Chess
Dire straits
Raymond Keene
There is an art to staging a Grandmaster tournament on a shoestring budget, an art that has been finely honed at Brighton over the last four years. However, since my preview a few weeks ago the financial situa- tion of the tournament was improved by the intervention of Knight Flight, a travel agen- cy run by chessplayers, which generously donated air tickets for the competing GMs and agreed to finance the bulletin. The latest event in the series turned out to be the strongest and closest so far, with a mere 21/2 points separating first place from last. In quality of play, the Icelandic GM Sigur- jonsson probably deserved to win, but he was held back by a first round loss to Julian Hodgson and could not lift himself beyond plus 2, in spite of fine wins against Short and Murei.
Brighton Knight Flight Tournament
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91011T 1 Sigurjonsson (GM) X 1/2 1 I '1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 6 Gurevich (1M) 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 0 0 I I V: 1 1 6
Murei (IM) 01/2X1/211/2011/21 16
4 Short (IM) 0' 1/2 X 1/2 I 1/2 1/2 1/2 I 1/2 51/2 Amason (1M) '1/2 I 0 1/2 X I '1/2 0 '1 51/2 6 Hodgson (FM) 1 1 1/2 0 0 X 1/2 1/2 '1/2 1/ 5 Westerinen (GM) 1/2 0 I 1/2 1/2 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 '1/2 5 8 Sltanikovieh (GM) 1/2 0 0 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 X l 0 1/241/2 Hjartarson 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 X' 1/2 41/2 10 Watson (IM) 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 I% X 1 3 1/2 Tisdall (IM) ../2 0 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 X 3'1
Thanks must also go to our other major sponsors, the Friends of Chess, BCF and NatWest Bank, while the presence of Nigel Short led to surprise complimentary tickets from Paul Cummins of Outlaw Promo- tions, for all our players and organisers, to a rock concert by a group whose name mir- rored the tournament's financial status.
Sigurjonsson — Short: Pirc Defence.
1 e4 d6 2 d4 N16 3 Nc3 g6 4 f4 Bg7 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be3 c6 6 ... b6 enjoys a better reputation at the moment. 7 Bd3 Nbd7 8 e5 h3 is also considered strong. 8 ... Ng4 I prefer 8 . Nd5 9 Nxd5 cxd5 when Black's doubled pawns give him a grip on the centre. 9 Bgl Nb6 In spite of the loss of tem- po involved, 9 ... c5 would prove more of a challenge to White's central pawn wedge. 10 Qe2 a5 11 h3 Nh6 12 g4 Depriving Black's KN of any active prospects. The threat is 13 f5 gxf5 14 g5 winning the unfortunate Knight. 12 ... Kh8 13 0-0-0 a4 14 a3 d5 15 Be3 16 16 Rdgl Be6? Short overlooks a combination which wins material, but it is already difficult to see a constructive an-
Position after 20 g5
tidote for Black against White's plan of a methodical K-side crush. 17 f5! gxf5 18 exf6 exf6 19 Bxh6 Bxh6 + 20 g5 (Diagram) The rest is mopping up. 20 ... fxg5 21 Qxe6 R16 22 Qe2 Qg8 23 Kbl Rc8 24 Qg2 Qg7 25 Ka2 Rg8 26 Ne2 Nc8 27 Ng3 Q18 28 Ne5 Nb6 29 Nh5 Re6 30 Rfl f4 31 Qg4 Qc8 32 Qf5 Rgg6 33 Nf7 + Black resigns.
Shamkovich — Hjartarson: King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 6 Be3
a6 More in fashion is 6 Nc6 as favoured by Kasparov, although it would still be possible to transpose into this plan on move 7. 7 Qd2 c6 8 a4 a5 To fix b4 as a secure square for Black's QN, though it is not clear that this outpost is much of an inconvenience for White. 9 Bd3 Na6 10 Rdl So that the retreat Bbl will not box in his QR on al. 10 ... e5 11 d5 Nb4 12 Bbl cxd5 13 cxd5 Nh5 14 Nge2 f5 15 exf5 gxf5 16 0-0 Bd7 17 N65 Qe7 18 Nec3 Kh8 Black prepares for a too direct build-up of forces on the g file and overlooks White's tactical possibilities. 19 Rfel Rg8 20 14 Nf6? 20 ... e4 is the only chance. 21 Nxd6 A decisive gain of material, since 21 ... Qxd6 fails to 22 fxe5 Qxe5 23 Bf4 trapping Black's Q mid- board. 21 e4 22 Nc4 Ng4 23 Bd4 Nd3 24 Bxg7 + Rxg7 25 Bxd3 Qc5 + 26 Nei exd3 27 Khl Rag8 28 Nxg4 Rxg4 29 g3 b5 30 Qxd3 b4 31 Nb5 h5 32 Rd Qb6 33 Re7 R8g7 34 Rxd7 Rxd7 35 QxfS Rgg7 36 Qxh5 + Kg8 37 Qe8 + Kh7 38 Rc8 Rg17 Black resigns.
Previous page
