CHESS

Close shave

Raymond Keene

Ilast reported on the world cham- pionship just before a spate of tedious draws threatened to stifle public interest.

Karpov won game 16 in fine style, but then Kasparov withdraw into his shell, apparently seeking to retain the title by drawing all the remaining games. As cham- pion, 50 per cent would have been adequ- ate to do this.

Consequently, games 17 to 22 were not the stuff to add to the gaiety of nations. There were some finely honed defensive performances, notably from a rather strug- gling Kasparov, but no 'art chess' as the now presumably notorious Eddie Gufeld is wont to put it.

All this changed with the electrifying events of the final shoot-out, consisting of games 23 and 24. Karpov made a final supreme effort to score a win with his last White (23). He adjourned with a positional edge, dissipated all of it in the second session but then found himself the stunned beneficiary of Kasparov's involuntary largesse. Famed for his sound sacrifices, Kasparov hit on an imaginative but un- sound one which very nearly deprived him of his title.

Only a win in game 24 would suffice to rescue Kasparov after this major indiscre- tion and he set about his virtually insuper- able task in good poker-playing style. A series of gambles paid off in Karpov's self-induced time trouble, KaspArov netted a pawn and when Karpov's team produced their habitually feeble endgame analysis next day, Kasparov notched the point, thus preserving his status as champion for three years to come.

The battle of chessboard titans at Seville may sound more like a comedy of errors than a display of supreme mental muscle. That would be true, but also unfair. Circumstances — to put it no more strong- ly — have conspired over the past few years to create an abnormally high number of world championship games between these two great masters. There is only so much ingenuity the human chess-playing brain can generate, a fortiori when one is constantly pitted against the identical opponent. The two Ks have now played 120 championship games against each other in just three years. That would be almost a lifetime record for any two other such champions.

The chess world will be enriched over the next three years by virtue of their enforced activity against top Grandmasters other than themselves, specially in the world cup. I know that Karpov wishes to requalify to challenge Kasparov yet again in 1990, and I wish him luck. But I cannot help feeling that his reign of ten years from 1975-1985 should be sufficient laurels for Tolya — the creative springs were arid this time. Three years hence, if they have to play again, they may well be totally ex- hausted.

Here is the final match score:

Kasparov 1/2 0 1/2 1 0 1/2 1/2 1 lh ih 1 1/2

Karpov 1/2 1 1/2 0 1

1/2 0 1/2 1h

0 1/2

Pts Kasparov

1/2 1/21h 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 ih 1/2 1/2

(:) 1 12 Karpov

1/2 1/2 1/2 1 lh 1/2 1/2 1/21h 1/2

1 0 12

My final extract of play from Seville is Kasparov's sensational blunder from game 23 which broke the run of draws and looked likely to catapult Karpov back onto the champion's throne.

Karpov-Kasparov: Game 23.

Position after 50 Rc6 This will go down in the history of chess. Kasparov has a massive hallucination and com- mits the blunder that might have cost him the title. Black could now hold on with 50. . .Bb4! If 51 Bg5 Bel followed by . . . Bg3 tightening the noose around White's king with a likely Black win. If 51 Bxb4 Rxg1+ 52 Kxgl Qxb4 when White must run for a draw with 53 d6 Qel+ 54 Kh2 Rn 55 Qxfl Qxfl 56 d7 Qf4+ etc. . . The only way for White to play for a win is the unsatisfyingly retrograde 51 Ra6 Bc5 (threat . . . Rxg1+ and Rfl +) 52 Raal R1f2 and if 53 Bel R2f4. Meanwhile Black can operate with guer- rilla motifs such as . . . Qc8 or . . . Rf3 to tie White's forces down. Instead Kasparov executes the . . . Rf3 idea at absolutely the wrong moment and is foiled by a simple bishop move. 50. . . R7f3??? The move that could have cost a title. 51 gxf3 Rxf3 52 Rc7+ Kh8 53 Bh6! Obvious and crushing, but Kasparov had overlooked it while short of time. 53. . . Rxd3 54 Bxf8 Rxh3+ 55 Kg2 Rg3+ 56 Kh2 Rxgl 57 BxcS d3 and resigns.

Showdown in Seville by Raymond Keene, David Spanier and David Goodman, con- taining all the games of the Seville match, is published by B. T Batsford at £6.95.