Chess
Tall oaks
Raymond Keene
Jam delighted to announce that the British Chess Federation, supported by sponsors who as yet prefer to remain anonymous, has made a bid of around £100,000 to re- stage the previously aborted Kasparov- Korchnoi and Ribli-Smyslov World Cham- pionship qualifying matches in London. Whether we are successful or not, this is the largest single sum ever offered for chess sponsorship in Britain. Not only that, it also dwarfs the total annual contributions made by those concerns which regularly support British chess on a year-round basis. In this sense, a psychological barrier has been smashed, both in terms of bid size and the speed with which it has been raised. By saying this I certainly do not intend to denigrate the invaluable contributions of our regular sponsors, Lloyds Bank. Grieveson Grant, Phillips and Drew, Dun- can Lawrie, Leigh Interests, NatWest etc, for without their steady background sup- port we would never, over the years, have developed the chess credibility to make such an offer. But having now proved to the doubters that it is possible to create large sums quickly for top chess events, we can even try next year for the World Champion- ship final itself.
Although our backers do not yet wish to be named, I will claim some credit for myself and Dominic Lawson of the Finan- cial Tunes, who have spent most of our waking hours (and some which should not have been) since my return from Manila try- ing to drum up those record-breaking funds. Next week we shall know the out- come. All readers please keep your fingers crossed, since holding this event could revolutionise chess in the UK.
Meanwhile, here is another game from the Interpolis tournament at Tilburg, played last week.
Karpov Selrawan: Caro-Kann Defence.
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 HISS Ng3 Bg6 6 h4 h6 7 N13 Nd7 8 h5 Bh7 9 Bd3 Bxd3 10 Qxd3 Qc7 11 Bd2 Ngf6 12 0-0-0 e6 13 Ne4 Bd6?! I have never seen this move here before, and I must say it looks dubious to surrender the useful KB so early. Two other Karpov-Seirawan games had reached the position after 13 Ne4. K-S, Lucerne Olympiad, 1982 continued: 13 ... Rd8 14 Nf6+ Nxf6 15 Qe2 c5 with equality, though 15 Ne5! is much stronger. Karpov-Seirawan, Linares 1983, varied with 13 ... Be7 14 Nxf6 + Bxf6 15 Qe4 0-0-0, which would appear to be a more solid treatment, though still not entirely
satisfactory for Black. 14 Nxd6 + Karpov, of course, does not hesitate before ridding himself of this potentially turbulent priest. 14 ... Qxd6 15 Qe2 Qd5 16 Kbl Nxh5 Seirawan always im- presses me with his optimism in grabbing hot pawns. 17 Ne5 Nh16 18 f3 b5 A show of de- fiance, but it leaves Black's Q-side pawns severe- ly exposed. 19 g4 Rg8 20 Rhel Nb6 21 b3 Qd6 22 14 Nfd7 23 15 Nxe5 24 dxe5 Qc5 25 Ixe6 fxe6 26
Position after 26 . . gre5
Be3 Qxe5 (Diagram) Now Karpov liquidates to a vastly favourable R and P ending. 27 Bxb6 Qxe2 28 Rxe2 806 29 Rub+ Kf7 30 Rxce Rgd8 31 1211 + Kg8 32 1215 Dooming both of Black's re- maining pawns on the Q wing. 32 ... Rdl + 33 Kb2 Rgl 34 Rxb5 Rxg4 35 Rcxb6 g6 36 Rb8 + Rxb8 37 Rxb8 + Kg7 38 a4 Re4 39 a5 Re7 40 a6 Kf6 41 b4 g5 42 b5 Ra7 43 Rb6 + Black resigns. If 43 ... Kg7 44 Rb7 + or 43 ... Kf5 44 Rxh6.
The draw for this month's £200 Chequers Competition takes place at Chequers Cafe, 18 Chalk Farm Rd at 8pm, Friday 28 Octo- ber. All are welcome to attend.
Previous page
