CHESS

Happy few

Raymond Keene

Even before Kasparov and Karpov have contested their championship match in the current cycle, aspirants around the world are trying to qualify for the title match to be held in 1993. In the case of the United Kingdom Jon Speelman is already through to the Candidates stage, while Nigel Short is already in the Interzonal tournament (that part of the cycle which precedes the Candidates). Due to some recent withdrawals Dr John Nunn, by virtue of his high rating, also now has a place in the Interzonal. The British Isles are permitted two further qualifiers for the Interzonal, and these were decided at the zonal tournament which concluded last week in Blackpool. Congratulations are in order to Murray Chandler, who finished clear first. He will be joined by the 18-year-old British champion, Michael Adams, whose tie for second place with Hodgson and Suba was resolved, unusual- ly, by resorting to chance, in the shape of bingo numbers, rather than playing a tie-break involving games of chess. Surely some mistake here!

In the women's section, Cathy Forbes confounded predictions by easily capturing the sole qualifying place. She will now represent the UK in the women's interzon- al tournament to be held in Kuala Lumpur in July. Here are samples of play of the two winners.

M. Chandler --- D. King: Pilkington Glass Men's Zonal; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxcl4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e5 7 Nb3 Be6 8 f3 Nbd7 9 g4 Be7 10 Qd2 Rc8 110-0-0 Qc7 12 Kbl Nb6 13 h4 h6 14 Be2 Nc4 15

Bxc4 Bxc4 16 Rhgl Nd7 17 g5 hxg5 18 Bxg5 Objectively preferable is 18 hxg5, but White preferred to maintain the tension. 18 . . . Nf6 19 Qf2 b5 20 Be3 b4 21 Net g6 22 Necl Nd7 23 Bg5 a5 24 Bxe7 Kxe7 25 Nd3 a4 26 Nbcl a3 27 b3 Be6 In view of White's recent unconstructive knight manoeuvres, Black has achieved a good posi- tion. However, he was running very short of time. 28 Rd2 Qc3 29 Rgdl Nc5 30 Net Nxd3 31 cxd3 Qc5 32 d4 Qb6 33 Qg3 Rh5 34 dxe5 dxe5 Black now had less than a minute to reach move 40. 35 Qel Rc7 36 Rd6 Qc5 37 Qd2 Rh8 38 Rd8 Rc8 39 Rd3 If 39 Rxh8 Rxh8 40 Qg5+ f6 41 Qxg6 Rxh4, and White has nothing clear, as 42 0g7+ is met by 42 . . . Bf7. 39 . . . Qb6 (Diagram) 40 Rd7+! Kf6?? Desperately short of

Position after 39 . . Qb6 time, Black commits the decisive blunder. 40 . . . Bxd7? was also losing after 41 Qxd7+ Kf6 (41 . . Kf8 42 Qxc8+) 42 Rd6+, but correct was 40 . . . Kf8! after which Black may have the better chances in the resultant scrappy position. 41 Qg5+ Kg7 42 QxeS+ Kh7 43 h5! g5 44 Rld6 Qf2 45 QxgS RhfS 46 Rxe6 Black resigns.

C. Forbes — S. Jackson: Pilkington Glass Women's Zonal; Queen's Pawn Game. 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d5 3 Bf4 c6 4 e3 Qb6 5 Qcl Bf5 6 Nbd2 Nbd7 7 c4 e6 8 c5 Qd8 9 h3 h6 10 Be2 Be7 11 0-0 0-0 12 b4 Ne4 13 Nb3 Qc8 14 Na5 a6 15 a4 Bd8 16 Qb2 Re8 17 Rfcl Bc7 18 Bxc7 Qxc7 19 Nb3 e5 20 b5 exd4 21 b6 Qc8 22 Nfxd4 Ne5 23 Na5 Bd7 24 Bfl Re7 25 Qe2 Be8 26 Ra3 f5 27 f4 Ng6 28 Kh2 Kh7 29 Qh5 Bd7 30 Bd3 Rb8 31 Qe2 Ra8 32 Qc2 NIB 33 Rgl g6 34 Be2 Ne6 35 Nxe6 Bxe6 36 g4 Qf8 37 Bd3 Rd7 38 Nb3 Qf6 39 Nd4 Bf7 40 Rb3 a5 41 gxf5 gxf5 42 Rbbl Bh5 43 Qg„2 Rf7 44 Bxe4 dxe4 45 Qg3 Rd7 46 Rg2 Re8 47 Rbgl Bf3 48 Qg6+ Qxg6 49 Rxg6 11f8 50 Rd6 Re7 51 Rgg6 h5 52 Rh6+ Kg7 53 Rdg6+ Kfl 54 Nxf5 ltd7 55 Rg7+ Ke8 56 Nd6+ Kd8 57 Nxb7+ Kc8 58 Nd6+ Black resigns.

Pilkington Glass Zonals Men's Section 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Td 1 Chandler M* 1/2 t/2114 1 1 1 1 1 1/2 1 8 2 Adams M 1/2 * 1/21/21/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 1 71/2 3 Hodgson J 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 1 714 4 Suba M 1/2 1/2 0* 1/2 1 1 1 1 1171 5 King D 0 1/2'/2 1/2 * 1 1 1 V21/2 1 61/2 6 Davies N 0 1/2'/2 0 0 • 1/2 1 1 1 1 51/2 7 Motwani P 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 * 1 1 1/2 1 4 8 McNab C 0 01/1 0 0 0 0* 1/21/2 1.21/2 9 Carton P 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 0 1/2 * 1 1/221/2 10 Hynes K 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 * 1/221/2 11 RaynerF 0 00 0000 0 1/21/2*1 Women's Section 4 5 6 7 1 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 1/2 1/2 1 * 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 * t/2 0 1/2 1/2 * 0 0 1 1/2

1 2 3

1 Forbes C

1 1 2 Arkell S 0 *

1/2 3 Plear C 0 1/2

*

4 Jackson S 0 1/2

0 5 Regan N 0 0 1/2

6 Powell L 1/2

0 1/2

7 McLure A 1/2

0 0 8 Milligan H 0 0

1/2 S TO 16 15 1/2 4 1 31/2 13 0 21/2 1/2 2 *2