chess

Last year, during the Chess Olympics in Moscow, a deal was struck - though the full details have never been made clear - to solve the great rift caused by the formation of the PCA (Professional Chess Association) and its own world championship cycle running in parallel with the official version of the International Chess Federation (Fide).

The world's best player, Garry Kasparov of the PCA, and the most enduring chess politician, Florencio Campomanes, the President of Fide, ended their long feud with a plan to unite the two world titles. Kasparov, once Campomanes's most virulent critic, amazingly supported his re-election as President, and peace broke out.

But the repercussions of that deal are causing justifiable acrimony. Anatoly Karpov and Gata Kamsky, who are supposed to be playing for the Fide title later this year, have written a furious letter to Campomanes demanding to know why he has not yet invited bids for the match. They fear that Campo has effectively ditched them and changed sides. The sudden outbreak of peace looks as divisive as the war before it.

It would be a great pity if the Kamsky-Karpov match does not go ahead. Kamsky will certainly be one of the major players of the next decade, and Karpov is still a magnificent contestant, as the following game from last year's Tilburg tournament shows. While 29.Bxf7+! and 30.Neg5! was brilliantly destructive, it's 14.Rfe1! that is the most impressive move. How did he know that the e-file would be the place for his rooks?

White: A Karpov

Black: K Georgiev

Queen's Gambit Declined.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bh4 0-0 7 e3 b6 8 Be2 Bb7 9 Bxf6 Bxf6 10 cxd5 exd5 11 b4 c6 12 0-0 Qd6 13 Qb3 Nd7 14 Rfe1 Be7 15 Rab1 a5 16 bxa5 Rxa5 17 a4 Re8 18 Bf1 Bf8 19 Qc2 g6 20 e4 dxe4 21 Nxe4 Qf4 22 Bc4 Bg7 23 Re2 c5 24 d5 Raa8 25 Rbe1 Rad8 26 Qb3 Ba8 27 g3 Qb8 28 d6 Rf8 29 Bxf7+ Rxf7 30 Neg5 hxg5 31 Nxg5 Rdf8 32 Re8! Qxd6 33 Qxf7+ Kh8 34 Ne6 Black resigned.

In yesterday's chess diagram, the piece on b8 should have been a white king. We apologise for any confusion.