CHESS

The zone

Raymond Keene

Jon Speelman, the British champion, and Glenn Rear, the rising star of British chess, have qualified from the Praxis Sys- tems British Zonal at Bath. This means that England now has five players through to the Interzonal stage of the world cham- pionship. The tournament table tells a fascinating story; Speelman dominated the event, while other favourites such as Mes- tel and Chandler never succeeded in get- ting up sufficient steam to challenge.

Praxis British Zonal (Men)

1 2 A 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Total

1 Speelman x 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 2 Flear 1/2 x 0 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 1 1 71/2

3 Mestel 1/2 1 x 0 1/2 1 0 1 1 1 1 7

4 Hodgson 0 1/2 1 x 0 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 61/2 5 McNab 0 1/2 1/2 1 x 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 1/2 61/2 6 Condie 0 Q 0 1/2 1/2 x 1 1/2 1/2 1 1 5 7 Chandler 0 0 1 1/2 0 0 x 0 1 1 1' 41/2 8 Botterill 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 1 x 1 'h 1/2 31/2 9 Le Blancq 0 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 0 x ih 1 21/2 10 Delaney 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 x 1 2 11 Kalinin 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 0 1/2 0 0 x 1

Only 15 draws from 55 games!

Praxis British Zonal (Women)

1 2 3 4 5 6 Total 1 Arkell x 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 4 2 Needham 1/2 x 1 1 Vz 1 4 3 Jackson 1/2 0 x 1/2 1 1 3

4 Giulian 0 0 1h x 1/2 1h 11

5 Milligan 0 1/2 0 1/2 x 1/2 11/2 6 Delaney 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 x 1

Susan Arkell qualified for the Women's Interzonal by beating Teresa Needham 2-0 in a play-off.

The brilliancy prize went to the follow- ing gaMe: Chandler — Speelman: Modern Defence.

1 e4 g6 2 d4 d6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 Bd3 Nc6 d5 Nb4 6 Bc4 Nf6 7 0-0 0-0 8 Nc3 Bg4 9 Be2 e5 10 Bg5 h6 11 Be3 a5 12 h3 Bd7 13 Nd2 a4 14 a3 Na6 15 b4 axb3 16 Nxb3 c6 17 dxc6 Bxc6 18 1113 Qc7 19 Qd2 Kh7 20 a4 RfdS 21 Nb5 Qe7 22 Bb6 Rd7 23 Nc3 Nc7 24 Rfel d5 25 Nc5 Rd6 26 Bxc7 Qxc7 27 exd5 BxdS 28 Nb5 QxcS 29 Nxd6 Qxd6 30 c4 e4 31 Be2 e3 32 Qxe3 Bch 33 B13 Re8 34 c5 Qc7 35 Qa3 Ne4 36 Rabl Bd4 37 Bxe4 Rxe4 38 Rxe4 Bxe4 39 Rel Bxc5 40 Qcl Bd5 41 Khl Qc6 White resigned.

The opening and early middle game were played with great subtlety by both players. Black's concept commencing with 24 . . . d5 is extraordinary. Presumably White thought 24 Rfel prevented this break. 32 fxe3 0g3 33 cxd5 Ne4 wins. Did Speelman really see all this before playing 24 . . . d5?

Short continues his winning ways in Reykjavik, where, as I write, he has 7/9 with two rounds to go. He leads by one point from Timman. Short — Ljubojevic: Sicilian Defence. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a66 Be3 e6 7 f3 Be7 8 Qd2 b5 9 g4 Bb7 10 0-0-0 0-0 11 h4 Nc6 12 Nxc6 Bxc6 13 g5 Nd7 14 Ne2 d5 15 Nd4 Bbl 16 Bh3 Ne5 17 Qel Nc4 18 f4 Nxe3 19 Qxe3 Qa5 20 Kbl dxe4 21 Nxe6 Rfe8 22 h5 Bd8 23 Rd7 Bch 24 Qd4 Bf6 25 gxf6 Bxd7 26 Qxd7 Qd6 27 Nxg7 RedS 28 Qg4 1018 29 Ne8 Black resigns.

Kasparov won the second game in the TV Docklands Trophy. Games continue at 6.30 p.m. on Channel 4 each Saturday until 28 March.

Nigel Short — Gary• Kasparov: Game 2, Dock- lands Trophy; Sicilian Defence. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e6 7 f3 Nbd7 8 g4 h6 9 h4 b5 10 Rgl g6 11 ,g5 hxg5 12 hxg5 Nh5 13 a4 b4 14 Nc6 Qc7 15 NxD4 Bg7 16 Nd3 Rb8 17 Ne2 Nc5 18 NxcS dxc5 19 Rbl Bd7 20 c3 Be5 21 Rg4 Ng3 22 Bg2 Rh2 23 Kf2 Nxe2 24 Qxe2 Bxc3 25 Bf4 Be5 26 BxeS QxeS 27 Kg1 Rh5 28 Qd2 Bxa4 29 f4 Qd4+ 30 Qxd4 cxd4 31 Bfl Bc2 32 Ral Bxe4 33 Bg2 Bxg2 34 Rsg2 Rh4 35.R12 Rg4+ 36 Kh2 e5 37 fxe5 Ke7 38 Kw Rxg5 39 104 Rxe5 and, two pawns ahead, Kasparov soon won.

On Saturday 7 March at 2.5 p.m. BBC2 are launching a new programme called Chess Classic, a 13-part series covering December's category 16 OHRA tourna- ment in Brussels. Jeremy James and Bill Hartston will be presenting the program- mes, which will eavesdrop on the players' thoughts as they ponder their moves.