CHESS
Young hopefuls
Raymond Keene
Next week sees the start of the annual grandmaster tournament sponsored jointly by the City of London Corporation and city solicitors Watson, Farley and Wil- liams. The main purpose of the event is to give international norm opportunities to promising British players, and this year the line-up includes four young international masters (Peter Wells, Matthew Sadler, Keith Arkell and Stuart Conquest) all of whom will have their eyes firmly set on the elusive Grandmaster norm.
This year's tournament, the fourth in the series, is category 11 which makes it, after Hastings, the second strongest all-play-all tournament in the country. The foreign contingent includes the several times for- mer winner, the Dane Bent Larsen, the former US champion Robert Byrne, the one-time world championship candidate who once beat Bobby Fischer, and the dangerous young Russian Alexander Halif- man (at 2640 the highest rated player in the tournament) who shared fifth place in the most recent Soviet championship. Halif- man is part of the recent phenomenon of Soviet players who have been steadily emigrating to Western European coun- tries. For example, Mikhail Gurevich has recently taken up residence in Belgium, while Polugaievsky lives in Paris and Halif- man has chosen Germany as his base.
Halifman possess a powerful style and has recently scored some outstanding suc- cesses, including a share of first prize, with Michael Adams, in the Groningen tourna- ment in Holland. There he convincingly demolished Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers. My second game shows a brave, if unavailing effort against Nigel Short from the Bundesliga.
Halifman — Rogers: Groningen 1991; King's Indian Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 c4 Bg7 4 Nc3 0-0 5 e4 c6 An unhappy combination of the King's Indian and the Grunfeld. Black's lack of influence in the centre tends to lead to White having a free hand on the king side. 6 Bd3 d5 7 e5 Nfd7 8 cxd5 cxd5 9 h4 Nb6 10 Ng5 h5 11 e6 f5 12 Net Qe8 13 Rh3 Nc6 14 Bb5 Rf6 15 Nf4 a6 16 Bxc6 Qxc6 17 Rc3 Qd6 18 Qe2 Na4 19 Rg3 b5 20 Kfl Qc6 21 Nxg6
Position after 21 Nxg6
(Diagram) The fastest way to demolish Black's kingside defences. 21 . . . Rxg6 22 QxhS f4 23 Qh7+Black resigns on account of 23 . . . Kf8 24 Qxg6 Kg8 25 Qh7+ Kf8 26 Qh8+ Bxh8 27 Nh7+ Ke8 28 Rg8 mate. Short — Halifman: German League, February 1991; Sicilian Defence. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f30-0 8 Qd2 Nc6 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 h4 Rc8 11 Bb3 Ne5 12 0-0-0 Nc4 13 Bxc4 Rxc4 14 h5 NxhS 15 g4 Nf6 16 Nb3 Re8 17 Bh6 Bh8 18 Bg5 Qc8 19 Rh4 As an indication of the depth to which modern theory extends it should be observed that this move, intending to triple his major pieces on the h-file, is an improvement on the 19 Qh2 played in the game Nunn — Halifman, Wijk aan Zee, January 1991. 19 . . . Rxc3 20 bxc3 Be6 21 Rdhl Bg7 22 e5 dxe5 23 Bxf6 Bxf6 24 Rxh7 Qc4 25 Kbl Qf4 26 Qg2 Bg7 27 Qh3 f5 If 27 . . . Qf6 28 Rh8+ Bxh8 29 Qh7+ Kf8 30 Qxh8+ Qxh8 31 Rxh8+ Kg7 32 Rxe8 winning. 28 Nc5 Bc8 29 gxf5 Bxf5 30 Ne6!!
Position after 30 Ne6!!
(Diagram) A brilliant stroke which finishes the game. If now 30 . . . Bxh3 31 Rxg7+ Kh8 32 Rxh3+ Qh6 33 Rxh6 mate. 30 . . Bf6 31 Rg7+ Bxg7 32 Qh7+ Kf7 33 Nxg7 Kf8 34 Qh8+ Kf7 35 Qxe8+ Kxg7 36 Qxe7+ Kg8 37 Rdl Black resigns.
The British Grandmasters in the tourna- ment are William Watson, Julian Hodg- son, Daniel King, Mihai Suba and the reigning British champion, James Plaskett. Play commences at the Guildhall on 3 May and continues in the boardroom of Wat- son. Farley and Williams until May 17.
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