CHESS
Opening gambit
Raymond Keene
The centenary world chess cham- pionship has started in London amidst a fanfare of publicity and spectacle. On Sunday 28 July the match was formally Opened by the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in the ballroom of the Park Lane Hotel, which will also serve as the playing hall throughout the match.
To a background of music played by the Coldstream Guards, four hundred guests watched Mrs Thatcher conduct the draw- ing of lots. Challenger and former world champion, Anatoly Karpov, drew White in the first game. The current world cham- pion, Gary Kasparov, was to have the black pieces.
As she was leaving the ceremony Mrs Thatcher remarked that chess 'is rather like mathematics. . . you need to learn it Young to get used to it and get it into your bloodstream'. She also noted that young people take to chess and computing more quickly than adults. Indeed, the links between chess, mathematics and compu- ters are very strong. Chess is undoubtedly a discipline which instructs children in the modes of logical thought necessary for success at maths and in the new computer technology. With this in mind the British Chess Federation has arranged that subject to availability of seats, schoolchildren will be able to attend the games of the match free of charge.
The world championship, sponsored by Save and Prosper and funded by the GLC, will run until the end of August in London, where twelve games will be played before the players leave for the second half of the match in Leningrad. Games take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 5 p.m. I had hoped to annotate the first game of the match, played on 28 July. In the event it was an evenly matched draw and I am therefore looking backwards to the first really controversial world championship in modern times — the clash between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972. I have chosen Game 3 from that match, the first game of the series to be won by Fischer, who had the black pieces.
Spassky — Fischer: 1972 World Championship, Reykjavik; Modern Benoni.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c5 4 d5 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 Nc3 g6 7 Nd2 Nbd7 Ready to meet the positional threat 8 Nc4 and 9 Bf4 with 8. . . Nb6. 8 g3 also leads to fairly even chances for both sides. 8 e4
Bg7 9 Be2 0-0 10 0-0 Re8 11 Qc2 Admittedly this saves a tempo for White, but it also removes the queen from defence of the king-side, which Black is not slow to exploit. 11 . . . Nh5! Moving into the d1-n diagonal so recently vacated by White's queen. 12 Bxh5 12 f4 would expose White's King, while in response to either 12 f3 or 12 Nc4, Black can play. . . Ne5 bringing his resources nearer to White's depleted king-side. 12. . . gxh5 23 Nc4 Ne5 14 Ne3 'Trying to control the weak spot f5, but Black responds by relentlessly creating threats for his opponent's king. 14. . . Qh4 15 Bd2 Ng4 Creeping ever closer towards the White king. 15. . . Nf3+ looks tempting and seems more direct, but it creates a flight square for White's king e.g. 16 gxf3 Be5 17 Rfc1 and the king escapes onto fl. 16 Nxg4 hxg4 17 Bf4 Qf6 18 g3 Seriously weakening the e-pawn. White should have played 18 Bg3 and if 18. . . h5 19 f3. 19 a4 b6! Black now has a mobile pawn majority on the 0-side and can also build up pressure along the e-file. 20 Rfel a6 21 Re2 White's best hope is to make a break with e5, if Black will allow it. 21. . . b5 22 Rael Qg6 To stop the threat of e5 and drawing the queen into the build-upsagainst White's king. 23 b3 Re7 24 Qd3 Rb8 25 axb5 axb5 26 b4 Blockading Black's pawns and preventing. . b4 followed by. . . 13b5, 26. . . c4 27 Qd2 Rbe8 28 Re3 h5 29 R(3)e2 Kh7 30 Re3 Kg8 31 R(3)e2 Black is not interested in the proffered repetition of moves. Instead he de- cides to trade bishop for knight and to win a pawn in the process. 31. . . Bxc3 32 Qxc3 Rxe4 33 Rxe4 Rxe4 34 Rxe4 Qxe4 35 Bh6 Qg6 36 Bel Qbl 37 Kfl Bf5 38 Ke2 Qe4+ 39 Qe3 Qc2+ 40 Qd2? Kel gives White some chances. 40. . . Qb3 41 Qd4? Bd3+ The sealed move — White resigned the following day on seeing the move.
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