CHESS
Kok ahoop
Raymond Keene
Brussels hathat impresses most about the SWIFT operation is the imperial style of millionaire Bessel Kok, the company's chief executive and promoter of the SWIFT super-tournament. Kok has identi- fied himself very closely with the tourna- ment itself. He has taken the new Grand- master Association. under his personal wing, giving the GMA an HQ in Brussels and he plans to follow up the SWIFT tournament in Brussels with the SWIFT World Blitz Championship (5 minutes per player per game) on 26 April. All this activity, for any interested Spectator read- ers who happen to be in Brussels, takes place at the Salle des Nations of the Sheraton Hotel, Place Rogier 3.
When questioned as to the reaction of Fide (the World Chess Federation) offi- cials to his unilateral declaration of a world title in blitz, Kok claims not to be in the slightest bit interested in their views on this topic. The Brussels-based GMA, with Kas- parov at its head and British GM John Nunn on the board, plans to organise its own world cup tournaments, along the lines of Formula One racing. The Associa- tion has not yet affiliated to Fide and claims equal rights with the world body on matters affecting top players.
Fide must surely be alarmed at the prospect of a challenge to its administrative power emanating from Brussels. One of Fide's main failures in the past has been lack of sympathetic communication with the Western piess. Kok, on the contrary, goes to immense lengths to encourage a press presence at his tournaments and organisational activities. Many of them are already referring to Kok as the de facto head of Fide — even though he has no official post.
If Fide's authority is to be re-asserted it must be in the decision over the venue of the forthcoming world championship match. Campomanes and Karpov are said to favour Dubai. Kasparov would prefer almost anywhere else. The bids will be in by 30 April and a final decision will follow in the subsequent month. If Kasparov feels threatened by the choice of eventual venue, will he mobilise the GMA to fight his corner? Meanwhile, after three rounds here Kasparov and Korchnoi both have 100 Per cent and Kasparov has twice won the prize awarded by the public for the most in- teresting game of the round. Here is his game against van der Wiel from Round 2.
Kasparov — v.d. Wiel: Queen's Gambit. 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5Nf3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 Bb4 7 a3 Ba5 8 0-0 0-0 9 Qc2 dxc4 10 Bxc4 Bc7 11 Ba2 e5 12 h3 h6 13 e4 Re8 14 Be3 NO 15 Radl exd4 16 Bxd4 Qe7 17 e5 Nf8 18 Nb5 Ne6 19 Bxe6 fxe6 20 Nxc7 Qxc7 21 Qg6 Qf7 22 Qx17"1" Kxf7 23 Be3 R18 24 Rd4 Kg8 25 Rfdl b6 26 104 Rf5 27 Nd4 Black resigns. Black's opening was one favoured by v.d. Wiel's illustrious predecessor, the Dutch world champion Dr Euwe. Kasparov made it look most suspect. White's 18th move is 3 startling coup which exposes all of the defects in the Black position. If 18 . . . cxb5 19 Bc5 win! Black's queen. In the final position 27 . . . Rxe° loses to 28 Nxc6.
Nigel Short has made an inauspicious start and has only 1/2/3, having drawn with Torre and lost to Timman and Korchnoi. British Grandmaster Jon Speelman has
just produced another brilliant tournament success by coming equal first with Victor Korchnoi in the seventh international tournament at Beersheva, Israel. He scored 81/2/11, two points ahead of Dmitri
Gurevich, who was third.
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