CHESS

Red star

Raymond Keene

he 19-year-old Russian, Vassily Ivan- chuk, has, at a stroke, joined that elite group of young potential contenders for a 1993 challenge to Kasparov or Karpov. The others, of course, are Judit (and perhaps Zsofia) Nagar, Nigel Short, and maybe even Deep Thought, if current trends persist. Ivanchuk has siaked his

claim with a superb victory in the category 16 tournament. in the Spanish town of

Linares. A glance at the table reveals the extent of his achievement.

Linares Tournament, 1 2 3 1 Ivanchuk X 1/2 1/2

2 Karr 1/2 X 1 3 Lju ojevic 1/2 0 X

J.4 Short 0 1 1

I 5 Timman 0 1/2 1/2 6 Yusupov 1/2.0 1/2 7 Beliavsky 0 0 0 8 Portisch 1/2 0 0 9 Gulko 1/2 1/2 0

(10 Sokolov 0 1/2 1/2

11 Hjartarson 0 0 0

Nigel Short began slowly, but gathered speed in the closing rounds. One of his most impressive wins was against the strong Yugoslav, Ljubojevic. It shows just what a torture can face the Black defender in the main lines of the Spanish Opening, invented by the 16th-century Extramadur- an priest, Ruy. Lopez. Ljubojevic never escapes White's grip, established . in the opening stages of the game.

Short-Ljubojevic: Ruy Lopez. 1 e4 e5 2 NB Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 50-0 Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 8b3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 Be3 Be7 10 c3 Qd7 11 Nbd2 Rd8 12 h3 Nxd2 13 Qxd2 Na5 14 Bg5 c5 15 Rfel Nc6 16 Radl h6 17 Bxe7 Qxe7 18 Bc2 0-0 19 Qd3 g6 20 Qe3 Kg7 21 a3 a5 22 Qf4 Rd7 23 February/ March 1989 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011Total 1 1 1/2 I 1/2 1/2 1 17½ 0 1/2 1 I 1 1/2 1/2 1 7 0 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 I 6 X 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 51/2 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 I 51/2 1 1/2 X 0 1/2 '/,`2 1 ½5 1/2 1/2 1 X 1 1 1/2 0 41/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 X 1/2 1/2 14 ½0 ½0 1/2 X 1/2 1/231/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 X 03½ O o 1/2.1 0½ 1 X3 Rd2 a4? Black's idea is to playNa5 and Nc4 but a positional error. places a vital pawn on the same colour square as White's bishop. This factor becomes significant at a later stage. 24 h4 f5 An impatient attempt to sever White's yoke. 25 exf6+ Rxf6 26 Qg3 Qd6 27 Ne5 Nxe5 28 Rxe5 B15 .White's coming trade of two rooks for queen ensures his advantage. 29 Rdxd5 Qxd5 30 Rxd5 Rxd5 31 c4 I had been expecting 31 0b8 but this thrust wins the Black 'a' pawn, misplaced as long ago as move 23. 31 . . . bxc4 32 Bxa4 h5 33 Bb5 Be6 34 13 Rff5 35 Bc6 Rdl + 36 Kh2 Bd5 37 Qe7+ Kh6 38 Qd8 Kg7 39 a4 Rd4 40 Qe7+ Kh6 41 Be8 Rd4+ 42 Kg3 Bxf3 43 Qe3 Bxg2 44 Qxf4+ Rxf4 45 Kxf4 Kg7 46 Kg5 Be4 47 a5 Bd3 A final desperate trick, speculating on the save, 47a6? met by . : . c3! But Nigel is remorseless, 48 Bc6! Kf7 49 Bb7 Black resigns. White's 'a' pawn will cost Black his bishop.

Beliavsky-Ivanchuk: Ruy Lopez. 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 13e5 Ivanchuk specialises in such off-beat Romantic attempts to cut the Extramaduran Knot. In another round, Black against Short, Ivanchuk resurrected the ancient Bird Defence, 3 . . Nd4 and after 4 Nxd4 exd4 5 Bc4?! Nf6 6 0e2 Bc5 7 e5? 0.-0! 80-0 (not 8 exf6 Re8!) 8 . . d5 9 exf6 dxc4 10 'Qh5 b6 11 fxg7 Re8 12 d3 cxd3 13 cxd3 Bah Black went on to win. 4 c3 Nf6 d4 Bb6 The correct move here may be 6 062, e.g. 6 . . exd4 7 e5 0-0 8 cxd4! Re8 (White was now threatening exf6, earlier impossible on account of . Re8) 9 I3e3 Nd5 10 Nc3 Nxe3 11 fxe3 d5 12 0-0 Bg4 13 0f2 with advantage to White'. Ivanchuk may well have had an Improvement in mind in this line, but what follows looks less good for White. 6 Nxe5 Nxe5.7 dxe5 Nxe4 8 Qg4 Bxf2+ (Diagram) Black May already have a satisfactory position. In the game Ree-Zuidema, Holland 1962, for example, there occurred 9 Kdl 0h4 10 Qxg7 Rfg 11 b4 Qh5+ 12 Kc2 Bh4 13 Bh6 Be7 14 Rfl b6 15 e6 NO6 16 exd7+ Bxd7.17 Re! 0-0-0 18 Ba6+ Kb8 19 Rxe7 Ba4+. 9 Ke2 Qh4 10 Qxg7 RIB If here 11 b4 f6! or 11 Bh6 Bc5 12 Rfl c6 13 Rf4 Qh5+

Position after 8. . . Bxf2+

14 Kel cxb5 15 Rxe4 IA which was much better for Black in the game Florian-Forintos, Budapest 1961. 11 Nd2 Bc5 Later in the tourna- ment Short-Gulko followed the game up to this point, when Gulko deviated by capturing the

knight with I 1. . Nxd2. This suggests that Beliavsky's errors came later in the game. 12 Nf3 Qf2+ 13 Kdl Be7! A brilliant retreat which also permits the Black queen to mobilise backwards. 14 Rel .Qh6 15 Rxe4 Qxb5 16 c4 Qc6 17 Qxh7 d5 With two bishops in a wide open position and with White's king seriously'exposed in the centre of the battlefield, Black's advantage is clear. 18 exd6ep Qxd6+ 19 •Rd4 Qb6 20 Qe4 IFtg8 White now must 'try 21 Bg5. 21 Be3 Qxh2 22 Rbl Qxg2 23 Rb5 Bg4 White's next move is pure despera- tion, a futile effort to stem the tide of Black's initiative. 24 Rf5 Q11+ 25 Kc2 Qe2+ White resigns. Black will capture on f5 and e3.

Ivanchuk's play at Linares showed that he is endowed with fantastic tactical talent and has a deep knowledge of openings, especially obscure ones. A match between him and Kasparov would be a real treat. I am hoping that it will be possible to invite

this latest Soviet star to Hastings at the end of this year, so that a British audience can see him in action at first hand.