CHESS
Games galore
Raymond Keene
There are times when I have no choice but to concentrate on recent important games. This week is such a one, marked by a deluge of remarkable clashes. First of all, Nigel Short's amazing oversight against Nogueiras from the current World Cup. It is said that Nigel had a black-out, thinking that his piece on e8 was a rook not a bishop.
Nogueiras — Short: Rotterdam World Cup, June 1989; Catalan Opening.
1 d4 e6 2 c4 Bb4+ 3 Bd2 a5 4 g3 d5 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 a3 Bxd2 + 7 Nbxd2 Qf6 8 e3 Nge7 9 Bg2 0-0 10 0-0 a4 11 Qc2 Bd7 12 Rfel Nf5 13 Qc3 Rfd8 14 Racl Rac8 15 h4 g6 16 Ng5 Be8 17 Rcd1 Qg7 18 Ngf3 h5 19 Rd b6 20 cxd5 exd5 21 Rc2 Ncxd4 ?? and Black resigns. No need to guess White's reply, though Nigel might have delayed resigna- tion to see if White died of a heart attack after the shock of Black's 21st move. Had the piece on e8 been a rook, then 21... Ncxd4 22 exd4 Rxel+ 23 Nxel Nxd4 would have been quite strong.
Karpov is dominating Rotterdam; after six rounds he had five points, and virtually assured himself of first prize but in the seventh round he has adjourned in a completely lost position against Nigel Short. It will not stop Karpov winning the tournament, but nonetheless a fine per- formance by the British number one. Next week we shall look at that game. Here meanwhile is Karpov's demolition of world championship semi-finalist Jan Timman.
Karpov — Timman: Grunfeld Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 NxdS 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 bg7 7 Bc4 0-0 8 Ne2 c5 9 0-0 Nc6 10 Be3 Bg4 11 f3 Na5 12 Bxf7+ Rxf7 13 fxg4 Rxfl+ 14 Kxfl Qd6 15 e5 Qd5 16 Bf2 Rd8 17 Qc2 Karpov played 17 Qa4 against Kasparov at Belfort last year, and won. 17 . . Qc4 18 Qb2 Bh6 19 h4 This position also occurred in a Karpov- Kasparov game last year. In their third game from Amsterdam (which predated Belfort) Kas- parov reacted with 19 . . . Of7. Since Timman played in that tournament one must assume that his next move was intended as an improvement. 19 . . . Rf8 20 g5 Qd3 21 Qb1 Qe3 22 Qel Bg7 23 Kgl Qe4 24 Ng3 Qxh4 Black has regained his pawn but his position is now desperate, as White's next move shows. 25 Ne4 Rxf2 If Black moves his queen then 26 Nxc5 is decisive 26 Nxf2 cxd4 27 Rdl d3 28 Qe3 Nc6 29 Nxd3 Qa4 30 Qf3 Qa5 31 e6 Nd8 32 Nf4 Be5 33 Nd5 Qc5+ 34 Khl Black resigns. After 34 . . . Nxe6 35 Qe4 Qd6 36 Nf6+ wins Black's queen. The conclusion to be drawn from this game is that the main line of the Exchange Grunfeld is beginning to look unsound for Black.
Deep Thought has, for the first time, won the World Computer Championship. The key game was against Hans Berliner's Hitech in the last round. Note that Hitech cunningly uses the same opening with which The Spectator's deputy editor Domi- nic Lawson constructed a winning position against Deep Thought in their telephone game, which I published in this column some months ago. In particular, DT com- mits the same error of blocking its 'c' pawn with a knight in the opening. Nevertheless, major league dithering by Hitech in the middle game throws away the full point and later even the draw. DT's conduct of the concluding attack is forceful.
Hitech — Deep Thought: World Computer Championship, Edmonton, Canada, June; Queen's Pawn Opening.
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Bf4 e6 4 e3 Nc6 5 Nbd2 Bel 6 h3 0-0 7 Bet Nh5 8 Bh2 g6 9 0-0 f5 10 Be5 Nxe5 11 Nxe5 Nf6 12 c4 c5 13 Ndf3 Bd6 14 a3 Qc7 15 Rcl a5 16 Qb3 b6 17 Qa4 Bbl 18 Rc2 Kh8 19 cxd5 BxdS 20 Rdl Rad8 21 Bb5 Ne4 22 Nd7 Rg8 23 NfeS Rg7 24 Rd3 Bel 25 Rdl h5 26 Rdcl Bg5 27 Rel Bh4 28 Rfl Bel 29 Rfcl g5 30 f3 Nf6 31 Kfl g4 32 hxg4 hxg4 33 f4 Be4 34 Rd2 Nd5 35 Re2 Rh7 36 Reel Nxe3+ 37 Kgl If 37 Rxe3 Rhl+. 37 . . . Nd5 38 Ng6+ Kg7 39 Nxe7 Qxf4 A decisive intermezzo. 40 NxfS+ exf5 41 Rxe4 Qxcl+ 42 Bfl fxe4 43 Qb3 Rhl + 44 Kxhl Qxfl+ 45 Kh2 Rh8+ 46 Qh3 g3+ 47 Kxg3 Q14 mate.
On Sunday 18 June the Preston Grand- master tournament (category 11) starts at the Park Hall Hotel. Competitors include Jon Tisdall (Speelman's second), Ivan Sokolov, the highly rated Yugoslav, and the fierce young American Patrick Wolff. It is also hoped that Soviet defector Yelena Akhmilovskaya will come. The tourna- ment continues until 26 June, visitors are welcome and inquiries can be addressed to Nick Hall on 0257 452090.
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