CHESS
Last round-up
Raymond Keene
This week I end my account of the World Cup at Belfort with two interesting games, both played in the last round. One is a dynamic victory by Kasparov against a young Russian virtually his own age, the other is Nigel Short's most impressive win. His victim is a Soviet Grandmaster who is also competing in the World Cham- pionship Candidates' quarter-finals, as are Short and Speelman.
Kasparov-Sokolov: World Cup, Be!fort; English Opening.
1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4 c5 This extremely dangerous gambit line had obviously been pre- pared by Kasparov to play against Karpov in their Seville world title match last year. This partly explains why Kasparov persisted in open- ing with 1 c4. That Karpov smelled a chessboard rat can be deduced from the fact that he determinedly replied with the move-order 1 c4 e6 2 Nc3 d5, which sidesteps the entire variation. 4 e5 NgS 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 d4 cxd4 7 Nxd4 NxeS 8 NdbS a6 9 Nd6+ Bxd6 10 Qxd6 f6 11 Be3 Ne7 White has gambited a pawn but in compensation has more space, two bishops and dark square control. 12 Bb6 Nf5 13 Qc5 d6 14 Qa5 Qe7 15 0-0-0 0-0 16 f4 Nc6 17 Qa3 e5 18 g4 Nfd4 19 Nd5 Qf7 Amazingly, all this is theory. Up to, and including, White's next move everything is charted and given as advantageous for White by the Cuban Grandmaster Amador Rodriguez, annotating a game he played with Black against Hernandez at Havana eight years ago. Rodri- quez suggests in his notes that 18... Nh6! is a superior defence. 20 f5 g6 21 Rgl gxf5 22 g5 Kh8 23 gxf6 Be6 24 Qxd6 BxdS 25 cxd5 Qf6 26 Qxf6 Rxf6 Sokolov has defended cleverly in that 27dxc6 now fails to . . .Rxc6+ regaining the piece. However, Black cannot eradicate the long-term problem of the hemmed-in nature of his king, nor can he contain the fierce activity of Kasparov's bishops. 27 Kbl Nd8 28 Bc5 Rc8 29 Be7 Rf7 30 Bd6 Nf3 31 Rg3 e4 32 Be2 Rf6 33 Bf4 Rg6 34 Bxf3 Rxg3 35 Bxe4 A very fine intermedi- ary move (Zwischenzug) which leaves Black's attacked rook no constructive escape square. 35 . . . fxe4 36 hxg3 Kg7 37 Rd4 Nf7 38 Rxe4 Rd8 White now wins since Black cannot protect all of his pawns. 39 Re7 RxdS 40 Rxb7 h5 41 Ra7 a5 42 a4 Black resigns. It is worth remembering that Kasparov needed just half a point from this last round game to secure sole victory in the tournament ahead of Karpov. It is, therefore, remarkable that he should have chosen to conduct the game, against a strong rival, in such Sturm and Drang style.
Short — Yusupov: World Cup, Belfort; Ruy Lopez.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 The Open Variation of the Lopez, a great favourite with Korchnoi and Yusupov himself. 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 c3 Bc5 10 Nbd2 0-0 11 Bc2 Bf5 A fashionable continuation, but also worth consideration is the Dilworth Variation,
11 . . Nxf2 12 Rxf2 f6 which has never been refuted and which Yusupov has used in the past. 12 Nb3 Bg6 13 Nfd4 Bxd4 14 cxd4 a5 15 Be3 a4 16 Ncl a3 All this is known from the sixth game of the 1981 world championship match between Karpov and Korchnoi. In that game Karpov unwisely chose to leave Black's advanced `a' pawn unmolested, continuing with 17 b3 when 17 . . . f6 18 exf6 Qxf6 led to great complica- tions, from which Black eventually won. It is much better to capture the intrusive black 'a' pawn, as Short now does. 17 bxa3 Rxa3 18 Bb3 Nc3 19 Qd2 b4 20 Nd3 Bxd3 21 Qxd3 Na5 22 Bc2 Qh4 A precarious method of defending against the mating threat on h7. There always exists the danger that Black's queen can be deflectd from the defence. Short proceeds to do this by means of a pawn sacrifice. 23 Bel Rxa2 24 Rxa2 Nxa2 Position after 25 Bg5 25 Bg5 (Diagram). An unpleasant shot which activates White's bishop. Of course, it cannot be captured. 25 . . . Qh5 26 Be7 Rb8 27 Qa6 This invasion by the White queen ensures that Black, whose forces are badly scattered, must lose material. 27 . . . Nc4 28 Qxa2 Nd2 Yusupov, probably in time trouble, may have overlooked, when he gave up the piece, that White's next move annihilates any possible Black attacking chances. 29 Bxh7+ Qxh7 30 Qxd2 b3 31 Qb2 Qd3 32 h3 Rb6 33 Rel Rg6 34 Kh2 Rb6 35 Re3 Qdl 36 Bc5 Rb8 37 Rc3 Rb5 38 Rcl Qd3 39 Ba3 Rb7 40 Rc5 Qe4 41 Qd2 Ra7 42 Bbl Rat 43 Rc3 Black resigns. Not before time, since he has been utterly lost since White's 29th move.
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