Games chess

It has not been a good week for Garry Kasparov. He finished equal third in Linares, he was fined by the sponsor for agreeing draws too quickly, and finally - but by no means least - severe cracks have begun to appear in his plans for a defence of "his" world title.

After breaking away from Fide (the International Chess Federation) in 1993, Kasparov held two world title matches under the auspices of his own organisation, the PCA. Now the PCA seems to have faded away, and Kasparov has proposed a competition to be run by a new organisation, the WCC. The plan was for a match between the second- and third-ranked players in the world, Anand and Kramnik, to play a match for the right to challenge Kasparov.

Anand, however, is reported to be unlikely to agree. First, he is said to be unhappy with Kasparov's hand-picking his challengers; second, he may be under a legal obligation to Fide not to compete in a rival world championship. He has until the end of this month to reach a decision.

Meanwhile, an event even older than the world championship took place last weekend. The annual Oxford-Cambridge match is the world's oldest regular chess fixture. It began in 1873 and apart from the war years has continued ever since. This year Oxford ended a run of four Cambridge wins with a 5-3 victory. Here is their win on second board.

White: Jonathan Rowson

Black: Bryan Kelly

1 e4 c5 21 gxf7+ Kh8

2 Nf3 e6 22 Bd4 Qh6+

3 d4 cxd4 23 Kb1 Bf6

4 Nxd4 Nc6 24 Rg3 Qf6

5 Nc3 d6 25 Qb4 Rfd8

6 Be3 a6 26 Rgd3 Qh4

7 Qd2 Nf6 27 Rg3 Qf6

8 0-0-0 Be7 28 Rdg1 g6

9 f4 0-0 29 h4 Kxh7

10 Be2 Bd7 30 h5 Rg8

11 g4 Nxd4 31 Rg5 Kh6

12 Qxd4 Bc6 32 e5 dxe5

13 g5 Nd7 33 Qh4 Kg7

14 Rhg1 e5 34 hxg6 fxg6

15 fxe5 Nxe5 35 Ne4 Bxe4

16 Rg3 Rc8 36 Qxe4 Kf8

17 Bc4 Nxc4 37 Rxe5 Rd8

18 Qxc4 b5 38 Qb4+ Qd6

19 Qb3 Qd7 39 Rf1+ Kg7

20 g6 Qe6 40 Re7+ resigns