15 FEBRUARY 1986, Page 33

CHESS

Past glories

Raymond Keene

The inaugural Hastings tournament of 1895 could lay claim to being the most powerful chess contest held up to that time. Competing were the reigning world champion, Lasker, the former world cham- pion, Steinitz, and no fewer than five other masters who had played or would play matches for the supreme title. These were: Schlechter, Janowski, Gunsberg, Tchigor- in and Tarrasch. On top of this, the cream of British players was present, led by Blackburne, who defeated Lasker in their individual game.

To its great credit, Hastings is still running, but in the intervening years its status has been much reduced. Even as late as 1975-76 the competitors included: Kor- chnoi, Bronstein, Hort, Uhlmann, Taima- nov, Sosonko, Miles and Nunn. But since then, the financial expectations of leading Grandmasters have drastically increased, British chess has exploded in strength and, somehow along the line, Hastings has been left high and dry without a commercial Sponsor.

This is unfortunate, since with Hastings' magnificent history and its obvious symbo- lic chess significance, connected with bat- tles of Hastings, tableaux of knights in Combat from the Bayeaux Tapestry etc it would make an attractive proposition for any commercial sponsor.

This year's event was worthy, but by no means outstanding. Only three British Players took part and no great foreign master was present. The tournament com- mittee is clearly in need of some fresh blood prepared to go out and hunt down financial support to help this potentially prestigious event back on its feet.

Hastings Tournament 1985-86 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 I 2 3 4 'falai

I Petursson

IM 2550 x 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 lit 1

1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 1 91/2 2 Michalcisin

GM 2505 1/2 x1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 I

9 3 Conquest

IM 2345 1/2 1/2 x Vz 1/2 1 1/2 V2 0 1 0 1 1 1

8 4 Balashov

GM 2510 1/2 1/2 1/2 x 1/2 1/2 42 42 1/2 1 42 42 1 1

8 5 Hjartarson

GM 2505 1/2 1/2 V2 V2 x 0 1 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1 1 1

71/2 6 Greenfeld

IM 2430 1/2 0 0 1/2 1 x 0 1/2 1 1 0 1 1 1

71/2 7 Braga

1M 2455 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1 x 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 1/2 1

71/2 8 Fedorowicz

IM 2515 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 x 112 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1

7 9 W. Watson

IM 2435 1/2 0 1 42 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 a 0 1 1/2 1 1

7 10 Rukavina

IM 2510 0 1/2 0 0 I 0 1/2

1/2 I x 1 1/2 1/2 1 61/2 II Belton

GM 2435 0 0 1 1/2 1/2 1 0 1/2 0 0 x 0 1/2 0

4 12 Plaskett

GM 2480 0 1/2 0 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 x 1/2 0

4 13 P. Cramling IM 2420 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/2

1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 x 1

31/2 I4Formanek 1M23500000000000110x 2 Category 9 GM norm: 91/2 IM norm: 61/2

A game by one of England's newest Grandmasters:

Plaskett — Bellon: Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 Nc3 a6 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nxd4 d6 6 f4 Qc7 7 Be2 Nf6 8 0-0 Be7 9 Khl 0-0 10 a4 Nc6 11 Be3 Re8 12 Bf3 Na5 13 Qd3 Nc4 14 Bc1 Bf8 15 b3 Na5 16 Bb2 Rb8 17 Rael Nd7 18 Rdl Nc6 19 Qc4 Nb6 20 Qd3 Nd7 21 Qc4 Nb6 22 Qe2 Nxd4 23 Rxd4 Bd7 24 e5 Nc8 25 Be4 h6 26 Rd3 Bc6 27 Bxc6 Qxc6 28 Ne4 d5 29 Nf6+ gxf6 30 Rg3+ Kh8 31 exf6 Bg7 32 Rzg7 Black resigns.

And, also from Hastings, Stuart Con- quest's win against Pia Cramling: Conquest — Cramling: King's Indian Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 d6 3 Nc3 Nbd7 4 e4 e5 5 Nf3 g6 6 Be2 Bg7 7 0-0 0-0 8 Qc2 c6 9 Rdl Re8 10 dxe5 dxe5 11 Na4 Qc7 12 b3 h6 13 c5 Nf8 14 Bb2 Bg4 15 Nel Bxe2 16 Qxe2 Ne6 17 Nf3 Nh7 18 Racl Nhg5 19 Nxg5 hxg5 20 b4 b5 21 cxb6 axb6 22 Nc3 Nd4 23 Qe3 Qe7 24 a3 g4 25 b5 Qh4 26 Qg3 Qh5 27 bxc6 Bh6 28 Ku Rad8 29 c7 Rd6 30 Nd5 Rxd5 31 c8=Q Black resigns.

The Yusupov-Timman match produced some extremely attractive chess. Here is the final game which clinched Yusupov's qualification to the Candidates' Final.

Yusupov-Timman: 9th and final game; Granfeld Defence.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Bc4 b6 Less risky is 7 . . . 0-0 followed by . . . c5. 8 Q13 0-0 9 Ne2 Nc6 10 h4 Na5 11 Bd3 e5 12 Ba3 Re8 13 h5 Qd7 14 Rdl Qa4 A further risky manoeuvre, but a draw would also have cost Timman the match, so he plays va banque. 15 Bel c5 16 d5 Qxa2 17 Bh6 A brilliant concept. If 17. . . Bxh6 18 hxg6! 17. . . Bh8 18 Final position Yusupov- Timman

Bb5 Rd8 19 Bg5 Qb3 20 hxg6 fxg6 21 Rxh7 Kxh7 22 Qf7+ Bg7 23 Bf6 Rg8 24 Be8 (Diagram) Black resigns.