CHESS
Dutch uncles
Raymond Keene
IT IS SAID THAT we Brits have a genius for self-denigration, constantly belittling our own achievements in comparison with those of foreigners. I suppose it is just about tolerable if we whinge on about our- selves, but it does get up my nose when our foreign friends join in the negative chorus too. An example came to mind recently while I was leafing through the bible of tournament results, Hundert Jahre Schach- turniere by the Dutchman Dr P. Feenstra Kuiper. It is well known that Wilhelm Steinitz was the first official world champi- on, gaining the title in 1886. Powerful pre- decessors, such as Philidor and Morphy, obviously deserved to be called champion, but the title simply did not exist at the time. In Feenstra Kuiper's book I read that from 1851 to 1857 and from 1859 to 1866 Adolf Anderssen, a German, was 'Weltmeister', which means world champion. Fair enough, in a sense, even though anachro- nistic, since Anderssen was the best player of his day. I then looked up our own Howard Staunton, who should, with equal justification, have been recognised as champion from 1843 to 1851. And how is he described? Just as `Schriftsteller', writer!
There is universal agreement amongst critics that John Nunn's book of Best Games is full of superb analysis. There is also a widely held opinion that it contains much whingeing about British chess. In a recent review, another Dutchman, Rene Olthof, picked up on the theme with enthu- siasm, writing of Nunn's book: 'There are frequent pointers towards the sorry state of affairs on the English chess scene.' That's a bit much, isn't it? Especially from a country which tried to organise half a world cham- pionship match in 1993, where not a single guilder was raised in prize money and where the stage set even burst into flames during the opening ceremony. Meanwhile the Kasparov-Short world championship match was running successfully in London with a multi-million-pound budget.
Although Garry Kasparov has been the undoubted hero of two of the most impor- tant tournaments of the year, the Super- PCA Classics in Novgorod and Riga, Nigel Short, our modern Staunton, has gone a long way towards restoring his reputation with two fine performances, losing only to Ivanchuk.
Tal Memorial, Riga, April 1995
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1. Kasparov • 1 1/2 In In In 1 In 1 1 1 71/2 2. Anand 0 1/2 1/2 la 1 la 1 1 1 1 7 3. Ivanchuk In la " 1 la la In 1 1 'a In 6'a 4. Short In is 0 * 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 6
5. Kramnik 'a la la la * la In 1 1 In ln 6
6. Gulko 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 5 7. Yusupov 0 I/2 In la la la * 'ais la la 41/2 8. Ehlvest 1/2 0 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 * In 1 In 31T2
9. Kengis 0 0 0 la 0 In In In * la la 3
10. Timman 0 0 1/2 0 In In In 0 In • In 3
11. Vaganian 0 0 In 0 'a 0 'a In In In * 3
Timman (Holland) — Short (UK): Riga, 1995; Ruy Lopez.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 0-0 Qd6 6 Na3 b5 A considerable improvement on 6 ...Be6 which led to a quick White win in Timman–Short, Candidates Final, Game 7, Madrid 1993. 7 c3 c5 8 d4 Sharper is 8 Nc2 Bbl and only now 9 d4. 8 ... cxd4 9 cxd4 exd4 10 Nxd4 c5 11 Nb3 Qxdl 12 Rxdl Nf6 13 f3 Be6 The point of White's opening is to trade bishop for knight to weaken Black's pawns. Since Black
now enjoys an open position plus the bishop pair and has resolved his pawn weakness, White's opening can safely be declared a failure. 14 Be3 Nd7 15 Nbl This retrograde step cannot be right. Surely 15 Racl must be better. 15 ... Rc8 16 Nc3 c4 17 Nd4 Ne5 18 Nxe6 fxe6 19 Net Kf7 20 Bd4 Nd3 (Diagram) White must have been Position after 20 . . . Nd3
replying on 21 Ncl but then 21 ... e5 22 Bc3 b4 23 Nxd3 bxc3 24 Nxe5 + Ke6 followed by ... cxb2 wins for Black. 21 Rabl Bel 22 b3 e5 23 Be3 Rhd8 24 bxc4 Rxc4 Much stronger than creating a passed pawn with 24 ... bxc4 25 Nc3 when White can blockade and defend. 25 Kfl Rc2 26 a4 b4 27 a5 Nb2 28 Rxd8 Bxd8 29 Bb6 Bg5 30 g3 b3 31 f4 Nc4 A fine move which either forces the promotion of Black's 'b' pawn or wins the exchange. 32 Rxb3 Nd2+ 33 Kel Nxb3 34 fxg5 Rc4 White resigns White now loses both his `e' pawn and his 'a' pawn by force.
Novgorod, April 1995 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1. Kasparov * 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 ln la 1 1 1 61/2 2. Short is * 0 la la 1 la 1 1 la sla 3. Ivanchuk 'a 1 * 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 la 1 1 51/2 4. Ehlvest In In In * 1n 1 In In In 1 Sln 5. Topalov 0 1/2 1 In * 42 la In 1 1 5In 6. Kramnik 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 * 1 1 1/2 1 5 7. Timman In In 'a in la 0 * 42 In la 4 8. Gulko 0 0 1/2 In In 0 * In la 3 9. Yusupov 0 0 0 In 0 la 'a 'a * 1n 2'a
10. Vaganian 0 in 0 0 0 0 la In In • 2