SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA
1400 I
CHESS
SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA ,
Janus
Raymond Keene
AS ALWAYS, THE TOURNAMENT at Hastings ends the old chess year and starts the new chess calendar. In the past. Hast- ings has reached illustrious heights, with every world champion apart from Kaspar- ov and Fischer having participated. This year, sadly, a clash with the dates of the PCA qualifier in Groningen has somewhat weakened the field. Still, with players such as John Nunn, Ian Rogers and Mikhail Krasenkov in the lists. Hastings remains Britain's strongest all-play-all tournament. One player who will be sorely missed is the winner for the past three years, the Rus- sian Grandmaster Evgeny Bareev, other- wise engaged in Groningen. Here is a sample of his skills from a recent game, one which takes an important variation from the Kasparov–Short match as its strategic theme.
Bareev – Nenashev: Lucerne World Team Cham- pionship, October 1993; Queens Gambit De- clined.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bg5 Bel 6 e3 0-0 7 Bd3 Re8 8 Nge2 Nbd7 9 0-0 Nf8 10 b4! Kasparov surprised Nigel Short with this in game 15 of the world championship. It is not a true pawn sacrifice in that 10 . . . Bxb4 would fail to 11 Bxf6 gxf6 12 Nxd5 QxdS 13 Qa4 with a fork against the bishop on b4 and the rook on when the complications ultimately work out in White's favour. 10 . . . a6 11 a4 This is Bareev's new idea, virtually insisting that Black take the gambit pawn, otherwise White's queen- side advance would gain several tempi. 11 a3 c6 12 Qc2 g6 13 f3 Ne6 14 Bh4 Nh5 15 Bxe7 Rxe7 16 Qd2 was Kasparov–Short, World Cham- pionship, Game 15, and led to White's advan- tage. Also better for White is 14 . • . Ng7 15 Bf2 h5 16 h3 Nh7 17 e4 (Kasparov–Beliaysky, Moscow Rapid 1987, an obscure game which had eluded Nigel Short's pre-match investiga- tions). 11 . . . Bxb4 12 Bxf6 gxf6 13 Qb3 Bxc3 14 Nxc3 c6 15 a5 Qd6 16 Na4 Ne6 So, White has immense strategic compensation for his sacri- ficed pawn in terms of Black's wrecked pawn structure on the king's flank, and White's queenside grip on the dark squares. If Kaspar- ov's games were already better for White, why try to improve? The answer comes on move 18.
17 Qc2 h6 18 f4 Preparing an original attack against Black's shattered king's flank. Kaspar- ov's method required patience, Bareev's attempted improvement seeks for more immedi- ate gains. 18 . . . Ng7 19 Rf3 f5 20 Rbl Re7 21 Nc5 Qf6 22 Bfl Ne8 23 Nd3 Nd6 24 Ne5 Be6 25 Bd3 Kh8 26 Rh3 Rg8 27 Rfl Rg7 28 Rff3 Preparing a spectacular concentration of force on the 'h' file. 28 . . . Re8 29 Rh5 Reg8 30 Bfl Position after 33 . . . Qh4 Rh7 31 Rfb3 Qg7 32 Qf2 f6 33 Qh4 (diagram) The climax of White's attack. If now 33 . . fxe5 34 Rxh6 Rxh6 35 Qxh6+ Qxh6 36 Rxh6+ Kg7 37 Rxe6 with an easy win. 33 . . . B17 34 Nxf7+ Qxf7 35 Rxh6 Rgg7 36 Rxf6 Rxh4 37 Rxh4+ Kg8 38 Rxf7 Kxf7 39 Rh5 Ke6 40 Bd3 Black resigns.
Hastings 1895 was the strongest tourna- ment of its day, with Pillsbury, Chigorin, Lasker, Tarrasch and Steinitz in the line- up. The centenary of this great event is due in two years time. At the moment, the Hastings tournament is supported solely by the local borough council. A commercial partner will have to be found if Hastings is to celebrate the centenary in fitting style.
One event from the year which eluded serious commentary in this column was the Fide Women's World Championship held in Monaco, roughly coinciding with the London championship between Kasparov and Short. Of course, Judit Polar is the strongest female player, but she disdains to compete in women-only events. That said, the Chinese woman Xie Jun is a brilliant tactician and she easily overpowered her challenger, the'Gegrgian player Nana Tose- liani. Taking a leaf from Kasparov's book, Xie Jun relied heavily on the Kings Indian Defence, with which she scored a number of sparkling wins.
Ioseliani – Xie Jun: Women's World Cham- pionship, 1993; Game 5, Kings Indian Defence.
1 d4 NI6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3 e5 7 0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Nd2 a510 a3 Bd7 White's next move permits Black a well-known strategic device to disrupt the smooth flow of the white queenside pawns. Since this advance is White's main trump in this variation it would have been more sensible, on the coming move, to prepare it carefully by means of 11 O. 11 Rbl a4 12 b4 axb3 13 Nxb3 b6 14 Ral Ne8 15 Be3 f5 16 f3 Kh8 17 a4 c5 White must now capture en passant. 18 Rat Nf6 19 Qal f4 20 Bf2 g5 21 Nb5 BxbS 22 cxb5 g4 White's queenside attack has proved slow inpetting off the ground as a result of the opening s inaccuracy. Although White definitely has chances in that sector Black's prospects are far more favourable since she has the white king as a target and her offensive is already well under way. 23 a5 g3 24 hxg3 Nh5 25 axb6 Rxa2 26 Qxa2 fxg3 27 b7 Ng6 28 Bc4 Qh4 29 Ral gxf2+ 30 Qxf2 Ng3 31 Qel Qhl + 32 Kf2 Qh4 33 Kg! Nf4 34 Bfl Bh6 35 Ra8 Qhl+ 36 Kf2 White's threats at last appear serious but now
Position after 36 Kf2 there is a forced checkmate with sacrifices. (Diagram) 36 . . . Nh3+ If now 37 gxh3 Qxf3+ 38 Kgl Ohl checkmate. 37 Kxg3 Bf4+ 38 Kg4 h5+ White resigns.
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