Chess
Anglomania
Raymond Keene
This week's title is defined as a craze or indiscriminate admiration for what is flglish, and the term certainly seems to fit International Master (elect) Nigel Povah, Whose life-work has been writing about the English Opening. Last year he brought out English: Four Knights, dealing with all variations arising after 1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 ,N1.3 Nc6, and his How to Play the English has just appeared. This is a general guide to the entire 1 c4 complex, with information imParted via analysis of complete games. 8c)th are published by Batsford at £7.95 and £5.95 respectively. r, If You know little or nothing about the znglish, it would obviously be better to tackle the general treatise first, since the Four Knights is a highly specialised volume, really geared for international competition, or hioh
-0.4-Level postal play. Although it is aim- ed at a less expert readership the collected
games in HPE are very well chosen and I found some sharp ideas there which 1 had not spotted before, e.g.:
Chemin — Parameswaran: Bangalore 1981 1 c4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 g3 g6 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 Nf3 e6 6 d41? A fascinating gambit, sidestepping 6 0-0 Nge7 which Fischer has shown to be highly satisfactory for Black. 6 ... Nxd4 After 6 ... cxd4 Povah gives 7 Nb5 d5 8 cxd5 Qa5 + 9 Nd2 Qxb5 10 dxc6 bxc6 11 a4 Qb7 12 Nc4 with 'ample compensation for the pawn'. 7 Nxd4 cxd4 8 Ne4 Qc7 9 c5 Ne7 10 1114 Qa5 + If 10... e5 11 Qxd4! exploits the pins e.g. 11 ... 0-0 12 Qd6 Qxd6 13 cxd6. 11 Bd2 Qc7 12 Nd6 + Kf8 13 Rd l h5 14 Qa4 Nd5 15 Bxd5 exd5 16 Qa3 Kg8 17 0-0 15 18 1114 Qd8 19 Nb5 b6 20 exb6 Qxb6 21 Nc7 lib, 22 Nxa8 Bxa8 23 Rc7 Be6 24 Rd d3 25 Rlac6
Position after
• RI.vc6
(Diagram) dxc6 26 Rxg7 + Black resigns (26 ... Kxg7 27 Qe7 + Kg8 28 Be5 etc).
Here is another aggressive game with 1 c4, played too recently to be included in the Povah scrolls:
Miles — Kindermann: Biel 1983 (1st Brilliancy Prize)
1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 e3 Nf6 4 Nf3 Bb4 5 Nd5 Although I have adopted 5 Qc2 more than once I now believe that 5 ... Bxc3 6 Qxc3 Qe7 followed
by a quick d5 is fine for Black. 5 e4 6 ,Ngl This retrograde manoeuvre was unearthed by the fertile brain of Michael Stean during the Baguio World Championship in 1978, but Korchnoi never found the chance to use it. Ac- cording to Povah, I actually learn, it dates from a little-known game Flohr — Villard played in 1937! 6 .. : 0.07 a3 Bd6 8 Ne2 Trying to improve on Povah's main line of 8 Qc2 Re8 9 Ne2 b5!? 8
Be5 9 Ng3 Re8 10 Qc2 Bxg3 A horrible move, which cedes White the B-pair plus an open h file for attack against Black's K. If it is necessary, Black's 8th move is to blame and he should have tried 8 ... Re8. 11 hxg3 d6 12 Rh4 Nxd5 13 cxd5 Ne5 14 d3 15 15 Bd2 Ng6 16 Rh5 Bd7 17 Bc3 c5 18 dxc6 bxc6 19 0-0-0 d5 20 Be2 Qe7 21 g4 Qf7 22 Rdhl Nf8 23 Qdl Rac8 24 Rg5 Ng6 25 gxf5 Bxf5 26dxe4 dxe4 27 Rx15 Qxf5 28 Bc4 + Kh8 29 Rh5 Black resigns (29 ... Qf7 30 Rxh7 + Kxh7 31 Qh5 mate).
The draw for the winner of Chequers1 Competition No. 3 will be at the Che- quers Café, 18 Chalk Farm Road, NW I on Saturday 17 September at midday. Spectators are welcome.
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