CHESS

Montreal memories

Raymond Keene

Continuing my series on the great tournaments, I come to Montreal 1979, which was billed by its organisers at the time as the outstanding tournament in chess history. The average rating was 2622, which catapulted it to category 15 on the Fide world scale. Beyond this, though, was the important fact that the games were splendidly fought, with many sharp and bloodthirsty encounters. The tournament witnessed Karpov's first success in an event of this calibre and a remarkable renaiss- ance by Mikhail Tal, by then a veteran.

The Montreal Tournament 1979

Karpov 2 Tal 2670 2670

i 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total

— 1/21/21/21/2 II 11 11 '/2' 'h111 1/20 12 1/21/2 — 1/21 1/21/2 11 1/21/21/21h 1/21 Y2 11/2 12

3 Portisch 2635

1/21/21/20 — 1/21/21/21/21/21/2 Ph i 1/21/211

101/2 4 Ljubojevic 2620

00 1/21/21/21/2 — 1/20 1/21/2 11 1/21/210 11/2

9

5 Spassky 2615

00 00'/'h41 — 1/21/21/21/21/2111/2 01

81/2 6 Timman 2615

00 1/21/21/21/21/21/21/21/2 — 1/21 1/21/2 1/20 11/2

81/2 7 Hort 2610

1/21/21/21/2 01/2 00 1/2'h1/20 — 1/21/21/21/2 11

8 8 Hubner 2610

1/21/21/20 01/2 1/21/21/20 1/21/21/21/2 — 10 Ph

8

9 Kavalek 2610

01/2 01/2 1/21/2 01 01/2 1/21 1/21/2 01 — 01

8

10 Larsen 2585 1/21 01/2 00 01/2 10 01/2 00 01/2 10 —

51/2

Both of the games which follow were published in my original Spectator reports in 1979, but I have now furnished them with new notes.

Timman-Karpov: Montreal Round 11; English Opening.

1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 e3 Be7!? The normal move is, of course, 4 . . . Bb4 with the possible sharp follow-up: 5 Qc2 0-0 6 Nd5 Re8 7 Cof5!? as later occurred in Korchnoi-Karpov, Amsterdani 1987 (Euwe Memorial). Karpov's

move seems to be less ambitious but here a comparison with Lasker can be made. Lasker sometimes avoided sharp moves in the opening because he considered them to be double-edged. In this game Karpov soon shows that he is willing to accept a pawn weakness and he also wins by means of a ferocious direct attack, but it all starts very modestly with 4. . Be7. 5 d4 exd4 6 Nxd4 0-0 7 Nxc6 bxc6 8 Bet d5 9 0-0 1146 10 b3 Qe7 11 Bb2 I have played this position before and considered it favourable for White. Keene- Jansson , Haifa 1976, continued: 11 . . . Rd8 12 cxd5 Qc5 13 g3 Bh3 14 Re113b4 15 Qc2 Bf5 16 Qcl cxd5 17 Bf3. Karpov treats this position with a move that looks like positional suicide. In fact, it is a move of genius. 11 . . . dxc4!! The point of this move is simply and solely to open up g4 for his knight. The momentum gained thereby more than compensates for his doubled isolated c-pawns. 12 bxc4 12 Bxc4 allows the immediate . . Ng4. 12 . . . Bxh2+ 13 Kxh2 Ng4+ must also be considered. 12 . . . Rb8 13 Qe1 If 13 Rbl Rxb2! 14 Rxb2 Qe5. Now, however, Black has access to g4. What follows is a slaughter. 13 . . . Ng4 14 g3 Re8 15 Ndl Nxh2! 16 c5 If 16 ICxh2 Qh4+ 17 Kgl Bxg3 18 fxg3 Qxg3 19 Khl Re6. 16 . . . Nxfl 17 cxd6 Nxg3! 18 fxg3 Qxd6 19 Kf2 Qh6 20 Bd4 Qh2+ 21 Kel Qxg3+ 22 Kd2 Qg2 23 Nb2 Ba6 24 Nd3 Bxd3 25 Kxd3 Rbd8 26 Bfl Qe4+ 27 Kc3 c5 28 Bxc5 Qc6

29 Kb3 Rb8+ 30 Ka3 Re5 31 Bb4 Qb6 White resigns.

In an early round Tal obliterated Larsen in a micro-game of 22 moves. He was White in a Sicilian, so it is believable. A few rounds later Tal achieved the 'impossi- ble'. He won again in 22 moves, but this time he was Black in a Queen's Indian against Spassky!

Spassky-Tal: Montreal Round 10; Queen's Ind- ian Defence.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 e3 Bb7 5 Bd3 d5 6 b3 Bd6 7 0-0 0-0 8 Bb2 Nbd7 9 Nbd2 To me this looks passive. More energetic is 9 Ne3 a6 10 Rcl Qe7 11 Ne2 Ne4 12 Ne5 BxeS 13 dxe5 Nec5 14 Bbl dxc4 15 Rxc4 a5 with a very complicated position. 9 . . . Qe7 10 Rcl Rad8 11 Qc2 I would feel happier with the queen on e2 to look after the king. 11 . . . c5 12 cxd5 exd5 13 dxc5 bxc5 14 Qc3 Rfe8 15 Rfdl d4! This sacrificial rhotif would certainly have delighted old Tarrasch. It's taken right out of his copybook. 16 exd4 exd4 17 Qa5 The critical move must be 17 Nxd4. In the Spectator eight years ago I gave the following variation: 17 . . Bxh2+ 18 Kxh2 Ng4+ 19 Kg3 Qe5+ 20 f4 Qe3+ 21 Nd4-f3 Ndf6 but then White has the simplifying manoeuvre 22 Bxh7+ Kxh7 23 Qxe3 Nxe3 and now 24 Rhl + which I had overlooked. White then proceeds with Bxf6 eliminating most of Black's pressure. Dare I suggest that Spassky also overlooked 24 Rhl +? In fact, Tal was planning to continue after 17 Nxd4 with . . . Qe5 followed by . . . Qh5 'with compensation for the pawn'. 17 . . .Ne5 18 NxeS His best chance was 18 Rel ! 18 . . . BxeS Now the concentration of force against White's king is overwhelming. 19 Nc4 Rd5 20 Qd2 Bxh2+ 21 Kxh2 Rh5+ 22 Kgl Ng4 White resigns.