CHESS
Two fronts
Raymond Keene
BRITISH grandmasters have been active in two widely separated theatres of combat during August. As I predicted in this column two weeks ago, Julian Hodgson romped home in the Smith & Williamson British Chess Championship at Scarborough. Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Michael Adams was the last British player flying the flag in the final eight of the FIDE (World Chess Federation) Championship. Here are exam- ples of their exploits, Hodgson—Rahman: British Championship 1999; Slav Defence 1 d4 d5 2 c4 In this position Hodgson has also tried the outlandish 2 Bg5. Here he goes for something more orthodox. 2 c6 3 Nc3 e6 4 e4 Bb4 A suspect move which declines to accept
White's challenge. The key line is 4 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Bb4+ 6 Bd2 Qxd4 7 Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8 Bet with sharp gambit play, as in the game Hodgson—Haslinger from round one of the British Championship. 5 eS Now White has an easy advantage. 5 ... c5 Losing a tempo, but Black must fight back before it is too late. 6 a3 cxd4 7 axb4 dxc3 8 bxc.3 Qc7 9 Nf3 Ne7 Black lacks the courage of his convictions. His whole conduct of the opening has been tending towards the pawn snatch 9 dxc4. However, after 9 ... dxc4 10 b5 is extremely dangerous with Diagram 1
ideas such as 13a3 and Qd4 in the offing. 10 Qd4 Ng6 If 10 ... Nbc6 11 Qc5 b6 12 Qd6 with infil- tration of the black camp. 11 b5 Nd7 12 Ba3 (Diagram .1) White insists on gambitting a pawn. 12 ...Ndxe5 13 Nd2 An inspired reaction, which leaves Black's king cut off by the raking white bishop. 13 ...b6 14 cxd5 exd5 15 g3 White con- tinues as if he has all the time in the world. 15
Be6 If 15 ...Bb7 16 13h3, further severing Black's lines of communication. 16 Bg2 0-0-0 17 0-0 In this situation, where the players have cas- tled on opposite wings, there is no question that it is the black king that suffers from acute lack of shelter. 17 ... Nc4 18 Rfdl NgeS After 18 Nxa3 19 Rxa3 it is true that one of White's valuable bishops disappears from the board. Nevertheless, White would be that much nearer concentrating his rooks in the open a-file against the black king. 19 Nxc4 Nxc4 20 Qxg7 h5 21 Bel Rhg8 22 Qd4 Kb7 23 Bf4 Qc5 Seeking relief in an endgame but even here White's initiative per- sists. 24 QxcS bxc5 25 Ra6 Nb6 26 Be3 Bd7 If 26 ...Rc8 27 Rda1 causes Black's collapse. 27 c4 A fine exploitation of White's pressure along the al-h8 diagonal. 27 ...Be6 28 BxcS Nxc4 29 Rxa7+ Black resigns After 29 ...Kb8 30 Rdal Black's position is hopeless.
Adams—Almasi: FIDE World Championship, Las Vegas 1999; Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 The so-called Berlin Defence is a rare guest in modern tournaments. Black is known to suffer from a small but nag- ging endgame disadvantage, a verdict which this game does little to overturn. 4 0-0 Nxe4 5 d4 Nd6 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 dxe5 Nf5 8 Qxd8+ KxdS In spite of the simplification, Black's pawn struc- ture is permanently disfigured and his king obstructs the free movement of his pieces. White has a further long-range plus in the mobility of his kingside pawn majority. Black's bishop pair represents scant compensation in such circum- stances. 9 Nc3 Ke8 10 h3 Ne7 11 Ne4 Ng6 12 Rel c5 13 a4 h6 14 a5 Bf5 15 h4 White advances on all fronts. 15 ...Be7 16 Nd6+ A neat tactic. 16 cxd6 17 exd6 Be6 Black is intent on masking White's ambitions in the e-file. If instead 17 Bxc2 18 dxe7 Nxe7 19 Be3 Rc8 20 Rac1 Bb3 21 BxcS with unpleasant pressure. 18 dxe7 Nxe7 19 Ne5 Nf5 20 Ra4 Ke7 White's advantage is vir- tually imperceptible. There has been much trad- ing of pieces, the bishops present are of opposite colours and the pawn structure is symmetrical. However, White's somewhat more active pieces combined with the fact that Black's king is not yet secure, still guarantee him a minute advan- tage. 21 Rf4 RacS 22 b4 b6 23 bxc5 bxc5 24 Ba3 g5 25 Rfe4 Nxh4 Adams now reveals the point of his play, effect- ing further simplification with a very temporary knight sacrifice. The resultant position leaves him in possession of the superior minor piece. This is underscored by the fact that most of Black's pawns are vulnerably situated on the same colour complex as the white bishop. 26 Nx17 Kxf7 27 Rxe6 Rhe8 A counsel of despair in the face of White's domination of the e-file. 28 Rxe8 Rxe8 29 Rxe8 Kxe8 30 a6 A further finesse which emphasises the weakness of Black's pawns. 30 ...Kd7 31 BxcS Kc6 32 Bxa7 Kb5 33 Bc5 Kxa6 34 Bf8 g4 If 34 ... h5 35 Bel. After the text Black could have as well resigned. 35 13s116 Nf5 36 Bg5 Kb5 37 Bf6 Kc4 38 Kfl Kd5 39 Ke2 Kc4 40 13 gxf3+ 41 ICA3 Kd5 42 g4 Nd6 43 Kf4 Ke6 44 Bd4 Black resigns
Previous page
