CHESS
G.K. Mark 2
Raymond Keene
Some weeks ago I discussed the possible contenders for the world championship after the duopoly of Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov has finally ceased. At that time I gave two games by the ingenious French teenager Joel Lautier. This week I present a game by his Russian/American rival, 16-year-old Gata Kamsky. Last year Kamsky defected from the USSR to the USA while competing in a tournament in New York. The vigour with which he dispatches former world champion Mikhail Tal in the game which follows is worthy of special study.
Kamsky — Tal: New York Open, April 1990; King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 d6 2 ND Nf6 3 c4 g6 4 Nc3 Bg7 5 e4 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7 Be3 The Gligoric system, a perfectly viable alternative to the normal 7 0-0. One virtue of the bishop move which has hitherto not been exploited is the fact that White may later choose to castle on the queen side. 7 . . . exd4 Exchanging in the centre in this fashion indicates that Black plans to open up a bombardment against White's `e' pawn. Viable alternatives which maintain the central tension are 7 . . . Nbd7, 7 . . . Qe7 and 7 . . . h6, the last of which would meet 8 dxe5 with . . . Ng4. 8 Position after 11 g4 Nxd4 Re8 9 Qc2 Qe7 10 f3 c6 11 g4 (Diagram) A most extraordinary and courageous concept. I find it amazing that White can lash out in this fashion when the centre is still volatile and Black has possibilities such as . . . d5 in reserve. It is especially impressive that such a young player as Kamsky should proceed with such overwhelm- ing self-confidence against so experienced a champion as Tal. One point of White's 11th move is to attack fiercely by advancing the `g' and 'h' pawns, another is to prevent 11 . . . d5 which would be met by 12 g5 Nh5 13 cxd5 winning a pawn for no compensation. Black now has a plethora of alternatives (11 . . . h5, 11 . . . Nbd7, 11 . . . Na6 etc). I suspect that Black's 11th move in the game is, in fact, much too slow and from this point on White seizes the initiative and and maintains it vigorously until the end of the game. 11 . . . a6 12 g5 Nfd7 The natural move is 12 . . . Nh5 but then Tal must have feared 13 0-0-0 to be followed by f4 and Bxh5, wrecking Black's king-side pawn con- stellation. It should be noted though that after 12 . . . Nh5 the immediate 13 f4 would fail to 13 . . . Bxd4 or 13 . . . Nxf4 at once. However, after Black's 12th move in the game Tal's queen-side forces remain congested and dor- mant while White's king-side offensive can proceed apace. 13 h4 b5 14 h5 b4 15 hxg6 Kamsky's energetic handling of the assault against the black king reminds me forcibly of the savagery with which the youthful Tal himself i used to conduct his attacks in the 1950s. If Black should accept the sacrifice with 15 . . . bxc3 then 16 Nf5 Qf8 17 Rxh7 would win, as indeed would 16 . . . 0e5 17 gxf7+ Kxf7 18 Rxh7 cxb2 19 Rdl Rg8 20 Bd4. Tal almost certainly did not bother to calculate any of these variations to their logical conclusion, he simply appreciated that in such situations the white knight cannot be permitted to penetrate to the f5 square. 15 . . . hxg6 16 Na4 d5 At last Black achieves the traditional breakthrough in the centre, which is meant to counteract White's flank operations. 17 0-0-0 The unexpected bonus of White's 7th move. If Black now plays 17 . . . dxe4 White replies 18 f4 keeping the black knight out of e5 and then proceeds to double his rooks on the 'h' file. Instead, Tal decides to fight back by creating a passed pawn on the 'd' file 17 . . . c5 18 Nb3 d4 19 Bf4 Nc6 20 Rh4 NceS 21 Rdhl d3 Black must undertake something against the brutal threat of Bdl followed by Qh2 and Rh8+. The advance of the text is designed to disrupt White's attacking Position after 23 Rh7 formation. 22 Bxd3 Nxf3 23 Rh7 (Diagram) The critica moment of the game. It is here that Tal probably goes wrong, encouraging a trade of White s two rooks for the black queen which leads inexorably to White's advantage. The most combative move at this moment is the sacrificial 23 . . . Nde5 meeting 24 Naxc5 with 24 . . . Bg4. Black's loss of a pawn is scarcely relevant. He can follow with Rac8 opening fire against the white king and also . . . Bh5 to staunch the 'h' file. After 23 . . . Nde5 24 Nb6, White threatens both Nxa8 and Nd5. In that case Black should proceed with 24 . . . Be6 25 Nxa8 Rxa8 with distinct compensation for the loss of the exchange. It should be noted that in the diagram position Black cannot play 23 . . . NxgS on account of 24 Qh2 Nxh7 25 Qxh7+ Kf8 26 Bh6 when Black has no sensible defence. 23 . . . Be5 24 BxeS Qxe5 This appears to be another mistake, underestimating White's 25th move. It would have been better to play 24 . . . Qxg5+ 25 Kbl and only now 25 . . . Qxe5. Perhaps after 24 . . . Qxg5+ Tal feared the remarkable response 25 Qd2 meeting
25 . . . Nxd2 with 26 Rh8 mate. Nevertheless after 25 Qd2 Rxe5 is an adequate defence. 25 Qg2 Nd4 If now 25 . . . Qxg5+ 26 Qxg5 NxgS 27 Rh8+ wins. 26 Rh8+ This exchange gives White a winning endgame since Black cannot defend his pawns. 26 . . . QxhS 27 Rxh8+ Kxh8 28 Nbxc5 Nxc5 29 Nxc5 Ne6 30 Na4 Bbl 31 Nb6 Rad8 31 . . . Nc5 32 Bc2 makes no difference. 32 Nd5 Kg7 33 Qf2 BxdS 34 Qf6+ Kg8 35 cxd5 Nc5 36 Kd2 a5 37 Qd4 Nd7 38 Bb5 Rf8 39 e5 Nb8 40 d6 Nd7 41 Kd3 Rfe8 Tal must have been in a dreadful time scramble, uncertain as to whether he had made the moves to the time control at move 40. His moves make a disjointed impress- ion, but he is, in any case, utterly lost. 42 Bxd7 Rxd7 43 Ke4 RddS 44 Kd5 Rb8 45 d7 Black resigns.
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