CHESS
True Brits
Raymond Keene
The GLC Chess Challenge coin- cidentally pits seven British players against seven foreign Grandmasters. As I write, the alien hordes are faring less well. This week's games are typical: Plaskett-Larsen: Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c.5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Qb6 3 . . .g6 or 3 . . Nf6 would be more circumspect. Plaskett's coming sacrifice is more venomous than the usual 4Nc3 Nd4 5 Bc4. 4 Bxc6 Qxc6 5 0-0 d6 6 d4 cxd4 7 Nxd4 Qxe4 So Black takes the bait after all. 6. . . Bg4 would have been less rash; White intended 7 dxc5 with some initiative. 8 Nc3 Qg4 91(1d3 Bd7 10 Rel Nf6 11 h3 11 Ndb5 may have been even stronger, indeed it is doubtful whether Black could have survived at all. If 11 . . BxbS 12 Nxb5 Qd7? 13 Nxd6+ while 12 . . .Kd7?! runs into trouble from 13 Qb3! aiming at b7. 11 . . . Qg6 12 Qf3 Rb8 Ndb5 e5? 13 . . , e6 14Bf4 Bc6! makes a fight of it. 14Nc7+ Kd8 15 N7d5 Bc6 16 Be3 b6 17 Radl Rc8 18 a4! This second dimension to the attack is decisive. 18 . . . Bab 19 a5 b5 20 Bxa7 b4 21 Nb5! Bel?! Rather defeatist. 21 . . . NxdS 22 Rxd5 Qe6 must be a better choice. 22 RxeS! Obvious (22 . . .dxe5 23 Nxf6+) but attractive. 22 . . . NxdS 23 Rexd5 Ke8 23 . . . Re8 24 Nxd6 Bxd5 25 NxcS would be a clinical execution. 24Re1 Kf8 25 Qe3 Re8 26 Ne7 The simplest with both players in terrible time-trouble. The subsequent endgame play may not be impeccable from either side, but Black's task is hopeless. 26 . . . Bxd5 27 NxdS Qf5 28 Nc7 Qe5 29 QxeS dxe5 30 NxeS Kxe8 31 RxeS Kd7 32 Be3 Bd6 33 Rd5 Ke6 34 Rd2 Ra8 35 Bb6 Be5 36 b3 f5 37 Kfl g5 38 Keg Bc3 39 Rd8 Black lost on time.
Portisch-Mestel: King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 e4 d6 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 f3 0-0 6 Be3 Nbd7 7 Nh3 e5 8 d5 Nc5 9 Nf2 Nh5 10 g3 10 b4!?. Na6 11 a3 f5 is unclear. 10 . . . f5 11 exf5giff5 12
Bet Qe8! 13 Qd2 Bd7 14 f4 Na4! Harassing White's Q-side. The obvious 15 Nxa4 Bxa4 16 Nd3 fails to 16 . . . exf4 17 Nxf4 Nxf4 18 Bxf4 Qe4! (Speelman); Spassky argued for 15 Nfdl but conceded that White could be struggling to equalise. 15 Nxa4 Bxa4 16 Rgl Qg6 17 Nd3 b6 18 fxe5 dxe5 19 g4 Nf4 20 Bxf4?! The main alternative is 20 Nxf4 exf4 21 Bd4 when Mestel planned to give up his Queen: 21 . . . Rae8 22 gxf5 Qxgl+ 23 Bxgl f3 24 Be3 and White must probably acquiesce in 25 Kxe2 Rice3+ winning back the Queen, 20 . . . exf4 21 Nxf4 Qg5 22 Rg3 Qh4 23 gxf5 Kh8 White abandons the exchange in return for a dominating knight. 24 Ne6 Be5 25 Qe3 RxfS 26 Kd2 Bxg3 27 hxg3 27 Qxg3 Qh6+ 28 Kc3 Qf6+. 27 . . . Qf6 28 Qc3 Bd7 29 g4 Qxc3+ 30 bxc3 An unfortunate necessity. 30 . . . Re5 31 Nxc7 Rf8 32 Kd3 Rf2 33 Bdl Rfl 33 . . . Rel is more accurate though the text is amply sufficient. 34 d6 Rf6 35 Nd5 Rxd6 36 Bf3 Rg5 37 Rel Bxg4 38 Re8+ Kg7 39 Bxg4 Rxg4 40 Re7+ Kg6 41 Rxa7 b5 42 Ke3 Rxe4 Faced with Nf4+ kf5 44 Ne2 Re4+ 45 Kf3 Rd3+ 46 Kf2 Rd2 scooping the knight, White resigned on adjournment.
After 11 of the 13 rounds Glenn Flear and Murray Chandler share the lead with the splendid total of 71/2 points ahead of Nigel Short on 7. The top foreign conten- der is Zoltan Ribli of Hungary with 61/2 points and one postponed game against John Nunn. Whatever Flees final score, his performance here is already assured of a place in the mythology of chess. The onlY non-Grandmaster in the field, he sprang into the tournament as last minute reserve, and even had to take a mid-tournament weekend off to marry his French fiancee, Christine Leroy. Amazingly, he has already made the Grandmaster norm with two rounds to spare. During the event the newly formed European Chess Union met at the Great Eastern. I was shown the following astounding strangulation game by the Israeli delegate: Gelfer-Aloni: Israel 1961; Sicilian Defence. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 0-0 b5 8 Bb3 Bb7 9 f4 b4 10 e5 bxc3 11 exf6 Qxf6 12 f5! e5 13 Qh5! cxb2 14 Bg5 bxall 15 Rxal g6 16 Qh4 Qg7 17 16 Qg8 18 Ba4+ Nd7 19 Qh3 Rd8 20 Rbl Bc8 21 Rb8 Black resigns. Worthy of the young Nimzowitsch!
Gelfer-Aloni: final position
Previous page
