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The might of the
Russians take on the Rest of the World again. Russia (then USSR)
which won the earlier encounters in 1970 (Belgrade) and 1984
(London) has a formidable lineup with four world champions, Gary
Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Anatoly Karpov, Alexander Khalifman...but
strike three won't be easy with Vishy Anand leading the Rest of the
World!
The match was
announced at a press conference by "ITAR-TASS" and
attended by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Garry Kasparov. It
is likely to take place from September 8th to 12th, 2002 and would
be played on ten boards.
The Lineup:
|
Russia
|
Rest of
the World
|
Country |
|
Gary
Kasparov
|
Viswanathan
Anand
|
India
|
|
Vladimir Kramnik
|
Ruslan
Ponomariov
|
Ukraine
|
|
Anatoly Karpov
|
Veselin
Topalov
|
Bulgaria
|
|
Alexander
Khalifman
|
Vassily
Ivanchuk
|
Ukraine
|
|
Alexander
Morozevich
|
Boris
Gelfand
|
Israel
|
|
Evgeny
Bareev
|
Peter Leko
|
Hungary
|
|
Alexander
Grischuk
|
Alexei
Shirov
|
Spain
|
|
Peter
Svidler
|
Judit Polgar
|
Hungary
|
|
Alexy Dreev
|
Ye
Jiangchuan
|
China
|
|
Sergey
Rublevsky
|
Illia Smirin
|
Israel
|
|
Vadim
Zvjaginstev
|
Vladimir
Akopian
|
Armenia
|
|
Alexander
Motylev
|
Zurab
Azmaiparashvilli
|
Georgia
|
Joel Lautier
(France), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), Nigel Short (Britain)
and Loek van Wely (Netherlands) are other likely candidates for the
Rest of the World team.
Top board match
provides additional interest with Vishy Anand having another
opportunity to go at Gary Kasparov. In the 1970 match, Bobby Fischer
surprisingly gave up his claim for the first board to Bent Larsen
and played against against Petrosian, whom he beat 3-1. Perhaps he
wanted the tension to build until their famous 1972 World
Championship encounter! The USSR team which had five world champions
(Botvinnik, Tal, Smyslov, Petrosian and Spassky) won 20.5-19.5, just
by a point margin, but lost all top four boards.
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