Rdbeq

The U ltimate Islay Malt.

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CHESS

1066 and All That

Raymond Keene

THE Hastings Premier has been won by grandmaster Emil Sutovsky of Israel. It was a competent rather than stirring perfor- mance, but the percentage of decisive games on the whole was quite good. Jon Speelman also turned in a dependable result.

Hastings Premier, Final Crosstable

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

1. Sutovsky * 1/2 Y2 1 1 Yz Y2 1 1 Y2 6Yi 2. Dreev Y2 * 1/2 Y2 1 0 1 1 1 }e, 6 3. Speelman V2 Y2 * Y2 Y2 1 1 Y2 Y2 1 6 4. Bischoff 0 Y2 Y2 * 1 0 V2 1 V2 1 5 5. Emms 0 0 Y2 0* 1 Y2 Y2 1 1 4Y2 6. McShane Y2 1 0 1 0 * YZ y2 Yz 0 4 7. Laic Y2 0 0 Y2 Y2 Y2 * 0 Y2 1 3Y2 8. Chandler 0 0 Y2 0 Y2 Y2 1 * 112 Y2 3Y2 9. Sokolov 0 0 Y2 Y2 0 Y2 Y2 Y2 * 1 3l' 10. Krush Y2 Y2 0 0 0 1 0 Y2 0* 272 In the above table, 1 represents a win, Y a draw and 0 a loss.

Sokolov–Sutovsky: Hastings Premier 2000; Grunfeld Defence 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 Bd2 An extraordinary move. White is prepared to lose time in order to challenge Black's g7-bishop, or to drive Black's king's knight to an unfamiliar square. 5 ...Bg7 6 e4 Nb6 6 ...Nxc3 7 Bxc3 falls in readily with White's plans. 7 Be3 0-0 8 Be2 Nc6 9 Nf3 Bg4 10 d5 Bxf3 11 Bxf3 Feeble. The

Diagram 1

testing line is 11 gxf3 Ne5 12 Qb3 or 11 ...Na5 12 Bd4. 11 ...Ne5 12 Be2 Nec4 13 Bc1 c6 White has wasted too much time and Black seizes the initiative. 14 dxc6 bxc6 15 Qc2 Qd4 16 0-0 RfdS

17 Rbl Na3 A neat move, splitting White's pawns and creating a passed pawn on the c-file.

18 bxa3 Qxc3 19 Qxc3 Bxc3 20 Ba6 c5 21 Bf4 Bd2 22 Be5 c4 (Diagram 1) Offering the exchange to increase the power of his advancing pawn. 23 Bb7 f6 24 Bc7 Rd7 25 BxaS Rxc7 26 BdS+ Nxd5 27 exd5 c3 28 g3 c2 29 Rbcl Kf7 Black can pick his moment to win back the rook. Meanwhile White also has a weak pawn on d5 to worry about. 30 Kg2 f5 31 f4 Ke8 32 103 Kd7 33 Ke2 Bxcl 34 Rxcl Kd6 35 Kd2 Kxd5 36 a4 h5 37 a5 a6 38 h4 Kd4 White resigns White has run out of moves and the king and pawn endgame is hopeless for him.

Speelman—McShane: Hastings Premier 2000; London System 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 d4 g6 3 c3 Speelman prefers offbeat lines against well prepared opponents. 3 ...Bg7 4 Bf4 0-0 5 h3 d6 6 e3 Nbd7 7 Na3 This is border- ing on the eccentric. 7 ...Ne4 8 Qc2 f5 9 Bd3 Ndf6 10 0-0-0 c5 11 dxc5 Nxe5 12 Bc4+ d5 13 Nb5 A normally quiet opening has been convert- ed into a maelstrom by Speelman's decision to castle queenside. 13 ... Qb6 14 RxdS An interest- ing sacrifice and the only way to justify White's conduct of the game so far. 14 Nxd5 15 BxdS+ Be6 16 Nc7 BxdS 17 Nxd5 Qa6 18 Kbl e5 (Diagram 2) 19 Bg5 Capturing on e5 invites the annoying ...Qe6 at some juncture. 19 ...Rf7 20 Bel Qc6 Highly plausible. He can scarcely have considered Speelman's response. 21 Ng5! This forces events. It is a very interesting piece sacri- fice. 21 ...Qxd5 22 Rd1 Qc4 23 Nxf7 lixf7 24 BxcS QxcS 25 Qb3+ Kf6 26 Rd7 Rf8 27 Qxb7 Bh6 28 h4 Black is strangely paralysed. What he does leads to disaster, but White will soon start

Diagram 2

to pick up more material, starting on h7. 28 ...Qb6 29 Qd5 Qb8 30 Qc6+ Black resigns Ardbeg Malt Whisky Puzzle No. 12 White to play and win — first move only required. This position is from the game Sutovsky-.Chandler, Hastings 2000. This finish enabled Sutovsky to finish clear first at Hastings. What was his winning coup?

Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 25 January or via e-mail to vanessa@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7242 0603. The winner will be the first correct answer drawn out of a hat, and each week I shall be offering a prize of a bottle of Ardbeg Malt Whisky.

Last week's solution: Rxh7+ Last week's winner: John Sparrow, Buckingham.