Date:	   Thu, 10 Mar 2005 
Subject: BREAKING NEWS from the world of chess


Hello chess friends,

Today featured two shocking developments in the world of chess.  

The first was seeing world #1 Garry Kasparov violate principles of chess that most 1600 players
should understand: trading into a king and pawn endgame while down a pawn.  It wasn't so simple
since the extra pawn was doubled, but for a Grandmaster is should have been obvious.  Kasparov
certainly had at least one other move (21... Qd8 intending to go Qb6) that equalized, but instead
he chose to trade queens and rooks.  His opponent, Veselin Topalov, was no weakie (rated #3 in the
world behind Kasparov and Anand, but ahead of Kramnik).  Yet I'm sure he was as shocked as all the
GMs watching the game (from the Linares super tournament) live this morning on ICC.  Kasparov and
Topalov ended the Linares tournament tied for first.

[Event "Linares"]
[Site "Linares, Spain"]
[Date "2005.03.10"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[Opening "Sicilian defense: anti-Sveshnikov"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 d6 5. d3 Be7 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nh4 Nd4 8.
g3 Bg4 9. f3 Be6 10. Bg5 Ng8 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. f4 exf4 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14.
Rxf4 Kd7 15. Nf3 Rf8 16. Rxf8 Qxf8 17. Nxd4 cxd4 18. Ne2 Qf6 19. c3 Rf8 20.
Nxd4 Nc6 21. Qf1 Qxf1+ 22. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Nxd4 24. cxd4 d5 25. Kf2 Ke7
26. Kf3 Kf6 27. h4 g6 28. b4 b5 29. Kf4 h6 30. Kg4 1-0

The second development is so stunning that I will merely copy and paste the headline from
www.chessbase.com:  (now confirmed by This Week in Chess)

BREAKING NEWS: Kasparov retires from professional chess
10.03.2005 The winner of Linares and the world's strongest chessplayer, Garry Kasparov, has just
announced his retirement from professional chess. His games in Linares are the last in his
professional career, that has spanned thirty years, with twenty on the top of the ratings list.
Full details to follow.

Say it ain't so.  I don't think anyone believes it yet.  Will Kasparov unretire like Michael
Jordan?  Does this mean he will never play against World Champion Vladimir Kramnik again?  The
only thing for sure is that Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov are now #1 and #2 in the world,
merely a couple of points apart.  Kramnik is currently #3.  Kasparov leaves behind a power vacuum
since he rose to the #1 ranking of the world in 1985.  That's 20 years ago!

Michael