12 MARCH 1983, Page 37

Chess

Tarrasch lives

Raymond Keene

Alexander Beliaysky is noted for his .i.ferocious efficiency as an exponent of I e4. Witness, for example, his brilliant demolition of Bent Larsen's Caro-Kann at Tilburg 1981, or his 15-move annihilation 0f. Michael Stean's Poisoned Pawn at the Lucerne Olympiad. So when Beliaysky °Pened with 1 d4 against Kasparov in the second game of their Candidates' quarter- final match, now in progress in Moscow, he must have had a special idea in mind. MY guess is that he had prepared something dangerous against both the King's Indian and the Benoni, Kasparov's two favourite defences. Whether this was the case, or not, will have to wait until future games, since Kasparov surprised everyone (not least his opponent) by spring- ing the Tarrasch Defence. Although the great Dr Siegbert Tarrasch pronounced his Own Defence to the Queen's Gambit the Only correct one, it is now regarded as pret- ty suspect because of the pawn weaknesses

Black inevitably contracts. In fact, Boris Spassky and John Nunn are the only con- temporary Grandmasters to have shown much faith in it, and even they appear to have shied away from it of late. Kasparov himself has also won some impressive games from the White side, so it must have been almost the last defence Beliaysky was expecting. Good match psychology by Kasparov, though Beliaysky came back to take game 4 in energetic style.

Beliaysky — Kasparov: Moscow, March 1983; Tarrasch Defence.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 cxd 5 exd5 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 g3 Nf6 7 Bg2 Bel 8 0-0 0-0 9 Bg5 After 9 dxc5 Bxc5 10 Bg5 d4 11 Bxf6 Qxf6 12 Nd5 Qd8 13 Nd2 as Kasparov played against Gavrikov in the 1981-82 USSR championship. Perhaps Kasparov wanted to try 13 ... Bg4 and if 14 h3 Bxh3! neat- ly wins a pawn. 9 ... cxd4 9 ... c4 10 Ne5 Be6 11 f4 is good for White, Kasparov — Hjorth, junior world championship 1980. 10 Nxd4 h6 11 Be3 Re8 12 Qa4 I prefer 12 Rcl Bf8 13 Nxc6 bxc6 14 Bd4 inflicting hanging pawns on Black's posi- tion and eventually hoping to break with e4. 12 Bd7 13 Radl Nb4 14 Qb3 a5 15 Rd2 15 a4 looks necessary to prevent the further advance of Black's 'a' pawn. After the text White is always struggling. 15 a4 16 Qdl a3 17 Qbl Bf8 18 bxc3 Unpalatable, but 18 Rfdl Rxe3! 19 fxe3 Ng4 is less than comfortable for White. 18 ... Rxa3 19 Qb2 Qa8 20 Nb3 Bc6 21 Bd4 Ne4 22 Nxe4 dxe4 23 Ral Bd5 24 Qbl b6 25 e3 If 25 Bxb6 Rb8 and ... Nxa2. 25 ... Nd3 26 Rdl b5 27 Bfl b4 28 Bxd3 Now his light squares become horribly exposed. 28 ... exd3 29 Qxd3 Rxa2 30

Rxa2 Qua 31 Nc5 Bf3 32 Ral QdS 33 Qb3 Qh5 34 Nd3 Bd6 35 Nel 11137 36 Rcl Qf5 37 Rdl Bf8

Position after 37 . . . Bf8

(Diagram) In the act of playing his 38th move Beliaysky lost on time. His position does, in any case, appear desperate, since he will have enough trouble preventing the advance of Black's passed 'b' pawn, let alone dealing with the threats from Black's Q and QB against his weakened K-side. I see, for example, no defence against the simple plan of ... h5 and ... h4, followed by ... hxg3 and Qh3.

Beliaysky — Kasparov: Moscow, game 4; Nimzo-lndian.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Bd3 c5 6 Nf3 d5 7 0-0 cxd4 8 exd4 dxc4 9 Bxc4 b6 10 Qe2 Bbl 11 Rdl Bxc3 12 bxc3 Qc7 13 Bd3 Qxc3 14 Bb2 Qc7 15 d5 BxdS 16 Bxf6 gxf6 17 Qe3 Kg7 18 Racl Nc6 19 Be4 Qd6 20 BxdS exd5 21 Rc4 Qd7 22 Rh4 Qf5 23 RxdS Ne5 24 h3 Rfe8 25 Nd4 Qg6 26 Qf4 RadS 27 Nf5 + Kh8 28 RxdS RxdS 29 Qe4 Rc8 30 Kh2 Rc4 31 Qa8 + Qg8 32 Qxa7 Rxh4 33 Nxh4 Qg5 34 Qa8 + Kg7 35 Qe4 h5? 36 Nf5 + Kg6 37 Ne7 + Kh6 38 f4 Black resigns.