CHESS
1990
Raymond Keene
Although the world championship is by no means finished Kasparov took a giant step forwards by winning the 20th game in brilliant style, thus leaving Karpov with the virtually impossible task of scoring 31/2 points from the last four games. Game 20 was remarkable, reminiscent of Kaspar- ov's previous big attack against Karpov which came in game 16 from Leningrad in 1986. There was even the same decisive move, 31 Kh2, on the same move number on both occasions. In his book on 1986, Kasparov castigated himself for not taking a time-out after game 16: `By going into the 17th game in 1986 in a disoriented state against an opponent thirsting for revenge, I, without suspecting it, returned to the match its disappearing drama. After game 20, which follows, Kasparov sensibly took a time out so Spectator readers will have to wait for the new year issue before discover- ing the eventual outcome of the match.
Kasparov — Karpov: World Championship Final; Game 20, Ruy Lopez 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Bel 6 Rel b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Bb7 10 d4 Re8 11 Nbd2 Bf8 12 a4 h6 13 Bc2 exd4 14 cxd4 Nb4 15 Bbl c5 16 dS Nd7 17 Rai f5 18 Rae3 N16 19 Nh2 Kh8 20 b3 bxa4 21 bxa4 c4 22 Bbl fxe4 23 Nxe4 Nfxd5 24 Rg3 Re6 25 Ng4 Qe8 26 Nxh6 If 26 . . Rxh6 27 Nxd6 Qxel+ 28 Qxel Rxd6 29 Qe4 Rh6 30 Rg6 wins. 26 . . . c3 27 Nf5 cxb2 28 Qg4 Bc8 29 Qh4+ If 29 . . . Kg8 30 Ng5 Rxel + 31 Kh2 Qg6 32 Ne7+ Nxe7 33 Bxg6 wins. 29 . . . Rh6 30 Nxh6 gxh6 31 Kh2 Qe5 32 Ng5 Qf6 33 Re8 Bf5 This temporary queen sacrifice terminates Black's resistance. 34 Qxh6+ Qxh6 35 Nf7+ Kh7 36 BxfS+ Qg6 37 Bxg6+ Kg7 38 RxaS Bel 39 Rb8 a5 40 Be4+ Kxf7 41 BxdS+ Black resigns.
The year 1990 saw some splendid tournaments. The Foreign and Colonial Hastings International, which opened the year, was won convincingly by the Russian Grandmaster Dolmatov, while Linares, following soon afterwards, furnished yet another victory for Kasparov, but also heralded the arrival of two undoubted superstars, Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand. Indeed, my game of the year is the very fine win by Gelfand, possibly a future world champion, against a powerful opponent who himself enjoys a reputation as one of the world's fiercest attacking players.
Gelfand Beliaysky: Linares; Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Br4 0-0 6 e3 c5 7 dxc5 BxcS 8 Qc2 Nc6 9 a3 Qa5 19 0-0-0 This is the sharpest variation of the Queen's Gambit, which incidentally can also arise by transposition from the 4 Qc2 variation of the Nimzo-Indian. Speelman — Short, Candidates quarter-final 1988, continued: 10 . . . Be7 11 g4 Rd8 12 h3 a6 13 Nd2 e5 14 g5 Ne8 15 Nb3 Qb6 16 Nxd5 Rxd5 17 cxd5 exf4 18 dxc6 fxe3 19 fxe3 Bxg5 20 Kbl bxc6 21 Bc4 Raj 22 Rhfl Bf6 23 Qe4 Kf8 24 Qxh7 g6 25 e4 c5 26 e5 Bg7 27 e6 Black resigns. Beliaysky, well aware of this game, had pre- pared what he must have believed to be an Improvement on Black's play. 10 . . . Bd7 11 g4 RfcS 12 Kbl Bf8 13 g5 Nh5 14 Bg3 Ne7 15 Ne5 Be8 16 Bet f6 17 gxf6 gxf6 18 Nf3 Bg6 19 e4 dxe4 20 Nh4 White is obliged to sacrifice a pawn as 20 Nxe4 would run into 20 . . . f5 followed by . . . f4 winning material. In compensation though White gains significant counterchances against the weakened residence of the black king. 20 . . . Nxg3 21 hxg3 f5 22 g4 Consistently playing to blast open a route to the black monarch. 22 . . Bg7 23 gxf5 eicf5 24 Nxg6 hxg6 25 Nb5 Qb6 26 Qb3 The crude threat of 27 c5+ enables White to invade at h7 with his rook.
Position after 29 . . . Rd2 26 . . . Kf8 27 Rh7 Rd8 28 Rdhl Qf6 29 c5 Rd2 (Diagram) The climax of Black's counterattack which obliges White to make a fresh sacrifice. 30 Rxg7 Kxg7 After 30 . . . Qxg7 31 Nc7 threatens both Nxa8 and Ne6+ forking the black king and queen. 31 Nc7 QeS Black has no time to move either of his rooks. He must make the f6 square Position after 33 Nc7 available for his king otherwise Ne6+ would be fatal. 32 Nxa8 Rxe2 33 Nc7 (Diagram) A brilliant and unexpected riposte. The threat of Ne8+ obliges Black in his turn to sacrifice his rook for the energetic white knight. 33 . . . Qxc7 34 Qc3+ K17 35 Qc4+ Kf6 36 Qxe2 QxcS 37 Rcl Qd5 38 Rdl Qc5 39 Rd7 Qc6 40 Qdl Ke6 41 Rd8 Nd5 42 Qb3 a5 43 Qg3 Nd7 44 Qb8 Qb6 45 Rd2 Qc6 46 Qd8 b6 47 a4 g5 Black is clearly under pressure, but this move appears to be quite misguided in that Black voluntarily deprives his king of lateral shelter. The black king-side pawns never pose any genuine threat. 48 Qd4 g4 49 Rdl The threat of Rhl now drives Black's king into the open. 49 . . . Qc5 50 Qd7+ Ke5 51 Qe8 Kf4 52 QbS+ Kg5 53 Qd8 Kf4 54 Rcl Qb4 55 Rc3 Ng6 56 Qf6 Ne7 57 Qe6 Kg5 58 Rc7 Black loses on time. He is in any case quite lost since 58 . . . Ne6 59 Rg7 wins the black knight.
Anotoly Karpov qualified easily enough in his match against Jan Timman in Malaysia to challenge Kasparov once more for the supreme title. I have a sneaking suspicion that the loser of the match in Lyon will return phoenix-like as challenger in 1993. There was an interesting surprise in this year's British championship, won by James Plaskett, ahead of Speelman, Adams, Hodgson and other favourites, but there was a less pleasant surprise in November's chess Olympics in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, where England were relegated on tie-break from our usual silver medal to bronze. There were, however, some fine individual performances, such as Murray Chandler's silver medal for individual per- formance, John Nunn's individual gold for Olympic problem-solving and a fine win by Nigel Short in the following game.
Short — Ljubojevic: England — Yugoslavia, Round 11; Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 NO d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 f4 Qc7 7 Bet e6 8 0-0 Be7 9 Be3 0-0 More circumspect is 9 . . Nc6. 10 g4 Nc6 11 g5 Nd7 12 f5 Nxd4 13 Qxd4 ReS 14 fxe6 fxe6 15 Bh5 Rf8 On 15 . . . g6 Short planned 16 Nd5. 16 Rxf8+ Bxf8 17 Rfl Ne5 18 Nd5 Qd8 19 Nb6 Rb8 20 Bf4 Nd7 21 Nc4 d5 22 Khl Bc5 23 Qd2 Ra8 If 23 . . . dc4 24 Bb8 wins, 24 Bf7+ Kh8 25 exd5 b5 26 Na5 NM 27 Bey Ng6 28 Bxg6 hxg6 29 b4 BIB 30 d6 Bd7 31 h4 Kg8 32 Kh2 Rc8 33 c3 Rb8 34 Qf4 Qe8 35 Nb3 Rd8 36 Nc5 Bc6 37 a3 Ra8 38 Kg3 Bd5 39 d7 Qe7 40 Bc7 e5 41 Qxf8+ Rxf8 42 Rxf8+ Qx111 43 d8Q Black resigns.
The year ends as it began with the Foreign and Colonial tournament at Hast- ings. The players are: Bent Larsen, Evgeni Bareev, Danny King, Jon Speelman, Mur- ray Chandler, Tony Kosten, Helgi Olafs- son and Gyula Sax. Play takes place at the Cinque Ports Hotel in Hastings between 29 December and 13 January.
Previous page
