John Henderson's final Online report from Linares 2001

IN typical Arnie Schwarzenegger style, he's back! Garry Kasparov is back to his brilliant best (well, at least that's what he told us during the press conference!) with a spectacular win in Linares.

As expected without the opposition of his main rivals Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik in the top Spanish tournament, the world number one dominated the event to finish on a spectacular +5 score of 7.5/10, in the process taking his sixth outright Linares title (or seventh, depending on how you look at it!). In comparison, there was a logjam involving the rest of the field who came equal last (or second, depending on how you look at it!) with a -1 score of 4.5/10.

After the play was over, it was the turn of the talking and the trophy giving with four press conferences and a prize giving ceremony to get through – and all one after the other! Honestly, don't they know that we journalists like a bit of peace and quiet?

Bubbly and full of life as ever, Judit Polgar was first up and breezed through her press conference with a happy-go-lucky-attitude, despite the fact that she came so very close to scoring one of the best scores ever achieved by a female player against such strong opposition.

Polgar had her best result in some time here in Linares. She was the only player to draw with Kasparov in both their games, something she had never managed to do previously in her career. Her seventh round game with Kasparov was voted by the press corps in Linares as the best game of the tournament. Is married life treating her, and chess, well? "Yes, maybe. I'm happy just now. Happy in my private life and happy with my chess." She admitted that a "special goal" of hers was not to lose to Kasparov again. Was there a new maturity in her play? "Yes. I feel my game matured more when I broke my losing streak against Anand and Kramnik - now I can also add Kasparov!" Asked about her ambitions, she responded, "Limits are in your head. I can't think of a world championship yet, but reaching the top ten is a very realistic goal. I deserve more in the game. It should be within my power to reach 2700 – but sometimes I just go crazy and lose rating point!"

Like the illustrious pair that followed her, she too was critical of FIDE, especially of its efforts to gain status as an Olympic sport, which would require the desegregation of men and women's events. She doubted it would ever happen. "I laughed when I first heard of this crazy scheme. FIDE says a lot of things but few things happen in reality. The only practical effect of this would be to put me out of business."

Next on show was former world champion Anatoly Karpov. The games that attracted the most attention were Kasparov's game against his old rival Karpov. They have now faced each other 173 times over the last twenty years. Kasparov has won thirty games, Karpov twenty, and they have drawn 123 times.

Some have speculated that this might be their last contest since Karpov, who turns fifty in May, has slipped from the ranks of the elite. But he refused to attribute his minus score to his age but instead to the fact "I have less time for chess because I have other obligations in my life." He was hinting here at the fact at his recent appointment as Youth Ambassador for the UN and being President of the Peace Foundation, a major Russian charity.

Asked about his relationship now with Kasparov, Karpov praised his play but refused to comment further, except to say with a smile on his face, "Even in the worst times we shook hands." But he had to admit that his old foe Kasparov was on good form in the tournament. "He played well. He deserved to win."

You know what it's like to lose a world title crown. And how do you think Kasparov is reacting to losing his crown? "He's baring up well - remarkable well! He seems to have adjusted to the situation much better than I did!"

"Those so-called K-K matches for the title were the biggest misery I had in my life – especially the disappointment of losing in Seville. But, you know, despite our history, there's still a lot of fight in our battles - it's still a big fight in the eyes of the media."

And what about the present world championship? Is it the only system we've got now, or should we look at improving it? "We have to scrap the present system. It doesn't do the players any good and it certainly doesn't do the game any good.

"The World Championship title is one that should be played in a serious manner, and not one that's played over 2, 4 or 6 games. These are not world championship matches. We need to get back to reality - back to basics. Perhaps not the 24 games that Kasparov and myself played over, but maybe 14-18 games. This would be acceptable.

"There's also no point in having 100 players playing for the World Championship. We know that there are only ten or so players out there that should contest the crown. It would be more practical if we had a sort of old-fashioned Candidates system to sort the mess out."

With a big sideswipe at the organisation that had done so much to protect him, Karpov then began lashing out out at FIDE, saying it was in the worst shape than he had seen it in thirty years. "FIDE is very badly organized now. It's not serious. We need a change. Serious European chess federations should break away and form a new federation." Karpov also accused FIDE of deliberately "robbing" him of twenty rating points by rating one poor result twice on the latest list. This, says Karpov, was done on the eve of his recent court case with FIDE so that the governing body could show that he was no longer one of the world's top players.

Then it was the one we were all waiting for: the Beast of Baku himself, Garry Kasparov! In a typical forthright manner, GK didn't need to be asked how he felt his tournament had gone – he told us! "I played well!" The tournament got off to a slow start when all nine games in the first three rounds were drawn, but then, as Kasparov put it, "I got a friendly wind in my sails and the rest was nearly automatic."

It was at this point when someone asked how felt by winning his sixth Linares title, Kasparov quickly corrected this with an answer that at least got the ball rolling with some laughter: "Actually, I've won seven – last year I gifted Kramnik his first title. I'm telling you, I won't make that mistake again in a hurry!"

Linares was seriously weakened without the likes of Anand and Kramnik. Kasparov used the moment to accuse both of ducking him, as they seem to have "a joint policy of avoiding tournaments" that he plays in. He indicated that he planned to play in an elite tournament currently being put together in Kazakhstan in late May-through June, when there is nothing else on the chess calendar. "It's being organised directly by the country's president in order to celebrate an anniversary, so there's serious money involved and invitations will be going out shortly to the top-ten. I'm curious to know what private plans Anand and Kramnik come up with for that time."

The questions quickly came round again to his one time "perpetual opponent", Karpov. How does he get on with his old foe now? "We have levelled relations. It's not warm but it's getting better since we're no longer rivals." Kasparov had to have a wry laugh to himself when we told him what Karpov had said about the organisation that once propped him up, FIDE. "I'm glad to see I haven't wasted my life! No player ever benefited from FIDE as much as Karpov. It's very significant that even he recognizes the need for change. But I'm not sure that another coup d'état would be helpful right now."

"We know that the world of chess is infected by some diseased people but they are not properly opposed. Chess is full of cowards and dirt." He was, of course, referring to FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is also the president of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia. Ilyumzhinov, who also owns much of Kalmykia's wealth, has poured millions of dollars of unknown origin in promoting the FIDE championships. "Ilyumzhinov could emerge only in the world of chess," said Kasparov said. "No corporate sponsor will enter chess if the situation doesn't change. Believe me, I know how big business works. And they will not be interested in sponsoring chess with the grouping we have in control of the game."

He absolutely rejected the idea of negotiating with FIDE or of participating in the FIDE world championship. "The only way for me to regain the championship is to beat Kramnik – in my eyes he's the only legitimate title holder. If he's unwilling to play me, there's nothing I can do about it. If you guys [Does he mean us? I think he does!] believe it has to be played, you have to write about it.

"It's up to Kramnik either to restore this historic tradition [of a world championship] or kill it. The title he won from me is not stamped by FIDE or any international organization, but recognized by the chess public. It will only survive if it's still recognized." He added that the idea of a rematch with Kramnik, whilst perhaps good for the game (and not to mention yourself Garry, eh?), is "not popular among top players".

"They're still fighting the shadow of Garry Kasparov. It's not me they should be fighting. Instead they should be working to improve the situation of chess worldwide," which he described as very difficult and dangerous at the moment. Evoking the memory of President John F Kennedy, he said it was time for more players to stand up and "ask not what they can get out of chess, but what can they do to improve our game."

Inevitable we moved on to the Shirov question. And Kasparov's demanded of an apology from the lapsed Latvian after his accusation that his match with Kramnik was "fixed". "I would accept even the softest form of apology or retraction. But he's preferred to ignore me. This situation could never arise in tennis – he would be fined so much he would forget how to open his mouth."

Which all conveniently brings us to the man in question himself: Alexei Shirov. Not so self-assured about himself as Polgar, Karpov or Kasparov were with the press, Shirov had about him the air of rabbit caught in the coming headlights of a car as he looked nervously round the assembled hacks in the press room. Dealing with the press was never Alexei's strong point. He's always preferred to let his play at the board do all the talking. But this time he'd had a very poor tournament performance – his worst in years.

Inevitably the "Kasparov problem" came up very quickly. Asked if he believed that the match between Kasparov and Kramnik was fixed, Shirov replied "It's not what I believe or don't believe. I never said it publicly and that's it. The match was arranged, not the result, but because Kramnik was in no way a legitimate challenger, I said that the match was 'arranged' in the sense that those two players were chosen for the match, conveniently overlooking my legitimate claims to title match with Kasparov."

Does he think that, with all that's going on with Kasparov, and perhaps the world no. 1 could be using it as sort of psychological mind-games, isn't it not affecting him rather than Kasparov? "The tension with Kasparov is not something I like to have… but I don't pass my lifetime thinking about him."

Shirov was voted the most combative player in the tournament by the press. Despite his poor showing, he confirmed his reputation, as the game's most imaginative attacker. "I could have played better," he said. "But I had no specific preparations for Wijk aan Zee and Linares. Kasparov is always going to be better prepared." He said that he was disappointed with his result. "I expected to be fighting for first with Kasparov. I recognize that for the moment he is the better player."

And with that it was a quick change and downstairs for a five course meal and several bottles of Vino El Collapso before they finally got round to holding the prize giving ceremony. Honestly! The things I do to make sure that this site has extensive coverage of a tournament.

As they acknowledge the past industrial history and traditions of Linares, Kasparov was at long last presented with his silver trophy of a coalmine by one of the towns political leaders. In his speech, he thanked the organising committee for putting on such and interesting and diverse tournament despite the set-backs they had with "some" of the players they wanted to see playing at Linares.

Giving the organising committee something to finally cheer about as they try to sort out a stronger field for next year, Kasparov gave them the news that they had been waiting for on his invitation: "Don't worry – I'll be back!"

On to the games