CHESS

Sinking feeling (2)

Raymond Keene

LAST week I covered Cambridge's defeat in their annual match against Oxford. The results of the Linares super-tournament must have left Garry Kasparov about as depressed as the Cambridge Boat Race team the year that they sank. Things could hardly have gone worse for him. The even- tual winner turned out to be that very Viswanathan Anand who had lost in the final of the Fide World Championship to Karpov at Lausanne earlier this year.

Kasparov dismissed Karpov's victory in that match with the explanation that it was a contest between a weak player (Karpov) and a tired one (Anand). The tired Anand swiftly went on from Lausanne to share first prize at Wijk aan Zee and then to score the greatest success of his career at Linares. My conclusion is that he cannot have been particularly fatigued when he played Karpov and that the result at Linares has gone quite a long way towards legitimising Karpov's claim to be world champion. As I have argued many times in this column, Kasparov must defend his title, and soon. The question now, though, is against whom.

There were thoughts that Anand might play a qualifier against Kramnik (see this column of 28 February), but now Anand himself has declined to play. Shirov is being spoken of by the Spanish promoters as a possible replacement but in spite of his fine showing in Linares he cannot possibly be seen as a legitimate contender for the world championship. ICramnik, again unfortunate- ly for Kasparov, has in no way advanced his reputation in Linares. With the situation looking increasingly desperate for Kaspar- ov, his best bet might simply be to issue a direct challenge to Karpov. If Karpov turned that down the chess world could draw its own conclusions and Kasparov would then be free to play the winner of a qualifying match or tournament selected from amongst the best available grandmas- ters. In any case, Kasparov must act.

Ivanchuk—Anand: Linares 1998; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3

6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 Bel 8 0-0-0 0-0 9 f3 Nxd4 10 Qxd4 (Diagram) 10 ...a6 In the game Adams-

Position after 10 Qxd4

Rachels, Manila 1990 Black here tried a compli- cated manoeuvre to force White's queen's bish- op to withdraw from the g5-square. However, after the moves 10 ... Qa5 11 Bd2 Qc7 12 g4 a6 13 g5 Nd7 14 h4 b5 15 Qf2 Bbl 16 Kbl White went on to win. In this game Anand prefers to accelerate his queenside counterplay. A key component of this will be occupation of the c-file with the queen's rook bearing down directly against White's king. Meanwhile, on the other side of the board, White's chances lie in an onrush of his kingside pawns. 11 h4 b5 12 Kbl Qc7 13 h5 h6 14 Bh4 I would prefer 14 Be3, in some cases preparing g4-g5 whilst also retaining the option of Qb6 offering a trade of queens in case Black's queenside counterplaybecomes too threatening. 14 ... Bb7 15 Net Rac8 16 Qd2 Ftfd8 Black's opening problems are already long gone. His development is more efficient than White's and he has a clear of attack, namely the white king. 17 Rel e5 18 Bxf6 This is already a counsel of despair. Black is threatening .. • d5 with an immense initiative and Ivanchuk sees this exchange as the only method of postponing that eventuality. But as a result of the exchange Black's dark-squared bishop becomes a monster. 18 ...Bxf6 19 Nc3 BgS 20 Qdl Qa5 Already threatening a powerful sacrifice on c3. 21 Nd5 Bxd5 22 exd5 (Diagram) The upshot of White's

Position after 22 exd5

feeble play is that Black can now carry off a crushing sacrifice to drive the white king into the open. 22 ...Rxr2 23 Kxc2 Of course if 23 Qxc2 Qxel+. 23 ...Qxa2 24 f4 RcS+ 25 Kd2 Bxf4+ 26 Keg Qxb2+ 27 KB Rd White resigns After 28 Qe2 Qc3+ causes the instant collapse of White's position.

Final Crosstable, Linares, February/March 1998

1. Anand 2. Shirov 3. Kasparov

4. Kramnik

5. Swidler

6. Ivanchuk 7. Topalov

11 22 ** 11/2 01/2 * 11/2 v21/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 01/2 0 1

'/20 01 '/20 0 0

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66

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1/21/2

1/21/2

10 * *

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77

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1/2'12

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7 61/2 61/2 51/2

5 4