CHESS

Conquering heroes

Raymond Keene

An historic moment for British chess — Nigel Short and Jon Speelman, the reigning British champion, have tied for first place in the Interzonal in Stibotica, Yugoslavia. This means that for the very first time in the history of the Fide- organised world championships, two Brit- ish Grandmasters have qualified for the Candidates' tournament. The Candidates', set for St John in Canada in early 1988, is that stage of qualification which directly precedes the title match itself.

Last time, in 1985, Nigel Short broke fresh ground by becoming the first British Player ever to fight his way up to Candi- dates' level. Now, with Short and Speel- man already through, John Nunn, Tony Miles and Glenn Flear have a chance to Subotica Interzonal

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1213141516 Total

1 Short x 1/2 0 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 1/21/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 io1/2 2 Speelman x 1/2 1 0 1/21/21/21/2 1 1 1 1/2 1 11 101/2

3 Su 1 1/2x1/21/21 11/201/211/211/21 1 101/2 4 Rib li (I 0½ x 1/21/21/21/21/2 11 11 11 1 10

5 Ta1 Y2 1 1/2 1/2 x 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1½ 1 0 1 10 6 Rodriguez 9 1/2 o 1/2 1/2 a 1/21/2 1 11/2 0 1 1/2 1 11 81/2 Marjanovic 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 lc 1/21/2 0 1 1 1/21/2 1 1 8 SinYslov 0 1/21/2 1/21/21/2 1/2 x 0 1/2 0 1 1 1/2 1 a 7 0½ 1 1/21/2 0½ 1 x a 1 0 0 1/21/2 1 7 ½0 1/2 0 1/21/2 1 1/2 a x 0 0 1 0 1 1 61/2 ½Q 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 x 1/2 0 1 ½1 61/2 001/2000001 11/2x 1 1 10 6 1/21/2001/21/21/20 1 0 1 0 x1/201/2 51/2 0 0½ 0 0 0 1/21/21/2 1 0 0½ x 1½ 5 ½0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1/2 0 V2 0 10 x1/2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 1 1/21/21/2 a 21/2 At the time of going to press the games PoPovic-Chernin and Smyslov-Hamid stood ad- journed.)

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10 cbemin 11 Zapata 12 Ernst

13 Alburt 14 Xu

IS Prasad 16 Hamid

join them when their two Interzonals are played in Zagreb and Szirak (Hungary) over the next month or so.

There was nothing accidental about the British triumph. Speelman and Short shot into an early lead, maintained their top positions throughout and both inflicted defeat on Zoltan Ribli (Hungary) who for much of the time had seemed their main rival. British chess must be grateful to Praxis Systems of Bath, the computer software company which provided Speel- man's expenses.

Nigel said on winning that he had scored objectively better results in his life, but this one gave him the most pleasure, since it was in the world championship cycle. Jon Speelman added modestly that he hoped to win one match in the Candidates' at St John next January. It is a sobering thought that after 1952 until 1979, a period of 27 years, no British player ever qualified for the Interzonal, let alone won it.

Sbort,Smyslov: Ruy Lopez.

e4 es 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 d6 5 Bxc6+ bxc6 6 d4 f6 7 Be3 Ne7 8 Nc3 Ng6 9 Qe2 a5 10 h4. Ba6 11 Qd2 h5 12 0-0-0 Qe8 13 g3 Rb8 14 dxe5 dxe5 15 Ba7 Ra8 16 QO Qb7 17 Be5 Rb8 18 b3 Bxc5 19 Qxc5 Qb6 20 Qxb6 exb6 21 Rd6 Ne7 22 Rhdl Kf7 23 Nel Bc8 24 Ng,2 13g4 25 R1d3 Rtic8 26 Ne3 Bh3 27 Ne2 Rc7 28 f4 exf4 29 Nxf4 Bg4 30 Nxg4 hxg4 31 Kd2 Rai 32 Ne6 Rcc8 33'c4 Ng6 34 Nd8+ MS 35 Nxc6 Rxe4 36 115 Nh8 37 Nd8 Rb8 38 Ne6+ KO 39 Rd8+ Rxd8 40 Rxd8+ Kh7 41 Re8 Re5 42 NO8+ Kh6 43 Rxe5 fxe5 44 Nd7 Nf7 45 Nxb6 Nd6 46 Ke3 Nf5+ 47 Kf2 g6 48 hxg6 Kxg6 49 Nd5 Nd6 50 Nc3 KM 51 Ke2 Ke6 52 Kd3 Nf5 53 Ne2 Kd6 54 a3 Kc6 55 Ke4 Nd6+ 56 Kxe5 a4 57 Nd4+ Kd7 58 Kd5 Nf5 59 b4 Nxg3 60 Nc6

Ne2 61 Ne5+ Ke7 62 Nxg4 Nc3+ 63 Kd4 Nbl 64 Ne3 Nxa3 65 Ke3 Black resigns. Black's knight is trapped: 65 . . Nbl + 66 Kc2 Na3+ 67 Kb2 etc . . .

Short-Ribli: Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Ne3 a6 6 f4 Qc7 7 Be2 e6 8 g4 b5 9 g5 Nfd7 10 a3 Nb6 11 Bf3 N8d7 12 Qe2 Be7 13 h4 Bb7 14 Bd2 Rc8 15 f5 e5 16 Nb3 Nc4 170-0-0 Ndb6 18 f6 Nxb2 19 Kxb2 Na4+ 20 Kci gxf6 21 gxf6 flill 22 Bg4 Bh6 23 Rh3 Nxc3 24 Rxc3 Bxd2+ 25 Rxd2 Qxc3 26 Bxc8 Bxc8 27 Rxd6 Qg3 28 Kb2 Qxh4 29 Qdl 0-0 30 Rd8 Qxf6 31 Rxc8 Rut; 32 Qg4+ 108 33 Qxc8+ Kg7 34 Nc5 h5 35 Qxa6 Qf2 36 Qd6 h4 37 Qxe5+ Qf6 38 Nd7 Qxe5+ 39 Nxe5 h3 40 Nf3 Black resigns. Ribli's combination, launched with 18 . . . Nxb2, was ingenious but suspect. 28 Gicll at once might have been even more effective than Short's Kb2. Amnsingly, 35 Qxa6 is possible, since, after an exchange of queens, White's knight can still return in time to stop Black's passed pawn.

Many thanIcs to Graham Lee, the new British Chess Federation general secretary, who proved an invaluable link for informa- tion from the front.