or should I say, “theatrical novelty” which was never seen before in a major chess event.

As Kasparov made his entrance to the playing arena, he was visibly startled by the sudden appearance of a SWAT team, all dressed up with rifles, gas masks and intimidating physiques. The 4 members of the SWAT team proceeded to escort the Champion to his seat, in the midst of the “smoke” created by dry ice, an effect more commonly used in Chinese horror movies or pop idols’ concerts than the appearance of a Chess Champion. Concurrently, a cultural drum beating performance rattled the crowd (and the Champion himself) for approximately 2 minutes. Of course, the organisers have staged everything, including the hiring of 4 Mediacorp actors to act as Kasparov’s bodyguards. A sensational and bizarre welcome for Kasparov and one I’m sure he will not forget in a hurry.

Kasparov appeared dazed but amused with the reception he received and recalled an encounter he experienced in another simultaneous exhibition years ago. Then, with the crowd approximately 4 times the capacity of the Kensington Ballroom and “much less disciplined”, the organisers had to seek the military to escort him in order for him to make his exit. He was also visibly impressed with the enthusiasm of the local chess community, and remarked that it was amazing that both Karpov and Kasparov have visited the same country promoting chess in less than a month.

A final surprise was in store for Kasparov as he proceeded to annihilate his opponents in the simultaneous exhibition. Mr. Jimmy Ng explained that since the Chess King is here in Singapore, it is only fitting if he is paired with a Chess Queen to accompany him to the exhibition tables. And the identity of the Queen? WFM Liu Yang of course, who was accepted by Anatoly Karpov as a disciple in his visit last month.

Before the exhibition simul began, Kasparov surveyed all 22 opponents, scrutinising the names on each board and the player’s Elo which was indicated at the side of the board. One wonders if he was memorising the profile of each player, taking special notice of anyone who might upset his apple cart and deny him of a perfect score. Kasparov’s long time friend and second, Zurab Azmaiparashvili who is based in Singapore as a chess trainer was duly requested to join him in the patrol. Clearly, despite this being a simultaneous match, Kasparov was never going to take it lightly and was intent to win all his games.

True enough, Kasparov crushed all 22 opponents before him within 3 hours with decisive, and at times, immensely powerful play. Here are some highlights:

After the exhibition, a 40-minute press conference was held followed by a dinner which was attended by over 200 people. Midway through the dinner, Kasparov gave a talk based on his book “How life imitates Chess”, a book that according to Kasparov has been translated into 20 different languages. Kasparov emphasised that life is much more complicated than the game of chess but there are certain concepts and principles that one can relate to in life. For example, one of the most important things that Kasparov learnt from the game is his objectivity. By acknowledging one’s strengths and weaknesses, a person can then work on ways to capitalize on his strengths, and making his weaknesses less obvious.

Visibly tired but with his usual charm and grace, Kasparov sportingly continued to sign autographs and take pictures with his adoring fans. Kasparov then left in the same whirl-wind manner of his arrival by taking the 1105pm flight back to Europe where he rejoins his family for a much needed holiday. His stay has been short but clearly, it will be a long time before the fans of the royal game forget what has been a memorable day.

Singapore chess fans will remember this day for a very long time. A chess parent Mr Tan agreed, “I am sure that my son will remember this unique and special event for a lifetime. How often does an 11 year old get a chance to come face to face with a world champion in the game that he loves? This is a great success by CES for bringing a world level event to the common Singaporean chess player and fan”.

About the contributors

Alvin Ong is a co-founder of CES, a social chess player and has a FIDE rating of 2231. He works for a major healthcare group in Singapore. (email: aongsw@gmail.com)

Christopher Lim is an active chess volunteer and has been an arbiter in several local chess tournaments. He works for a major IT services company in Singapore. (email: chesslim@singnet.com.sg)

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar