1999年世界锦标赛决赛
安茨·索索夫，1999 (英译：玛丽斯·图维肯尼，汉译：励精)
谈到决赛，我要强调两件事：
1) 这是到现在为止水平最接近的(仅仅是安度的超强实力打破了全面的平衡)。
2) 欧洲人的实力超过了亚洲人(意指：日本人)让他们极其郁闷。
我希望第一件事能够保持到将来，不仅是不同寻常的1991年。以前第1名和最后一名差距是9.5分。但这次第2名和第11名的差距仅仅是3分。
以欧洲人为主宰，大概本届世锦赛是第一次也是最后一次，因为中国人的攻势看起来是强有力的。
当然，每个人都期盼着中村参加京都世锦赛带来的刺激。这次是错过了。其他以前世界锦标赛的老将像长谷川、雷姆斯和伊林也都没在，但这次他们(欧洲人)还能否争夺第一名值得考虑。
当我们回到日本人不习惯的弱表现，很遗憾赛场上没有计算器。我愿意看到谁有勇气把日本人挤出前几名！
欧洲人曾经在1993年世锦赛决赛上受制于人，实际上是奈良引导了整个比赛。到目前为止，还没有哪个日本选手在世锦赛决赛中的成绩低于50%，但这次的结果有3位落到前4之外！亚洲人对欧洲人的35盘只得到12.5分。最成功的是第一次参赛的早川和张，他们分别获得4分和3.5分。但为什么我会自夸，得知下届资格赛上有5位理论全面的中国选手等在那里，每个欧洲人都会立刻失去他的勇气。
现在我就从后往前逐一分析一下每位选手的表现。
相乐俊(Takashi Sagara)
对我来说他就是活生生的连珠传说。当我作为一个初学者学着他整理的理论资料时，我还以为相乐是一位老棋手。但当我在1993年见到他时，看到的是个壮年人，但自然从未降低对他的敬重。他不但是一位著名的理论家，而且是真正的实战强手。不幸的是赛前他失去了工作，还有些关于他生活问题的议论，尽管他的棋里可能或多或少还有些上届世锦赛的余威，但他走了太多的失误和弱招。到目前为止，在世界锦标赛上积3分至少能保住第10或11名，但北京比赛如此均衡的情况下，相乐没能脱离最后一名。我真希望他在京都世锦赛上能好好地准备一下，显示出他真正的实力。
巴威尔·马卡罗夫(Makarov Pavel)
如果有人在两年前赌巴威尔·马卡罗夫打进北京世锦赛决赛，我准会输，因为对我来说，巴威尔的未来是相当难以预料的。但我不得不承认他在他的发展中有了大跨跃。多年以来属于莫斯科棋手平均水平，他有可能在今年春天打入俄罗斯领先选手行列，而且在世锦赛上也没有被打垮。也许这种挫折过程对他很意外，他需要时间来增加自信。他开始下得很好，前3轮积2分(压制了长谷川和科真)，但在后几轮却默默地退到到排名表的后面。我们将看到巴威尔在京都世锦赛时能够挤进俄罗斯军团。无论如何，祝他好运！
西园典生(Norio Nishizono)
我在北京第一次有机会接触这位开朗而友好的人。我与他分析资格赛棋局时，我确认我在与一位强大的连珠选手交往。遗憾的是他在对欧洲人开局的处理上有点软。明显他没有认真准备比赛，也许他不习惯与欧洲强手对阵。西园和史蒂芬回忆他们很久以前在斯德哥尔摩相见的情形，史蒂芬当时还是个初学者，他们征求西园对史蒂芬水平的意见时，他回答：“3级。”但这次西园不得不与成熟的卡尔森费尽心机地努力求和了。
我还听说中村评价西园非常高，认为他是位杰出的竞争对手，希望将来他能经常去欧洲，因为我觉得这里的连珠棋手了解他很少(就像他们只知道几位著名日本选手)。
张进宇(Zhang Jin Yu)
决赛中的几位选手认为或者至少是希望本届世锦赛中国棋手不强，他会当然地成为垫底。他开始下的并不好，他还没有明白对相乐(以和棋结束)所处的好位置，就连续输给卡尔森、长谷川、西园和科真，随后取得一连串成绩，成功限制了西涅夫，逼和安度，双胜马卡罗夫和苏什科夫。结束前两轮张的排名在6-8位，争取前七，最后倒数第二轮他对我没有看出正确的着法，最后一轮要能战胜早川仍有可能获得第7名，却被早川逼和。
张确实是位有才能的棋手。考虑到他缺少参加国际比赛的经验(在网络上，他经常胜我)，他的表现很棒，遗憾的是由于工作紧张，他不能为连珠付出更多的时间，这可能是他没能在冠军赛上获奖的唯一原因。
早川嘉美(Yoshimi Hayakawa)
早川是位在世锦赛上对我很少出错的选手。他可以征服第1、第3、第5名，但同时他有几盘下得很快而且很糟糕。我想这就是为什么安度、史蒂芬和我输给了他的主要是原因。Hayakawa was a player whose performance on the WC was a little confuding for me. He was able to subdue the owners of the 1st,
the 3rd and the 5th places, but at the same time he played several games quickly and badly. I think the main reason why Ando,
Stefan and I lost to Hayakawa, was a certain underestimation of the opponent and insufficient concentration. Such experienced player
as Yoshimi took advantage of this quickly. Experience is his main weapon, it would be quite funny to imagine him sitting
somewhere for hours and preparing carefully like European players. At the same time I sense that he's an uncomfortable opponent
for me and I wouldn't like to meet him on the second table on team championship.
Sushkov Vladimir
参赛者中最年轻的(这方面其后是麦利蒂、张和卡尔森，但一般来说，决赛中都是老将)。苏切科夫和马卡罗夫一样，是去年才涌现出来的，但与巴威尔不同，他的期盼由来已久，毕竟他是一个才华横溢、勤奋而执着的年轻人。如果经济上允许的话，他一定能在决赛圈中多来几次。
弗拉基米尔比赛开始并不成功。首轮In the first round he accepted a draw from Karlsson Stefan at the moment
when he himself had a VCF with two moves. After that he continued insecurely, getting his first win into the tournament table only in the
seventh round after three draws and 3 losses. True, out of the top six players Vladimir played with five in the first six rounds. In the
final phase of the tournament he received only one loss (from Zhang) and when Hayakawa and Zhang made a draw in the last round
it appeared that a draw with Sagara would be enough for Sushkov to achieve the seventh place.
Kozhin Mikhail
I had this kind of feeling before the tournament that Misha would finally get a medal this time. Several other people
also thought that he had got rid of fetters and could at last realise his skills on a big tournament. Unfortunately,
Misha's start failed completely. Probably the unlucky loss to Sinyov Igor in the first round is to be blamed for that.
Namely, there was a rule at this WC that if a player touches the board with a stone, even if he hasn't released it, the move
is considered done. It's clear that a lot of players, including Misha, weren't used to this rule and so he couldn't close
Sinyov's threat...
Kozhin didn't have any time to recover either, because in the next round his opponent was Meritee. As in St.Petersburg, Misha couldn't
show any serious resistance. And because in the third round followed a loss to Makarov and in the fourth a draw with Sushkov, his chances
to get medal became blurred. Still, everything wasn't lost yet - onwards Misha won 5 games out of six, but lost a crucial game to Stefan.
Nevertheless he had foggy chances for medal before the last round. Of course, he had to beat me and hope that Makarov would subdue
Karlsson and Meritee would do the same with Hasegawa. Unfortunately the first two games ended with a contrary result and so the
multiple Russian champion had to accept the sixth place. After our game I wanted to comfort Misha and told him that he would take a medal
in Kyoto after two years. But Misha sadly shook his head and said the he couldn't even dream of going to Japan, because he would be
paying his debts of the China-trip at that time. Of course it's too bad if a player like this stays aside of the next WC due to the lack of money.
Ants Soosõrv
I think I was quite ready for the WC what concerns the games. At least better than in finals up to now. But the physical side
let me down. I couldn't play one game (with Makarov) at all due to illness. And so after 8 rounds I shared the last place with
Takashi Sagara. But onwards I had a lot of luck - my opponents played insecurely one after another, letting me rise to
the brilliant fifth place after three last rounds.
Kazuto Hasegawa
Lets recall Hasegawa's places on world championships:
1989 - 4th
1991 - 5th
1993 - 5th
1995 - didn't play in the finals, 5th on BT
1997 - 1st
1999 - 4th
If we leave out the title of the world champion in St.Petersburg, then everything seems to be in order. he got a customary place.
But the win in 1997 put a heavy burden of being the favourite on Hasegawa's shoulders. Let Kazuto forgive me if I'm wrong,
but it seems that the role of the leader doesn't suit him. Of course, he is an excellent player and up until last moment
Hasegawa had realistic chances to get medal. But this time he lacked of a good sustaining variant variant. D11, which helped Kazuto
to be world champion last time, didn't suffice this time, because he let himself to be surprised too much in other openings.
Ando just crushed Hasegawa's position with black in D3, Stefan found a good trap also with black in I5. Kozhin and I with white
endured Kazuto's pressure and later on won respectively in D5 and D10.
By the way, when Ando Meritee asked Takashi Sagara before the tournament about his opinion on the chances of the Japanese
on this WC, then Sagara answered that the Japanese team was weak this year. But when I investigated Takashi's prognosis
regarding the top three, he answered Meritee, Hasegawa, Soosõrv (the latter naturally because of the Japanese politeness
for the one who asked the question), which shows that he did believe in Hasegawa. Kazuto with his 36 years belongs to the group
of "young players" in Japan, but if he lives to be as old as Shoseki Honda, he will have time to play on 28 WCs in the future.
Karlsson Stefan
The third place - Hurrah! My friend! Finally a great success thanks to persistent work. I would like to hope that Stefan
owes a part of that success to his Estonian girlfriend Irene (like greedy Estonians would have little success of their own, they want to grab
some of the others' too :-) ). As it suits the true fighter the success came in a very difficult way. Exactly like two years
ago, Stefan guaranteed his place in the finals thanks to a win in the last round on the qualification tournament. The beginning
of the finals didn't predict a super-success either - with luck draw with Sushkov, a win over a presumable outsider Zhang and loss to Hayakawa.
But onwards Stefan succeeded in subduing Sagara, Soosõrv and Hasegawa.
After Nishizono's weak opening-treatment he had good chances to win, but he probably didn't have enough strength at the moment and
the game calmed down to a draw. But at that moment Stefan was on the 2nd place and after subduing Kozhin, Ando had only
a lead of half point over him. In a crucial game with Sinyov he didn't succeed, Sinyov won and Stefan fell to the third place.
He was obviously too tired to think out something new and so he received another loss in his game with Ando. Before the game
with Makarov in the last round Karlsson still had chances for the second and third place. Because he was ill at the time of playing,
he had to swallow 3 pills of pain killers and after that win Makarov. It didn't give him more than the third place, but in conclusion
it was a brilliant success. Stefan's places on WCs until now:
1993 - 10th
1995 - 11th
1997 - 10th
1999 - 3rd
Sinyov Igor
He has got into the finals twice before - in 1991 he performed completely his abilities, being 11th and in 1997 he was 9th.
Igor cannot show special results from recent times either - 10th place in European Championship in 1998, 7th place in Russian
Championship and 5th place in Russian Qualification to WC. Sinyov could play on WC Qualification Tournament thanks to the fact that
Bobkov and Peskov gave up their places in Russia's association. He didn't shine on the qualification tournament either - a draw
with Li Shih-Wen, a loss to Sushkov, a quick draw with Kozhin in the last but one round (he, Misha, look what kind of snake you let
into finals :-) ) and also a quick draw with Makarov in the last round. With the proceeding I don't want to claim that Igor
would be a relatively weak player for WC finals. Not at all. He is a player that belongs to the absolute top of the world without no doubt,
and mainly fails because of psychological reasons. So in my opinion Igor's second place was well deserved.
Coming back to the qualification-sieve of getting into WC, I would like to say that RIF's innovation, thanks to what 20 players
with the highest rating in the world can play on qualification tournament in any case, is very fair.
(It is clear that even a top player in the world has more trouble getting into the associations of Japan and Russia than for example
the association of Estonia. If the Soviet Union hadn't fallen to pieces, then maybe I would have been limited to play only on
B tournament of WC).
Sinyov began the tournament with an undeserved point against Kozhin. In the second round he was able to keep the initiative against
me for almost the whole game and take half point. In his game with Ando, Igor decided to play a variant that was announced
trustworthy by the theorists of the magazine "Moscow Almanac", but which unfortunately loses in a forced way. Igor didn't let
himself to be bothered by the momentary failure and subdued Makarov and Sushkov quickly and elegantly.
After a painful loss to Zhang Jin Yu (Sinyov couldn't recall a forced win) Igor continued with wins over Hayakawa and Sagara at first
and after that he succeeded in subduing his main rival Karlsson. A loss to Hasegawa in the last but one round didn't in essence change anything,
in the last game with Nishizono a draw would have been enough for Sinyov in case that Zhang wouldn't beat Hayakawa.
In case of Zhang's win Stefan's coefficient would have been higher than Igor's. But Hayakawa struggled out a draw and so it happened that
Sinyov got the best place out of "common people".
Ando Meritee
Sinyov said a very beautiful thing after Ando's loss to Hayakawa, "if he, the Great One was mistaken, then we common people
can do what we want (behind a renju board)".
Ando was the main favourite of the competition with no doubt. I think the lead of 2.5 points over the others reflects the real difference between
levels quite accurately. Ando was clearly better than the other players in the finals as for the capability to read the variants and]for the theoretical preparation.
And finally he had achieved the psychological and tactical maturity. There were no more of those silly games like with Kawamura (1995) and Nara (1997), where Ando
played doubtful positions without inspecting them decently and it appeared that the opponents knew how to win. If there could
be a doubt about the other players deserving their places then in Ando's case it definitely won't appear.
True, he had a little moment of weakness. After losing to Hayakawa in the 8th round Ando had difficulties in his next game against Sagara. I might be wrong
but I think that subconciously Ando's thoughts headed for next games with Karlsson and Hasegawa. Still I'm sure that
even if Meritee had lost to Sagara, it would have not changed anything. Ando prepared himself against both Stefan and Kazuto until
three o'clock at night (although the game Meritee-Hasegawa was a matter of honor + rating to Ando, he already had the first place).
By the way in mini-match Asia-Europe, Meritee was only the third man with 3.5 points concerning the usefulness. (The first was Misha Kozhin who won all five games
with Asians, at the same time gathering only 0.5 point against Europeans. So we could say that his own "brothers" killed Misha.)
But I'm sure that the matter of him giving his points to Asians was just a coincidence.
Right now renjuplayers are more interested in the question about who is stronger, Nakamura or Meritee. Nakamura achieved his wins
on WCs at the time when the competition was thinner. But speculations on this matter can only be ended by a game between them.
So, the next WC will be held in 2001 in Kyoto. Those, who have the places in the finals, are:
Ando Meritee (Estonia)
3 players from Russia
1 player from Japan
1 player from Sweden
1 player from Estonia
