Chess
Panto time
Raymond Keene
The most serious obstacle to concen- tration at Hastings is the annual pan- tomime, which inevitably clashes with the chess congress and is inconveniently situated directly over the playing hall. Whenever I go down to spectate I always marvel that the poor devils in the tourna- ment can gather their wits at all, and it is no coincidence that the last time I actually par- ticipated was in 1975-6, the first year in which I vicariously experienced the pan- tomime.
This year a friend of one player decided to attend the panto in person, and was alarmed to hear a clown ask for extra loud stomping from the children expressly for the benfit of the chessplayers. Later in the show, another character pointed out that a Russian was winning the tournament and asked for an especially powerful burst of stamping to put him off. In spite of this handicap, the little-known Soviet Grand- master, Kupreichik, sailed to a comfortable victory, faltering only against Nigel Short in the penultimate round, when undivided
6 7 8 9 10
1 1 0 1/2 1 V2 V2 1/2 1/2 I V2
1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2
1 1/2 1 1/2 O 1 1/2 1 O 1/2 1/2 1 X 0 1/2 I 1 X 0 1/2 1/2 1 X 0 O 1/2 I X
V2 X 1 1/2
1/2
0 O 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2
O 1/2 0 VI 0 1/2 1/2 I 0 0
1 2 3 4 5 1 Kupreichik X 1/2 1/2 1/2 45
2 Smyslov 1/2 X I 1/2 1/2 Speelman 1/2 0 X 1/2 I 4 Anderssori 1/2 V. 1/2 X 1/2
Mestel 1/2 1/2 0 Vr X 6 Lein 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 Rivas 0 1/2 1/2 0 I
Short I 1/2 Va VI 0
9 Taulbut 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2
10 Littlewood 0 0 1/2 1/2 0
II Chandler 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0
12 Christiansen 0 -1/2 0 V1 1/2 13 Ree 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2
14 Szabo 0 0 0 1/2 0
11 12 13 14 1/2 1 1 1 '1/2 1/2 V. 1 1/2 1 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 I 1/2 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 V2 1 1/2 1 0 1/2 1/2 Vi 1 1 1/2 I I X101 O X I 0 1 0 X 1/2 O I 1/2 X
first prize was already virtually his.
I take the following tournament table from the tournament bulletin edited by W. Ritson Morry.
ICL Hastings, Dec 1981-Jan 1982 Ph 9 8 8 71/2 71/2 7 7 7 61/2 6 5 - 4 1/2 4 4
Of the English contingent, Jon Speelman produced one of his best results, sharing se- cond position with ex-world champion Smyslov, while Jonathan Mestel recovered from a poor start to come within one point of his final GM norm. Nigel Short's perfor- mance was remarkable for a 16-year-old, but perhaps less convincing than he might have hoped for. He did, though, enjoy the compensation of inflicting Kupreichik's on- ly loss. Paul Littlewood started off with a meteoric 4 out of 4, but inexplicably col- lapsed during the last 9 rounds to score only 2 more points.
This Hastings was an imposing category 11, and provided a tremendous opportunity for young British and Commonwealth players to gain norms and experience. 1 am
sure everyone is grateful to ICL for their valuable support, but the organisers ant] sponsors should now devote some hall' thought to finding a venue (perhaps in a hotel) where the players are not deliberately disturbed by those (literally) above them' Hastings could also be improved by the upgrading of the Challengers or B group a full Master Swiss, along the lino en Lewisham or Ramsgate. By refusing to al- tract strong foreigners or pay expenses for titled players a great chance to help British chess is being unnecessarily neglect Much of the funding required for this Nth,' easily be raised by entry fees from tibc aspirants. This year Jim Plaskett, the 011: International Master in the field, fought his way through to qualify for the next Premier, but not without a stiff challenge from Michael Franklin. The latter came close to winning but was forced to with- draw at the last minute after family tragedy' so it is to be hoped that the selectors will he lenient and find a place for him as well.
Here is a snappy Hastings win.
Short - Mestel: Caro-Kann Defence. 4 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 140 Ngf6 6 Ng5 e6 7 Qe2 Nb6 8 Bd3 h6 9 N5f3 c51, , dxc5 Nbd7 11 b4 b6 12 Nh3 bxc5 13 b5 13,16 1; 0-0 Qc7 15 Khl Bb7 16 c4 g5 17 Nhgl Rg8 182bc3 g4 19 Nd2 Bxh2 20 Ne4 Nh5 21 Qc2 f5 2217 Qd8 23 BxfS and White resigned without wainage for the deadly deadly ... Qh4 24 Bg6+ Kd8 when niai cannot be avoided. Correction: in last week's quiz 134,1 jihishvile should have read Djinjihishvih.
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