FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 1999
Press Release #15
JUDITH POLGAR REACHES QUARTERFINALS OF WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
No one was more dominating than Hungarian Judith Polgar during today's matches at the World Chess Championship in Las Vegas. Polgar, 23, the world's top-ranked female chessplayer, defeated Russian Vadim Zvjaginsev 2-0 in quick-play tiebreak games to reach the quarterfinals. The Russian refused to blame his defeat on exhaustion after two weeks of intense mental competition at Caesars Palace: "She just outplayed me."It was a tough day for Russians as Michael Adams of England beat Alexey Dreev by the same 2-0 score. Adams, 27, showed his iron nerves during the first game. The roof seemed to be falling in on his position, but Adams coolly defended against Dreev's vicious attack. The Englishman relentlessly forced back the opponent's pieces, pulled a knight fork out of his hat, and with seconds left on his clock won the endgame.
In a sensational collapse, Vassily Ivanchuk of the Ukraine committed hara-kiri by losing a piece after only a few moves against obscure Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania. Ivanchuk, despite his reputation for bad nerves, was a prohibitive favorite in the match.
Young and unheralded Sergei Movsesian, 20, of the Czech Republic, beat Bulgarian Alexei Fedorov by a 2-0 score. Movsesian almost didn't reach today's tiebreak stage. In yesterday's regulation game he had "a resignable position" against Fedorov, and confessed afterward that he had already mentally packed his bags and booked a flight home. But Fedorov bungled the win and paid for it today.
Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, the #1 seed, survived a shaky tiebreak match today against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.
Other qualifiers for the quarterfinals are Vladimir Akopian of Armenia, Alexander Khalifman of Russia, and Alexei Shirov of Spain.
The World Chess Championship is sponsored by the World Chess Federation, known as FIDE. The prize fund is $3 million, with the winner getting $660,000.
Chess fans around the globe are following the moves live on the U.S. Chess Federation Web site, uschess.org.
CONTACT: Timothy Hanke, Press Officer for the World Chess Championship, at 702-731-7110, extensions 5913 through 5927.