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SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA

Qualifiers

Raymond Keene

Last week I explained the respective states of both the Fide and PCA World Championship cycles. Now I will run through the Fide matches and their results and pick out the most entertaining game.

Gelfand–Kramnik: Fide Candidates, Sanghi Nagar, August 1994; Queen's Gambit Declined (by transposition).

Before the matches started in Sanghi Nagar I had pinpointed Kramnik as the favourite against Gelfand. Indeed, Kram- nik was the first to score a win, but there- after Gelfand, far from becoming discour- aged, took complete control of the match. His particular success was in exploiting Kramnik's lackadaisical approach to open- ing systems with which he was not fully familiar. Kramnik must now sit on the side- lines and twiddle his thumbs as both world championship cycles sail off into the dis- tance without him, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gelfand 1/2 1/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 41 Kramnik 1/2 1/2 1 0 1/2 1/2 1h 0 31/2

1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 414 d5 6 a3 a6 Bobby Fischer's choice in this position was 6 Ne4. The text seems to fall in somewhat too readily with White's plans. 7 b3 A clever move, after which Black must exert caution. He should probably just play the unpretentious 7 ... b6 or

even 7 ...Be7. 7 ... cxd4 8 exd4 Bel White now gains a queenside bind. 9 c5 b6 10 cxb6 Nd7 This and Black's next few moves are artificial. He should simply play 10 ... Qxb6. 11 Bd3 a5 Why give away the b5 square for a White invasion? 12 Nb5 Qxb6 13 Bf4 0-0 14 0-0 Na7 15 Nc7 Rb8 16 b4 (Diagram above) A vigorous plan to exploit the aggressive placing of his pieces. 16 ... Bb7 If

16 ... axb4 17 axb4 Qxb4 18 Rxa7 wins a piece, or 17 ...Bxb4 18 Rbl leaves Black badly tied up.

17 bxa5 QxaS 18 Qe2 e5 In spite of some eccen- tric play Black has more or less survived his unfortunate opening. However, this is going too far. He speculates on the exposed situation of White's knight on c7 but overlooks the dangers to his own king. 19 BxeS Nxe5 20 QxeS Nc6 21 Qf4 Rbc8 22 Nb5 Ba6 23 a4 Nb4 24 Bf5 RcdS 25 Rfe1 Bf6 26 Ne5 BxeS 27 dxe5 BxbS 28 axb5 QxbS 29 Ra3 White's pieces are now poised to

switch fronts. 29 Qc4 (Diagram) 30 Bxh7+ Condign punishment for Black's eccentricities. 30 ... Kxh7 31 QfS+ Kg8 If 31 ...g6 32 Rh3+ followed by Qf6 forces checkmate. 32 Rh3 Rfe8 33 Qh7+ Kf8 34 Qh8+ Ke7 35 Qxg7 d4 36 e6 (Diagram below) Stripping the last flimsy protec- tion away from Black's king. 36 ...Kd6 37 e7 Rd7 38 Qe5+ Kc6 39 Rh6+ Kb7 40 Qa5 Rdxe7 Position after 36 e6

41 Rxe7+ Rxe7 42 Qb6+ Black resigns After 42 ...Kc8 43 Rh8+ Kd7 44 Rd8 is checkmate.

Even more surprising for me was Kamsky's qualification against Anand. I had regarded Anand as a dead cert to go through, and the man most likely to unify both the PCA and Fide championships. Anand roared into the lead but then suc- cumbed to Kamsky's iron determination as the young ex-Russian clawed back two wins to recover from what had seemed inevitable defeat.

1 2

3 4 5 6 Anand 1/2 1 1 ih 0 Kamsky lh 1/2 0 0 1/2 1

The third and final contest was between Jan Timman, the jovial Dutchman, and the rather icy Valery Salov. Once again, it was the eventual loser who shot into the lead by winning the first game, but ultimately Salov's technique proved too much. Salov now goes on to play Kamsky in the Fide semi-final, while Gelfand faces Karpov. It is really impossible to predict the favourites here, though I would have a slight prefer- ence for Karpov and Kamsky.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Salov 0 1/2 1/2 1 lh 1/2 1 1/2 41/2 Tinunan 1 1/2. 1/2 0

1h 1/2

0 1/2 31/2 7 8 9 10

0 1/2 0 0 4

1/ 1 1 6