Chess

A steady diet

Jon Speelman Tn order to avoid a clash with the Olym-

piad or Interzonals, the annual Sochi chess tournament was moved this year from its usual slot of August/September to the month of December. This time the tourna- ment formed only a part of a larger event, `The Chess Festival of Russia'. This com- prised, in addition to the main event, a women's tournament, won crushingly by Achmilovskya (with 11/13!), open tour- naments and a problem-solving tourney.

Sochi is a holiday resort on the shores of the Black Sea. It is very long, with 'Greater Sochi' being measured as 140km, but cor- respondingly narrow. The climate is ex- cellent — in the middle of December we were treated to a steady diet of 10-15° C with only occasional bad days in between. Come to think of it, our nutritional diet was also somewhat steady or even over-steady, as some of the carnivores amongst us might have had it. Eating six days a week in the same restaurant — Monday is a 'sanitary' day —!'"with the same performance of danc- ing every night, we grew moderately well versed in the gastronomic possibilities before us. I, however, as a regurgitated (born-again) non-carnivore, merely smiled.

Sochi Tournament, December 1982

T N D RoV PaSpA G PsRaF H P C SeTtl

Tal X 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 11 1/2 1/2 1 1 10 -Nikolic 1/2 X 1 11/2 1z 1/2.1 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 I 1 91/2

Dvoieris 1/2 0 X 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1 0 1 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 1 9 Romanishin0 1/2 1i X 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 l 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 0 9 Vaiser • • .& 1/2 1 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 9

• Panchenko 1/2 1/2- 1/2 1/2 1/2 X 0 1/2 '/.2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 8

.Speelman • 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 8

Averkin 1/2 1 0 0 1/2 11/2 Vs X 1 0 / 0 '/s 1/2 I 1/2 7/s Geller 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 X I 1/2 1/2 ./2 1/2 0 12 71/2

Psakhis 0 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 1 0 X 1/2 I 1 Vs 1. 1 7

Razuvaev 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 Vi 0 1/2 X 0 1/2 'A 1/2 1 7

Ftachnik 0 1/2 0 1/2 0% •1/2 0 I X 1 1/2 0 1/2 61/2

Hazai 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 ,1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 X Vi 1/2 1 61/2

Pigusov Vi 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 X V2 I 61/2

Chandler 0 0 0 0 Is 0 1/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 I 1/2.1/2 X Vi 51/2

Semkov 0 I) 0 1 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 0 1/2 0 0 1/2 X 31/2

Category 11 GM --- 91/2 , IM = 61/2

As a glance at the cross-table will con- vince you, the pleasant surroundings engen- dered a certain lack of violence in the pro- ceedings: 1 count it as 60 per cent draws, 72/120. And I myself was not entirely guiltless in this context. But hidden among the many handshakes there were some ex- cellent games and three title norms. By coming second Petrag Nikolic obtained his final Grandmaster norm and hence the GM title. This was a splendid result, especially in the Soviet Union, where foreigners usual- ly tend towards mediocrity. And Dvoieris and Pigusov made their IM titles; the former just missing the GM norm, but the latter just making the IM.

Here, now, is one of the games from the tournament.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3. Bel 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bf4 c6 6 e3 Bf5 7 g4!? This is Botvinnik's move which he introduced against Petrosian in their 1963 match (he had previously adopted it against Bronstein in some training games ten years earlier).

7 Be6 8 h4!? An interesting pawn sacrifice. It looks as if 8 . Bxh4 ought to be too dangerous in view of 9 Qb3 but , , 8 Bxh4! In a game against the East German Knaak, six months earlier, Geller had chickened out with 8 Nd7 and later lost. Now he reveals his improvement. 9 Qb3 g5.! 10 Be5!? f6 11 Bh2 Bxg4 12 Qxb7 Qe71 13 Qxa8 Qxe3 + 14 Be2 and not 14 N(either) e2?? Bxf2 + 15 Kdl Qd3 + 16 -Kell Be3 mate.

14 ... Bxf2 + ! 15 Kfl Bh4! 16 Qxb8 + Kf7 Hav- ing played ... f6 Black has a flight square. Maybe 10 Be5 was a mistake? But if White hadn't forced ... f6 then Black might have ... Qf6 or ... Nf6 in some position. This variation needs some more games. 17 Ndl The only defence, but seemingly very good. 17 ... Bxe2 + 18 Nxe2 Qf3 + 19 Kgl Qxe2 A remarkable position. White is a whole R up and it's his move: but it seems that he has no better than a draw. 20 Bg3 Qg4 21 Kg2 But not 21 Kh2? Ne7! 22 Nf2 Qf3 23 Qd6 Rd8 (or even 23 ... Nf5) and Black is winning. 21 ... Qe4 + !

Now 21 Ne7? 22 Nf2! would be good for White. 22 Kh2 Ne7 23 Qxh8 Bxg3 + 24 Kgl White bails out. If 24 Kxg3 Nf5 + is an im- mediate draw and Black might conceivably even try to win, Draw agreed. Vaiser-Geller: Queen's Gambit Declined.