CHESS
Gary galvanised
Raymond Keene
Kasparov is acquiring the reputation of a slow starter in tournaments, and in the Barcelona World Cup he began with all the alacrity of a snail on tranquillisers. In his second game he lost to Yusupov, while his score was also littered with lacklustre draws against Ribli, Seirawan and Hubner. As time ran out in his race against Ljubojevic and Short, the champion finally picked up momentum. As I write, it is too early to tell whether his late effort will have carried him past his rivals, but en route he certainly played some impressive games. I give three of them this week.
Beliavsky — Kasparov: Barcelona World Cup, April 1989; Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Be2 BO 7 0-0 0-0 8 f4 a6 9 Khl Qc7 10 a4 Re8 11 5e3 Nc6 12 Qd2 Bd7 13 Nb3 h6 14 Bf3 Rab8 15
Position after 15 g4
g4 (Diagram) This position is already well known from the dramatic 24th game of the 1985 Karpov-Kasparov world championship match, the very game which brought Kasparov the title. Karpov's plan there was to manoeuvre his queen and rook in front of his 'h' pawn, trying to deliver mate on h7. Beliavsky now follows Karpov's precedent for a while, but then varies the attacking scheme, going for improved chances by first thrusting forwards his own 'h' pawn as a battering ram. 15 . . . Bc8 16 g5 Nd7 17 Qf2 Bt 8 At this point Karpov played the slower 18 Bg2. 18 h4 Bb7 19 h5 Na5 20 Radl Ne4 21 Bel Rbc8 22 Bg2 Nc5 23 Nd4 d5 24 e5 Ne4 25 Nxe4 dxe4 26 b3 Na5 27 Be3 g6 28 Rd2 Red8 Beliavsky's next move is premature. He should play 29 Oh4 without first trading pawns on g6. Although it takes play of genius on Kasparov's part to prove it, the opening of the 'h' file at this point only favours Black. 29 hxg6 hxg6 30 Qh4 Nc6 31 c3 Ne7 32 c4 Rxd4 A brilliant sacrifice which exposes all the defects of White's posi- tion. 33 Bxd4 Nf5 34 Qh3 Kg7 35 Qc3 a5 36 c5 Nxd4 37 Rxd4 Bxc5 38 Rc4 Rh8+ 39 Bh3 e3+ 40 Kh2 Qc6 41 Qc2 Ba6 42 Kg3 Bxc4 43 Qxc4 Qd7 44 Bg4 Qd2 45 Be2 Rd8 46 Rd l Rd4 47 Qc2 Qb4 48 Qc3 Rxf4 49 Qxb4 Rxb4 50 Bc4 Be7 If now 51 Kf4 b5!! 52 axb5 a4 53 bxa4 e2! and Black inevitably wins a piece. 51 Kf3 Bxg5 52 Ral Kf8 53 Ra2 Ke7 54 Rg2 e2 55 Rxe2 b5 56 Bxb5 Rxb3+ 57 Kg4 Be3 58 Rc2 Bd4 59 Kf4 Rh3 60 Rc8 Rh4+ 61 Kg3 Rh8! White resigns. Black's 61st move was the final ingenious stroke, in that 62 Rxh8 is met by . . . Bxe5+ when Black will emerge with three extra pawns.
Kasparov played the following master- piece of aggression on his 26th birthday, 13 April:
Kasparov — Salov: English Opening. 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 b6 3 Nc3 c5 4 e4 d6 5 d4 cxd4 6 Nxd4 Bb7 7 Qe2 Nbd7 8 g3 Rc8 9 Bg2 a6 10 0-0 Qc7 11 b3 e6 The move order of the opening has been somewhat unusual, but given a couple more moves, such as . . . Be7 and . . . 0-0, Black will transpose into his normal, impervious Hedgehog system. Kasparov, however, does not grant this respite and launches an attack which recalls his assault at Reykjavik last year against Ehlvest. 12 Nd5! Qb8 If 12 . . . exd5 13 exd5+ Kd8 14 Rd l with a fearsome attack. 13 Rdl g6 14 Bg5 Bg7 15 Bxf6 Nxf6 16 Nxb6 Rd8 Kasparov has won a pawn, but he is not content with that. He could simply consolidate with 17 Na4 but then Black could escape the worst with 17 . . . 0-0 and . . . Rfe8. Kasparov prefers to blast his hapless opponent from the face of the board with a veritable orgy of sacrifices. 17 e5 Bxg2 18 exf6 Bxf6 19 Nxe6! fxe6 20 Qxe6+ Be7 21 c5 Bb7 22 Re! Qc7 23 c6 Bxc6 24 Racl Rd7 25 Nxd7 Qxd7 Salov is banking on 26 Rxc6 Cixe6 27 Rxe6 Kd7, but instead of allowing Black to return from the grave in this fashion Kasparov finishes him with a series of hammer blows. 26 Qc4 Bb7 27 Qc7 Rf8 28 Qb8+ K17 29 Rc7! Black resigns. He faces ruinous material losses.
Last week I published a miniature win by Speelman against Illescas. Soon after, it was Speelman's turn to go down in flames against the world champion.
Kasparov — Speelman: Modern Defence. 1 d4 d6 2 e4 g6 3 c4 e5 4 Nf3 exd4 5 Nxd4 Bg7 6 Nc3 Nc6 7 Be3 Nge7 8 h4 h6 This and Black's next move are too provocative. Black should simply castle. 9 Be2 f5 10 exf5 Nxf5 11 Nxf5 Bxf5 12 Qd2 Qd7 13 0-0 0-0-0 It is virtually unknown for Black to castle queenside in the Modern defence, but the weakness created by Black's 8th move has made this inevitable. 14 b4 Nxb4 15 Nb5 Nc2 Suddenly Kasparov is in his element, sacrificing material, in this case the rook on al, to come to grips with the enemy king. 16 Bf3 d5 17 Bxd5 Nxal 18 Nxa7+ Kb8 19 Qb4 Qxd5 Tantamount to resignation. 20 cxd5 Nc2 21 Qa5 Nxe3 22 f 25 Qa5+ Black resigns.
There is a curious exhibition of chess paintings by the German artist Wolfgang Koethe at the Flowers East Gallery, 199 Richmond Road, London E8. Koethe has painted portraits of Grandmasters, but removed the chess boards and pieces, thus leaving the weird impression of a number of men in suits staring intently into empty space. For those in the know, however, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov are clearly recognisable.
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