CHESS
Fortune's favours
Raymond Keene
The achievement by Nigel Short and Jon Speelman in jointly winning the Subotica Interzonal takes a while to sink in. After their flying start the entire British chess fraternity believed in their ability to qualify, but to tie for first prize in addition was beyond even the most optimistic pre- diction. Since last week congratulations have been flooding in to the two victors, while the board of the European Chess Union meeting in Amsterdam at the weekend passed a special motion in their honour.
Nevertheless, Subotica was not just a triumphal procession for the British duo there was the occasional hitch. No one can win a tournament without some luck. Here is one of Nigel's fortunate moments, fol- lowed by a couple of more convincing victories.
Nigel has been flirting a lot recently with the positionally dubious Dutch Defence. Perhaps this narrow escape against the tournament's cellar-dweller will eventually persuade him to give it up.
Hamid (Egypt)-Short: Dutch Defence.
1 d4 e6 2 c4 f5 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 Bb4+ 5 Bd2 Be7 6 Nc3 d5 7 Bg2 0-0 8 0-0 c6 9 e3 Ne4 10 Nxe4 fxe4 11 Ne5 Nd7 12 f4 exf3 13 Nxf3 Nf6 14 Ne5 Bd6 15 a3 Bd7 16 Bb4 Bxb4 17 axb4 dxc4 18 Nxc4 Nd5 19 Qh5 Qe7 20 Be4 g6 21 Qh6 Nxb4 22 Ne5 Be8 23 R318+ Qxf8 24 Qg5 Nd5 25 Ng4 Qg7 26 N136+Kh8 27 Bxd5 cxd5 28Rf1 a5 29 Rf6 b5 30
Position after 31 . . Rf8 Rxe6 Br 31 Re7 Rf8 (Diagram) 32 Rb7 a4 33 Rxb5 Be6 34 Rb6?? Bh3! 35 Rb8 Rxb8 36 Nf7+ Qxf7 37 Qe5+ Kg8 38 Qxb8+ Kg7 39 Qe5+ Kh6 White resigns. In the diagram position White could win a pawn with 32 Nxf7+ Rxf7 33 Re8+ Rf8 34 Qd8 Rxd8 35 Qxd8+ Qg8 36 Qe5+ Qg7 37 Qxd5 though 37 . . Qe7 38 Kf2 Qb4 grants counterchances. But with Black in his tied-up state 32 g4! would be strong viz. 32 . . . a4 33 0e5 Oxe5 34 dxe5 followed by g5 and Ng4-f6. 34 Rb6?? is obviously a horrible blunder.
Short-Popovic (Yugoslavia): Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 Be7 8 0-0-0 0-0 9 Nb3 a6 10 Bxf6 gxf6 11 f4 Kh8 12 f5 b5 13 Net exf5 14 exf5 Ne5 15 Nf4 Rg8 16 g3 Bxf5 17 Nd4 Be4 18 Bg2 f5 19 Qe2 Bxg2 20 Qxg2 Bg5 21 Qd5 Qf6 22 Kbl Rac8 23 Rhel Rc4 24 c3 Ng4 25 Re2 Rc5 26 Qb7 Re5 27 Qxa6 Bxf4 28 gxf4 Rxe2 29 Nxe2 Qe6 30 QxbS Nf2 31 Rfl Qe4+ 32 Kal Rg2 33 Ng3 Qd3 34 a4 QxhS 35 axb5 Nd3 36 b4 Black resigns.
Short-Xu (China): Ruy Lopez.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 Qe2 Be7 6 0-0 h5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 d4 Bg4 10 Rdl Qe8 11 h3 Bh5 12 a4 Rb8 13 axb5 axb5 14 d5 Nd8 15 c4 c6 16 NO cxd5 17 cxd5 Nb7 18 Bc2 134 19 Na4 Nd7 20 g4 Bg6 21 Be3 h5 22 Bd3 hxg4 23 hxg4 Nf6 24 Nd2 Qd7 25 f3 Nh7 26 Bb5 Qd8 27 Nb6 Bg5 28 Nd7 Bxe3+ 29 Qxe3 Qh4 30 Kg2 Nc5 31 Nxb8 RxbS 32 Be2 Qd8 and Black resigns.
Next week I hope to do justice to British champion Jon Speelman's fine score. His wins have proved rather more elusive to track down than those of his colleague.
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