14 JANUARY 1989, Page 44

CHESS

Hastings battles

Raymond Keene

As, write, Jon Speelman, Nigel Short and Victor Korchnoi are locked in a bitter struggle for first place in the Foreign and Colonial Tournament at Hastings Eng- land's numbers one and two produced a supremely tense game in round 9.

Nigel Short — Jon Speelman: Foreign and Colonial, Hastings; Caro-Kann Defence.

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Bc4 Ngf6 In their world championship quarter-final last summer Speelman avoided his favourite Caro- Kann against Short, preferring instead the French and the Pirc. It is interesting, therefore, to see the preparation which Nigel had worked out but had no opportunity to utilise before. 6 Ng5 e6 7 Qe2 Nb6 8 Bb3 h6 9 N5f3 c5 In their game from Hastings a year ago Speelman chose 9 ... a5. On this occasion he goes for immediate counterattack in the centre. 10 Bf4 Nbd5 11 Be5 Qa5+ 12 Nd2 Not 12 c3? Nxc3 13 Qd2 Nfe4 and Black wins. 12 ... b5 13 c4 bxc4 14 Bxc4 Nb6 15 b4 A dangerous pawn sacrifice over which Nigel spent 13 minutes. The point of White's sacrifice is to open lines against both Black's king and his queen. 15 ... Qxb4 If 15 ... cxb4 16 Nb3 Qa3 when Black's queen is in danger of being trapped. 16 Rbl Qa5 17 BbS+ Bd7 18 Bxf6 gxf6 19 N1f3 cxd4 20 0-0 Rd8 21 Ne4 Bel 22 Nxd4 Kf8 23 Rfdl This is a mistake which fails to prosecute the White attack with sufficient vigour. Better is 23 Bxd7 Rxd7 24 Nc6. 23 ... f5 24 Ng3 Bxb5 25 NxbS Nd5 26 Rb3 White hopes to move his rook into attack mode while simultaneously protect- ing his rather weak square on c3. Nevertheless, this rook move weakens White's back rank. 26 . h5 27 Nd4 If 27 Nxh5 a6 followed by ... Nc3. 27 ... Nf4 28 Qfl A miserable square for the queen but if, for example, 28 Qc2 Rxd4 29 Rxd4 Qel+ exploits the vulnerability of White's back rank. 28 . . . Qxa2 Black now has a clear initiative as well as extra material. 29 Rf3 h4 Banking on 30 Rxf4 hxg3 with the threat of ... e5. Now, with both players in time-trouble, Short rather more so than Speelman, White finds a surprise move. 30 Ngxf5 exf5 Shocked by White's 30th move, Speelman suddenly offered a draw. In fact, Black is now winning easily since he can introduce his seemingly comatose king's rook into the fray via h6. 31 Rxf4 Incredibly Short declines the draw offer. He was probably seduced by the knowledge that Speelman had overlooked 30 Nxf5 and by the certainty that White would soon be able to play Nxf5 again with an apparently dominating position. 31 ... Rh6! At a stroke all is clear. With the entry of his rook into the game Black threatens ... Rhd6, with a huge pin in the 'd' file. Meanwhile, if 32 Nxf5 Rxdl 33 Qxdl Rb6 followed by ... Rbl. 32 Ral Qd2 33 Net Re6 If now 34 Rel Rxe2 and ... Qxf4. 34 RxfS Qxe2 35 Qcl Red6 White resigns. There is no salvation against ... Rdl + After this defeat Short recovered super- bly to win his next two games. He now leads the tournament with 7 points from 11 games, ahead of Korchnoi on 61/2 and Speelman on 6. Three rounds remain.

The world's most famous chess prodigy has much to celebrate in 1989: a 2555 Elo rating; first place in the Foreign and Colonial Challengers and a place in the 1989-90 Grandmaster section. Here is how she beat Grandmaster Flear in the final round:

Judit Polgar — Glenn Flear: Foreign and Colo- nial, Hastings; King's Bishop Gambit.

1 e4 e5 2 f4!? What a choice of opening for the decisive last round game — the romantic 19th- century favourite, the King's Gambit. Perhaps Judit was inspired to adopt it since her older sister Szofia had beaten Glenn with it in Brussels in 1987.2 ... exf4 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d3 4 Qe2 and 4 Nc3 are more common, although there is scarce- ly a wealth of material in this variation. 4 ... d5 'Gives Black a good game' (Play the King's Gambit, by Estrin and Glaskov), but the authors cite no analysis. 4 . . . Nc6 5 Bf4 d5 6 exd5 NxdS was played in two Tchigorin games, Black v /damn, St Petersburg 1881 and Black v Spiel- mann , Nuremberg 1906. You see, there is a certain dearth of modern material in the King's Bishop Gambit. Perhaps Judit will start a new trend. 5 exd5 NxdS 6 Nf3 Nb6 7 Bb3 Bd6 8 Qe2+! Trading queens is the best way to retrieve the f4 pawn. 8 ... Qe7 9 Nc3 Bg4 10 Qxe7 + Kxe7 11 Ne4 In the long run Black could not avoid White playing Ne4 or Nb5, attacking the bishop which defends f4. 11 ... Bxf3 12 gxf3 Nc6 13 Nxd6 cxd6 14 Bxf4 White has emerged from the opening with a very comfortable position. The split king's side pawns are not important, but the bishop pair is threatening to become dangerous. Flear hastens to trade one bishop. 14 ... Nd4 15 Kf2 Nxb3 16 axb3 a6 17 Ra5 Judit has had to part company with one bishop, but now she makes imaginative use of the half-open 'a' file she has gained in compensation. The plan is b2-b4-b5 to put Black's queen's wing under pressure. 17 ... Kd7 18 b4 Rhe8 19 c4 Re6 20 b5 axb5 21 Rxb5 Position after 22 . . . Ra2 Kc6 22 Re! Rat (Diagram) Black has defended tenaciously and it is not obvious that he stands much worse. Indeed, he could also have consi- dered doubling rooks by 22 Rae8. The text, however, looks like a reasonable way to coun- terattack against White's queen's side. How should White proceed? 23 Rb3!! An incredibly difficult move to find. The point is, White has to play d4 without permitting ... Nxc4. After the text, due to the threat of d4-d5, Black's king suddenly finds itself in the firing line. As usual, Judit plays with immense technical sharpness. It is notable that White's possession of a bishop versus Black's knight permits her to mask her weaknesses (split king's side pawns) while high- lighting those of her opponent. 23 ... Ndi Perhaps 23 ... Na4!? 24 d4 Rf6 25 Bg3 b6 To stop d5 plus c5. 26 Rel Seizing an open file. 26 d5 27 exd5+ KxdS 28 Re7 Kc4 29 Rc3+ KM 30 Rc2 Not 30 Rxd7? Rxb2+ . 30 ... Kb3 31 Rd2 Raj 32 d5 Judith now queens her pawn with consummate ease. She has already seen a way to break the blockade of the passed 'd' pawn. Also good, though less clear, is 32 Re3+ Kb4 33 Bh4. 32 ... b5 33 d6 Ftf5 34 Rd3+ Kc2 35 Rc3+ The key. The rook penetrates to c7 when resistance crumbles. 35 ... Kxb2 36 Rc7 Black resigns. This elegant victory deservedly won the best game prize.

This game clinched first prize for Judit in the Challengers, ahead of England's own boy prodigy, 14-year-old Matthew Sadler, as clear second.

Chess returns to television with the first round of the James Capel Speed Chess Challenge at 1.15 a.m. Thursday night, 19 January, on Thames. The game is Nunn v Mestel, and a very exciting clash it is.