;o Dtgi CHESS SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA 1 (0011)(011101 it U

SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA

Too late

Raymond Keene

AT LAST A DIRECT HIT, after so many excellent positions had slipped out of Nigel Short's grasp. Week six of the Times World Chess Championship was Nigel Short's best so far. Two draws and a win gave him his first overall plus score for a week's games. When Kasparov resigned Game 16 the audience at the Savoy Theatre erupted in wild cheering and applause. Nigel Short's comment was: 'Not before time'.

But it was all too late. By offering Short a draw (which Nigel accepted after some thought) in Game 19 on Tuesday Kasparov secured the half-point which ensured that he retained his world title with 12 points in the 24-game match.

Short — Kasparov: Times World Championship, London, Game 16; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3 b5 80-0 Bel 9 Qf3 Qc7 10 Qg3 Nc6 11 Nxc6 Qxc6 12 Rel Bb7 13 a3 Rd8 14 f314 Nd5 is a thematic sacrifice, but after 14 . . . exd5 15 exd5 Nxd5 16 Qxg7 Kd7 17 Qg4+ (if 17 Qxf7 Rde8 18 Bg5 Rhg8 19 Bxe7 Rxg2+ 20 Kxg2 Ne3+ 21 Kg3 Qg2+ 22 Kf4 Qe4+ 23 Kg5 h6+ 24 Kh5 Qg4+ 25 Kxh6 Rh8+ 26 Qh7 Nf5 checkmate as found by the chess software program Fritz) 17 . . . Kc7 18 Bxd5 Qxd5 19 Rxe7+ Kb8, the complications favour Black who has a massive threat of . . . Rhg8. 14 . . . 0-0 15 Bh6 Ne8 16 Khl KM 17 Bg5 BxgS 18 QxgS Nf6 19 Radl Rd7 20 Rd3 RfdS 21 Redl Qc5 22 Qe3 Kg8 23 Kg1 Kf8 24 Qf2 Ba8 The purpose behind this move has eluded most commenta- tors. However, the reason is quite clear once one grasps the intention behind Kasparov's 25th move. The world champion's concept was to entice the white knight onto the d4 square, then prod it with . . . e5 and in response to Rc3 he wanted to be able to retreat his queen to a defended square. The point of 24 . . . Ba8 is to allow the black rook on d7 to defend a7, the intended haven for the black queen. 25 Ne2 g6 Clearly designed to stop White's knight going to f5 after . . e5. Nevertheless, Kasparov should

Position after 26 Nd4

have exchanged queens. 26 Nd4 (Diagram) This is where Kasparov had originally wanted to play 26 . . . e5, but now observed that his variation did not work. Thus 26 . . . e5 27 Rc3 Qa7 (the defended square, but not 27 . . . Qb6 on account of 28 Ne6+ picking up Black's queen) 28 Nc6 Qxf2+ 29 Kxf2 Rc8 (if 29 . . . Bxc6 30 Rxc6 leaves Black with a terrible endgame) but now the devilish trick 30 Nxe5 Rxc3 31 Nxd7+ winning. Or 30 Nxe5 dxe5 31 Rxc8+ (rather' than the inexplicable 31 Rxd7 Rxc3 32 Rd8+ given by the Independent) when Black's position totally collapses. 26 . . . Qe5 27 Rel g5 28 c3 Kg7 29 Bc2 Rg8 30 Nb3 KM 31 Rd4 Ke7 32 a4 h5 33 axb5 axb5 34 Rb4 h4 35 Nd4 g4 Short's next move is the fastest way to wrap things up. Much less convincing is 36 Nf5+ exf5 37 exf5 gxf3 38 Rxe5 + dxe5 when Black might struggle on. 36 RxbS d5 37 Qxh4 Qh5 38 Nf5+ Black resigns After 38 . . . exf5 39 exf5+ Kf8 40 Qxf6 Bbl 41 Rxb7 Rxb7 42 Qd8+ Kg7 43 f6+ Kh8 44 Qxg8+ Kxg8 45 Re8 is checkmate, as pointed out by Dominic Lawson.

For game 17, the dramatic 'see' change by Short's bishop on move 24 shocked Kasparov, but did not topple him.

Kasparov — Short: Times World Championship, London, Game 17; Scotch Opening.

1 e4 e5 2 NO Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Bc5 5 Nxc6 Qf6 6 Qd2 dxc6 7 Nc3 Be6 8 Na4 Rd8 9 Bd3 Bd4 10 0-0 a6 11 Nc3 Ne7 12 Net Bb6 13 Qf4 Ng6 14 Qxf6 gxf6 Short's strategy here is very similar to that employed in a line he often plays as Black in the Queen's Gambit Declined, with good re- sults, for example against Ivanchuk and Tim- man, which goes like this: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bg5 c6 6 e3 Bf5 7 Qf3 Bg6 8 Bxf6 Qxf6 9 Qxf6 gxf6. Nigel enjoys defending this position and has never lost with it, even though the 'f' pawns are doubled and the f5 square looks weak. 15 Ng3 h5 16 Be2 h4 17 Nf5 BxfS 18 exf5 Ne5 Hereabouts, grandmaster Michael Adams, who was active in the commen- tary room at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, was re- commending the plan of a4 for White. One idea behind this move is to continue with a5 and nudge Black's bishop onto an undefended square, such as a7. This would mean that any invasion of the centre by Black's rooks in the future, such as . . . Rd4, would always be refuted by the riposte Be3. 19 Rel Perhaps 19 Rdl is even stronger, e.g. 19 . . . Rxdl+ 20 Bxdl Ke7 21 Be2 Rd8 22 Kfl Rd4 23 Bh6. This way White keeps Black's 'h' pawn alive for future annexation. 19 . . . KM 20 Bf4 This move is inaccurate. The whole point of this position is that Short has numerous doubled pawns and pawn weaknesses, but in compensation he has active piece play. White's strategy, therefore, must be to reduce the number of rooks on the board. Once they have vanished from the board it will be time to count up the pawn weaknesses. Kasparov should have played in this position, to be consistent, 20 Rdl. For example 20 Rdl Rxdl+ 21 Bxdl Kg7 22 Be2 Rd8 23 Kfl Rd4 24 Be3 Re4 25 Bxb6 cxb6 26 Rdl Rf4 27 g3 hxg3 28 hxg3 Rxf5 29 f4 followed by an invasion of Short's position with White's rook, when Black's queenside pawns will be attacked. This is very dangerous for Black. 20 . . . Rd4 21 g3 Kg7 22 Radl Re4 Short should have played 22 . . . hxg3 23 Bxg3 Rhd8 with a satisfactoryposition: As played, his rook could have ended up in a clumsy position, but he had seen a wonderful trap. 23 Kg2 hxg3 24 fxg3 Kasparov falls into the trap. He had to play 24 Bxg3, avoiding all the tricks, when he stands slightly better. 24 . Bf2 (Diagram) The Kasparov Gambit computer which they are using in the press room saw this `cheapo' in a matter of seconds, even though the man after whom it is named missed it complete- ly. 25 Kxf2 Rxh2+ 26 Kfl Rexe2 27 Rxe2 Rhl + 28 M2 Rxdl Short has won a pawn but, unfortunately, has no serious winning chanes. 29 b3 Rd7 Short could have played 29 . . . Rd5, but it makes little difference. In any case White plays his king via e3 to e4 and then plays Rd2, when the game is a dead draw. 30 Rd2 An amusing altercation has developed between the two players around this harmless-looking move. Nigel Short has gone on record as saying that Kasparov offered a draw with this move. Kas- parov, however, flatly denied that he had offered a draw at this stage. 30 . . . Rxd2+ 31 Bxd2 c5 32 Ke3 c6 33 Ke4 c4 34 b4 b5 35 Bf4 Nd7 36 Kd4 Kf8 37 Bc7 Ke7 38 g4 Kf8 39 Bd6+ Kg7 40 Bc7 Kf8 41 a3 Draw agreed.

From Nigel Short's point of view Game 18 was rather like wrestling against a chameleon. Kasparov had scored a crushing victory on the white side of this variation against the Belarussian grand- master Boris Gelfand at the tournament in Linares, Spain, earlier this year. For this game, Kasparov switched colours to prove that, in spite of White's optical advantage, there was very little that could be done to pierce Black's defences.

Short — Kasparov: Times World Championship, London, Game 18; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3 b5 8 0-0 Be7 9 Qf3 Qc7 10 Qg3 0-0 Varying from Game 16 where the sharper 10 . . . Nc6 had been played. 11 Bh6 Ne8 12 Radl Bd7 13 Nf3 a5 This improves on the game Kasparov — Gelfand which went 13 . . . b4 14 Ne2 a5. 14 a4 Kasparov himself analysed 14 e5 to a draw. Another sacrificial idea, which is probably not sound in the long run is 14 Rfel a4 15 Bd5 exd5 16 Nxd5 Qd8 17 e5 when it is hard to believe that White's initiative compensates for his lost material. 14 . . . b4 15 Ne2 Nc6 16 Nf4 Bf6 17 Nd3 e5 Black's central pawn forma- tion looks ragged, but, in compensation, White s knight on d3 is badly placed. 18 Be3 Be7 19 Nd2 Nf6 20 f3 Rfe8 21 Khl Be6 22 Rfel Rac8 23 Qf2 d5 24 Bb6 Qb8 25 Bc5 Bxc5 26 NxcS Nd4 27 Nxe6 fxe6 28 exd5 Nxb3 29 Nxb3 exd5 30 Nxa5 Qa8 31 Nb3 Qxa4 32 Ral Qc6 33 Re2 d4 Draw agreed The players now analysed 34 Qel Qd6 35 Ra5 d3 36 cxd3 Qxd3 37 Nd2 e4 in their post mortem, which was captured on the giant video screens in the Savoy Theatre. Amusingly, Teletext, Reu- ters and the BBC transmitted those last few moves of analysis as part of the game. The correct way to force a draw in the finalposition is 34 Rael and if 34 . . . Qd6 (34 . . . Nd5 is an improvement, leading to a general liquidation) then 35 Qg3 Nh5 36 Qg5 when White stands better.

16 17 18 19 Ttl 0 1/2

1/2

1/2 12 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 7

Score after 19 games:

1-12 13 14 15

Kasparov 81

1/2 1/2 1

Short 31/2

1/2 1/2 0