Chess
Crisis
Raymond Keene
All hell has broken loose over the venues for the Candidates' semi-final matches between Kasparov and Korchnoi and Smyslov and Ribli. In face of a massive Soviet diplomatic campaign to persuade Fide members to oppose President Cam- pomanes's choice of Pasadena and Abu Dhabi, the President summoned his ex- ecutive council to a meeting at Madrid last weekend. It was to be expected that this body would endorse the official Fide line, and the final voting was, indeed, 8-2 with three abstentions. My feeling last week was that the Russians would swallow defeat at the Executive level and eventually agree to play, but no sooner had Campo triumphed at the conference table than his victory was undermined by the absolutely inexplicable withdrawal of Abu Dhabi's offer to stage their match.
According to Fide regulations, respon- sibility for the contest now devolves on the national organisations of the USSR and Hungary, while what will be the outcome of the Pasadena wrangle after this body-blow to Fide's authority is impossible to foresee. This is the worst crisis to afflict the World Federation since Fischer's refusal to defend his championship title in 1975, but this time Fide's troubles come not from a lone genius but from the most powerful chess machine in the world — the USSR Chess Federation.
Meanwhile, tournament results are pour- ing in from people less reluctant to turn up at the board. Tony Miles and John Nunn have splattered the field in Biel to tie first in a strong tournament, while Murray Chandler has made his final GM norm at Amsterdam, and Nigel Short his second. Our national prodigy needs one further norm, which must be in an all-play-all tour- nament, to acquire the coveted title. I am not sure who will claim the credit for Mur- ray's apotheosis. New Zealand would doubtless like the honour, but for the last year Murray has been a defector, fighting under English colours.
These two games, both from OHRA Amsterdam, show the continuing revival of the Tarrasch:
Van der Vliet — Chandler.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c5 4 cxd5 exd5 5 g3 Nf6 6 Bg2 Nc6 7 0-0 Be7 8 Nc3 0-0 9 Bg5 cxd4 10 Nxd4 h6 11 Be3 Re8 12 Rd Bg4 13 Qa4 Nay 14 Rcd1 Nc4 15 Bel Nb6 16 Qc2 Rc8 17 Qd3 Bb4 18 NcbS ab 19 Na3 Bxa3 20 Qxa3 Bxe2 21 Nxe2 Rxe2 22 Qb3 Qd6 23 Bf3 Ree8 24 Be3 Nc4 25 Bd4 b5 26 Bxf6 Qxf6 27 BxdS Reg 28 Bxc4 Rxc4 29 Rd7 Rcc2 30 Qd3 g6 31 Qd4 Qxd4 32 Rxd4 Rxb2 33 a4 b4 34 a5 Re5 35 Ral Rf5 36 Rf4 Rxf4 37 gsf4 Rc2 38 Kg2 Rc5 39 Kf3 Rb5 40 Ke4 Kg7. White resigns.
Seirawan — Lobron.
1 Nf3 e6 2 c4 c5 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 g3 d5 5 cxd5 exd5 6 d4 N16 7 Bg2 Be7 8 0-0 0-0 9 Bg5 cxd4 10 Nxd4 h6 11 Bxf6 Bxf6 12 Nb3 Bg4 13 BxdS Bxc3 14 bxc3 Qf6 15 Qc2 Rac8 16 Qb2 Nb4 17 1107 Rxc3 18 e3 Rb8 19 Be4 Bh3 20 Rfcl Nxa2 21 Rata Rbxb3 22 Rxa7 Qxf2 + (Diagram) 23 Kan Rxb2 + 24 Kf3 Rxcl. White resigns.
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