CHESS
Revelations
Raymond Keene
THIS WEEK I give the answers to my Christmas quiz, which focused on four positions from previous tournaments at Hastings. I was most gratified by both the geographical and age range of the numer- ous entries and it is also clear that by per- mitting entries via e-mail we have consider- ably expanded our base for replies.
Many of you sent in correct entries and it was difficult to decide how to separate the solutions given. Well done, all of you, and congratulations to the winners. The book prizes go to J.D. Taylor of Burton-upon- Trent, Staffordshire; Professor H. Schrein- er of Mannheim, Germany; Dominic Searles (age 12) of Keri Ken, Bay of Islands, New Zealand; and Andre Hariman of Chats- wood, New South Wales, Australia. Here are the solutions: Lilienthal—Capablanca: Hastings 1934.
White to play. Black has just offered the exchange of queens but White can, amazingly, ignore this, The game continued 20 exf6 Qxc2 21 fxg7 Rg8 22 Nd4 Qe4 23 Rael Nc5 24 Rxe4+ Nxe4 25 Ref Rxg7 26 Rxe4+ Black resigns.
Keene—Miles: Hastings 1976.
White to play. His strongest is to attack g6 with his queen but if 20 Qd3 Ne5 or if 20 Qc2 Ne5 21 dxe5 Ne4. The best, therefore, is 20 Qb1 when the game concluded 20 ...Ne5 21 dxe5 Ne4 22 Nxe4 Kh7 23 Nf6+ Bxf6 24 Qxg6+ 1Ch8 25 Bg7+ Bxg7 26 Qxg7 checkmate No points for the gen- tleman who identified this game as an encounter between Miles (White) and Keene (Black)!
Pillsbury—Tarrasch: Hastings 1895.
White is completely lost on the queenside but, amazingly, can launch a decisive attack with a quiet move on the other side of the board. The game concluded 45 Khl Qd5 46 Rgl Qxf5 47 Qh4+ Qh5 48 Qf4+ Qg5 49 RxgS fxg5 50 Qd6+ Kh5 51 Qxd7 c2 52 Qxh7 checkmate.
Littlewood—Botvinnik: Hastings 1962163.
Black to play. This was a dramatic game, one of the first I ever witnessed between top players at an international tournament. Littlewood had the chance to reach this position and none of us could understand why he turned it down. Botvin- nik's later commentary proved that in spite of his hopeless-looking position Black has a pawn move which turns the tables in his favour, name- ly 20 ...c2+ 21 Kxc2 Qc8+ followed by 22 ... Qxf5 when White's knight vanishes and his attack evaporates.
Fittingly, since all these positions came from earlier Hastings tournaments, I con- clude this week with the current Hastings crosstable, where Ivan Sokolov dominated a powerful field, including top British grandmasters, winning by a clear two-point margin.
Hastings Premier 1998/99, Final Crosstable
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Sokolov *
1/2 1 1/2 1
1 1
1/2
1
1/2
7 2. Sadler
1/2
*
1/2 1/2 I/2 1/2
0 1
1/2
1 5 3. Emms 0
1/2 * 1/2 1/2
1
1/2
1
1/2 1/2
5
4. Speelman 1/2 5.Ponomariov 0
1/2
1/2 1/2 * 1/22 i/2 1/2 1/2
0
'/2
22 1/2 1/.2 11
5
5
6. Shipov 0
1/2
0 1 1/2
* 0 1 1
1 5 7. Plaskett 0 1 I/2 0 0 1 * 0
1/2 1/2
31/2
8. Fressinet
1/2
0
0 1/2 1/2
0 1 *
1/2 1/2
3'/2
9. Miles 0 '/2
1/2 1/2 ih 0 1/2 1/2
*
1/2
31/2
10. Saltaev
1/2
0
'/2 0 0 0 '/2 '/2 '/2 *
21/2
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