CHESS
Conundrum
Raymond Keene
A
s I write, Anatoly Karpov is leading in the Interpolis tournament at Tilburg in Holland. After ten rounds the scores are: Karpov 71/2; Short 6; Nikolic 51/2; Hubner, Portisch and Timman 41/2; Hjartarson 4; and van der Wiel 31/2. As can be seen, no less than half of the participants are still in the world championship qualifying com- petition. Indeed, Tilburg includes both sets of future rivals, in as much as Karpov will face Hjartarson in the quarter-final, while Timman plays Portisch. The Dutch audi- ence will doubtless be inspecting the tea leaves at this event to predict whether their man, Jan Timman, stands a good chance against the Hungarian Grandmaster. So far, they are level-pegging in the tourna- ment standings.
Nigel Short is performing splendidly, and is the only one with even a remote chance of challenging Karpov's lead. In building up his fine score, Nigel was the beneficiary of some eccentric behaviour by the West German Grandmaster, Robert Hubner. He resigned his game against Nigel when his position was difficult, but not obviously lost. Here are the moves.
Note that the opening was a Bf4 Queen's Gambit, a Speelman favourite, and that Short had clearly profited from some of the openings arsenal he must have gathered for this variation while preparing to play Speelman last month.
Hubner-Short: Tilburg, September 1988; Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bf4 0-0 6 e3 c5 7 dxc5 BxcS 8 Qc2 Nc6 9 a3 Qa5 10 Rdl Hubner sidesteps the sharp 10 0-0-0 with which Speelman won the third game in their London quarter-final. The text has never been thought to pose Black particular problems. 10 . . . Be7 11 Nd2 e5 12 Bg5 d4 13 Nb3 Qd8 14 Be2 a5 Varying from 14. . h6 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 0-0 which gave White the advantage in Hubner- Short, Brussels 1986. 15 Na4 An artificial way of holding up the advance of Black's 'a' pawn. 15 Bxf6 and 15 exd4 are both more natural. 15 . . . g6 16 exd4 Bf5 17 Qcl exd4 18 0-0 Re8 19 Rfel Rc8 20 Be3 This move positively invites Black to sacrifice his queen for all sorts of annoying compensation. After the queen sacri- fice, Black, in any case, has virtual material equality, plus serious threats against the unshel- tered white king, 20 . . . dxe3 21 Rxd8 on+ 22 Kxf2 Bxd8 23 Kgl Ne5 and here, to universal surprise, Hubner resigned! White's position may be bad, but is it that bad?
Hubner-Short: final position
The Spectator now offers a prize of £20 (plus publication in this column) for the best analysis justifying Hubner's decision to capitulate. Entries should reach me at The Spectator by Monday 10 October at the latest. I am being generous with the deadline since there are still many difficul- ties with the post, apart from the fact that the position itself is not an easy one to crack. Entrants may also choose to submit their analysis via the Spectator fax number, which is 242 0603. Entries will be evaluated according to the excellence of the analysis of the final position, but I will also take clarity of presentation into account when awarding the prize, so no PSs or scribbled extra variations on the margins please. Good luck. My decision as to the winner will be final, and no subsequent corres- pondence will be entertained. Nigel's anti-Speelman preparation also came in handy for his first game with Karpov. Speelman is a devotee of the Catalan Opening, so Nigel must have rejoiced when Karpov decided to use it.
This game is something of a landmark in Nigel's career, since it shows him pressing hard for a win, with Black, against Karpov, and torturing the former world champion, before he finally escapes to the haven of a drawn rook and pawn endgame. What is more, this was the kind of slow, strategic squeeze in which Karpov normally excels.
Karpov — Short: Tilburg, Round 7; Catalan Opening;
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 g3 Be7 5 Bg2 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Qc2 a6 8 Qxc4 b5 9 Qc2 Bbl 10 Bd2 Nc6 11 e3 Qb8 The start of an interesting plan to liberate his queen's side from the gnp White normally exerts in this opening. 12 a3 Rc8 13 Nc3 Nd8 14 b4 a5 15 Rabl axb4 16 axb4 Nc6 17 Na2 Ra6 18 Ncl Qa8 19 Qdl Rai 20 Nel e5 A vigorous stroke, well-timed just as Karpov is retreating most of his pieces to the back rank. 21 Nc2 Ra4 22 d5 Nd8 23 e4 c6 24 dxc6 Bxc6 25 f3 Bd7 26 Nd3 Nc6 27 Be3 Be6 28 Rf2 Ba2 29 Rb2 Bc4 30 Bfl h6 31 Qel Nd7 32 Rd2 Nf8 33 Rbl Ne6 34 Bh3 Ra2 35 Bxe6 Surrendering the proud Catalan bishop is a somewhat desperate expe- dient, but Karpov must prevent a permanent black knight settling on d4. 35 . . . Bxe6 36 Bc5 Bg5 37 Be3 Nd4 38 Nxd4 Bxe3+ 39 Qxe3 exd4 40 Qf2 Rxd2 41 Qxd2 Qa3 42 Nel Rc4 White is under terrible pressure, but somehow Karpov manages to hang on. 43 g4 Qa7 44 Rdl Qc7 45 Kg2 Qe7 46 Nd3 Rc3 47 Nf4 Rc4 48 Ne2 Qxb4 49 Qxb4 Rxb4 50 Nxd4 Rb2+ 51 Kg3 Ba2 Black's principal hope now is to make something of his passed 'b' pawn. 52 h4 b4 53 g5 Rbl 54 Rd2 b3 55 gxh6 gxh6 56 Kf4 Rcl 57 Rb2 Rc3 58 Ke5 Rd3 59 Nc6 Dropping a pawn. The text forces a draw a pawn down, but was it necessary to lose material to accomplish this? 59 . . Rxf3 60 Nb4 f6+ 61 Kd4 Kf7 62 Nxa2 Draw agreed over adjournment. Short will not be able to win the ending (which arises by force) of king, rook and `e' pawn against Black's king, rook, plus T and `h' pawns.
A fascinating struggle. Displaying form like this, who knows how far Nigel could have progressed in the world title cycle had he not been obliged to play Speelman in the quarter-final?
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