SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA
Young Turks
Raymond Keene
WHILE NIGEL SHORT was battling for the world championship in London, two' ambitious hopefuls were garnering laurels abroad. Michael Adams won the tourna- ment in Plovdiv with an unbeaten 8/11 ahead of Sokolov and Georgiev, while 19-year-old Matthew Sadler became Bri- tain's youngest Grandmaster by virtue of his tournament victory in Budapest.
Sadler — Prie: Budapest 1993; Semi-Slav De- fence.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 Nf3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5 8 Bd3 Bbl 9 0-0 Be7 Normal is 9 . . . a6, and this move is perhaps a little too slow.10 e4 b4 11 Na4 c5 12 e5 Nd5 13 Nxe5 Nxc5 14 dxe5 Rc8 At first sight, this position does not appear all that promising for White, since his queen's bishop lacks a good development square. If Black can cure his slight lack of development, the long-term positional trumps are on his side. White's next move, then, is a remarkable retreat, which revitalises his posi- tion. 15 Nd2 BxcS 16 Ne4 0-0 17 Qh5 Suddenly White is on the offensive. If now, incautiously, 17 . . . Nf4? then 18 Nf6+ forces checkmate on h7. To meet this menace, Black is obliged to weaken the dark squares around his king. 17 . . . g6 18 Qh3 Be7 19 Bh6 Re8 20 Radl Qb6 21 Bg5 Bf8? Black had to play 21 . . . Bxg5 22 Nxg5 115 23 0g3 Re7 to guard against possible sacrifices
Position after 22 Bb. 5!!
on 17. 22 Bb5!! (Diagram) A thunderbolt which wins material, for if 22 . . OxbS 23 RxdS BxdS
24 Nf6+ followed by Qxh7 checkmate. 22 . Bg7 There is no time to save the rook on e8 since Rxd8 was, in any case, a threat. 23 Bxe8 Rxe8 24
Nf6+ Nxf6 25 exf6 Qb5 26 Qh4 Bf8 27 Bh6 Qc6 28 f3 QcS+ 29 Khl Bd5 30 Rcl Qd6 31 Bxf8 Qxf8 32 Rc7 Ra8 33 Re7 a5 34 a3 bxa3 35 bxa3 a4 36 Itc1 h5 37 Rcc7 Bb3 38 h3 Ra5 39 Qb4 Rf5 40 Rxf7 A neat finish. If 40 . . . Qxf7 41 Qb8+ 0f8 42 Rg7+ Kh8 43 Qxf8 checkmate. 40 . . . Qxb4 White now gives checkmate without needing to recapture the queen. 41 Rg7+ Kf8 41 . . . Kh8 makes no difference. 42 Rc8 checkmate.
Here is one of Michael Adams's best wins from the last months' harvest.
Adams — Kotronias: Khalkidiki, Greece 1993; Ruy Lopez.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 White's rcent successes in the closed Ruy Lopez, introduced with this move, may cause a re- examination of the open lines based on 5 . . . Nxe4, as favoured by Tarrasch, Korchnoi, Yusu- pov and occasionally Timman. 6 Rel b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 a4 The main line of the Lopez has traditionally been 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 followed by d4 with the eventual retreat of White's king's bishop to c2, to bolster White's centre. Recently, however, Kasparov, in his games against Nigel Short in The Times World Chess Championship, and Short himself (for example in a game against Hubner), have been choosing slower systems, where d4 is delayed, and the white king's bishop maintains itself along the dangerous a2-f7 di- agonal. 8 . . . Bg4 9 c3 Of course, White must stop „ Nd4. 9 . .. 0-0 10 d3 Na5 11 Ba2 Here we see the virtue of 8 a4. Not only is Black's queenside still under attack, but White's bishop retains a useful haven on an important diagonal. White now threatens territorial expansion based on b4, which the Greek Grandmaster hastens to prevent. 11 . . b4 More circumspect is 11 . . . c5 12 Nbd2 0c7 as played in Lanc–Romanishin, Dresden 1988. 12 Nbd2 Of course not 12 cxb4 Nc6, when White would have wrecked his structure for a pawn he cannot maintain. 12 . . . Rb8 13 h3 Be6 Kotronias avoided 13 . . Bh5 on account of 14 g4 when sacrifices appear inadequ- ate and 14 . . Bg6 leaves his bishop woefully out of play. The text, however, leads to a substantial worsening of his central pawn struc- ture. 14 Bxe6 fxe6 15 d4 bxc3 16 bxc3 Nd7 17 Qe2 Qc8 Black could avoid doubled pawns with 17 . . . exd4 18 cxd4 and only now 18 . . . Qc8, but after 19 Ba3 White exerts superior central control and threatens Reel with serious pressure against Black's queen's flank. 18 dxe5 White now inflicts doubled isolated pawns in the centre on Black's structure. Kotronias evidently hoped to gain sufficient counterplay in terms of open lines for his bishop and king's rook, but Adams proves these illusory. 18 . . . dxe5 19 Nc4 Nb3 20 Ra2 Nxcl 21 Rxcl Bey 22 Rd2 For the moment, White's weakness on f2 precludes any capture on e5, but after a period of expert consolidation, Black's weaknesses begin to tell. 22 . . . Qe8 23 a5 Eliminating any chance of relief by . . . Nb6. 23 . . . Rf4 24 Qd3 Nf6 Black recognises that he has been outplayed and seeks to stir up tactical complications. It is impressive during this phase of the game how Adams keeps a firm grip on the proceedings and refuses to be tempted into any premature captures. 25 Rel Qa4 26 Nfxe5 At last, the long-promised reward. 26 . . . Rf8 27 Ree2. An impressive line of consolidation along the second rank. The decision cannot now long be delayed. 27 . . . Bd6 28 Nxd6 cxd6 29 Qxd6 Rxe4 30 Qxe6+ Kh8 31 Rxe4 Qxe4 (Diagram) Now 31 Nf7+ achieves nothing after 31 . . . Kg8 32 Nh6++ Kh8 when 33 Qg8+ Nxg8 is utterly futile for White. However, after one side has been thoroughly outplayed positionally, a com- binative solution tends to exist. 32 Rd8!! Rxd8 Black could prolong his resistance, but to no effect, with 32 . . . Qel+ 33 Kh2 QxeS+ 34 Qxe5 Rxd8. Instead, he prefers to throw himself on the sword. 33 Nf7+ Black resigns After 33 . . . Kg8 34 Nh6+ + Kf8 35 Qf7 is checkmate while 34 . . . Kh8 at last permits the smothered mate with 35 0g8+ Nxg8 36 Nf7 checkmate. A superb game by Adams in the style of Bobby Fischer at his best.
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