CHESS
Citizen Crane
Raymond Keene
IN the past year or so there has been a strange tendency towards eliminating classi- cal grandmaster tournaments (everyone plays everybody else — civilised time limit — one game a day) and the switch to events which might be termed 'gimmicky'. These include blindfcild play, computer-assisted games and recently, to top it all, a clash between Garry Kasparov and Jan Timman in Rotterdam's Dockland, where the pieces were giant containers moved by crane. In this heavyweight contest the Dutch grand- master demonstrated his increasingly improving form by defeating the world champion. This week I give a game which Timman described as his 'schwerste Partie', cunningly punning on the coincidence of meaning between 'heavy' and 'difficult' in Germanic and related tongues. The notes are based on those by Timman from New In Chess magazine, which can be ordered from PO Box 1093, 1810 KB Alkmaar, The Netherlands (or visit their website on www.newinchess.com).
Kasparov–Timman: Wereldhaven Festival Rotterdam 1999; Giuoco Piano 1 e4 e5 2 NE3 Nc6 3 Bc4 NI15 4 d3 Bc5 5 c3 d6 6 Bb3 0-0 7 Bg5 Be6 8 Nbd2 a6 9 h3 Ba7 10 Bh4 ICasparov was very dissatisfied with this move afterwards. Better was 10 Nh2 which Black would probably meet with 10.,.116 11 Bh4 g5. 10 ... Kh8 11 g4 Ne7 Now that White has weakened f4 this is justified. 12 Ilicf6 gxf6 13 Nh4 Ng6 14 Ng2 c6 15 Q13 d5 16 Nfl a5 17 Ng3 Be5 The bishop is regrouped in order to cover f6. Now the threat is 18 a4 18 a4 Be7 19 Ba2 Ra6 20 Nh5 Rb6 21 Qe2 Qd6 22 0-0 Rd8 23 Rfdl d4 Only now that the advance f244 has been prevented does Black push the centre pawn, creating more room for himself. 24 Rd2 (Diagram I) This is a miscalcula- tion that Black fails to exploit. 24 ... Qc5 Played hesitantly. ICasparov later indicated that 24
clxc3 25 bxc3 0a3 would have caused White
Diagram I
great prob ems. 25 Rc2 Qd6 26 Nel Avoiding rep- etition in view of the previous line. 26 ... Rg8 27 Nfil Qd7 28 Khl c5 Playing on both wings. 29 Reel, to cover a4, now runs into 29 ...Bg4 30 Qg4 and, because the queen is uncovered, White cannot take his knight to h2. 29 Bxe6 A concession, but it is hard to find a suitable alter- native. 29 ...fice6 30 Nd2 Ra6 Again played hesi- tantly. With 30 ...dicc3 31 bxc3 Rd6 Black could have won the d-pawn, for which White would have got some compensation. With the text Black keeps the position closed which promises him a positional plus. 31 Nc4 8d8 Black first takes the bishop to c7 to provide extra cover for e5 and to
Diagram 2
prevent 1244; then he will aim for the advance ...f645. 32 Reel RE 33 13 Bc7 34 Ra3 Rau8 35 Rb3 Qxa4 36 Rxb7 Qc6 37 11133 15 38 Nd2 1117 39 c4 a4 40 Rb5 Ba5 41 Nil Bb4 42 Nfg3 fxg4 43 fxg4 Raf8 44 RI! Qe8 45 Rx17 Qx17 (Diagram 2) 46 g5 The decisive error. Timman had expected 46 Rb6 with some counterchances for White. Incidentally 46 Nf5 was pointless in view of 46 ...Nf4and the knight will soon be forced to return. 46 ... Nf4 47 Qf3 Nith5 48 Qxh5 Kasparov had seen too late that 48 017 fails to 48 ...Ng3 with check. 48 ... Q12 49 Ne2 Q13+ Stronger than 49 ... Qfl 50 Ngl 033 51 Qg4. From this point on, containers were no longer used and the game was played out at a blitz pace. 50 Q71:0 Rxf3 51 Kg2 Rxd3 52 Ng3 Kg? 531166 Bel Dominating the knight. The rest is sim- ple. 54 Nfl IU7 55 Nh2 Rd2+ 56 Khl Re2 57 Ng4 Rxe4 58 Nf6 Re2 59 Nxh7 and White resigned.
Ardbeg Malt Whisky Puzzle No. 5
White to play and win — first move only required. This position is from the game Timman–Karpov, Amsterdam 1999. How did White win a piece?
Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 30 November or via e-mail to vanessa@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 0171 242 0603. The winner will be the first cor- rect answer drawn out of a hat, and each week I shall be offering a prize of a bottle of Ardbeg Malt Whisky.
Last week's solution: Ng5.
Last week's winner: Gareth Davies.
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