Chess
Festival
Raymond Keene
There is still well over a week left to see a team of world class Grandmasters plus champion Anatoly Karpov in action at the Phillips and Drew Kings Tournament in progress until 30 April at County Hall. Opi- nion differs as to whether this splendid event is the strongest ever held in England, Of still not quite up to the level of Not- tingham 1936. Since the participants from that earlier tournament are now largely unavailable, this discussion is fairly academic, and all chess lovers should be grateful that the sponsors, P + D and the GLC, have conjured up virtually the strongest field currently at hand. Director of play is the experienced Stewart Reuben, while Harry Golombek and Bob Wade have shared the duties of arbiter.
Games take place from 1.15-6.15 p.m., with 24 and 29 April designated as rest days, while bulletins (for which I am the editor) can be ordered from Room 151, County Hall. They cost £4.50 a set. Bill Hartston, commentator for the TV tourna- ment Master Game, gives entertaining ac- counts of the games, as they are played, in an adjoining lecture hall. The BBC have also registered their support for the enter- prise with their excellent regular reports on Ceefax (page 159 on BBC1 and 255 on BBC), while the National Film Theatre has instituted a programme of chess-related films. Those remaining to be shown are Rondo and Return from the Ashes (29 April) and The Chess Players (30 April).
After five rounds Portisch led with 4 points, followed by Andersson and Speelman with 31/2. The most entertaining chess has been provided by Jon Speelman, who defeated Tit/man in round one and came close to toppling Karpov in round three, both times with Black.
Here is the one that got away:
Karpov — Speelman: Queen's Indian Defence, Round 3.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 Nc3 Bb4 5 Bg5 Kar- pov has recently been trying to widen his open- ings repertoire, adopting moves like 3 Nc3 against the French Defence and this risky line in the QID. The point of 5 Bg5 is to seek attacking chances at the expense of conceding weaknesses in White's pawn structure, but there is ft danger that the attacking chances may never materialise.
5 h6 6 Bh4 Bb7 7 e3 g5 8 Bg3 Ne4 9 Qc2 Bxc3 + 10 bxc3 Nxg3 11 hxg3 Qe7 One would normally expect to see the solid Karpov on the
Black side of such a position, e.g. 11 Nc6 12 Nd2 Qe7 13 Qb2 g4 14 Nb3 Qg5 with a good game for Black, as in the game Langeweg- Karpov, IBM 1981. 12 Bd3 Nc6 13 Rbl 0-0-0 14 c5 d6 15 cxb6 cxb6 16 c4 Kb8 17 Nd2? Too slow. Stronger is the immediate 17 Rb5! 17 ... h5 18 Qa4 h4 19 gxh4 gxh4 20 Rb5 f5 21 Bet Qg7 22 Bf3 e5 It is fast becoming apparent that Black's counter-offensive in the centre and on the K-side packs more punch than White's demonstration on the Q-side. 23 d5 e4 24 dxc6 exf3 25 gxf3 Bxc6 26 12/(66 + The best chance. 26 ... axb6 27 Qxc6 Qc7 28 Qa4 d5 29 c5 Qxc5 The upshot of the complications is that Black has gained R for N and should have a fairly easy win in sight. However, Speelman was somewhat short of thinking time and Karpov kept up the psychological pressure by moving with extreme rapidity, permitting his opponent no pause for reflection. 30 Rxh4 Rxh4 31 Qxh4 Rg8 32 a4 Qa5 33 Kdl Rgl + 34 Kc2 Qc5 + 35 Kd3 Rd 36 Keg Qc8 37 f4 Now 37 ... Rc2! pinning White's N would have won at once. 37 ... Qa6 + ? 38 Kf3 Qxa4 39 Qd8 + Ka7 40 Kg2 Qc6 41 Nf3 Ka6 42 Qf8 d4 43 Qxf5 dxe3 44 fxe3 Qc2 + 45 Qxc2 Rxe2 + 46 Kg3 Reg? Black could still win with 46 Kb7! rushing over his K to deal with White's passed pawns. 47 f5 Rxe3 48 Kf4 Re8 49 f6 Kb5 50 f7 Rf8 51 Ne5 Kb4 52 Kf5 b5 53 Ke6 Kc3 54 Nc6 Drawn. Black will have to surrender his R for White's f pawn, while White's N can then sacrifice itself for Black's b pawn, leaving K against K.
Here is a good game from the ex-world champion.
Spassky — Seirawan: Caro-Kann Defence, Round 2.
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 Bf5 4 h4 Another popular and sharp line is 4 Nc3 e6 5 g4!?. 4 ... h5 5 c4 Bxbl?! It seems premature to surrender the useful QB. 6 Rxbl e6 7 a3 Nd7 8 Nf3 g6 9 Bg5 Bel 10 cxd5 cxd5 11 Bd3 Rc8 12 0-0 Kf8 13 Rcl! Rxcl 14 Qxcl Kg7 15 Qf4! BxgS 16 NxgS Nh6 17 Rcl Qb6 18 b4 Re8 Black has no constructive plan. 19 Rc3! Re7 20 Rc8 Ng8 21 g4! White now has a winning attack. 21 ... hxg4 22 h5 f5 If 22 gxh5 23 Nxf7! wins. 23 exf6 + Ndxf6 24 Qe5 g3 25 Rxg8 + Kxg8 26 Qxf6 gxf2 + 27 Kg2 Qc7 28 Qxg6 + Kf8 29 Qf6 + Black resigns.
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