CHESS
Gigantic
Raymond Keene
THE Siemens Giants tournament in Frankfurt would have been a perfect tem- plate for an event to resolve the conflicts and tensions surrounding the world cham- pionship. Four of the world's top players meeting each other four times was reminis- cent of the 1948 match tournament which crowned Botvinnik as world champion after the interregnum caused by Alekhine's death. Sadly, though, the Frankfurt compe- tition, held at the start of this month, was run on rapidplay lines. Although it provid- ed further proof of the magnificent and dominating form of Garry Kasparov, it could, as a result, not be regarded as a decision-maker in terms of the world title. This week I give the score from the Frankfurt event as well as two fine games won by Kasparov.
Anand–Kasparov: Siemens Giants, Frankfurt 1999; Grunfeld Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Qb3 dxc4 6 Qxc4 0-0 7 e4 Na6 8 Bet c5 The sharp Prins variation of the Grunfeld Defence. It was favoured by Kasparov in his world-title contests against Karpov in the mid to late 1980s. White is invited to create a passed d-pawn, but Black
Diagram 1 develops fierce piece activity and skirmishing possibilities around the flanks of White's fixed asset. 9 d5 e6 10 0-0 exd5 11 exd5 Bf5 12 Rdl Qb6 Black played 12 ...Re8 in the game Piket-Kasparov, Amsterdam 1995. After 13 d6 h6 14 Bf4 Nd7 15 Rd2 Nb4 16 Qb3 Be6 17 Bc4 Nb6 18 Bxe6 Rxe6 19 Na4 Re4 20 Bg3 Nc4 21 Nxc5 Nxd2 22 Nxd2 Re2 23 Qxb4 White went on to win. Here Kasparov attempts to improve. 13 d6 Rad8 14 Na4 Qc6 Also possible is 14 ... Qb4 as in the game Bareev-Ivanchuk, Elista 1998, but the move chosen, keeping queens on, is more ambitious. 15 Be3 Ne4 16 Qb5 (Diagram 1) White tries to force an endgame where Black's pawn on c5 will be weak but he may have over- looked Black's response which exploits the peripheral situation of White's queen's knight. 16 ...Bd7 17 Qxc6 Bxc6 18 Bxa6 Bxa4 Now White must lose material. 19 Bxb7 Bxdl 20 Bxe4 Bxf3 21 Bxf3 Bxb2 22 Rdl Bd4 23 Bxd4 cxd4 24 Rxd4 Rd7 Anand may even have calculated this far, believing that 25 Bc6 would now leave him well in play. Unfortunately, though, Black has the murderous riposte 25 ... Rc8 with a back rank threat against the white king. 25 h4 Rfd8 26 Ra4 Rb8 White resigns After the imminent ...Rb6 Black rounds up White's last asset, the passed d-pawn. An extraordinary game in which White was quite lost just three moves after known theory terminated.
Kasparov–Kramnik: Siemens Giants, Frankfurt 1999; Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 d6 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nxd4 Nf6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 a6 8 0-0-0 h6 9 Be3 Bd7 10 13 b5 Such situations are becoming increasingly com- mon in the modern Sicilian Defence. White bol- sters his pawn on e4 and then tries to storm the black king's flank. 11 Nxc6 Bxc6 12 Net Qc7 13 Kbl Bb7 14 h4 Rc8 15 Rh3 h5 16 Nd4 Nd7 17 Bg5 g6 18 Rhl It is not completely clear what Kasparov has achieved with his rook gyration. Nevertheless, Black's development is also not magnificent and the loss of time does not appre- ciably alter the situation. 18 ...d5 Black's prob- lem is that the natural 18 ...Bg7 allows the dan- gerous sacrifice 19 Bxb5 axb5 20 Nxb5 Qb6 21 Nxd6+ Kf8 22 b3. Meanwhile 18 ...Be7 allows Black's king to be pinned down in the centre after 19 Bxe7. Hence, Kramnik opens up the centre. 19 exd5 BxdS 20 Bf4 Qb7 21 Nb3 Bg7 22 Bd6 Qc6 23 Ba3 Nb6 24 Bd3 Nc4 25 Bxc4 bxc4 26 Nd4 Qb6 27 Qg5 Were it not for the fact that White's raking bishop on a3 prevents White from castling, Kramnik would have a fine posi- tion. In finally seeking to cure this evil Kramnik abandons any thought of permanently rescuing his king from the centre of the board. 27 ... Bf8 28 Bxf8 Rxf8 29 Rhel Rb8 30 113 Rd8 31 Net cxb3 32 axb3 Rd7 33 Kb2 Qd8 34 Qf4 Qc7 35 Rxd5 A fine sacrifice which wins in every vari- ation. If Black now plays 35 ...Qxf4 36 Nxf4 when Black's e-pawn is pinned. Alternatively 35 ...Rxd5 fails to 36 Qxc7 while after 35 ... exd5 36 Nd4+ Black resigns on account of 36 ...Kd8 37 Ne6+ fxe6 38 Qxf8 checkmate.
Kasparov scored 7Y, out of 12, beating each of his rivals once and drawing the rest. Anand and Kramnik both achieved 50 per cent, while Karpov finished last on 4Y,.
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