Chess
Black arts
Raymond Keene
After eight fiercely contested rounds the leading scores in the Grieveson Grant British Championship at Brighton were: Plaskett, Short and Speelman 6; Miles and Strauss 51/2 and one adj; Con- quest, Hodgson and Howell 51/2; Chandler and Thipsay 5 and I adj; King and Martin 5. The last round is on Friday and I shall be giving a full report next week.
Meanwhile, in mid-July the Scots held what might he termed their own interna- tional championship, at Troon, sponsored by Murray Johnstone. It was a ten-player all-play-all, with three foreign Grandmas- ters and two other prominent IMs pitted against five Scottish Masters. I, too, had hoped to play in this, but, once again, the after-effects of the USSR-RoW organisa- tion intervened and Shamkovich had to take my place. Scores were: Psakhis 61/219; McNab and Plaskett 51/2; Pritchett, Con-
die, Shamkovich, Motwani 41/2; Pia Craml- ing 31/2; Raicevic and Morrisson 3. Results were fairly true to form, apart from Pia Cramling's poor showing.
Here is a game by the winner.
Shamkovich — Psakhis: English Opening.
1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Bb4 3 g3? The most critical variation is 3 Nd5 Ba5 4 b4 c6! 3 . . . Bxc3 4 bxc3 d6 5 Bg2 f5 6 Rbl Nc6 7 d4? A strategic blunder which weakens White's pawn on c4. Correct is 7 d3. 7 . . . Nf6 8 Ba3 e4 9 Nh3 0-0 10 Nf4 b6 11 Nd5 Na5 12 Ne3 c5 Black already has a winning position, since White has nothing active to do. 13 0-0 Be6 14 d5 Bd7 15 Be 1 Qe7 16 Qc2 Rae8 17 a3 Bc8 Gives him the option of . . . Ba6. 18 f3 exf3 19 exf3 14! 20 gxf4 Nh5 21 f5 Nf4 22 Rf2 Qg5 23 Khl Rxe3 24 Bxe3 Bxf5 25 Qcl Bxbl 26 Qxhl Nxc4 27 Bxf4 Qxf4 28 Re2 Ne3 29 Qd3 Nf5 30 Re4 Qc1+ 31 Bfl Qxa3 32 Bh3 Qcl + 33 Kg2 Qg5+ I am most impressed by the Black Q raid on both sides of the board, from f4 to a3 and back to g5 in just four moves. 34 Kh1 Nh4 35 Re3 Ng6 36 Be6+ Kh8 White resigns. A convinc- ing strategic achievement by Black in the style of Nimzowitsch.
The following game was awarded the brilliancy prize at Leningrad:
Speelman — Uhlmann: Leningrad, June-July 1984; King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 N16 2 Nf3 g6 3 c4 Bg7 4 Nc3 0-0 5 e4 d6 6 Be2 e5 7 0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Nel Nd7 10 Be3 An old
move which has recently become popular again, especially in New York circles. 10 . . . f5 11 f3 f4 12 812 g5 13 Bel Rf6 14 b4 Rh6 Uhlmann's plan is interesting. It used to be condemned on the grounds that Black should not obstruct the advance of his 'h' pawn. 15 c5 a6 16 cxd6 cxd6 17 g4 fxg3ep 18 hxg3 Ng6 19 Ng2 N14! A brilliant sacrifice which opens up White's K. 20 gxf4 gxf4 21 Bh4 Bf6! Cleverly avoiding 21 . . Rxh4 which most players would have chosen. 22 Bxf6 Nxf6 23 Kf2 Rh2 24 Kg1 Rh3 25 Kf2 Rg3 26 Nxf4 exf4 White returns the piece, but it does not help Position after 27 . . . Ng4+ much. 27 Qd4 Ng4+ (Diagram) Another body- blow. If now 28 fxg4 Qh4 wins. 28 Kel Ne5 29 Kd2 Bh3 30 Rgl Bg2 31 Na4 Bxf3 32 Nb6 Bxe2 33 Kxe2 Qg5 34 Nxa8 f3+ 35 Kf2 Rg2+ 36 Rxg2 Qxg2 + 37 Ke3 Qg5+ White resigns. An impor- tant contribution to Black's resources in the King's Indian Defence.
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