Chess
Front runners
Raymond Keene
With the Phillips and Drew/GLC inter- , national tournament entering its clos- mg stages Karpov is holding the lead with England's Murray Chandler in hot pursuit. Polugaievsky (USSR) and Seirawan of the, United States also seem set for top prizes. t, Round 8 witnessed the first Korchnoi- Karpov game in a non-Fide event since the 1973 USSR championship. Karpov arrived n time for the game, while Korchnoi entered the playing hall three minutes late. Al-le apologised to Karpov briefly for his delayed arrival and then both men spon- talle°uslY shook hands. This gesture of sPortsmanship and respect led the 600 or so °Illookers, crammed into the large hall, to break into loud and appreciative applause. This was the first time in 43 games that the two shook hands — the last time was the seventh
itself game at Baguio in 1978. The game was well worthy of the occasion and a great credit to both players.
Apart from Chandler, who has been Onitahkeirng a fantastic result from the start, the English players may finally be caching good form. In the tenth round nerviPeelman defeated Polugaievsky after un- . ns him with a flurry of speculative sNaierifices. John Nunn beat Seirawan and
Miles is closing in on 50 per cent.
r Karpov is certainly putting up a fine per doubtless intending to raise his 1(16 rating above that of Kasparov in time °I the world championship match in the autumn.
i N,...‘ — Korchnoi: Round 8; GrUnfeld. . es comet surprise, most Karpov-Korchnoi games Bg7lavTennee 1 e4. 1 ... Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 go i,°85 Ne4 6 cxd5 Nxg5 7 NxgS e6 8 N t3 exd5 It i u-0 10 b4 13e6 11 Be2 Nd7 12 0.015 13 Bel g5 wros verY hard to say where Korchnoi goes n... , tc, ads, out here he takes the irrevocable decis.dioen . tna„bcIPE an aggressive posture on the K-si . , j-` e Black's position is not capable of sustaT5- 1143such a weakening advance. 14 Rd Kh8 Nei% After the game Korchnoi said ....a6 battle be better, declining immediate Q-side e in ,e. 16 b5 g4!? Another highly committal, but prepnrnallY ways, logical move. Black tact w'a.es - . • c5 by chasing away the N from con- 40ith d4. In view of what happens in the later ,u.rs.F of the game (White gets .his N planted on tkitist...is e.asY to criticise Korchnoi's 16 .. . g41_b _ ig 4 v simple to suggest an alternative. 17 Nd2 0 18 keS 18 Ne2 c4 19 Nf4 Bg8 is OK for Black. 1746' ;,Nxc5 19 Nb3 Nxb3 20 axh3 Rc8 21 Net protec..t4i?gx b3, and23 Nf4 Bg8 24 g3 d4!? 25 Bc4. of the pv . , and undermines Black's control Rxe bite squares. 25 ... Rc8 26 Qbl dxe3 27 bes3 Qe5 28 Qel Bd4 29 Reg Bxc4 30 bxc4 Rg8 31 gne od to prevent Re8+ . If here 30 ... Qxc4 le8+ Rxe8 32 Qxe8 488 33 Qd7! with korellati 0 n of Black's position.31 Qel! With rneneeoi in appalling time trouble, Karpov coin- filtrates. talp ingenious 'creeping' manoeuvre to in- 147 nis 0POonent's line of defence. 31 ..._ 147 Rdir'e2 I887 33 Qd3 Qd4 34 Qx15 Qxc4 35 Black "" 36 Kg2 Qb3 r Qxg4 Rg8 38 Ng6 40 Qxhr6esiRns. After 38 ... hxg6 39 0114 + Bh6 that h 1, niate Korchnoi' s comment to me was e made no detectable error, but was
gradually outplayed. 'My Bishops were hitting into a vacuum and whichever one I exchanged I was worse.'
Chandler — Vaganian: Round 10; Alekhine's Defence.
1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 e d4 d6 4 Nf3 g6 5Bc4 c6 6 0-0 Bg7 7exd6 Qxd6 8 Rel This variation of Alekhine's Defence is generally held to favour White, since Black is slightly cramped and finds it difficult to free himself with either ... c5 or . e5. 8 ... Bg4 9 h3 Trying to improve on Nunn-Vaganian from Round 8: 9 Nbd2 0-0 10 h3 Bxf3 11 Nxf3 e6 12 Bfl b5 13 a4 b4 14 c4 Ne7. Here Nunn chose 15 a5!? and eventually lost, but 15 Re4 and then Bf4 still looks good for White. 9 ... Bxf3 10 Qxf3 e6 If 10 ... Bxd4 11 Rd I Bg7 12 Rxd5 cxd5 13 Bxd5 threatening b7 and f7. If 11 ... Bf6 just 12 Nc3! 11 Nc3 0-0 Or 11 Bxd4 12 Nxd5 cxd5 13 Bxd5. 12 Bg5 Nd7 The last chance to capture on d4, but
12 ... Bxd4 13 Ne4 looks dangerous. Also 13 Bxd5 cxd5 (13 ... exd5 14 Bel) 14 Nb5 Qb6 15 Nxd4 Qxd4 16 c3 followed by Bf6 or Bh6. The safest is probably 12 ... Nxc3 13 bxc3 Nd7. 13 Ne4 Qc7 14 Radl b5 15 Bb3 a5 16 a3 RfeS 17 h4 h6 18 Bel b4? A dubious advance which simply invites White to play c4. 19 c4 bxc3 20 bxc3 a4 21 Bat f5? White's pieces are centrally well developed and he is threatening to kick the strongly placed Black N on d5 with c3-c4. Black's reaction, however, weakens the e6 square and the a2-g8 diagonal, where he finally meets his fate. 22 Ng3 Nd7f6 23 c4 Nb6 24 Bf4 Qd7 25 Rbl Nc8 26 d5 The crucial breakthrough. 26 ... exd5 27 Rxe8 + Qxe8 28 cxd5 Qf7 28 ... cxd5 allows 29 Bxd5 winning the R. The pincer movement of Q and B along the two White diagonals is most impressive. 29 Rb7! A brilliant conception which smashes Black's resistance. 29 ... Qxb7 30 dxc6 + Qf7 31 Bxf7 + Kxf7 32 c7 Ra7 33 Qc6 Ne8 34 Qd7+ Black resigns.
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