Chess
Wild East
Raymond Keene
Much violence is to be observed among the games of the lesser-known Rus-
sians. Perhaps they believe that they must do something extraordinary in each game in order to struggle through to the top of their gruelling cycle of qualifying competi- tions. Here is a particularly lunatic produc- tion from the USSR championship quali- fier at Sverdlovsk.
Chernin-Yudashin: USSR First Leage, Sverd- lovsk 1984; Catalan.
I d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 d5 4 Bg2 dxc4 5 N1'3 b5 The pure Catalan gambit. Although a clear refuta- tion was never established (until this game, perhaps). it is the sort of risk I would avoid on principle. Black neglects development and weakens his defences along the a8-hl diagonal just to maintain his extra pawn. 6 a4 c6 7 axb5 axb5 8 Ne5 Nd5 9 Nc3 Bb4 10 0-0 Bxc3 11 e4! The point of White's play. Without this zwischenzug his attack would lack sufficient momentum. 11 . . . Bxb2 Alternatively, 11 . . . Bxd4 12 Qxd4 Qb6 13 Nf3 Qxd4 14 Nxd4 Ne7 15 e5 Nd5 16 Nxb5 with advantage. 12 exd5! A remarkable conception which is, in fact, the only way to fuel White's attack. In contrast, the natural recap- ture 12 Bxb2 leads nowhere, e.g. 12 . Ne7 13 d5 0-0 14 d6 Nec6 15 Qh5 a6 16 Ng4 f6 and Black is consolidating (Doyoyan-011, USSR 1984). 12 . . . Bxal 13 Ba3 Suddenly Black's situation appears hopeless. If now 13 . . . Bxd4 14 Qxd4 a5 15 Nxc4 bxc4 16 Qxg7 wins. 13 . . . a5 A desperate move which gives White a choice of excellent possibilities. If, however, Black's KB withdraws from al, White captures on e6 with devastating effect. 14 Qg4 Both 14 dxe6 and 14 Qxal meeting 14 . . . b4 with 15 Bxb4! also look strong. 14 . . . b4 Or 14 . . . Qf6 15 Rxal Bb7 16
Position after 16 . . . bxa3
dxe6. 15 Qxg7 RIB 16 Rxal bxa3 (Diagram) 17 dxe6 Winning back the sacrificed R and leaving Black's K hopelessly exposed. 17 . . . Bxe6 18 BxaS Qxd4 19 Rbl Nd7 20 Bc6 Qd6 21 Bxd7 + Bxd7 22 Nxc4 Qc5 23 RbS+ Bc8 24 Rxc8+ Black resigns (24 . . . Qxc8 25 Nd6+ ).
And now a similarly wild encounter from the USSR championship proper at Riga earlier this year. There were twenty play- ers and the leading scores were: Gavrikov, Gurevich, Chernin 11/19; Sokolov, Balashov and Smagin
Lputian-Smagin: Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bh4 dxc4 7 e4 g5 8 Bg3 b5 9 Be2 b4 Going for a second pawn, though, he renounces protection of his initial booty on c4. 10 Na4 Nxe4 11 Bey Nf6 12 0.0 Nbd7 13 Bxc4 g4 14 Bxf6 Qxf6 15 Ne5 h5 The best defence is 15 . . . Nxe5 16 dxe5 Qf4! when 17 Rclgives White compensation. 16 f4 Nxe5 17 fxe5 Qg5 18 Qd3 Bd7 19 Rad1 Rd8 20 Qe4 h4 21 RN g3 22 h3 Bh6 23 Rf3 Qg6 24 Qe2 BB 25 Rdfl Bc8 26 Bd3 Qg5 27 Rxf7 Rxd4 28 Qf3 Bel 29 Qxc6+ Bd7 30 Rxe7+! If now 30 . . . Qxe7 31 Qa8+ Qd8 32 Bg6+ Ke7 33 Rf7+ wins. 30 . . . Kxe7 31 Qc5+ Ke8 32 Qxd4 Bxa4 33 Qxa7 Bd7 34 Qb8+ Black resigns.
Of the top six only Smagin failed to qualify for the Interzonals, being elimin- ated on tie-break. As previously reported, this was the result of a disgraceful incident in which Smagin's last-round advantageous game against Gurgenidze was adjudicated (!) 'drawn' by a committee, thus permitting Karpov's second, Balashov, to proceed to the Interzonal stage of the world cham- pionship cycle.
At a press conference in London last Monday, Fide President Florencio Campo-. manes stated that he knew nothing of this incident, since he had been on a world tour to explain his controversial Moscow deci- sion. However, he promised to examine the details of this alarming adjudication on his imminent return to Fide HQ.
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