CHESS
Gigantomachy
Raymond Keene
At the lnvestbanka tournament in Belgrade, which finished on Monday, Kas- parov made chess history by pushing his Elo rating to 2808, which should round off to 2810 when Fide publishes the new list on 1 January, 1990. It will be remembered that Kasparov advanced to 2793 (unpub- lished) after his triumph at Tilburg in October, and this was already ahead of Fischer's record 2785 from 1972. The key game for Kasparov at Belgrade, which enabled him to smash his own record, was the following clash against Nigel Short. It is a battle of chessboard Titans, which does Immense credit to both players, who were clearly thirsting for victory, with no thought of compromise or retreat. The Spectator also makes chess history this week, I believe, with the first chess column ever to publish in full a game of 103 moves!
Short — Kasparov: Investbanka '89, Belgrade; Sicilian Defence.
trying e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 Of course, had Short been tryil simply for equality, he could have opted for the pusillanimous 3 Bb5+ , which Sax had utilised at Tilburg against Kasparov to gain a relatively painless draw. 3 . . . cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 NO a6 614 e6 7 Qf3 Nbd7 8 g4 h6 9 Be2 Qb6 10 Nb3 Qc7 11 Qg2 Rb8 White's opening has been original and aggressive, and Black now runs some danger of being instantly swamped. Only nYPer-accurate defence by Kasparov keeps Black afloat during the coming pawn storm. 12 136 b5 13 g5 hxg5 14 fxg5 Nh5 Kasparov had already used up around an hour, 50 per cent of his total permitted thinking time for the first 40 Moves. This indicates the perils to which he has been exposed right in the opening phase of the game. 15 g6 Ne5 16 gxf7+ Qxt7 17 Rfl Qg6 18 Qxg6+ Nxg6 19 Nd4 Ne5 20 a3 Bd7 21 0-0-0 Rc8
22 Bg5 Nf6 23 Bf4 Nc4 24 Bxc4 Rxc4 25 e5 dxe5 26 Bxe5 Ng4 27 Bf4 Bc5 This move appears to win material but Kasparov had, perhaps, under- estimated the force of White's response on the next move. 28 Ne4 e5 29 NxcS Rxr..5 30 Rfel 0-0 31 Nb3 Rxc2+ Brilliance born of desperation. Kasparov was obliged to win this game to maintain realistic chances of pushing his rating beyond 2800, and thus sacrifice is the only way to keep Black's prospects of victory alive. After the alternative 31 . . . Rc7 32 Bxe5 Black has compensation for the pawn but he can certainly do no more than draw. 32 Kxc2 Bf5+ 33 Kc3 exf4 Kasparov's hopes for a win reside in his passed T pawn. Short's prospects, on the other hand, lie in the vulnerability of Black's queen's side pawns. 34 Rd2 Rc8 35 Kb4 Ne3 36 Rcl Rxcl 37 Nxcl f3 38 Kc5 Ng4 39 Ne2 In frantic time-trouble Short gives up a piece to stop Black's passed pawn. This may be inspired lunacy, since I cannot detect any other way to hold up the advance of Black's passed T pawn. 39 . . . fxe2 40 Rxe2 Kf7 41 Kb6? A serious error on the move just after the first time-control. White should have played 41 b4 himself to fix Black's pawns. Now Kasparov seizes his chance. 41 . . . b4 The threat of . . . b3 and . . . Bc2, followed by a knight attack aimed at White's pawn on b2, obliges White to capture this pawn. Thereafter, though, White is left with weak doubled 'b' pawns, while Black's bishop can defend the vital pawn on a6. 42 axb4 Bd3 This would also, naturally, have been the reply to 42 ICxa6. 43 Rg2 Ne5 44 Kc5 Bb5 45 Kd4 Nd3 46 Kc3 Kf6 47 Rg3 Nf4 48 Rg4 Ne6 49 Kd2 g5 50 Ke3 Kf5 51 Rg3 Nf4 52 RI3 Ke5 53 Rg3 Nd5+ 54 Kf2 Kf5 55 Rf3+ Kg4 56 Rg3+ Kh4 57 Kf3 Nf6 58 Kg2 Nh5 59 Re3 Nf4+ 60 Kg1 Kg4 61 Rg3+ Kf5 62 Rf3 and here the game was adjourned. Kasparov at first thought he was winning, then his assessment changed to 'very good chances.' but by the time. the game resumed two days later, his sober judgment was that it should end in a draw. Nevertheless, White is at a material disadvantage, and he must exercise the utmost caution. His best chance is, perhaps, to liquidate to the ending of white king against black king, light-squared bishop and 'a' pawn, which is a dead draw, so long as White's king can scuttle in time to the al square. 62 . . . g4 I had expected 62 . . . Ke4 63 Ra3 Nd3, putting pressure on White's doubled 'b' pawns. Instead, Kasparov ignores that particular weakness and tries to lay siege to White's pawn on h2. 63 Re3 Nd5 64 Rb3 Kf4 65 Kf2 Nf6 66 Ra3 Ne4+ 67 Kg2 Be2 68 Rb3 Rn + Of course, the knight fork on d2 makes the bishop immune. 69 Kg1 Bc4 70 Ra3 Ng5 71 Rc3 Bd5 72 Ra3 Be4 73 Kf2 Bb7 74 Rd3 Nh3+ 75 Kel Bch 76 Rd4+ Kf3 77 Rd3+ Ke4 78 Rg3 Kf4 79 Ra3 Bb5 Paradoxically, White should now play the ugly 80 Rb3. He wants his rook on the third rank for defence, but he also needs to be able to play Kf2 without allowing the fork . . Ne4+. 80 Rc3 Ng5 81 Rc8 Ke3 If 81 . . . Nf3+ 82 Kf2 Nxh2 83 Rf8+ and Kg3 should draw. 82 Rh8 Nf3+ Short's defence has been ingenious, but he has overlooked that Black can sacrifice his knight to free the path of the `g' pawn. 83 Kdl Be2+ 84 Kc2 Nxh2 85 Rxh2 g3 86 Rh3 Kf2 87 Kd2 g2 88 Rh2 Bb5 89 Rh6 g1=Q 90 Rf6+ Kg2 91 Rg6+ Kfl 92 Rxgl+ Kxgl 93 Kel Kg2 White has reached the sort of ending he wants, but the presence of his two pawns means he is still lost because there are no stalemates. The white king can be driven to al and trapped. At this point White must move a pawn allowing the black 'a' pawn to transfer to the 'b' file on which it cannot be prevented from queening. 94 Kdl Kf3 95 Kd2 Ke4 96 Kc3 Ke3 97 Kc2 Ke2 98 Kcl Bd3 99 b3 Kel 100 Kb2 Kd2 101 Kal Kc2 102 Ka2 Kcl 103 Kal Bbl White resigns. This is, perhaps, the most difficult game I have ever annotated in this column. It is so fascinating, however, that I believe it deserves overwhelmingly to be the main focus of this article.
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