CHESS
Vindaloo
Raymond Keene
In the past year the 22-year-old Viswa- nathan Anand from Madras has been the only grandmaster who has regularly in- flicted defeat on both Karpov and Kaspar- ov. Although he was eliminated from the current world championship cycle by the narrowest of margins, by Karpov last year, the match was extremely close and on the general run of play, Anand missing many easy wins in several games, one might have expected Anand to go through rather than the former world champion.
Anand will be a major force in the next championship cycle and, along with Ivan- chuk and Short, he could be considered, one of the three most likely challengers for 1996. In particular he is feared for the demon speed of his play, often taking minutes, where others would take hours, to decide over his moves. In his home country, particularly in Calcutta where he has just shared first prize in the Goodricke International Tournament, he is feted as a national hero. Teenage groupies clamour for his autograph, he is mobbed in the streets, restaurants open specially for him, when he arrived at the tournament he was showered with petals, a red carpet was quite literally rolled out and the tourna- ment organisers presented him with a car.
Reggio Emilia Tournament, December 1991/January 1992
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Anand V X 1/2 1 1/2 V2 V2 1 0 1 1 6
2 Gelfand B V2 X 1/2 1/2 ih 1/2 1 1/2 V2 1 5% 3 Kasparov G 0 1/2 X 1/2 1 V2 V2 1 V2 1 5% 4 Karpov A 1/2 1/2 1/2 X 1/2 0 V2 1 1/2 1 5 5 Ivanchuk V V2 1/2 0 V2 X 1 Vi V2 V2 V241/2
6 Khalifman A 1/2 V2 1/2 1 0 X 1/2 V2 0 1 41/2
7 Polugaevsky L 0 0 1/2 1/2 ih y2 1/2 1 1 41/2 8 Gurevich M 1 1/2 0 0 1/2 1/2 lh X 0 1 4 9 Salov V 0 1h 1h 1/2 1/2 1 0 1 X 0 4 10 Belaysky A 0 0 0 01/2 0 0 0 1 X11
The following game and tournament table explain why.
Kasparov — Anand: Reggio Emilia 1991; French Defence.
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 c5 4 exd5 Qxd5 5 dxc5 A curious decision which should not present Black with severe problems since it assists his develop- ment. More testing is 5 Ngf3 cxd4 6 Bc4 Qd6 7 0-0 Nf6 as in Adams — Speelman, Duncan Lawrie English championship, London 1991. 5 . . . Bxc5 6 Ngf3 Nf6 7 Bd3 0-0 8 Qe2 Nbd7 9 Ne4 b6 Black does not need to fear the loss of the bishop pair since he obtains sufficient compensation in the speedy mobilisation of his forces. 10 Nxc5 QxcS If 10 . . . Nxc5 11 Bc4 would go some way towards justifying White's choice of variation. 11 Be3 Qc7 12 Bd4 Bbl 13 0-0-0 Nc5 The world champion, even after his somewhat lacklustre opening, has still created a situation which is full of tension. The players have castled on opposite wings, which normally betokens a fierce struggle and White's bishops are aimed menacingly at the black king. It should be noted, though, that if White tries to strike immediately and break up Black's king- side pawns with Bxf6 then the zwischenzug 14 . . . Qf4+ meeting 15 Kbl with 15 . . . Qxf6 guarantees Black a perfectly acceptable posi- tion. 14 Be5 Nxd3+ Hastening to eliminate one of White's most dangerous attacking units. 15 Rxd3 Qc4 The black queen moves into counter- attacking mode. White's best now is probably 16 b3 Qe4 followed by the exchange of queens with a likely draw. Instead of pursuing this arid course Kasparov boldly launches into an obscure attacking scheme but in the course of this he is tactically outmanoeuvred by the young Indian. 16 Nd4 Be4 17 Re3 Qxa2 If now 18 Rxe4 Qal + 19 Kd2 Nxe4+ 20 Qxe4 Qxhl 21 Qg4. Black's safest to beat off the attack is 21 . . . f6 22 Nxe6 Rfd8+ winning. Kasparov's choice on move 18 appears decisive but there is a remarkable resource in the offing. 18 Bxf6 Bg6! Of course Black cannot recapture on f6 since his bishop is hanging, but now White must cope with the dual threats of . . . gxf6 and . . . °al.+ , so his hand Position after 19 . . . Qd5 is forced. 19 Ra3 Qd5 (Diagram) Kasparov is a piece ahead but he cannot retain his extra material. Furthermore his king has become weakened by the disappearance of his a2 pawn. If now 20 Be5 f6 and White cannnot protect both his minor pieces. White's best then is 21 Bd6 Qxd6 (not 21 . . . Rfe8 22 Nb5) 22 Qxe6+ Qxe6 23 Nxe6 Rfc8 24 Nd4 Rc4 when 25 Rdl leads to a very drawish position. In trying for more than this Kasparov runs enormous risks. 20 h4? gxf6 21 h5 Qxd4 22 hxg6 hxg6 23 Rah3 White is now two pawns down but was doubtless relying on his attack in the 'h' file to generate adequate compensation. 23 . . . f5 If here 24 Rh8+ Qxh8 25 Rxh8+ Kxh8 Black's two rooks and two pawns would triumph against White's queen in the endgame. 24 Rh4 f4 25 Qf3 RacS 26 Rxf4 Qc5 27 c3 Kg7 28 Rhh4 This move is incompre- hensible and after it White stays a pawn down with an exposed king, so the outcome can no longer be in doubt. It looks more natural to play 28 Rfh4, though after 28 . . . Qg5+ 29 Kbl Qf5+ 30 QxfS gxf5 White would still have to struggle to draw the endgame a pawn down. This would, however, have been better than what occurred in the game. 28 . . . Qe5 29 g3 Qel+ 30 Kc2 Rcd8 31 Rd4 Qe5 32 Rhf4 Qc7 33 Qe3 e5 34 Rxd8 Rxd8 35 Re4 Rd5 36 g4 b5 37 g5 Qd6 38 f3 a5 The beginning of the end. The advance of Black's pawns soon strips away the defences around White's king. 39 Qe2 Qe6 40 Qh2 Qf5 41 Qg3 Qd7 42 Qel b4 43 cxb4 Qa4+ 44 b3 Qa2+ 45 Kc3 a4 46 Bxa4 Qa3+ 47 Kc2 Qxa4+ 48 Kc3 Qa3+ 49 Kc2 Rd3 White resigns.
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