CHESS
Peter the great
Raymond Keene
A NEW Russian star has appeared, namely Peter Swidler, reigning Russian champion, co-victor at the powerful Tilburg tourna- ment and also vanquisher of Garry Kaspar- ov in the same tournament.
In spite of his disaster against Deep Blue, Kasparov got off to a flying start in the tournament at Tilburg. His opponents in the early rounds often behaved like rab- bits trapped in the headlights of an oncom- ing juggernaut. Interestingly, the kind of psychological terrorism Kasparov deploys against humans will not work against a machine, which may help to explain why he lost to the computer. This week I give the full results of Tilburg, and Swidler's impressive win against the champion.
Swidler—Kasparov: Tilburg 1997; Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 c3 It was interesting that Kasparov avoided the Sicilian Defence in his match this year against IBM's Deep Blue com- puter. His likely fear was that the computer, or its human analysts, might have found a devastat- ing counter to Kasparov's favourite lines of the Sicilian which, notoriously, tend to lead Black along a cliff edge. Here Swidler tries an alterna- tive, an ostensibly unambitious continuation which, nevertheless, contains a concealed drop of venom, as we shall see. 3 ...Nf6 4 Bet Nbd7 Of course not 4 ... Nxe4 on account of 5 Qa4+ forking king and knight. 5 d3 b6 6 0.0 Bb7 7 Nbd2 g6 8 d4 An interesting pawn sacrifice. Up to now theory only recognised the less energetic 8 Re1 Bg7 9 Bfl 0.0 10 d4 e6 11 b3 Qc7 12 Bbl with, perhaps, a slight edge to White as in Adams–Wolff, New 'York 1996. 8 — cxd4 9 cxd4 Nxe4 As might be expected, Kasparov accepts the challenge. 10 Nxe4 Bxe4 11 Ng5 (Diagram) White's attack looks crude, but is based on Black's lack of development and the fact that Black's queen's bishop has no really safe square to go to. If now for example 11 ... Bd5 12 Bf3 Nf6 13 Bxd5 Nxd5 14 Qf3 Nf6 15 Qc6+ Nd7 16 Bf4, when Black's lack of mobilisation could swiftly become catastrophic. 11 ...d5 This leaves Black's bishop exposed but if 11 ... Bb7 12 Bc4 e6 (12 d5 13 Qf3) 13 Bxe6 fxe6 14 l'sJxe6 Qc8 15 Rel is also dangerous for Black. 12 Bb5 Bg7 Not to be recommended is 12 ... a6 13 Bc6 Rc8 14 Bb7. 13 f3 Bf5 14 g4 h6 This counter-attack seems to be playing with fire but 14 ... a6 15 Bc6 Rc8 16 Bxd5 e6 17 Bb3 Rxcl 18 Qxcl Bxd4+ 19 Kg2 Bd3 20 Rdl Nc5 21 Ba4+ b5 22 Bc2 Bxc2 23 Qf4 Qf6 24 Qxd4 is unsatisfactory for Black while 14 ... Be6 15 f4 a6 16 f5 also permits White's attack to rage unabated, 15 gxf5 Nxg5 16 fxg6 a6 The text allows Black's king to become too exposed. 16 ...fxg6 would be better. 17 gxf7+ Iran 18 Ba4 Rh5 Kasparov makes a virtue of necessity, attempting to use his shattered kingside, in particular the h-file, as an avenue for a counter-offensive. 19 Be3 Nf6 20 Qd2 Qd6 21 Rf2 RahS 22 Rg2 Rh3 23 Rfl R8h4 24 Bc2 (Diagram) Kasparov, as usual, does his best to build up a huge counter-attack, even in an inferi- or situation. Black's problems are the lack of Position after 24 Bc2
shelter for his king and the weak pawn on g5. However, premature capture of this weakling by 24 Bxg5 allows 24 ...Bh6 with real counter-play. Swidler prefers to line up his batteries for the final assault. 24 ...NM The tactics of confusion.
If instead 24 . , . g4 25 Bf2 Rh8 (25 gxf3 26 Rxg7+) 26 Bg3 with a clear advantage. 25 Bf5 Nf4 26 Bxh3 Nxh3+ Black has nothing for the loss of the exchange. 27 Khl Qf6 28 Rg3 Qf5 29 Bxg5 Nxg5 30 Rxg5 Qh3 31 Rg2 Bf6 32 Qd3 Rxd4 33 Qg6+ Ke6 34 Qe8 Rc4 35 Qd8 Qf5 36 Rel+ Be5 37 Qb8 Black resigns After 37 ...Kf6 38 Qh8+ Ke6 39 Rxe5 Qxe5 40 Rg6+ wins.
Tilburg Final Crosstable
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1. Swirlier • 1 1/2 I/2 V2 1/2 1 1/2 I/2 1 1 1 8 2. Kasparov 0* 1/21/2 1 1 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 8 3. Kraronlk 1/21/2 * 1/2 1/21/2 1 1 1 1/2 1 1 8 4. Adams 1/2 1/2 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 7 5. Leko 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 * 1/21/2 1 1 1/2 1 1 7 6. Polgar 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 " 1 1/21/2 1 1/2 112 6 7. Sbirov 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 * 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 5 8. Lautier 1/21/2 0 0 0 1/21/2 " 112 0 1 1 ilkix 9. Van Welly 1/2 0 0 1/2 0 1/2 0 112 * 1/2 1 1 41/2 10. Onischuk 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 0 1 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 4 11. Met 0 0 0 1/2 0 1/21/2 0 0 1/2 * 1/2 21/2 12. Shaked 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 1/2 11/2 In the above table, 1 represents a win, 1/2 a draw and 0 a loss
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