The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Unique chess match

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 12, 2007
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Unique chess match

London: English Grandmaster Nigel Short and former World champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia had to settle for a draw in a unique chess match played with carved ice pieces as they melted owing to the unprecedented warm winter Europe and Russia are experiencing.

Huge chessboards had been laid out in Moscow and London for the match which was held as part of a Russian ``Old New Year'' festival.

Russians celebrate the ``Old New Year'' according to the Julian calendar used in Tsarist times. The event celebrates Russian culture in the UK.

The temperature was 12 degree centigrade in London's Trafalgar Square and 5 degrees in Moscow's Pushkinskaya Square — both well above average for the time of year.

The pieces began melting so quickly that some of them were almost indistinguishable by the time the match finished.

On the London board, Russia's ``king'', which was crafted in the shape of a Kremlin tower, had lost its Soviet star before the game even began.

``With the game an hour old and the pieces dripping litres of water, the Russians offered a draw which the British accepted,'' Jonty Small of the Russian Winter Festival, was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. — PTI

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