CHESS
Glacier-hanger
Raymond Keene
The Reykjavik leg of the Grandmaster Association World Cup finished on Mon- day night, with yet another Kasparov victory, The world champion had been trailing for most of the event, but he has a Lasker-like tenacity which enables him to fight back from even hopeless-seeming situations. The most striking example of his iron will-power was the dramatic con- clusion of the title match in Seville last
year, but Kasparov's recovery in Reyk- javik was nearly as arduous. He had to inch
his way past a host of powerful players, all of whom were determined to avoid losing. In accomplishing this Kasparov produced some wonderfully imaginative chess over the final few rounds. Take, for example, the following drastic little game: Ehlvest-Kasparov: Reykjavik World Cup; Round 16, English Opening.
1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 e3 Bb4 5 Qc2 0-0 6 d3 A passive continuation, widely regarded as inferior to 6 Nd5. 6 . . . Re8 7 Bd2 Bxc3 Black
Position after 16 . . Nd4!!
surrenders the bishop pair but in return he gains added control over the centre. 8 Bxc3 d5 9 cxd5 NxdS 10 Be2 Bf5 11 Rdl a5 12 0-0 Qe7 13 a3 a4 14 Bel Now White threatens in earnest to play e4, forking Black's bishop and knight. Previous- ly, this had not been possible, since Black would have been able to play . . . Nxc3. 14 . . . Bg6 15 Qc4 If at once 15 Nd2 Nf4! 16 exf4 Nd4 and Black wins. The text, however, also looks artificial. 15 . . . Red8 16 Nd2 Nd4!! (Diagram) A horrible shock for White, who has no choice but to accept the piece sacrifice. 17 exd4 Nf4 18 BO Rxd4 19 Qb5 After this White is committed to returning the piece, but if 19 Qc1 Bxd3 and Black should still win. 19 . . . c6 20 Bxc6 bxc6 21 Qxc6 Qd8 22 NO Rd6 23 Qb5 Rd5 24 Qb4 e4 25 Bc3 Ne2+ White resigns. He loses at least a piece. Final scores at Reykjavik were: Kaspar- ov 11 points out of 17; Beliaysky 101/2; Tal 10 (all USSR); Hjartarson (Iceland) and Ehivest (USSR) 91/2; Yusupov (USSR), Sax (Hungary) and Timman (Holland) 9; Nunn and Speelman (both England) and Andersson (Sweden) 81/2; Sokolov (USSR) and Nikolic (Yugoslavia) 8; Ribli (Hun- gary) 71/2; Portisch (Hungary) and Spassky (France) 7; Korchnoi (Switzerland) 61/2; Petursson (Iceland) 6. When the last round started Kasparov and Beliaysky were level on 101/2 points. Kasparov spent rather more of his time following the Spassky-Beliaysky game from this final round that he did on his encounter with Nikolic. When Kasparov saw Spassky's 27th move, Bc7, he im- mediately forced a draw in his own game. His confidence in the former world cham- pion proved to be well founded when Spassky, after a notably unsuccessful com- petition, regained the attacking form of his best years.
Here is the key position in which Spass- ky detonated Black's defences by means of a brilliant sacrifice:
Spassky-Beliaysky 25 Nxg6!! hxg6 26 Qh6 Ne7 The only defence to the threat of Qxg6+. If 26 . . . Be6 27 Rd3! wins e.g. 27 . . . Bxb3 28 Rh3. 27 Bc7! The decisive coup. In order to prevent BXe5 Black must throw material overboard. The game concluded: 27 . . . Nf5 28 exf5 Bxf5 29 g4 Be4 30 Rel 13c1 Desperation. 31 Qxcl Qc6 32 Qe3 Bhl 33 Qh3 Qxc7 34 Kxhl Re8 35 Qh6 Qc6+ 36 Kgl Qf6 37 Rdl Qc6 38 Rd3 Qe4 39 Rh3 Qel+ 40 Kg2 Qe4+ 41 Kg3 Black resigns. The Queen checks soon run out.
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