CHESS
Nigel Short's secret weapon against Anatoly Karpov in Linares was the Worrall Attack in the Ruy Lopez. Checking my copy of The Oxford Companion to Chess, I discovered that the Worrall Attack, the essence of which is that White defends his e-pawn in the Lopez with Qe2 rather than Rel , was named after Thomas Herbert Worrall (1807-1878), who was British Commissioner in Mexico and later trans- ferred to New York. The OCC mentions that the Worrall Attack is also, approp- riately enough, known as the English Variation.
Nigel Short's espousal of it will doubtless make it all the rage in fashionable theo- retical circles. This year, we are celebrating the centenary of the birth of the great world champion Alexander Alekhine. Alekhine was among the great masters who first recognised the true potential of the Worrall Attack. Indeed, he often preferred it to the main lines, but his games with it were largely played in tournaments held in Europe during the war. Perhaps for this reason Alekhine's exploits with the Worrall have tended to be underestimated, overlooked or ignored. This week I redress the balance and reveal the intellectual pedigree behind Nigel's wins in games 6 and 8 from Linares against Karpov.
Alekhine — Junge: Cracow 1942; Ruy Lopez 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Bel 6 Qe2 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 c3 d5 9 d3 Also played in Short — Hubner, Manila 1990, which continued 9 . . . Bb7 10 Re 1 Re8 11 Nbd2 Bf8 12 a3 and White was better. 9 . . . dxe4 This isn't entirely satisfactory since White now obtains a perma- nent grip on the centre. However, the alterna- tives don't look wonderful either, e.g. 9 . . . d4 10 Nbd2 (not 10 cxd4? Nxd4 11 Nxd4 Qxd4 12 Be3 Qd6 13 Nc3 Be6 14 Bxe6 fxe6 Keres — Euwe, the Hague World Championship 1948 when Black has an excellent position) 10 . . . Bc5 11 Bc2 Bb6 12 Nb3 Bg4 13 h3 Bxf3 14 Qxf3 a5 15 a3 and White is better as in Short —
Secret Weapon
Raymond Keene
Karpov, World Championship Semi-Final (game 6) 1992. 10 dxe4 Bg4 11 h3 Bh5 12 Bg5 Ne8 13 Bxe7 Bxf3 Forced. If 13 . . . Qxe7 14 g4 Bg6 15 Bd5 Qd7 16 Nbd2 and Black loses the e-pawn. 14 Qxf3 Nxe7 15 Rdl Nd6 16 Nd2 c6 Better is 16 . . . Kh8. 17 Nfl Qc7 18 a4 In Alekhine's words, 'The opening of the a-file in the Ruy Lopez is in every case favourable for White.' 18 . . . Rad8 19 Ng3 NecS 20 axb5 axb5 21 Nf5 Nb6 22 Qe3 Nxf5 23 exf5 c5 24 18 The prelude to a typical Alekhine combination which rips away all the defences from Black's king's position. 24 . . . gxf6 25 Qh6 f5 (Diagram) 26 Hxf7 + A beautiful finishing touch 26 . . . Qxf7 If 26 . . . !UV 27 Qxh7+ . Or 26 . . . Rxf7 27 Qg5+ or 26 . . . Kh8 27 Qf6 mate 27 Rxd8 Na4 If 27 . . . Rxd8 28 Qg5+ 28 b3 Black resigns e.g. 28 . . . Nxc3 29 Raa8.
Alekhine — Keres: Salzburg 1942; Ruy Lopez 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Qe2 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 Rdl An interesting method of delaying d4 until Black has commit- ted his queen's knight. More direct is 9 d4 Bg4 10 Rdl exd4 11 cxd4 d5 12 e5 Ne4. This is exactly the variation which Short tried for White in the superb eighth game of his match with Karpov . . . continuing 13 a4 bxa4 14 Bxa4 Nb4 15 h3 Bh5 16 Nc3 Bg6 17 Be3 Rb8 18 Na2 with advantage. Two games by Alekhine reached the position after 13 a4 and both saw 13 . . . Rb8 14 axb5 axb5 15 Nc3 Nxc3 16 bxc3 Qd7 17 h3 Bf5 18 Ra6. Now Alekhine — Asztalos. Kecksemet 1927, went 18 . . . Nd8 and Black held a draw, while Alekhine — Monticelli, San Remo 1930, diverged with 18 . . . Kh8 19 Ng5 h6 20 g4 when White had a powerful attack. 9 . . . Na5 10 Bc2 c5 11 d4 Qc7 12 Bg5 Bg4 13 dxe5 dxe5 14 Nbd2 Rfd8 15 Nfl Nh5 16 h3 Be6 Best, if 16 . . . Bxg5 17 hxg4 Nf4 18 Qel Be7 19 g3 Nh3+ 20 Kg2 Ng5 21 Ne3 with much the better game. 17 Ne3 f6 18 Nh2 g6 19 Bh6 B18 20 Bxf8 Kxf8 21 g3 Rxdl+ 22 Bxdl Rd8 23 a4 Nc4 24 axb5 axb5 25 Nd5 Once again Alekhine has his open a-file and now complements this with a pawn sacrifice which Black cannot accept for if 25 . . . BxdS 26 exd5 Rxd5 27 Qe4 Rd8 28 Bxh5 gxh5 29 Qf3 and Black has too many weak points. 25 . . . Qb7 26 b3 Nd6 27 c4 bxc4 28 bxc4 BxdS 29 exd5 Ng7 30 Ng4 Qe7 31 Bc2 Nge8 32 h4 e4 33 Ne3 Qe5 34 Raj Kg8 35 Ng4 Qd4 (Diagram) Black appears to be fighting back but Alekhine suddenly terminates proceedings with one of his brilliant combina- tions based, I should add, on the penetration into the black camp of White's rook via the a-file. 36 Bxe4 f5 If 36 . . . Nxe4 37 Nh6+ Kh8 (37 . . . Kf8 38 Rf7 mate) 38 Nf7+ and Nxd8. A similar line wins against 36 . . . Qxe4. 37 Nh6+ Kh8 38 Bc2 Qf6 39 Qe6 Qxe6 40 dxe6 Rc8 41 Nf7+ Nxf7 42 on Nd6 43 Bd3 Kg7 44 18Q+ Kxf8 45 Rxh7 Kg8 46 Rd7 Ne8 47 h5 gxh5 48 Bxf5 Ra8 49 Be6+ Kh8 50 Rd5 Nf6 51 RxcS Kg7 52 Kg2 Rat 53 Bf5 Ra3 54 Rc7+ Kh6 55 Rf7 Ra6 56 f4 h4 57 g4 Black resigns.
Stop Press: Nigel Short, using his secret weapon in the Ruy Lopez, has defeated Jan Timman in the Amsterdam tourna.• ment, an important morale-booster for Nigel before his Candidates' final against Timman.
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