CHESS

Winners

Raymond Keene

Ileft the semi-finals last week with

Karpov and Timman enjoying the lead, albeit a narrow one. Then, at the weekend, both Yusupov and Speelman struck back in dramatic games to level the scores. Indeed, Yusupov nearly went one better since he had Karpov on the ropes in the next game as well. Thus, when the final round com-

menced on Tuesday all the players had 31/2

points. It was at this moment that the two pre-match favourites, both more experi- enced in match play than their opponents, finally reasserted their authority. Karpov won a kind of clear attacking game which had been so typical of his victories against Yusupov before this match. The game between Speelman and Timman was more complicated, but Speelman eventually lost his nerve and a couple of pawns and had to concede after a long endgame. Yusupov is to be congratulated for his splendid show which brought him close to match victory, thus demonstrating that my pre-match prediction about his chances was somewhat unfair. Speelman, though, was disappoint- ing, especially in that both his losses came with the white pieces. The losers did have the consolation of winning the following games which I regard as the best of each match.

Timman-Speelman: Game 7; Ruy Lopez.

1 e4 e5 N173 Nc6 Perhaps Timman was unwise to choose the more volatile King's Pawn opening rather than his usual solid 1d4. One gained the impression, though, that having had so many winning positions up to now (most of which he had failed to clinch) Timman now wanted to finish off the match with one mighty blow. 3 Bb5 f5 A wild move, introducing the Schliemann Counter-Gambit, one generally considered to hover on the frontiers of soundness. Neverthe- less, Spec[man had thoroughly prepared this variation, and it turned out to be a most valuable shock weapon, since Timman could not possibly have expected it. 4 Nc3 fxe4 5 Nxe4 d5 6 Nxe5 dxe4 7 Nxc6 Qg5 Black must counter-attack

against the Bb5 and the pawn on g2. 7 . hxc6, the simple recapture, fails to a combination of Qh5+ and Bxc6+. 8 Qe2 Nf6 9 f4 Qxf4 10 Ne5dis+ c6 11 d4 Qh4+ 12 g3 Qh3 13 Bc4 Be6 14 Bg5 0-0-0 15 0-0-0 Bd6 It may seem remarkable, but this all represents well-known theory. Speel- man, though, had been swotting it up the night before, while Timman, in sharp contrast, more or less had to dredge up the variations from his subconscious. The best move now is 16 Qfl, which stems, ironically, from a game by Sax, one of Timman's seconds in London. 16 Nf7 Bxf7 17 Bxf7 Rhf8 18 Bc4 Rde8 Timman's next move is a strategic blunder which reduces the scope of his own bishop on c4. By now, faced with this arcane opening, Timman was running severely short of time. 19 d5? c5 20 Rhfl Kb8 21 Bf4 Rd8 Speelman's position, with the aggressively post- ed black queen, and the passed pawn on e4, is excellent. Timman now tries to repeat moves, but Speelman is having none of it. 22 Bg5 White has to play 23 a4 to restrict the expansion of Speelman's queen's side pawns. What occurs instead leads to alarmingly swift disaster. 23 Bxf6 Bxf6 24 Qxe4 Qxh2 25 Rhl Qxg3 26 Rxh7 RfeS Suddenly Black's forces are active, White's back rank is exposed, and the bishop on c4 is beginning to look like a fat pawn rather than a mobile piece. If now 27 Qh4 Q14+ 28 Qxf4 Bxf4 + 29 Kb1 b5 30 Bfl Rxd5!! 31 Rb7+ Ka8l and Black wins, in view of White's inability to protect his back rank. The same variation could have occurred on move 28, had Black wished. 27 Qf5 b5 28 Bfl Rel White's next loses at once, but 29 c3 is also hopeless after . . . Bf4+. 29 Qh5 Qf4+ 30 Kbl Qxfl White resigns.

Yusupov-Karpov: Game 5; Torre Attack. 1 d4 Nf6 2 N13 e6 3 Bg5 c5 4 e3 b6 Falling, surprisingly, into an old trap which guarantees White a central preponderance. Karpov prefer- red 4 . . Be7 in game seven. 5 d5! exd5 6 Nc3 Be7 Yusupov easily regains the pawn, and the result is permanent domination of the important d5 square, plus possible pressure against the backward black 'cl' pawn. 7 Nxd5 Bbl 8 Bxf6 Bxf6 9 c3 0-0 10 Bc4 a6 11 0-0 b5 12 Bb3 d6 13 Qd2 Nd7 14 Rfdl BxdS White might do better now to recapture with the queen. Karpov's fine defence over the coming moves gradually eli- minates White's edge. 15 BxdS Rb8 16 Qc2 Nb6 17 Rd2 g6 18 Radl Qc7 19 Qe4 This is premature, since it permits Karpov to reorganise his defences. Perhaps 19h4!? 19 . . Kg7 20 h4 Qe7 21 Qf4 Bey 22 Nxe5 dxe5 23 Qg3 RbdS 24 h5 Rd7 25 b3 RfdS 26 e4 g5 27 Qe3 h6 28 c4 Rc7 29 Rd3 Nd7 The position is now more or less equal, or would have been, if Karpov had sealed up the left flank with 29 . . . b4. The planned regroup- ing of his knight, though, allows Yusupov to launch an extraordinary combination. 30 Bxf7!!? When Yusupov played this bold move a roar of approbation went up from the Grandmasters in the press room, but this was quickly replaced by general puzzlement as to what precisely Yusu- pov had in mind as a follow-up. His idea is, in fact, extraordinarily profound, though not, perhaps, absolutely water-tight. 30 . . . Kxf7 Karpov takes with the king in order to defend his pinned knight. 31 Qd2 Ke8 White's plan emerges: Black is totally pinned down, thus strikes can take place on the wings. 32 Qa5 bxc4 With both sides in time trouble mistakes creep in. Here, for example, Karpov should defend with 32 . . Re6, while White, in turn, should have played 33 Rd6. 33 bxc4 Rcc8 Again 33 . . Rc6 is necessary, though Black would be too paralysed ever to think of winning. 34 Qa4 Rc7 35 Qxa6 Rb8 36 Qg6+ Kf8 Both 36 . . 017 37 Qxf7+ and 36 . . . Kd8 37 Rd6 are hopeless, so better an end with horror than horror without

end. 37 . . game. Rf3+ Black resigns. A memorable

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total Speelman 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 V2 1

0 31/2

Timman

1h 1 1/2

1/2

1/2 1/2

0 1 41/2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Karpov 1/2

1/2

1 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1 41/2 Yusupov

1h 1/2

0 V2 1 1/2 1/2 0 31/2