CHESS

Ivanchuk the Terrible

Raymond Keene

Vassily Ivanchuk, the 22-year-old Muscovite, has clearly and convincingly won what has been billed by the Spanish organisers as the strongest tournament ever held. In so doing Ivanchuk achieved the unique double of inflicting defeat on both Karpov and Kasparov in the same tournament, and he also crushed Kaspar- ov's decade-long record of finishing no lower than first equal in every important tournament in which he had participated. Apologists for the world champion may well point out that their man would have been tired after his exertions against Kar- pov in their world championship match. It should be stressed, though, that Kasparov actually performed up to his 2800 rating in Linares, and it was Ivanchuk who surpas- sed all expectations. Kasparov will have to look to his laurels in the future.

In spite of my prediction that Karpov would once again be the challenger in 1993, his wretched showing in Linares, where only a late spurt brought him up to a respectable 50 per cent, must give pause for thought. If Karpov meets lvanchuk in the Candidates tournament, it will be a damn close-run thing.

The performance of our own Jon Speel- man was also superb, but no one at Linares could match Ivanchuk's fluent power, as Linares Tournament, February/March 1991 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 Ivanchuk X 1 Y2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 91/2 Kasparov 0 X 1 Y2 V2 Y2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 1 9 Beliavsky1/20X1/210011101118 Speelman 1/2 VI Y2 k CI Y2 1 1/2 Y2 Y2 112 1/2 1 1 71/2

Yusupov 1/2 1/2 0 1 X 1 1/2 Y2 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 71/2 Salov 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 0 X 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1 7 Karpov 0 1/2 1 0 1/2 Y2 X 1/2 0 Y2 0 1 1 1 61/2

Timrnan Y2 1/2 0 Y2 1/2 1/2 1/2 X 0 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 61/2 Anand 01/201/21011X01/201/21 6 Gurevich 0001/201/21/201X111/21 6 Ljubojevic 1/2 0 1 V2 1/2 1/2 1 V2 1/2 0 X 0 1 0 6

Gelfand 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 1 0 1/2 1 0 1 X 0 1 51/2 Ehlvest 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 0 Y2 Y2 0 1 X 0 31/2 Kamsky 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Y2 0 0 1 0 1 X 21/2

evinced here by his startlingly swift demoli- tion of a player who started Linares as the third highest ranked GM in the world. In contrast. Kasparov's scrappy win against Ljubojevic demonstrated the kind of un- even form in which the world champion found himself in Spain.

Ivanchuk — Gelfand: Linares 1991; Grunfeld Defence.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 0-0 5 Bg2 d5 6 0-0 dxc4 7 No3 A variation well known to theory but regarded by aficionados of the Grunfeld as fairly harmless for Black. White gains a con- siderable pawn centre, but it is felt that Black can generate plenty of counterplay with his active pieces and fianchettOed king's bishop. 7 . . . c3 8 Bxc3 c5 9 e3 Nc6 10 Qe2 Qa5 11 Bb2 Nd5 This crude attack against c3 clearly looks somewhat suspect, since Black's knights lack stable posts in the centre of the board. Evidently preferable is 11 . . Bf5 12 Rfcl Be4 as in Adorjan — Kindermann, Altensteig 1989. 12 Racl b6 If Black's previous handling of this opening was unwise then this move, which fulfils the doubly disastrous function of cutting off the retreat of his queen and exposing Black to pressure from the white bishop on g2 towards the black knight on c6 and the rook on a8, must be classed as downright foolish. 13 Nd2! A superb move, unmasking the full force of the financhettoed perb move, unmasking the full force of the fianchettoed king's bishop whilst simultaneously threatening to transfer his knight to the queen's wing to bring the black queen in angustis. e6 14 Nb3 Qa6 15 c4 Ndb4 16 Nb5 Qa4 17 Nc3 Qa6 18 a3 Black resigns Black loses at least a piece for absolutely no compensation.

Ljubojevic — Kasparov: Linares 1991; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 d6 3 f4 Nc6 4 Nf3 g6 5 Bb5 Bd7 6 0-0 Bg7 7 d3 a6 8 Bxc6 Bxc6 White's handling of the opening has been original if unpretentious. It might succeed if Black incautiously castled on

the kingside, thus permitting White an automa- tic attack based on moves such as Qel, Qh4, f5, Bh6 and Ng5. It will be observed, though, that Kasparov astutely avoids committing his king and ultimately transfers it out of the danger zone. 9 Qel Qd7 10 a4 b6 11 b3 Nf6 12 h3 Nh5 13 Bd2 f5 14 exf5 gxf5 White is hoping to generate play in the 'e' file against the black pawn on e7. The net effect of this exchange, though, tends more to granting Black a severe counter-attack with his rook coming to the open `g file in co-operation with the powerful light-squared bishop aiming towards g2. 15 Qh4 Nf6 16 Rael 0-0-0 17 a5 b5 18 b4 cxb4 19 Na2 Ljubojevic desperately seeks to conjure up chances on the queen's flank in order to distract Kasparov from his increasing pressure on the 'g' file. 19 . . . Nd5 20 Nxb4 Bf6 21 Q12 Nxb4 22 Bxb4 Rhg8 23 Re2 Rg6 24 Qel Rdg8 25 Kh2 e5 26 fxe5 Bxe5+ 27 KM Qb7 The wrong idea. By playing 27 . . Og7 Black could have crowned his fine strategical performance by instituting a deadly offensive against the white king. 28 d4 Rxg2?? This sacrifice is utter nonsense and simply loses a rook for no compensation. 29 Rxg2 Rxg2 Evidently Kasparov had overlooked that 29. . . bxf3 loses to 30 Rxf3 Qxf3 31 Oc3+ Qxc3 32 Rxg8+ and 33 Bxc3 with a whole extra

Position after 31 . . .

Bf4 rook. 30 Kxg2 Qg7+ 31 1thl Bf4 (Diagram) 32 Qe6+? Missing a kindergarten win with 32 d5 Bxd5 33 Qc3+ when Black would certainly have resigned. Even after the text it is virtually impossible to conceive how White could cont- rive to lose the position. En route to his perdition Ljubojevic, it will be noted, also spurns any number of opportunities to escape with a draw by perpetual check. 32. . . Bd7 33 Qd5 Qg3 34 Qa8+ Kc7 35 Re! Qxh3+ 36 Kg! Qg3+ 37 1(11 Qh3+ 38 Ke2 Bc6 39 Qa7+ Kc8 40 Rf1 Qg2+ 41 Kel Bg3+ 42 Kdl Qxfl + 43 Nel Bxel White resigns.