CHESS
Sideshow
Raymond Keene
THIS WEEK the qualifying matches in the semi-final of the Fide World Champion- ship commence in Sanghi Nagar, India. The format is innovative, in that the Fide champion, Anatoly Karpov, is already com- mitted to this stage of the knockout, and may well find himself eliminated before the final is reached. Traditionally, of course,the defending champion waits on the sidelines for the qualifiers to reduce to one, before he enters the fray for the championship match proper. In this case, though, the final of the qualifying competition will also double as the final of the Fide Champion- ship.
The matadors in Sanghi Nagar include the American grandmaster Gata Kamsky, who faces the Russian Valery Salov. Salov, who now lives in Spain and has applied for Spanish citizenship, has enjoyed a run of success recently almost as great as that of Kamsky himself. Meanwhile, in the parallel semi-final, Karpov meets the Belarussian grandmaster Boris Gelfand. Compared with the Professional Chess Association Championship, now set for Cologne from 12 September to 16 October later this year, where Garry Kasparov will defend his title against either Kamsky or Anand, Sanghi Nagar is very much a sideshow. Neverthe- less, it is not without its own importance. The recent rapprochement between Fide and the PCA orchestrated by Kasparov and the Fide President Campomanes, foresees separate championships for both organisa- tions this year, with a mutually lucrative grand reunification final between the respective champions scheduled for 1996. One eventuality could derail this ambitious project; it would involve an outcome quite unwelcome both to the PCA and to Fide. The outspoken Gata Kamsky is a thorn in the side of both bodies, yet he is the only player to have survived in both cycles. Were he to beat Salov in Sanghi Nagar, and go on to win the Fide Championship, while simultaneously qualifying through the PCA cycle and then launching a suc- cessful challenge against Kasparov in Cologne, Kamsky would unify both titles in his own person and thus seize the whip hand in all future negotiations both with Campomanes and with Kasparov. Still, the hurdles for the young American to over- come remain enormous, and he may not even succeed in bludgeoning the super- solid Salov out of his path.
In the other Fide semi-final, though, the outcome should be less in doubt. Karpov enjoys an excellent record against Gelfand, who seems to be just the type of player Karpov relishes defeating. Gelfand enjoys activity for his pieces at the cost of pawn weaknesses and if there is one thing that Karpov loves, it is operating against a pawn weakness. The following difficult and inspired game typifies what I expect to see transpiring between the two in India.
Karpov—Gelfand: Linares 1993; Queen's Gambit Accepted.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 dxc4 5 Qa4+ The main line is 5 e4, but Karpov sidesteps Gelfand's possible preparation with this equally playable queen check. 5 ...c6 6 Qxc4 b5 7 Qd3 Bbl 8 e4 b4 9 Na4 Nbd7 10 Bg5 Qa5 11 b3 c5 12 Bxf6 gxf6 Black's position is full of holes across the board. In compensation he has the bishop pair and potential counterplay on the half-open `d' and `g' files. The way Karpov tames this is truly admirable. If instead 12 ...Nxf6 Gelfand doubtless feared 13 dxc5 followed by a queen check on b5. 13 Be2 0-0-0 14 0-0 Kh8 15 d5 A powerful advance, sealing the centre. Although this pawn becomes exposed, White has various sacrificial ideas in mind to justify his ambition.
15 ... Nb6 16 Nxb6 Qxb6 17 Rad I Bh6 Karpov himself points out an extraordinary alternative at this stage, involving a queen sacrifice, namely 17 ... exd5 18 exd5 Rxd5 19 Qxd5 BxdS 20 Rxd5 Be7 21 Bc4 Rd8 22 Rh5 with advantage to White who has blockaded the black position and will soon start to harvest Black's weak pawns. 18 Qc4 Rd6 19 dxe6 Rxe6 This permits White a power- ful exchange sacrifice but instead 19 ... fxe6 20 e5 gives White a clear advantage. 20 Rd5! (Diagram) A wonderful move, thematically con- Position after 20 Rd5!
sistent with the queen sacrifice adumbrated on move 17. This sacrifice of rook for bishop leaves White well in control. Gelfand must have been hoping for 20 Bd3 Rg8 followed by ...f5 when his strategy would have fully justified itself. 20
Rhe8 21 Bd3 Rd8 Gelfand consistently refus- es to take the rook, perhaps deluding himself into believing that Karpov would lose his nerve and abandon his sacrificial concept. In that case, Black's bishops and open files would still have a role to play. Karpov, however, remains 'constant as the northern star'. 22 Rdl Red6 23 Be2 BxdS At last Black caves in and takes the sacrifice. 24 exd5 Qb7 25 Qh4 Bf8 26 Bc4 RxdS Faced with White's total domination of the board Gelfand returns the material. 27 Bxd5 RxdS 28 Rel Rd8 29 Qxf6 Qc7 30 g3 Bd6 31 Ng5 Rd7 32 Re8+ Black's pawns are so weak that he cannot hope to survive long. 32 ...Kb7 33 Ne4 Qc6 34 Q15 Be7 35 Kg2 Rc7 36 Rh8 Qg6 37 Qd5+ Qc6 38 Qxc6+ Kxc6 39 Rxh7 Kd5 40 Nd2 Bf6 41 Nc4 Kd4 42 Rh6 Rc6 43 g4 Re6 44 h4 Kd5 45 g5 Black resigns.
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