CHESS
Old Vic
Raymond Keene
Viktor Korchnoi, that great veteran (born 1931), is still turning in some truly marvellous results. In 1985 and again last year he hit some bad patches, including failure to qualify from the Montpellier Candidates' tournament in 1985 and disas- ters at Biel and Tilburg in 1986.
In the past few months, however, he has recaptured his most glorious form: second to Kasparov at OHRA in Brussels and now a heroic dash to catch up Nigel Short at Wijk aan Zee. When I spoke to Nigel last week, during his match with Kasparov, Short could hardly believe that the tough old warrior had managed to make up a two point deficit to share top honours with him.
Korchnoi Flear: Queen's Gambit.
1 c4 e6 2 Nc3 d5 3 d4 c6 4 e3 Nf6 5 Nf3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5 8 Bd3 a6 9 e4 c5 10 d5 c411 dxe6 cxd3 12 exd7+ Qxd7 13 0-0 Bbl 14 Bg5 Bel 15 Rel 0-0 16 e5 Ng4 17 Bxe7 Qxe7 18 Qxd3 Bxf3 19 Qxf3 Nxe5 20 Qg3 RaeS 21 Radl f6 22 Nd5 Qf7 23 h3 Nc4 24 Rxe8 Rxe8 25 b3 Ne5 26 Qc3 Qh5 27 Rd2 Qf5 28 Nc7 Rc8 29 Qd4 h6 30 Nxa6 Rcl+ 31 Rdl Rc2 32 NM Re2 33 Kfl Re4 34 Qd5+ Kh7 35 Nd3 Re3 36 Nxe5 RxeS 37 Qd3 Qxd3+ 38 Rxd3 b4 39 Rd4 Ra5 40 Rxb4 Rxa2 41 Rf4 Rb2 42 Rf3 f5 43 h4 Kg6 44 Kel Kh5 45 Kdl Kg4 46 Kcl Re2 47 b4 Re5 48 Rb3 Kxh4 49 b5 Re7 50 b6 Rb7 51 Kd2f452Kd3f353gxf3Kh3 54 Ke4 Kg2 55 f4 Kxf2 56 f5 Kg2 57 Kd5 g6 58 f6 h5 59 Ke6 Black resigns.
Zapata — Korchnoi: Ruy Lopez. 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 Be3 Be7 10 c3 Qd7 11 Nbd2 Rd8 12 Nd4 Nxd2 13 Qxd2 Nxe5 14 f4 Nc4 15 Bxc4 dxc4 16 f5 Bd5 17 f4 Nc4 18 Rael Be6 19 Qf2 0-0 20 Qg3 Qd6 21 Bf4 Bxd4-1- 22 Khl Qc6 23 cxd4 Rxd4 24 Re3 Bf5 25 h3 Rd3 26 Rfel h5 27 Kh2 Rc8 28 Qg5 Rxe3 29 Rxe3 Bg6 30 Re7 b4 31 Rxc7 Rxc7 32 Qd8+ Kh7 33 Qxc7 Qxc7 34 Bxc7 c3 35 bxc3 bxc3 36 Kg3 Be4 37 h4 Kg6 38 Kf2 c2 39 Bf4 Kf5 40 g316 41 Bcl Kg4 42 a3 g5 43 hxg5 fxg5 White resigns.
In his fantastic sprint to the finishing post, Korchnoi produced an endgame of Capablancan elegance and accuracy against the Icelandic Grandmaster, Helgi Olafsson (not to be confused with his compatriot, former Fide president Fridrik Olafsson).
Olafsson — Korchnoi From the diagram position play continued: 30 . . . Rc2 31 Qxd5 BxdS 32 Rxc2 Rxc2 33 Rb8+ Kh7 34 Ne5 Bxg2 35 Kxg2 Ne4 36 Kf3 Nxf2 37
Nxf7 Nxh3 38 Rh8+ Kg6 39 Ne5+ Kh5 40 g4+ Kh4 41 Rg8 Rc3+ 42 Ke2 g5 43 Rh8 Kg3 44 Rxh6 Nf4+ 45 Kd2 Ra3 46 Rh8 Rxa2 + 47 Kc3 Ra4 48 Rg8 Ne2+ 49 Kb3 Rxd4 50 Rxg5 Rd5 51 Nf7 Nd4+ 52 Kc4 Rxg5 53 Nxg5 Kxg4 54 Ne4 e5 55 KM Kf5 56 Nc3 Nb5 57 Nd5 e4 58 Ka5 Ke5 59 Ne3 Nc7 60 Kb6 Nd5+ White resigns.
England's Olympic top board, Tony Miles, seems to be in Short's shadow nowadays. He failed to beat Nigel from an overwhelming position, but one consola- tion was his fine win against Gutman.
Gutman — Miles From the diagram play continued with the bold ,19 . . . e5! 20 Bg4 exf4 21 exf4 Qe7 22 Be3 Rce8
Qd2 Nb6 24 b3 h6 25 Nf3 B3cf3 26 Rxf3 lye 27 f5 Qe4 28 Qg2 Bf4 29 Bf2 Nd7 30 Ref Qc2 31 Rfe3 Bxe3 32 Qxd5+ Rf7 33 Bxe3 Nf6 34 Q65 Rxe3 White resigns. If 20 dxe5 Nxe5! 21 fxe5 Qxg5+ wins.
Short's match with Kasparov was excit- ing and will certainly not disappoint British fans. Watch out on Channel 4 from Febru- ary 21 for the six-episode screening of their no-draw clash.
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