Chess
Behold behemoth
Raymond Keene
While I was at Niksic it was amusing to
,, listen to the verdicts of some of Gary un
Ika.sgarov's competitors: 'He doesn't lders
(and weak squares and pawn struc-
s; res.' He was very lucky.' would 'aughter
What d him in a match,' etc. If that is so, oes Kasparov's monster score of 11
Tal from 14 games say about the rest? was more generous, simply saying he is a genius. 24Leading scores at Niksic which ran from tulgust to 12 September, were: Spass11; Larsen 9; Portisch 8½; et—"`Y 8, ahead of Tal, Petrosian, Miles c. Here are three of Kasparov's games: Kasro ,,ouPnad4v. Portisch, Queen's Indian Defence, ,h '04 NM 2 c4 e6 3 Nr3 b6 4 Nc3 Bb7 5 a3 d5 6 "dS Nxd5 7 e3 Nxc3 8 bxc3 Be? 9 Bb5 + c6 10 Bd3 c5 11 0-0 Nc6 12 Bb2 Rc8 13 Qe2 0-0 14 Radl Qc7 15 c4 cxd4 16 exd4 Na5 17 d5 exd5 18 cxd5 Bxd5 19 Bxh7 + Kxh7 20 Rxd5 Kg8. This position was known from Grandmaster analysis of the game Polugaievsky-Portisch, played at the European Team Championship in July, but no one had envisaged the brilliant way in which Kasparov rips open his opponent's K-side defences. 21 Bxg7l Kxg7 22 Ne5 Rfd8 23 Qg4 + Kf8 24 Qf5 16 25 Nd7 + Rxd7 26 Rxd7 Qc5 27 Qh7 Rc7 28 Qh8 + Not falling for 28 Rd3 Qx- f2 ! 29 Kxf2 13c5+ or 29 Rxf2 Rcl -1- 30 Rfl Bc5 + 28 ... K17 29 Rd3 Nc4 30 Rfdl Ne5 31 Qh7 + Ke6 32 Qg8 + Kf5 33 g4 + K14 34 Rd4 + Kf3 35 Qb3 + Black resigns.
Kasparov — Spassky, King's Indian Defence, Round 8.
Kasparov's only loss, but somewhere he must have been winning. 1 d4 N16 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 13 Nc6 6 Be3 a67 Nge2 Rb8 8 Qd2 0-0 9 h4 b5 10 h5 bxc4 11 g4 Bxg4 12 fxg4 Nxg4 13 0-0-0 Nxe3 14 Qxe3 e6 15 hxg6 hxg6 16 Rd2 Re8 17 Ngl d5 18 Nf3 a5 19e5 Ne7 20 Bh3 c5 21 dxc5 Qc7 22 Q14 Nc6 23 Rd l d4 24 Rxd4 Nxd4 25 Nxd4 Qxc5 26 NO Red8 27 Ng5 Qe7 28 Qh4 Rd3 29 Qh7 + Kf8 30 Nxe6 + fxe6 31 Rh l + Ke8 32 Qg8 + B18 33 Qxg6 + Kd8 and here Kasparov lost on time.
Kasparov — 1vanovic, Nimzo-Indian Defence Round 6.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 c5 5 a3 Very in- teresting that Kaspatov should opt for the Samisch, which was generally abandoned by Russian Grandmasters in the 1950s. 5 ... Bxc3 + 6 bxc3 0-0 7 Bd3 d5 This not a real test of White's play and has been considered weak since Botvinnik-Capablanca, AVRO 1938. Better is 7 Nc6. 8 cxd5 exd5 9 Ne2 b6 10 13 Re8 11 0-0 Ba6 12 Ng3 Bxd3 13 Qxd3 Nc6 14 Bb2 c4 15 Qd2 Qd7 16 Rae' h5 17 e4 Now Black is overrun by White's centre pawns. 17 ... g6 18 Bel Nh7 19 Qh6 Re6 20 14 Ne7 21 f5 gxf5 22 Qxh5 dxe4 23 Nx15 Nxf5 24 Rxf5 Rae8 25 Re3 Rg6 26 Rh3 Black resigns. If 26 Rg7 27 Rg5! wins.
After this amazing performance it will be a crushing disappointment for chess lovers the world over, if Kasparov's default in the Candidates"/2 Final is allowed to stand. Kasparov and Korchnoi intended to meet at Herceg Novi last Tuesday to discuss arrangements for going ahead privately, while support also came from the other par- ticipants at Niksic who signed a unanimous declaration asking for the match to be staged by Fide. Unfortunately, the Fide President's line appears to be hardening and Campomanes' latest appeal to national federations concludes: 'So, bless the regula- tions if they serve Soviet interests; hang the regulations if they do not! Please come to my succour in this confrontation with the behemoth that is the Soviet Chess Federa- tion.'
The Manila Congress at the end of this month will be exciting.
Previous page
