17 MARCH 1990, Page 52

CHESS

Noblesse oblige

Raymond Keene

Imentioned last week that The Spectator sponsored this year's match between the House of Lords and the House of Com- mons. There was a gratifying large turnout and Cecil Franks MP, Jeremy Hanley MP and Lord Kagan distinguished themselves by winning both games for their respective teams. Cecil Franks even earned himself the unofficial sobriquet `Kasparov of the Commons' for his bold piece sacrifice against Lord Mayhew in the first round (1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e6 4 Bg5 Bb4 5 e3 0-0 6 Nf3 h6 7 Bh4 g5 and now 8 Nxg5!?). In presenting the silver trophy to the winning team Dominic Lawson, editor designate of The Spectator, referred to the following miniature game as an unparalleled exam- ple of political sadism. After Lord Killearn had resigned Jeremy Hanley suggested they play a few more moves just to see what might have happened.

Jeremy Hanley MP — Lord Killearn: Philidor's Defence:

1 e4 e5 2 d4 d6 3 Nf3 exd4 4 Nxd4 d5 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Bd3 Nd7 7 exd5 Qe7+ 8 Be3 Ne5 9 0-0 Nxd3 10 Qxd3 Bc5 11 Rfel Qf6 12 Bg5+ Black resigns.

The other important annual match in the British Chess calendar is the Varsity match, this year sponsored by City solici- tors Watson, Farley and Williams and held on Saturday 3 March at The Royal Auto- mobile Club, Pall Mall. This fixture, founded in 1873, is the longest running regular contest in the chess world. Oxford Cambridge D. Norwood beat J. Sharp D. Agnos beat S. D. Singh D. Lawson (no relation) beat J. Wilson D. Wheeler drew with A. Hessenbruch S. Riis beat B. Pell M. Hazelton drew with D. Lee M. Graves lost to A. Baker Anna Jillings lost to Natasha Regan J. P. Sharp — D. Norwood: English Opening.

1 c4 g6 2 Nc3 Bg7 3 Nf3 c5 4 g3 Nc6 5 Bg2 e5 6 d3 Nge7 7 0-0 d6 8 Rbl 0-0 9 a3 a5 10 Nd5 Misguided strategy. Correct is 10 Nel followed Position after 23 . Qg7

by Nec2 and b4. 10 . . . Nxd5 11 cxd5 Ne7 12 Nd2 b5 13 a4 Bd7 14 axb5 BxbS 15 Nc4 f5 16 f4 Bxc4 17 dxc4 e4 18 Qa4 Qc7 19 g4 A suicidal move which merely undermines the fortifica- tions around his own king. 19 . . . fxg4 20 Bxe4 Nf5 21 Bg2 Bd4+ 22 Khl Rae8 23 Qc2 Qg7 (Diagram) White resigns White has no defence to . . . Ng3+ and . . . Qh6, for example 24 Be4 Ng3+ 25 hxg3 qh6+ 26 Kg2 Qh3 mate.

Jan Timman has started his match in Malaysia against Anatoly Karpov to decide who qualifies to face Kasparov later in the year. I regard Karpov as overwhelming favourite to defeat the Dutchman but, even given that, Timman's play in the first game was disastrous.

Timman — Karpov: Kuala Lumpur; Ruy Lopez.

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Rel b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 c3 d6 9 h3 Bb7 10 d4 Re8 11 Nbd2 Bf8 12 a4 h6 13 Bc2 exd4 14 cxd4 Nb4 15 Bbl bxa4 16 Rxa4 a5 17 Ra3 Rah This position is well known to theory. Timman had prepared his 18th move as a new idea but there is a tremendous hole in his preparation. 18 Nh4 Nxe4 19 Nxe4 Bxe4 20 Bxe4 d5 The refutation of White's play. If White now moves his attacked Bishop then Black trades rooks on el before playing . . Qxh4. Timman's preparation had quite overlooked this interpolation, only en- visaging 20. . . Qxh4 when 21 Bh7+ Kxh7 22 Rxe8 would win for White. 21 Rae3 Rae6 22 Bg6 Qxh4 23 Rxe6 Rxe6 24 Rxe6 frie6 25 Be3 Qf6 26 Qg4 Bd6 27 h4 Nc6 28 Be8 Ne7 29 Bd7 Nf5 30 b5 Kf7 31 Be8 Ke7 32 b3 c5 A hammer blow which finally demolishes White's position. White can- not capture on c5 since . . Qal+ would be terminal. 33 Qe2 cxd4 34 Bd2 d3 35 Qdl Qh4 36 g3 Nxg3 Black resigns.