26 AUGUST 1995, Page 44

CHESS

Tempora mutantur

Raymond Keene

AROUND this time of year I normally write something about the Lloyds Bank Masters tournament. Indeed, in 1981, I wrote about it with more than usual relish, since I had just won the event, gaining the trophy ahead of a former world champion, Vassily Smyslov, and many other grand- masters. Lloyds ran from 1977 until 1994, and then just stopped. It is easy to connect the cessation of the Lloyds sponsorship with the retirement of the bank's chess-lov- ing chairman, Sir Jeremy Morse. For sever- al years Lloyds has been threatened with closure, but something always turned up to keep the sponsorship alive. Now it has gone, and its demise more or less coincides with similar loss of sponsorship for the British championship, which for the past five years has not been the event it was.

On the surface these collapsing sponsor- ships for certain types of event might leave one to draw bleak conclusions about the health of British chess. On the other hand, though, there have been remarkable new developments which have pumped gigantic new funds into the game. Two years ago the Kasparov v. Short World Champion- ship generated a budget (including televi- sion) of several million pounds. Last year, Intel brought a leg of its Grand Prix to London, matching those held in New York, Moscow and Paris. This year they have done the same. The prize fund alone for the Intel Grand Prix of $160,000 is many times that of the total budget for a Lloyds Bank Masters. What we are seeing is not so much loss of sponsorship, as its transfigura- tion into support for different types of event. The old style Swiss system tourna- ments have fallen out of favour with com- mercial sponsors. In this country, at least, even all-play-all events, although their number is distinctly on the rise, now seem confined almost exclusively to master play- ers and those in search of the title. There appears to be little corporate enthusiasm for the all-play-all grandmaster event.

What has replaced all this, and attracted the most funds, is speed chess, where every game has to be completed in 50 minutes, where sudden death knockout awaits the losers, and where games can be followed, both for a television and live audience, by means of electronic screens and live grand- master commentary. The resulting games can be of questionable artistic merit, but there is no doubt that they are extremely exciting to watch.

How long this trend will last is uncertain, but for those who do wish to sample this new kind of chess the London leg of the Intel Grand Prix will be well worth watch- ing. It pits a mighty foreign contingent, ICasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk, to name but four, against a powerful British challenge, spearheaded by Nigel Short, Jon Speelman and Michael Adams. Play runs from August 31 to September 3 at the Conference Forum, Sedgwick Centre, London El. For bookings ring the London Chess Centre on 0171 388 2404. Here is a clash between two Grand Prix tournament winners from earlier this year.

Kramn k–Ivanchuk: Dortmund, 1995; Queen's Gambit Accepted.

1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 e6 3 c4 dxc4 4 Qa4+ Nc6 5 Qxc4

Nf6 6 Bg5 h6 7 Bxf6 Qxf6 8 Nc3 Bd6 9 g3 0-0 10 Bg2 Bd7 11 0-0 Rfd8 12 Racl Qe7 13 Ne4 Be8 14 e3 Rac8 15 Rfdl a6 16 Nc5 Bxc5 17 Qxr.5 Qxc5 18 Itsc5 As a result of the opening, White has retained his grip in the 'c' file while his bishop on g2 is also usefully placed to molest Black's queenside pawns. Black's only hope of a draw is dour defence. 18 ...Ne7 19 Ne5 Nd5 20 a3 16 21 Bh3 ICramnik clearly believes that a quiet move such as 21 Nd3 c6 would leave Black's position too solid to breach. He, therefore, invites tactical complications based on the weakness of Black's e6-pawn. 21 ...fice5 22 Bxe6+ I117 23 Bxc8 Rxc8 24 dxe5 Nb6 25 Rd4 Be6 26 f4 Kf7 27 e4 g6 28 1C12 Ke7 29 Rd l a5 30 Rc5 a4 31 Rb4 Bd7 32 Rdl Bc6 33 Ke3 Nd7 34 Rbc4 (Diagram) With his

mass of central pawns poised to advance, White now threatens a further sacrifice on c6 which would completely tie Black down. Ivanchuk pre- empts this by placing his rook on the 'b' file, which would be opened by any such sacrifice. 34

Rb8 35 h4 h5 36 Rgl Rh8 37 Rc2 Ke6 38 Rgcl Nb8 39 Rc5 Ke7 40 R1c2 Nd7 41 Rxc6 At last this comes at the most inconvenient moment for Black. 41 ... bxc6 42 Rxc6 Rb8 43 Rxg6 Rxb2 44 f5 Rb3+ Of course not 44 ... Nxe5 45 Re6+. 45 Kf4 Rxa3 46 Rg7+ Ke8 47 e6 Nf6 48 g4 White would like to play either 48 Kg5 or 48 Ke5. However, the former fails to 48 ... Nxe4+ while the latter is repulsed by 48 ...Ng4+. The cun- ning move of the text obliges Black to block off one avenue of defence whichever way he cap- tures. 48 ...Ral 49 e5 Nd5+ 50 Ke4 Black resigns After 50 ...Nc3+ 51 Kd3 there is no adequate defence to f6.