Chess
Power play
Raymond Keene
Moscow As might be expected, the most enter- taining play in the Moscow Interzonal has been provided by the firm favourite, Gary Kasparov. Kasparov's preferred method with White is to set up a mobile pawn centre and then crash through quickly with powerful tactics, as can be seen from this week's games. Also highly impressive is his speed of play. He used only 1 hour 33 minutes to demolish the Hungarian Grand- master Sax, while against Murei he needed a mere 42 minutes to notch the full point.
Kasparov — Sax: Moscow Interzonal Round 1; Grunfeld Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 NxdS 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Bc4 Switching from his normal 7 Nf3, this old main line was probably prepared by Kasparov and his second Nikitin, especially for the Interzonal. 7 ... 0-0 8 Be3 b6 A risky idea, but one frequently employed by Sax and his com- patriot Adorjan. The most solid continuation is 8 ... c5 9 Ne2 cxd4 10 cxd4 Nc6 11 0-0 Bg4 12 f3 Na5 13 Bd3 Be6, when Kasparov would probably have sacrificed the exchange with 14 d5 Bxal 15 Qxal f6 16 Rbl. 9 h4 Kasparov wastes no time in setting about Black's K. If now 9 ... Nc6 10 h5 Na5 11 hxg6 Nxc4 12 Qh5 gives White a terrible attack. 9 ... Bb7 10 Q13 Qd7 11 Ne2 h5 12 Bg5 Nc6 13 Nf4 e6 14 Rdl Na5 15 Bd3 e5 A new move. In an earlier game between two East Ger- man Grandmasters Black succumbed after 15 ... c5? 16 Rh3 cdx4 17 Nxh5! gxh5 18 Bf6 when the threat of Rg3 is deadly. 16 dxe5 Bxe5 17 0-0 Qg4 18 Qe3 Rfe8 19 Be2 Bxf4 20 Bxf4 Nc4?! An ingenious defence, but it fails to a brilliant stream of tactics. Correct is 20 ... Qxh4, though after 21 e5 Qe7 22 Qg3, White has enor- mous compensation for the pawn. 21 Bxc4 Rxe4 22 f3 Qxf4 23 Bxf7 + ! Both 23 ... Qxf7 and 23 Kxf7 now fail to 24 fxe4, so White will win a vital pawn. 23 ... Kg7 24 Qd3! Forcing the exchange of Qs into an ending where Black stands miserably. 24 ... Qe3 + 25 Qxe3 Rxe3 26 Rd7 Kh6 27 Rxc7 Ba6 28 Rdl Bd3 29 Rd2 Bf5 30 Kf2 Re5 31 Rd5 RdxS 32 Bxd5 Rd8 33 c4 b5 34 Ke3 a5 35 Kf4 Bbl 36 g4 hxg4 37 fxg4 Black resigns. No defence to g5+.
Kasparov — Murei: Moscow Interzonal Round 3; Queen's Indian Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 Nc3 Bb7 I really believe 4 ... Bb4 is more sensible, particularly against Kasparov, who has made a special study of the a3 systems, which he now employs. 5 a3 d5 6 cxd5 NxdS 7 Qc2 A probable improvement on his normal 7 e3. 7 . . c5 More circumspect is 7 ... Be7 (see Portisch-Christiansen from my Phillips and Drew reports earlier this year). 8 e4 Nxc3 9 bxc3 Nc6 10 Bb2 Rc8 11 Rdl Strange as it may seem, Kasparov is the first to have introduc- ed this natural configuration of White's QB and QR into this variation. 11 ... cxd4 Foolhardy, since it frees the diagonal for White's QB, and there is no way to profit from the discovery against White's Q. 12 cxd4 a6 If 12 Nxd4? 13 Qa4 + wins, while 12 ... Nb4? is pointless after 13 Bb5 + . 13 Qd2! Avoiding tricks and building up behind the 'd' pawn. 13 ... Na5 14 d5 exd5 15 exd5 Bd6 From this point on, in the post-mortem, it looked as if Black was lost. The obvious move 15 ... Qe7 + fails to 16 Be2 Nc4 17 d6! and the P cannot be captured by the Q because of Bxc4 while if Nxd6 White simply castles. 16 Bxg7 Qe7 + 17 Be2 Rg8 18 Qh6 f5 19 Bf6 Qf8 20 Qxh7 Qf7 21 Qxf5 Rg6 22 Qe4 + Kf8 23 Ng5 RxgS 24 BxgS Re8 25 Bh6 + Kg8 26 Qg4 + Black resigns.
The former world champion, Mikhail Tal, has also been in sparkling form. In round 4 he produced this attractive brevity. The final attack looks more like a King's Gam- bit than an English opening.
Tal L.-- Van der Wiel: English Opening.
1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 e4 Bb7 5 Bd3 c5 6 0-0 Nc6 7 e5 Ng4 8 Be4 Qc8 9 d3!? The standard move here is Rel, tried out in the Korchnoi- Polugaievsky Candidates' matches. Tal offers a pawn instead to further his development. This is a highly important theoretical novelty, which Tal had discovered during preparation for the last Karpov-Korchnoi match. 9 ... Ngxe5 10 NxeS NxeS 11 f4 Nc6 12 f5 g6 13 Bg5 gxf5 14 Bxf5 Bel If 14 ... exf5.15 Qe2 + or 15 Nd5 both look strong. 15 Qh5 Bxg5 16 QxgS Ne7 17 Be4 Bxe4 18 Nxe4 Qc6 19 lixf7! Here the audience at the Sport Hotel broke into premature applause. 19 ... Kxf7 20 Qf6 + Kg8 21 Qxe7 Rf8 22 Rfl! Black resigns. 22 ... Rxfl + 23 Kxfl and then Nf6. Tal took just 35 minutes for this win.
The latest position, after six rounds, is that Garcia leads with 51/2 points; Tal has 41/2, Kasparov 31/2 (plus one adjourned against Beliaysky). Anderson also has 31/2 plus one adjourned. Kasparov's games with Tal and Beliaysky in rounds five and six were fan- tastic with multiple sacrifices, but he could not beat Tal and may only draw with Beliaysky. Garcia is the surprise. He has been slightly lucky and his games do not sparkle, but he's very effective.
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