FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 1999
Press Release #5
DO OR DIE IN ROUND 1 OF THE 1999 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
On Sunday, August 1, 100 of the best chessplayers in the world played their second games in Round 1 of the 1999 World Chess Championship. Those players who lost their first games yesterday had their backs to the wall today, facing elimination.
The month-long World Chess Championship, with a $3 million prize fund, is being held in the luxurious Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. The event is sponsored by the World Chess Federation, known as FIDE.
Nine Americans are playing in Las Vegas, with mixed results so far. Boris Gulko won today and will advance to Round 2. U.S. Champion Nick deFirmian lost today and was eliminated. Suffering the same fate were Alexander Ivanov and Sergey Kudrin.
Several Americans—Joel Benjamin, Dimitry Gurevich, local favorite Tal Shaked of Arizona, and Alex Yermolinsky (also known as "The Yerminator")—are tied with their opponents 1-1 after the first two games. They will play tiebreak games on Monday.
The other U.S. participant, Gata Kamsky, is seeded straight through to Round 2 because of his high rating. But Kamsky is an unknown quantity, because he has not played in recent years while studying medicine.
Perhaps the most tragicomic game today was played by veteran Tony Miles of England against young Rolf Akesson of Sweden. Miles had to win today, and made a fine positional sacrifice to achieve a winning position. Then Akesson "swindled" Miles with a tricky move, and it looked like Miles would be eliminated. But the dogged Miles fought on, finally trapping his young opponent. The two will play a tiebreak match on Monday to determine which one advances to Round 2.
The exciting chess games in Las Vegas are being broadcast live on the Internet. Chess fans around the world are following the moves at the U.S. Chess Federation Web site, uschess.org.
The top seeds in the World Chess Championship are Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Alexei Shirov of Spain. Both of these players, like the American Kamsky, are seeded directly into Round 2.
CONTACT: Timothy Hanke, Press Officer for the World Chess Championship, at 702-697-5800. Or call Caesars Palace at 702-731-7110, and ask for extensions 5913 through 5927.