CHESS
Terror tactics
Raymond Keene
All four quarter-finals in the World Championship cycle have now been com- pleted. Readers will remember that Jon Speelman defeated Nigel Short by the score of 31/2 to 11/2 in London last year. The other three matches, held over the turn of January and February this year, resulted as follows: Artur Yusupov (USSR) defeated Kevin Spraggett (Canada) in Quebec City by 5-4; Anatoly Karpov (USSR) over- whelmed the Icelandic Grandmaster Johann Hjartarson by 31/2 to 11/2 in Seattle, while Jan Timman (Holland) squeaked home by 31/2 to 21/2 against Lajos Portisch (Hungary) in Antwerp. This last match is the one which will be of greatest interest to a British audience, since the winner of that encounter will face Jon Speelman in the semi-final in London, probably in October.
Timman was trailing after the first four games but struck back to take games 5 and 6. Explaining the secret of his comeback from what looked like certain defeat, Timman said, 'It was my aim in the last two games to terrorise my opponent by doing the unexpected.' The following game sees terrorist Timman in action:
Portisch-Timman: Antwerp; Game 5, Modern Defence.
1 Nf3 g6 2 e4 Bg7 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Bg4 5 Be2 Nc6 6 Be3 e5 7 d5 Bxf3 8 Bxf3 Nd4 9 Bxd4 exd4 10 Na3 Ne7 11 0-0 c6 12 Rbl 0-0 13 Nc2 c5 14 b4 Nc8 White cannot now play 15 bxc5 dxc5 16 Rxb7 since 16 . . Nb6 imprisons the rook. 15 Qd3 Qc7 16 Be2 Re8 17 bxc5 dxc5 18 f4 b5 After a highly unconventional opening, Timman could have dug himself in with 18 . . . f6, a radical method of holding up White's intended e5. But this passive course would have granted White a free -hand in the centre, e.g. 18 Bg4 followed by Be6+. In keeping with his terrorist policy, Timman finds an inspired_pawn sacrifice, de- signed to confuse matters. If now 19 cxb5 Nb6 threatens . . . c4, e.g. 20 Na3 Nxd5 21 exd5 Re3. Portisch decides to sacrifice the exchange to consolidate his strategic advantage. 19 RxbS Nd6
20 e5 NxbS 21 cxb5 Qa5 22 d6 Qxa2 23 Qc4 Qb2 24 Ilf3 Rabb 25 Bc6 Red8 26 QxcS d3 (Diagram)
Position after 26 . . . d3 Portisch potentially holds a winning position, though he must still surmount some tactical problems. But White's next move is a terrible mistake which places his knight on a clumsy circuit. Within a few moves this piece is in full retreat and it finally ends up on the ignominious square dl, reduced to blockading Black's passed 'd' pawn. The correct procedure would have been 27 Ne3! preparing to go to c4 or d5, but also keeping an immediate grip on the dl square, where Black's pawn is seeking to prom- ote. 27 Nb4? d2 28 Nd3 Qb3 29 Nf2 Qa4 It is clear that White's knight manoeuvre has squan- dered several tempi. 30 g3 a6 31 b6 Rdc8 32 b7 Rxc6 Portisch has completely lost the thread of the game. It is fortunate for him that he still has a move available which wins back some of the material he has recently shed. Nevertheless, at the end of the transaction, Black, with his dominating passed 'd' pawn stuck like a fish bone in White's throat, has an absolutely won position. 33 Qa7 Rxb7 34 Qxb7 Rcl 35 Qt3 Qd4 36 Kg2 Rel 37 Ndl Bf8 38 Qf2 QdS+ 39 Kgl Rxf1+ 40 Kxfl f6 This ensures the decisive entry into play of Black's hitherto dormant king's bishop. 41 exf6 Bxd6 42 Qe3 Kf7 43 Ke2 Bc5 44 Qc3 The passed pawn is immune to capture. If 44 Qxd2 Qe4+ 45 Ne3 Bxe3 46 Qxe3 Qxe3+ 47 Kxe3 Kxf6 when Black will win the endgame. 44 . . . Qe4+ 45 Kfl Not 45 Kxd2 Bb4, but in any case the end cannot be much prolonged. 45 . • • Qhl+ 46 Ke2 Qxh2+ 47 Kfl Qhl+ and White resigned.
Speelman, with his Lasker-like fighting style, will be much less easy to terrorise than the purist Portisch. Jon likes his opponent to be considered the favourite. Had Portisch (rating 2610) qualified, our man (whose current rating is 2640) would have had great difficulty in masquerading as the underdog. Timman is also rated at 2610, but this is something of a freak low for him. The Dutch will certainly favour Timman's prospects. If Timman (as Seira- wan did in the first round against Speel- man) repeats the psychological error of regarding himself as the clear favourite, then I predict that Speelman will win. however, Timman approaches the match with icy objectivity, the outcome will be absolutely open. The Karpov-Yusupov match will also be in London. In common with every other commentator I believe that Yusupov stands no chance at all against the former champion.
Nigel Short has scored a famous victory by beating Anatoly Karpov, for the first time, in the opening round of the Linares tournament. Here are the moves:
Nigel Short (White) — Karpov (Black): Span- ish opening.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0'Be7 6 Rel b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 Bg4 9 d3 0-0 10 Nbd2 Na5 11 Bc2 c5 12 Nfl Ne8 13 Ne3 Bh5 14 g4 Bg6 15 d4 exd4 16 exd4 h5 17 dxc5 dxc5 18 Ne5 Qxdl 19 Rxdl hxg4 20 Bd2 Nb7 21 Nxg6 fxg6 22 e5 Kh7 23 Nd5 Bd8 24 Nf4 Rf5 25 BxfS gxf5 26 Be3 Bc7 27 Rd5 Na5 28 BxcS Nc4 29 Nd3 Nd2 30 Kg2 Ne4 31 Rcl Bd8 32 Be3 Nc7 33 Rd7 Ne6 34 Nf4 Nf8 35 Rb7 Bg5 36 Rcc7 Bxf4 37 Rxg7+ Kh8 38 Bxf4 Ne6 39 Rhf7+ Kg8 40 Bh6 f4 41 Rhe7 f3+ 42 Kfl N4c5 43 Rb6 Rd8 44 Rd6 and Karpov resigns.
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