CHESS
Leg up
Raymond Keene
The second leg of the Grandmaster Association World Cup is currently in progress in Belfort, France. As in Brussels there is an enormous prize fund at stake $200,000 — split between the players in this tournament and overall donation to the victors of the cycle. Belfort, sponsored by Grundig, is guaranteed extra interest by virtue of the participation of both Kaspar- ov and Karpov, while the British audience will be able to follow the final duel between Jon Speelman and Nigel Short before their world title eliminator in Au- gust.
As we go to press Kasparov shares the lead with four and a half points out of six with the lesser known Russian Jan Ehlvest. Kasparov's games have been dour rather than brilliant. What I have noticed is a curious new dimension to the world cham- pion's style, namely a Fischeresque deter- mination to grind on in almost completely drawn positions. The American was re- nowned for this, and picked up many points from opponents who became de- moralised, exhausted or otherwise commit- ted hara-kiri. Kasparov's win against Tim- man was a typical instance.
Timman — Kasparov: Belfort, Round 5; Grunfeld Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Bf4 Bg7 5 e3 e5 6 dxc5
Qa5 7 Qa4+ Qxa4 8 Nxa4 0-0 Kasparov's improvement over the 8 . . . Ne4 9 f3 Bd7 10fxe4 Bxa4 1 lcxd5 Bxb2 12Rbl which led to some edge for White iri the second Timman- Kasparov game from Amsterdam last month (see The Spectator of 4 June). 9 Nf3 Ne4 10 Be5 Bd7 11 Nc3 Nxc3 12 bxc3 dxc4 13 Bxc4 Rc8 Now in the fourth Timman-Kasparov clash from Amsterdam Timman tried 14 Bd5 but could make no progress. This time the Dutch Grand- master seeks to improve. 14 Bd4 e5 This bold thrust looks like a complete answer which frees Black's position, while re-establishing material equality. If now 15 Nxe Bxe5 16 Bxe5 Rxc5 17 Bxb8 Rxb8 with excellent prospects for Black. It seems likely that Timman's preparation had failed to take Kasparov's 14th move into account. 15 Bxe5 Rxc5 16 Bxg7 Kxg7 17 Bb3 Rxc3 18 0-0 Na6 19 Ne5 Be8 20 Bd5 Re7 21 Rabl Nc5 22 e4 Rd8 23 Rfcl RdcS 24 g4 f6 25 Nf3 b3 26 Nd4 Bd7 27 f3 Nd3 28 Rxc7 Rxc7 29 Rdl Nf4 30 Kf2Kf8 31 Bb3 Ke7 32 Net Nxe2 33 Kxe2 Rc3 34 h4 h6 At this moment Timman was in serious time trouble. Black enjoys a slight advantage based on his queen's side pawn majority, though it hardly seems probable that he can force a win. But Timman's next move (a curious echo of what happened in Kasparov's win against Yusu- pov in round 1) simply throws away a vital pawn and ensures that White must lose. 35 e5? Bb5+ 36 Kf2 fxe5 37 Rd5 Rc5 38 Rxe5 bxc5 39 g5 hxg5 40 hxg5 Bd3 41 Bg8 Bf5 42 Bb3 Be6 43 Bc2 Bxa2 44 Bxg6 a5 45 Ke3 a4 White resigns.
The very first round saw Karpov losing to an opponent who has experienced grave difficulties against him in the past.
Sokolov — Karpov: Belfort, Round 1; Caro-Kann Defence. 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 clxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Ng5 Ngf6 6 Bd3 e6 This variation is proving quite popular after Kasparov's win against Karpov from their fourth game in Amsterdam. 7 N1f3 Bd6 8 Qe2 h6 9 Ne4 Nxe4 10 Qxe4 Nf6 11 Qe2 b6 12 Bd2 Bbl 13 0-0-0 Qc7 14 Rhel 0-0-0 15 Ba6 Bxa6 16 Qxa6+ Kb8 17 Qe2 Nd5 18 c4 Nf4 19 Qfl Ng6 20 g3 Be7 21 h4 h5 22 Qe2 Rd7 23 Bg5 Bf6 24 Rd2 Rhd8 25 Red! Qb7 26 Kbl Ka8 27 al Qa6 Combined with Black's 30th move this manoeuvre seems excessively ambitious. Black's structure is set up for defence rather than counter-attack. 28 Bxf6 gxf6 29 Nel Ne7 30 Nc2 b5 31 NM Qb7 32 d5 cxd5 33 cxb5 Rc8 34 QxhS Ng6 35 Qe2 Ne5 36 b3 Rdc7 37 Rc2 Rxc2 38 Nxr2 a6 39 Nd4 cxb5 40 NxbS Qb6 41 a4 Qc5 42 Qd2 Nf3 43 Qcl Qxcl+ 44 Rxcl Rd8 45 Rc7 d4 46 Rxf7 d3 47 Kcl d2+ 48 Kdl Rd3 49 Nc7+ Kb8 50 Na6+ Ka8 51 Nc7+ Kb8 52 Nxe6 Rxb3 53 RfS+ Ka7 White's next move is the key to victory, preparing to sacrifice his rook to elimin- ate any vestige of a chance for the opponent. 54 Rd8 Rb1+ 55 Keg Rel+ 56 Kxf3 d1=Q+ 57 Rxdl Rxdl 58 Kf4 Rfl 59 f3 Kb6 60 Ng7 Kc6 61 Nh5 Kd6 62 Nxf6 Ke7 Karpov could have spared himself the final agony. There is no way to hold up White's regal pawn parataxis. 63 Nh5 Kf7 64 g4 Kg6 65 Ng3 Ral 66 h5+ Kf7 67 g5 Rxa4+ 68 kf5 Ra5+ 69 Kg4 Ra4+ 70 f4 Rb4 71 Nf5 Rbl 72 h6 Rgl + 73 Kh5 Rfl 74 Nd6+ Ke6 75 Kg6 Black resigns.
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