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CHESS

Double bill

Raymond Keene

AFTER HIS SETBACK in London against the computer, Kasparov immediately bounced back with a convincing demon- stration of his superiority in the Zurich tournament. He won by a one-and-a-half- point margin, at the same time inflicting defeat on the two grandmasters who shared second place. Meanwhile, in the second section at Zurich, Julian Hodgson, who will be Michael Adams's second in the world championship semi-finals, scored one of the greatest triumphs of his career against a field of grandmasters and mas- ters, coming out undefeated first with a two-point margin of victory.

Games between Kasparov and Shirov are always good value for money, and I now give their clashes from their two most recent tournaments.

Kasparov—Shirov: Novgorod 1994; English Opening.

1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Bb4 3 Nd5 Be7 4 d4 d6 One thinks of this as a totally modern variation but in fact it was introduced in the game between Steinitz and Kolisch in 1872 which went 4 . .. exd4 5 Bf4 c6 6 Nxe7 (not 6 Nc7+ Qxc7 7 Bxc7 Bb4+) 6 ...Nxe7 7 Qxd4 0-0 8 e4 d5 9 0-0-0 with a posi- tion not dissimilar to that which occurs in this Zurich Tournament

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112

* 1 1 1/2 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 1 1/21/2 81/2 0* 1/2 1/2 0 1 1/2 1 1 1 1 1/2 7 0 1/2 * 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 7 1/2 1/2 0 * 1 1 1/2 1/21/2 1 1/2 1/2 61/2 1/2 1 1/2 0* 0 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 61/2 0 0 0 0 1 * 1/2 1 1/2 11/5/ /2 0 11/2. 1/21/2 1 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 5

1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 0 * 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 41/2 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1 1/2 * 1/2 0 1 41/2 00½O½0½½½1½ 4

1/,00i,100½½1 0* 1 4

1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 0 1/2 0* 3 Kasparov Shirov Yusupov Korchnoi Lautier Gelfund Leko Benjamin Nikolic Lutz Miles Gavrikov

game. 5 e4 c6 6 Nxe7 Qxe7 7 Ne2 f5 8 dxe5 Qxe5 9 exf5 Nf6 10 Qd4 BxfS 11 Bf4 Qa5+ 12 Qc3 Qxc3+ 13 Nxc3 0-0 14 0-0-0 d5 15 Bd6 Rc8 16 f3 Nbd7 White's bishops give him an enduring edge which Kasparov now extends with a vigorous advance of his kingside pawns. 17 g4 Be6 18 g5 Ne8 19 cxd5 Bxd5 20 Bg3 Be6 21 Bd3 Nc5 22 Bc2 Position after 28 . . . Nd15 Rd8 23 h4 Bf7 24 Ne4 Nxe4 25 fxe4 1(18 26 Rdfl Kg8 27 h5 Rd7 28 RC Nd6 (Diagram) 29 g6 The decisive breakthrough. If now 29 ... hxg6 30 hxg6 Bxg6 31 Bxd6 Rxd6 32 Bb3+ winning material. 29 ...Be6 30 gxh7+ KM 31 h6 g6 32 Rf6 Re8 33 Rxg6 Nc4 34 Bel Kxh7 35 Rg3 Ne5 36 Bc3 Bc4 37 Rg7+ Black resigns. On account of 37 . . . Rxg7 38 hxg7+ Kg6 39 Rh8, or 38 . . Kxg7 39 Rh5 Kf6 40 Rf5+.

Kasparov—Shirov: Zurich 1994; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 catd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 NdbS d6 7 Bf4 e5 S Bg5 a6 9 Na3 b5 10 Nd5 Be7 11 Bxf6 Bxf6 12 c3 Bb7 13 Nc2 NbS 14 a4 bxa4 15 Rxa4 Nd7 16 Rb4 Nc5 (Diagram) 17 Rxb7 An amazing sacrifice to cement his control of the light squares. 17 ...Nxb7 18 b4 Bg5 19 a bcde f gh Position after 16 ... Nc5 Na3 0-0 20 Nc4 a5 21 Bd3 axb4 22 cxb4 Qb8 23 h4 Bh6 24 Ncb6 Rat 25 0-0 Rd2 26 Qf3 Qa7 27 Nd7 Nd8 Black gives back the exchange to reduce White's attack. If instead 27 ... Re8 28 Bb5 threatening Nd7—f6+. 28 Nxf8 Kxf13 29 b5 Qa3 30 Qf5 A neat tactic intending to meet 30 Qxd3 with the crushing 31 Qd7. 30 ...Ke8 31 Bc4 Rc2 32 Qxh7 Rxc4 33 Qg8+ Kd7 34 Nb6+ Ke7 35 Nxc4 Qc5 36 Ral Qd4 If 36 ... Qxc4 37 Ra7+ wins. 37 Ra3 Bc1 38 Ne3 Black resigns If 38 ... Bxa3 39 Nf5+.

The semi-finals of the world championship started in Linares, Spain, earlier this week. Britain's Nigel Short faces the American grandmaster Gata Kamsky. Short's previ- ous record against Kamsky consists of three wins, one draw and no losses. In the past year, though, Kamsky has improved considerably. This is reflected in the latest ratings published by the Professional Chess Association for the two rivals. Short is 2665 while Kamsky is 2712. Meanwhile Michael Adams, Britain's second representative, faces a theoretically impossible task against India's Viswanathan Anand. In former games between the two, Adams has lost eight games, drawn seven and won just two. Their respective ratings are 2630 and 2721. There will be full reports in The Spectator in coming weeks.