在1999年世界锦标赛上我的对局

Ando Meritee, 1999

　　对西园的比赛对我来说是个大问题，因为我以前从未与他交过手。以前，我们只是互相听说过，但没下过，所以比赛相当紧张

　　开局下得很快。我决定在本次比赛中尽可能地多使用黑棋，因为以前人们都知道Meritee喜欢使白棋，因此我不得不改变我的战术让对手措手不及。结果，我在本次世锦赛下了10盘黑棋，仅1盘白棋。

　　第14手让我吃惊。我想人们已经放弃了这个变化，因为黑棋优势太过明显了。无论如何，我还是防着他可能的奇袭。我继续下定式到25。根据我以前的分析，第26手应该是不好的。所以我27立即回击。28手更令我吃惊，特别是因为他下这手很快。我第一想法这是他的深入分析，所以我花了很长时间检验这个变化。但不久我就明白了这个28的不利之处！尽管这手很厉害，为白棋上面攻势占据有利位置，关键的38点留下开口，因此黑棋在右侧有一条额外的开放线路。所以，只要白棋下38，39点将在左侧给黑棋带来取胜的力量。

　　这盘棋，黑棋不必在左侧赢！在右侧就有足够的力量。因此，我想26-38是不是更好？这样将阻止在斜线上朝右侧的发展，不给黑棋在左侧留下机会。

Kozhin - Meritee, 0:1, 26 手

　　 这是我唯一一盘执白的棋，那是因为我开的疏星局被Kozhin交换了。在北京，我在笔记本电脑上用连珠数据库对每位对手的旧棋局进行了研究准备。在数据库里我看到Kozhin曾经执白下 过这个点，所以我希望他黑棋有所变化。但我确实不知道他会走出哪个令人惊讶的点。19！犀利的一手。我消耗了很多我的时间去寻找任何令人满意的答案对付这手锐利的棋。我不得不用掉我上面的棋力来防守。24？？稳固防守。25？？像Kozhin这样优秀的棋手也有失足于深思的时候。

Meritee - Sinyov, 1:0, 41 手

　　上一次，Sinyov在我身上赌变化，所以我希望出其不意。斜月开局确实意外。黑棋优势，我交换。

　　发生了一件有趣的事情，Sinyov太紧张了，选择第5手后没有下白子就去按棋钟了。我们都没有注意到，所以我们请求裁判委员会来解决这个问题，他们讨论了很长时间也没有给我们任何答复？长时间的等待使我们都很紧张。最终，比赛还是继续下去。当他走出第14手时，我突然想起Ants在斯德哥尔摩到北京的飞机上曾告诉过我，他说他看过Stefan Karlsson在16手赢得很快。 As we were only talking about it without using any board, I could only understand that it was direct attack from 17th. So in the game with Sinyov I took a long time to search for the ways for winning attack. Finally, I realized there is an idea to gain the power to lower side by the attack till 23rd move. The 25th and 27th moves are necessary too. But then I had to think again: 29-29 or 29-30? Both were strong moves, but I didn稚 want to make a move without being 100% sure. So I spent much time here too. If 29-30 then 30-29 and I couldn稚 see the sure win for black. So I focused at thinking of 29-29 and I was happy to realize soon that it will give sure win for black. Later, when the game was over, I checked the database ?? Stefan had played against Reims 29-30, but Reims played another move than 30-29, so black won there easily too. Perhaps black has sure win for both 29th moves, who knows.

Meritee - Soos??rv, 1:0, 39 moves

I wished I could set the opening myself, but according to the tournament pairing he had the right to set opening. That was advantage for him, I think, because we know each other too well. The opening d8 surprised me a little. I was expecting i11 as he had played against me in past. Anyway, I had prepared this 21st move in case he would come up with d8 opening. It seemed to surprise him because he couldn稚 find any good plan for white ?? first he tried active play with 22 but then decided to defend 26??0. The 31st move is black win.

Meritee - Makarov, 1:0, 37 moves

This game was also one of my preparations. Before the game, I was in my room, checking database with laptop PC. I noticed that he likes that 6th move a lot. So I had some time to prepare something for Makarov. The 9th move was a little surprise for him, I think. 10, 12, 14 ??an active plan. 15! Calm move. It seems that white can稚 have any good continuation. 16 was good defence move. I couldn稚 be sure what to do. I tried 17th move to the right side. 18 ??good move again!
I was beginning to worry that I can稚 win that easily anymore. I tried to make things complicated by 19th move but his 20th was still correct. I realized I can稚 win here by force. Had to trick him somehow. 23!? ??bluff. The analysis after game showed that black can稚 win up in the corner. After 25th move another white mistake followed ??26?? Now there was already easy way to black victory. I think Makarov couldn稚 stand the pressure of that game too long, so he slipped by the end.

Meritee - Sushkov, 1:0, 69 moves

This game was perhaps the most unprepared one. I expected Sushkov to play something odd, so I didn稚 check the main variants specially for him. He played the traditional 18th move. He gave up all his chance to get any activity of his own in future, he just let me attack continuously. But I admit I didn稚 attack well in this game. I tried to make connections between lower and upper side through the left side, but he blocked all my attempts. But such blocking gave me really good chances for attack below. He was lucky - miraculous defense kept the game still going on. By 46th move Black attack had failed. I still continued game, I even rejected his draw offer. I tried last chances on the left side. By then I was already in time-trouble. We both rushed with making moves. Suddenly he missed the simplest threat and 69 was the beginning of simple VCF. I can call this game to be lucky to me ??the fair result would have been draw. I guess my mistake was the poor preparation before that round.

Meritee - Zhang, 1/2:1/2, 46 moves

This game doesn稚 require much comments. I become the victim of underestimation here. I expected Zhang to make mistake which he didn稚. I attacked continuously in this game, trying hard to win. Even though people had given up this 23rd move because they thought 24 is a decent block, I still had faith in black attack. 27, 29, 31 ??very promising. But there was always one block that ruined my plans. He played well, I admire his calm defense. After 46th move he offered a draw. Although I thought I will continue fight below with move h4 but it was powerless, I accepted the draw offer and had some rest before the next round in next day.

Meritee - Hayakawa, 0:1, 22 moves

This game was a total disaster. Being convinced that I have good position as black even though white was attacking temporarily, I became really careless. I was thinking of my future developments and so I tried sharp 19th move ?? let the white attack, but remains all good power for black on the right side and below. But oh silly of me ?? I forgot the simple 3x3. It was same kind of mistake as Kozhin made against me in the 2nd round, missed the simple threat.
The best solution for black would have been 19-e8, after which black becomes powerful on both left and right side. I think I had problems with concentration in that round. Hayakawa used this situation in the best way.

Meritee - Sagara, 1:0, 53 moves

In order to avoid the same mistake as previous WC (I lost 2 games in one day), I decided to play calm and carefully against Sagara. I decided to play the most peaceful opening ??d3.
His 16th move was different than I had played against Kozhin in the 2nd round. The 17th seemed to be the best move. I hoped he would go attacking as white or do something active, but he didn稚. He just defended below. That made my game much harder. Perhaps 19 was not so confident move. Anyway, after 22nd move I was already in trouble. First I thought I almost can win with 23-27 but then I realized that excellent 24-A will cut my VCF. Therefore, I decided to defend instead, 23-23. Now he stopped my line below, of course. 28 !! It seemed white is going to win this game soon. But I continued fighting hard. I didn稚 just block, but I blocked in the most active way I could, in order to create extra power for black. The 34 was not the best idea. The 35 and 37 followed with good construction! The 38th move showed his weakness. If he was afraid of my connections between left side and upper side, why didn稚 just block in upper side? Suddenly, black was back in business, attacking all over! It seems he had no power to concentrate ??46 was his final mistake. He should have played 46-B or 46-49 and then 48-46. But he didn稚 notice the black idea and so he simply stopped with 46-46. Amazing game. Sagara is the great player but he was not in good condition in this tournament.

Meritee - Karlsson, 1:0, 37 moves

This game was a key one. I wanted to win this so much in order to secure the first place before the last round.
Therefore, in spite of the late time in last night, I continued analysing till almost next morning. I knew Stefan will set the d11 opening and will probably play this 18th move because he had been successful twice as white in WC??9. My sleepless night had good contribution ??Stefan played exactly what I had expected. He made another 26th move. But I had studied every kind of 26th here, so I played quite fast. The 27th move was the beginning of sure win.

Meritee - Hasegawa, 1:0, 29 moves

Last round. Just as in previous WC, I met Hasegawa in the last round. Many people joked about the repeating of the history ??the leader of the WC will lose in the last round to 2nd place player. I didn稚 want this joke to become true. So I prepared seriously for the last game even though I had already secured the first place.
I set the d3, he kept whites as I had expected. According to my preparations, I expected him to come into that variant with 12th move. The 14th was the first surprise. I thought he will play as usual 14-15, after which the variant becomes unclear. The move 14-15 was already played several times in this WC. As Hasegawa said after game, the 14th was Nara痴 suggestion. So, Hasegawa was playing it without being certain about the following. He played the 16th move quite fast. Frankly, he didn稚 expect the black will go attack straightforward with 17-17. Anyway, after 1 hour of thinking I found sure win here. A big relief. I played moves up to 29 and he gave up. This game can be divided into the category 鍍he opening disasters?? Such disasters happen even to strongest players.