Fiesta
Raymond Keene
SPAIN CAN BOAST a long and glorious association with chess. It was essentially the Spanish love of the game in the 15th century which gave the vital impetus to the new chess in its rapid conquest of the older, slower Muslim variety. There is even a theory that the transition of the Vizier, the weakest, waddling piece in the Muslim game, to the queen, the most devastating unit in modern chess, was a kind of homage to the powerful Queen Isabella, the chief patron of Christopher Columbus on his discovery of the Americas in 1492. The Spanish even have an entire opening named after their great chess writer from the 16th century, Ruy Lopez. This — 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 — is probably the favourite amongst the great masters, due to its immense tactical and strategic complexity. I am sure we shall see several of them in the Kasparov - Short championship match later this year.
The Spanish are also hyperactive in organising chess tournaments. The world's greatest chess tournament, Linares, is held in Andalucia each year, while in the past month there have been strong events in Leon, Madrid and Las Palmas, the last of which is still in progress. At Leon Karpov crashed badly, though what for the former world champion was a disaster represented a triumph for 13-year-old Peter Leko of Hungary, who has notched his second grandmaster norm, Young Peter needs just one-more norm for the title. He has more than enough time to set a new world record for the youngest-ever grandmaster.
The results from Leon were: Yudasin (Israel) 7/9; Vyzmanavin (Russia) 6; Karpov (Russia), Topalov (Bulgaria), Leko (Hungary) 51/2; Morovic (Chile) 5; Illescas (Spain) 41/2; Garcia (Spain) 21/2; Romero (Spain) 2; Sion (Spain) 11/2. The Madrid tournament witnessed the young generation of potential challengers to Kasparov in action. It was notable that Judit Polgar had a miserable performance against a field of young men, not much older than herself. Much as one would like to see the sensation of a girl challenging for the absolute world championship, I fear this attractive possibility must now be receding.
Final scores in Madrid were: Kramnik (Russia), Topalov (Bulgaria), Anand (India) 61/2; Salov (Spain) 6; Polgar (Hungary) 4; San Segundo, Illescas, Rivas (all Spain) 31/2; Lautier (France) 3; Izeta (Spain) 2.
Topalov Polgar: Madrid 1993; Sicilian De- fence.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 g4 h6 7 Be3 Nc6 8 f3 a6 8 . . . Be7 9 Qd2 a6 10 0-0-0 Nxd4 11 Qxd4 e5 12 Qd2 Be6 13 h4 was Chandler-Vogt(Thessaloniki Olympiad 1988). 9 Bc4 Nay 10 Bd3 165 11 Qd2 Qc7 12 0-0-0 The increasing trend in modern Sicilians is for White
Position after 21 . . . e5 to castle queenside and for Black not to castle at all. 12 . . . Rb8 13 Kbl g6 14 h4 Nd7 15 f4 Nc4 16 Bxc4 Qxe4 17 g5 hxg5 This looks dubious, since White's king's rook can now enter the game powerfully via h8. 18 hxg5 Rxhl 19 Rxhl Bb7 20 b3 Qc7 21 RhS e5 (Diagram) 22 Ndxb5 This type of sacrifice is almost inevitable in the Sicilian nowadays. 22 . . . axb5 23 NxbS Qc6 24 Nxd6+ Ke7 25 fxe5 Ke6 If 25 . . . Nxe5 Black probably feared 26 Nxb7 followed by Of2 but it could not have been worse than the game. 26 Nb5 Qxb5 27 RxfX Qc6 The evil point is that if 27 . . Rxf8 28 Qd6 is checkmate. 28 RxbS NxbS 29 Qd8 Na6 30 Qf6+ Kd7 31 Qxf7+ Kc8 32 Qf8+ Kc7 33 Qf7+ Kb8 34 e6 Qxe4 35 e7 Bc6 36 e8Q+ Black resigns The imminent Qa7+ will be terminal.
On other fronts, a team of young women has chewed up a team of veteran men in a tournament in Vienna. The distaff side included Zsuzsa Polgar, Sofia Polgar, Xie Jun and Chiburdanidze, while the sword side included Smyslov, Geller and Larsen.
The Professional Chess Association has announced its own interzonal (in opposi- tion to Fide) set for Groningen at the end of the year. A singular innovation is the unification of the men's and women's titles into one championship, a most positive step.
Fide has announced that it has stripped Kasparov and Short of their Fide ratings. Indeed, the mid-year Fide ranking list puts Karpov at number one with no mention of Kasparov or Short. The British Chess Federation has protested vigorously at this, while the PCA has announced that it will create its own ranking list.
Finally, Fide issued a press release stat- ing that its World Championship Match between Karpov and Timman would be half in Oman and half in Holland, with a four million Swiss franc prize fund. The Dutch Chess Federation countered swiftly by agreeing to hold the match but claiming that it had no prize money to offer.
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