DI_O CAIMIEL
SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA
CHESS
Trumped
Raymond Keene
Gulko — Short; Game 2.
AS I EXPECTED, Viswanathan Anand, the Indian Grandmaster, is making mince- meat of Oleg Romanishin in the New York Candidates matches. Anand is not even showing his opponent the respect of think- ing about his moves, regularly spending less than half an hour over the games, while Romanishin loses on time.
The other matches, so far, are not yet, if at all, following the lines I anticipated. The machine-like Kamsky is slaughtering the talented Kramnik, Adams is struggling against Tiviakov, the Englishman having squandered a promising 2-0 start, while Nigel Short has not yet seriously detached himself from Boris Gulko. The playing conditions in the Trump Tower, reported- ly, leave much to be desired and after the early rounds Nigel insisted on a switch of room. This is an extra organisational irri- tant for the leading British representative which he could well do without. As a founding member of the Professional Chess Association, who are staging the matches, Nigel doubtless feels responsible for the overall conditions, as well as the standard of his own play. Nigel's distrac- tion became manifest in round two when he blundered away a piece in one move.
Vladimir Kramnik has produced a novel excuse for his poor showing. In former times most international chessplayers smoked heavily during the games. In the modern health-conscious era Kramnik is perhaps the last chain-smoker amongst the elite. In New York not only is smoking forbidden during the games, the Trump Tower is a public building in which smok- ing is forbidden period. Kramnik is suffer- ing accordingly. Here Black stumbled on the atrocious 23 . . . Ne4 and after 24 R8d5! Black had to resign 24 . . . Rxd5 fails to 25 Nxd5+ Kf7 26 Rxc4. 24 . . . Nxb2 fails to 25 Rxc5 while 24 . . Kf7 fails to 25 Rxc5 Bxc5 26 Rxc4.
Fortunately Nigel struck back with a brilliant display in game 3.
Short — Gulko; PCAlIntel World Chess Quarter-finals, New York, May 1994, Caro- Kann Defence. 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Bc4 Ngf6 6 Ng5 e6 7 Qe2 Nb6 8 Bb3 h6 9 N5f3 a5 10 c3 c5
11 a3 Qe7 12 Nh3 A substantial improvement on 12 Ne5 which was played in Kasparov — Karpov in Linares earlier this year. 12 . . . Bd7 13 0-0 Bd6 14 dxc5 QxcS 15 Be3 Qc7 16 Bd4 Ng4 An over-optimistic sortie which ends up losing two tempi. Nevertheless, it takes play of a high order on White's part to refute it. 17 Nd2! Nf6 Abject retreat but if 17 . . . Nxh2 18 Ref when the knight will never safely emerge or 17 . . Bxh2+ 18 Kh 1 threatening both Qxg4 and g3 when Black would have to sacrifice his bishop for inadequate compensation. 18 Khl 0-0 Black's Position after 27 Ng5+ Ng5+ Black resigns (Diagram) The variations are simple but elegant. First of all, 27 . . . hxg5 loses at once to 28 Nf6 ++ followed by 29 Qxg5 mate. If 27 . . Kg8 28 Nf6+ Bxf6 29 Qxh6 Rfe8
30 Qh7+ Kf8 31 Qxf7 checkmate. Alternatively 27 . . Kg8 28 Nf6+ Kg7 29 Ngh7 when there is no defence to Qg3 checkmate. The best defence is offered by 27 . . . Kg6 when if 28 Qg3 hxg5 29 Qxg5+ Kh7 30 Rf3 Rg8 31 Nf6+ Bxf6 32 Rh3 checkmate. However, after 27 . . Kg6 28 Qg3 Black can considerably muddy the waters by taking the other knight by means of 28 . Kxh5. In that case 29 Nxe6 fxe6 30 Rxd7+ Qxd7 31 Bdl+ Qxdl 32 Rxdl is by no means clear. Nevertheless, there is a clear-cut answer from the diagram to 27 . . . Kg6, namely 28 Rd3! With the brutal threat of 29 Rg3, hauling White's artillery directly in front of the black king. After 27 Kg6 28 Rd3 hxg5 29 Qxg5+ Kh7 30 Nf6+ Bxf6 31 Rh3 is once again checkmate.
In round six Boris Gulko drew with Nigel Short, Viswanathan Anand drew with Oleg Romanishin while Gata Kamsky defeated Vladi- mir Kramnik. Short and Gulko are level pegging on 3 points each, Anand leads Romanishin by 4 points to 2, while Kamsky's total of 4.5 points to Kramnik's 1.5, means that Kamsky has already qualified.
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