CHESS

Prisoner of Jezda

Raymond Keene

The chess community, as indeed the world at large, was alarmed last week to hear of the flight from Belgrade to Israel of Jezda Vasilievic, the mysterious Yugoslav money man behind last year's Spassky- Fischer match and the Belgrade bid for the Kasparov-Short world chess champion- ship. As Vasilievic sped to Israel, his Yugoskandic Bank, which had been offer- ing 15 per cent per month interest on hard currency deposits, spectacularly crashed in his wake, leaving enraged depositors help- lessly storming the defunct branches.

Where does this leave Bobby Fischer? Fischer, according to Yugoslav sources, did receive his $3 million share of the prize purse against Spassky, but did he wisely stow the banknotes under his bed in the Belgrade Intercontinental Hotel, or did he reinvest it at 180 per cent per annum interest in the Yugoskandic Bank? We may never know. What is clear, though, is that the self-styled 'world chess champion' has been left stranded by his protector and may be unable to emerge from his haven in Belgrade without incurring the wrath of the US Internal Revenue and FBI. These organisations would doubtless like to inter- view him on account of his sanctions- busting activities. Indeed, Fischer may Linares, March 1993

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4

1 Kasparov G " 1 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2

1/2 1

1 1 1/2 1 1 10 2 Anand V 0 " 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 0 1 1 1 1/2 1 1 81/2 3 Karpov A 01''/-'/ 11 1 1 1/2 0 1 1 1 81/2 4 Shirov A 1/2 1/2 1/2 ' 1 0 1/2 0 1 1 1/2 1/2 1 1

8

5 Kramnik V 1/2

1/2 1/2 0' 0 1 1 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 7V2

6 Salov V V2 V2 0

1 1 • 0

1/2 1/2

1 1/2 1/2 V2 0

61/2 7 Ivanchuk V 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 1 ' 0 0 1 1 1/2 1 1/2 61/2

8 Beliaysky A V2 1 0

1 0

1/2 1 * 0

0 1

42 V2 0

6 9 Kamsky G 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 1 1 ' 1/2 1 1 0 1/2 51/2 10 Baren E 0 0 1/2 0 1/2 0 0 1 1/2 ' 1 1/2 1/2 1 542 11 Timman J 0 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 0 0 0 ' 1 1/2 1 5 12 Yusupol A 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 ' 1/2 1/2 5 13 Gelfand B 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 " 1 4V2 14 klubojevk L 0 0 0 0 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 0 0 1/2 0' 4

have been an unwitting accomplice in a criminal coup by Jezda of Moriartyesque scope. There is a theory that Vasilievic used his sponsorship of the Fischer- Spassky match to maximise his credibility with Yugoslav punters, who love chess, before embarking on his adventure of absconding with the profits. Meanwhile the real world champion has been in fine form in Linares.

Karpov — Kasparov: Linares, 1993; King's Indian Defence.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 6 Be3 e5 7 Nge2 c6 8 Qd2 Nbd7 9 Rdl a6 10 dxe5 Risky play but Karpov was clearly trying hard to win in order to re-establish his credibility as a possible future 'Fide World Champion'. With this move White virtually ensures the win of a pawn but in so doing permits Black tremendous counterplay. 10 . . . Nxe5 10 . . . dxe5 11 c5 leaves Etlack with a passive position. 11 b3 b5 12 cxb5 axb5 13 Qxd6 Nfd7 14 f4 Overlooking Black's response.

Position after 14 . . b4

Somewhat safer is 14 Qd2. 14 . . . b4 (Diagram) 15 Nbl Karpov had probably not realised in time that 15 Qxb4 fails to 15 . . c5 16 Bxc5 NxcS 17 Rxd8 Ned3+ , regaining the queen with interest. 15 . . . Ng4 16 Bd4 Bxd4 17 Qxd4 Rxa2 18 h3 c5 19 Qgl White's position with virtually no pieces developed presents a picture of abject misery. 19 . . . Ngf6 20 e5 Ne4 21 h4 c4 22 Ncl c3 23 Nxa2 c2 24 Qd4 If 24 Rcl cxblQ 25 Rxbl Nxe5 26 Rdl Qa5 and with White's king marooned in the centre of the board Black's attack is bound to triumph. 24 . . . cxdlQ+ When Kasparov made this move an extra black queen could not be found by the arbiter. Kasparov therefore simply said 'Queen'. 25 Kxdl Karpov at first tried to play 25 Qxe4 and when questioned claimed that Kasparov had said Won' (the Russian word for knight) rather than 'Queen'. This con, worthy of Jezda himself, was disallowed by the arbiter, who ordered Karpov to play on as if cxdlQ+ had in fact been played. Karpov was, however, awarded an extra two minutes thinking time to compensate him for the confusion. 25 . . . NdcS 26 Qxd8 Rxd8 + 27 Kc2 Nf2 White lost on time Karpov has lost without even moving his king's rook or king's bishop — most extraordinary. After 28 Rgl there would in fact be a spectacular smothered mate with 28 . . . Bf5+ 29 Kb2 Ndl+ 30 Kal Nxb3 checkmate.

Kasparov has been tearing strong grand- masters apart with his bare hands in Linares. Gelfand lasted precisely two moves fewer than Karpov, and also failed to move a rook, in this case his queen's rook, before resigning.

Kasparov — Gelfand: Linares, 1993; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3 b5 8 0-0 Bel 9 Qf3 Qc7 10 Qg3 0-0 11 Bh6 Ne8 12 Radl Bd7 13 Nf3 b4 14 Ne2 a5 15 Nf4 ICh8 16 Bg5 Nf6 17 Qh4 The critical variation in this game is 17 . . . a4, which seems to win a piece. However White has the following fabu- lous attacking plan at his disposal, namely 18 Nh5 axb3 19 Nxg7 Kxg7 20 Ne5 dxe5 21 Rd3 when the threat of Rg3 or Rh3 or Qh6+ cannot satisfactorily be parried. 17 . . . B135 18 Nd4 Be8 19 Ndxe6 fxe6 20 Nxe6 Qa7 21 e5 dxe5 22 Nxill Bxf8 23 Bxf6 gxf6 24 Rd8 Nd7 25 Qg4 Black resigns.