Chess
Wealth of chess
Raymond Keene
rr he third Novag Commonwealth Chess Championship, hosted by London Docklands, has been a huge success. It was notable for many sharp, fighting games between the leading players, a worthy winner in the shape of Kevin Spraggett, the defending champion from Canada, and a good performance by the two Novag 'Monster Computers', which considerably improved on the computer rating achieve- ment from Hong Kong last year.
Leading scores were: Spraggett (Cana- da) and Thipsay (India) 8 out of 11; Speelman, Short, Chandler and Norwood 71/2; Johansen, Hodgson, King, Nunn, Watson and Murshed 7; Spraggett takes the Commonwealth Championship, as last year, on tie-break. The final round was sensational. Spraggett survived a hopeless position and a desperate time-scramble against Murshed to gather his crucial half- point, while Thipsay disposed of John Nunn in an up-and-down struggle. (When did John Nunn last lose three games in one tournament?) Both Spraggett and 'Thipsay made GM results, while 16-year-old David Norwood of Bolton defeated Paul Little- wood to become the UK's youngest Inter- national Master. Norwood's swash- buckling style reminds me of early Tal. Jana Miles scored 6 points and convincing- ly took the Women's title and trophy donated by Patty Boulay.
Here are two exciting games in which the Sicilian was crushed.
Short-King: Commonwealth Championship, London, February 1985; Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 N13 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 a4. Not a particularly violent way of handling the Najdorf, but it can also lead to fierce attacks; as the continuation of this game shows. 6. . . e6 7 Be2 Nbd7 8 14 b6 9 Bf3 Bb7 10 Qe2 e5 Now White gets a clear edge, but if 10. . . Qc7 11 g4! leaves Black very cramped. 11 Nf5 g6 12 fxe5 Nxe5 13 Nh6 Bg7 140-0 Qc7 15 Bg5 Ng8 16 Nxg8 Rxg8 17 Khl h5 18 Qf2 Rf8 19 Be2 15 20 exf5 Rxf5 21 Qg3 Rxfl + 22 Rxfl Qc6 23 Nb5! The decisive invasion. After 23 . . . axb5? 24 Bxb5 nets Black's Q. 23. . . Qxc2 24 Qh3 Ng4 25 Bxg4 hxg4 26 Qe3+ Black resigns.
Nunn-Murshed: Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Be3 Nf6 7 Bc4 Be7 8 Qe2 a6 9 0-0-0 Qc7 10 Bb3 Na5 11 g4 b5 12 g5 Nxb3+ 13 axb3 Nd7 14 h4 b4 15 Na4 Nc5 16 h5 e5 17 Nf5 Bxf5 18 exf5 Nxa4 19 bxa4 Qc6 20 Kb! Qxa4 21 Rh4 Rb8 22 Rd5 Qd7 23 Qd3 b3 24 cxb3 0-0 25 16 Investing a pawn to disrupt Black's K-side 25. . . gxf6 26 gxf6 Bxf6 27 Rxd6 Qe7 28 Rg4+ Kh8 29 Bc5 Rfd8 30 Qd5 Rxd6 31 Bxd6 Qd7 32 Qxe5 The first 0-sacrifice. If 32 . . . Bxe5 33 Bxe5+ f6 34 Bxf6 + wins. 32 . . . Qd8 33 Qg3 Rb5 34 h6 Rd5 35 Bc7 Qe8 36 Ka2 Rd2 37 Be5!! If now 37 . . . Bxe5 38 Rg8+ Qxg8 39 Qxe5+ mates. 37. . . Rxf2 38 Re4 Bxe5 39 Qg7+ Black resigns 39 . . . Bxg7 40 Rxe8+ Bf8 41 Rxf8 mate.
Over the weekend the first Docklands junior championship was held, giving opportunities to a whole host of enthusias- tic East End primary-school kids. Winner was Irfan Mukadam of Cyril Jackson School in Limehouse. I was impressed by the strong interracial mix of the young people involved — Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Bangladeshis, Indians and En- glish of course. Irfan is a solid and sensible player and put up a good fight against me in an exhibition game after the tourna- ment. We were especially pleased that David Essex was able to come down and award the prizes. There was a shock waiting for him, since another David Essex, the nine-year-old BBC Ceefax champion, was there to great him as he arrived at Docklands. There followed a brief discussion as to who was the real David Essex, which was filmed for Good Morning Britain on TVam. Then David Essex (small) and the almost equally youthful Matthew Saddler demonstrated their skills by giving remarkable simul- taneous displays against the East End kids, where the two young champions only dropped one point from the twenty played. The tournament was well attended and supported by local education officials and I hope it will become a regular event. It was from the former that I learned the remark- able fact that no fewer than 110 different languages are taught in London schools!
The latest on the world championship is that Campomanes has announced, in a, Manila press conference, that he called off the match entirely on his own initiative. The reason given is that the quality of play had seriously deteriorated. To me, this looks like a case of frying-pan and fire, and his announcement sets a very dangerous precedent. From now on, are we to assume that mistakes by the players will permit organisers to abort a contest? In any case, nobody intervened to stop the match 'with- out decision' during the first nine game, when Kasparov's moves were not very good, while — if Campomanes is justified now — surely he should have put an end to the whole affair after game 16, when Kasparov missed a couple of obvious wins. The point is, of course, whose play was it that had deteriorated? In my view, Kaspar- ov's handling of the attack in games 47 and 48 was superlative.
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