CHESS
TV aye
Raymond Keene
Watch out at 6.30 p.m_ on Channel 4 On Saturday 21 February for the opening game of the six-part TV challenge between Nigel Short and Gary Kasparov. For the first time, I believe, cameras have pene- trated to the core of the decision-making process that afflicts chessplayers during the course of a game. Viewers will be able to see for themselves exactly what it is like to face Kasparov and Short directly across the board.
So often in the past chess on television has been restricted to an anodyne frontal shot of the players sitting at the board, apparently motionless and without facial expression. That is truly about as exciting as watching paint dry. Alternatively, the close-up shots of players thinking have been post-game studio mock-ups, which lack the tension of the real thing. With the advent of the Speed. Chess Challenge format, I hope that the presentation of chess on TV has been permanently restruc- tured.
After visiting London to record the six-game Short match, Kasparov travelled to Hamburg for a revenge simultaneous with clocks against the Hamburg Club team which had beaten him 41/2-31/2 in December 1985. On this occasion Gary triumphed by the amazing score of 7-1, against a team which included two Interna- tional Masters. The Hamburg simul team averaged Elo 2375, which may be a world record. Here is how the champion disposed of Hamburg's top board: Gary Kasparov — B. Stein: Old Indian Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 d6 3 Nc3 Nbd7 4 e4 e5 5 Nf3 c6 6 Bet Be7 7 0-0 0-0 8 d5 a6 9 Be3 cxd5 10 cxd5 b5 11 Nd2 Nxe4 12 Ncxe4 f513 a4 bxa4 14 Qxa4 fxe4 15 Nxe4 Nf6 16 Nxf6+ Rxf6 17 b4 Rf8 18 Qc2 Bg5 19 Bd3 h6 20 b5 Bb7 21 bxa6 Bxe3 22 fxe3 Rzfl + 23 Bxfl Bxd5 24 Rdl Bf7 25 Qe4 Black resigns, or Schwarz gibt auf, as they say in Germany!
Other news: The British Zonal, spon- sored by Praxis Systems, is in progress at Bath. Two of Speelman, Chandler and Mestel are hoping to join Short, Nunn and Miles, who already have secure places, in the so far unscheduled Interzonals.
Kasparov's. Grandmaster Association was due to meet Fide, the World Chess Federation, in Brussels last week. There is, as yet, no hard news on the outcome of their deliberations. The Karpov-Sokolov `Superfine starts in Linares later this month. The winner meets Kasparov for the world title in the autumn. After the winner from Linares is known, SWIFT plans a tremendous tournament in Brussels in April. It will be the first all-play-all featur- ing Kasparov, Karpov and the apparently rejuvenated Korchnoi. I round off this week with more play from Wijk aan Zee: Miles — Van der Sterren: Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Qc2 c5 6 dxc5 d4 7 Na4 Nc6 8 a3 e5 9 e4 Nxe4 10 Qxe4 Qa5+ 11 b4 Qxa4 12 Bd3 f513 Qe2 Nxb4 14 axb4 Qxal 15 0-0 e4 16 Bxe4 fxe4 17 Qxe4 Qa6 18 Rel 0-0 19 QdS+ Kh8 20 Rxe7 Bg4 21 Ne5 Qal 22 Nd3 Rfe8 23 Qxb7 Bf5 24 Qc6 Bg6 25 h4 Rxe7 26 QxaS+ Re8 27 Qc6 Rg8 28 Kh2 Bxd3 29 Bf4 Qel 30 Qc7 Qxf2 31 Be5 Qxh4+ 32 Kgl Qg4 33 b5 Be4 34 Bg3 Qe2 35 Bf2 d3 White resigns. Ljubojevic — Hulak: Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6 5 Bd3 Nf6 6 0-0 Qc7 7 Qe2 d6 8 c4 g6 9 Nc3 Bg7 10 Rdl 0-011 Bc2 Nbd7 12 Nf3 b6 13 Bf4 Ne5 14 NxeS dxe5 15 Be3 Bb7 16 Na4 b5 17 cxb5 axb5 18 Nc5 Bch 19 a3 Nd7 20 Bd3 R1138 21 Racl BIS 22 h4 NxcS 23 BxcS Qb7 24 BxfS KxfS 25 Rc5 b4 26 axb4 Ba4 27
Position after 29 Rc8+ Ral Qb6 28 Qd2 Qxb4 29 RCS + (Diagram) Black resigns. After 29. . . Rxc8 30 Qxb4+ is decisive. Alternatively, 29. . . Kg7 30 Qxb4 Rxb4 31 Rxa8 wins a rook. It is surprising that Grandmasters still fall into this elementary trap. Yet it keeps on happening. Twelve years ago, I won in almost identical fashion against the US Grandmaster James Tarjan.
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