Chess

Raymond Keene

Aexpected, Karpov emerged at the head of this year's super-tournament at Tilburg. He had initially set the hot pace of 6/8, but then slowed down, coasting home with three draws in the concluding rounds.

Fridrik Olafsson's plans to reform the current candidate's cycle, expanding the number of contenders to the world title from 8 to 14, or. even 16, were frustrated by a combination of opposition from the hide- bound Fide Executive Council and apathy from member federations. The results at Tilburg, though, have helped to pile up evidence that the present route of qualifica- tion via the Interzonals is an inadequate lottery.

Of the four candidates competing, none could place higher than equal fifth, while Tullman, whose isolated bad result at Las Palmas was heavily punished by summary elimination from the cycle, resumed his customary challenge to the world champion

by finishing a close second. One of the priorities for the coming Fide Congress at Lucerne must be reform of the world cham- pionship, increasing the total of places in the qualifying tournament and perhaps reducing the length of the cycle to two years, instead of three.

Here are two games from Tilburg:

Karpov — Portisch: Petroff's Defence. 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 NxeS d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Be7 7 0-0 Nc6 8 Rel Bf5 9 c4 Nb4 10 Bfl dxc4 For 10 ... 0-0 see Karpov-Portisch, from my article on Turin, earlier this year. 11 Nc3 Nf6 12 Bxc4 0-0 13 a3 Nc6 14 d5 Na5 15 Bat c5 16 Bg5 Re8 17 Qa4 Bd7 18 Qc2 h6 19 Bh4 NxdS 20 Nxd5 Once again, Karpov has built up an im- pressive position against Portisch's Petroff, but from now on, several of his decisions are open to question. Here, for example, 20 Bxe7 Nxe7 21 Ne5 or 21 Radl looks very attractive. 20 ... Bxh4 21 Rxe8 + Bxe8 22 Qe4? Much stronger is

Tilburg, October 1982

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 Karpov X 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 0 1 1/2 1 1 I 2 Timman 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 I

3 Andersson 1/2 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1

Sosonko 1/2 1/2 1/2 X 0 1 I 0 1/2 I 1/2 1 S Petrosian 0 1/2 1/2 1 X 1/2 1 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 Smyslov 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 X 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 7 Portisch 1 1/2 11/2 0 0 1/2 X 1/2 0% 1/2 1 0 1/2 V2 I I 0 1/2X 1/21/21/2 0 1/21/2 0 1/20 1/21 1/2X 1/20 I 0 0 1/20 1/21/21/21/21/2 X 1/2 1 0 0 1/21/21/20 1/21/21 1/2)(1/2 0 0 0 0 1/21/20 1 0 0 1/2X

Nunn Browne 10 Torre 1-1Obner

12 Larsen

Pts

71/2 7 61/2 61/2 6 6 5 5 5

4 V2 41/2

21/2

22 Nxh4 Qxh4 23 Rel with the threats of Nc7 and QxcS. 22 ... Bf6 (Diagram) 23 Bbl? The last real chance is 23 Rel ! 23 ... 11(18 24 Qh7? Hav- ing missed the wins, Karpov cracks up. This

Position after 22 ... Bf6

loses a pice for no compensation. 24 ... QxdS 25 Be4 Qd6 26 Qh8 + Ke7 27 Be2 Ne6 28 Ba4 Nd4! 29 Nxd4 Bxd4 30 Rel + K16 31 Bxe8 Or 31 Rxe8 Qf4 32 h3 Qxf2 + with a winn- ing attack. 31 ... Qf4 32 Rfl Qe5 White resigns.

Nunn — Petrosian: Caro-Kann.

1 e4 c6 2 c4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 cxd5 N16 5 Nc3 NxdS 6 Nf3 Nxc3 7 bxc3 g6 8 d4 Bg7 9 Bd3 Nc6 10 0-0 0-0 11 Rel Bg4 12 Be4 Rc8 13 Bg5 Re8 14 Rbl Qd7 15 h3 Bxf3 16 Bxf3 b6 17 Bg4 f5 18 Be2 h6 19 Bel Kh7? A strange blunder, which simply loses the exchange. 20 d5! Black resigns. When the N moves, Bb5 will win material. One of the shortest losses of Petrosian's career.