CHESS
Matchmakers
Raymond Keene
In their Basel match Gary Kasparov has slaughtered Tony Miles by the kind of score that only Bobby Fischer used to achieve: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Kasparov (USSR) 1 1 1 1/2 1 1 5112 Miles (UK) 0 0 0 1/2 0 0 1/2 This is bad news for our Olympic top board, but an indication that Kasparov is in formidable form, rather better, in fact, than Karpov's in the SWIFT tournament. Their relative individual Elo rating per- formances were — according to my statisti- cian, Bob Wade — Kasparov at Basel: 3040 and Karpov at Brussels 2811. Both superlative. For purposes of rough corn- panson Bobby Fischer's highest ever pub- lished rating was 2780. Meanwhile, at the Kleinwort Grieveson UK-USA Challenge in London, Jon Speelman has fared some- what better:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total Alburt (USA) 0 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 0 4
SPeehnan (UK)1 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 1 4 The match was thus drawn, but Alburt won the two blitz games played to decide the Prize money split. Here are two games from what turned out to be a close and exciting match: Alburt — Speelman: Round 2; Queen's Gambit Accepted. 1 d4(15 2 c4 dxc4 3 e4 The currently fashionable continuation which has more or less replaced 3 Nf3 in recent Grandmaster praxis. 3 . . . Nc6 Interesting and unusual. 3 . . . Nf6 4 e5 Nd5 5 Bxc4 has been popular of late. 4 d5 Ne5 5 Bf4 Ng6 6 Bg3 h5 The text is an interesting novelty. 6 . . . e5 7 dxe6 has favoured White in the past. Speelman's idea is that 7 h4 e5 8 dxe6 improves Black's prospects. 7 Nf3 h4 8 Be5 e6 9 Bxc4 Nxe5 10 Nxe5 Bd6 11 Qa4+ Kf8 12 f4 Qf6 White has good piece play and Black's King position is somewhat unstable, but White's position is also loose. 13 Nc3 BxeS 13 . . . Qxf4? 14 Ng6+ fxg6 15 Rfl wins Black's Queen. 14 fxe5 QxeS 15 0-0-0 Nf6 16 dxe6 Bxe6 17 Qb4+ c5 18 Qb3 White probably has sufficient compensation for the pawn but no more. He should regain the material soon anyway. 19 . . . Kg8 19 Bxe6 fxe6 20 Qxb7 Kh 7 Black's resourceful King trek has enabled him to unite his Rooks. 21 Qe7 Qg5+ A curious mirror image of White's 17th move. But of course . . . Qxg2 is impossible due to the devastating Rhgl. 22 Kbl Rhe8 23 Qf7 Rab8 24 Rhel Qe5 25 Rd3 Nd5 Black moves over to the counter-attack. His main problem now is the weakness of his 'h' pawn. 26 Rh3 Nxc3+ 27 Kal Qg5 28 bxc3 Rf8 29 Qxe6 Rf2 30 g3 Rb6 Much excitement was generated in the commentary room by the wild idea 30 . . . Rxh2 31 Rxh2 Qxg3 32 Qf5+ Kh6. But at the very least White now has the brutal 33 Rxh4+ Qxh4 34 Rgl. 31 Qd5 Qxd5 32 Rxh4+ Qh5! A cute move. Black sheds a couple of `e' pawns but his active Rooks ensure equality. 33 Rxh5+ Kg6 34 RxcS Ra6 35 Kbl Raxa2 35 . . . Rb6+ is also adequate. 36 Rb5 Rxh2 37 e5 Kf7 38 e6+ Ke7 39 Rb7+ Ke8 40 e7 Rae2 41 Rxe2 Rxe2 42 Rxa7 Re3 Draw agreed. For example, 43 Kc2 Rxg3 44 Kd2 Rg6 and . . . Re6 will round up White's `e' pawn. An ex-
cellently fought game.
Alburt — Speelman: Round 4; English Opening.
1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 b6 3 g3 c5 4 Bg2 Bb7 5 0-0 g6 6 d3 6 d4 is thought to give White a small but enduring advantage. The text aims for a K-side
attack. 6 . . . Bg7 7 e4 d6 8 Nc3 0-0 9 Nh4 Nc6 10 f4 a6 11 f5 b5 Hoping to deflect White from his
K-side aspirations after 12 cxb5 axb5 13 Nxb5 Ba6. Then Black would have excellent counter- play for the pawn. But Alburt refuses to be sidetracked. 12 Bg5 Ne5 13 b3 h6 14 Bxf6 There is no entirely satisfactory retreat square for the Bg5. However it is clearly unpleasant to have to give up the Bishop in this fashion. 14 . . . Bxf6 15 Rcl e6 16 Nf3 Qa5 17 Nxe5 BxeS 18 Qd2 Bd4+ The start of an unsatisfactory plan, simply 18 . . . Kh7 leaves Black well placed. 19 Khl exf5 20 exf5 Bxg2+ 21 Kxg2 RaeS The point of Black's idea but he has overlooked a tactical trick. 22 Qxh6! Bxc3 22 . . . Be3 offers better chances. This would win the exchange but do nothing to prevent the later intervention of White's dangerous Knight on d5 or e4. 23 Rxc3! Perhaps Speelman overlooked this and expected only 23 fxg6. If now 23 . . . Qxc3 24 f6 wins immediately. Thus White has generated a prom- ising attack against his opponent's King. 23 . . . Qxa2+ 24 Kgl Qe2 25 cxb5 axb5 26 d4! This virtually finishes things. Rc3 prevents any de- fence based on . . . Qe3+. White has the colossal threat of f6. Black's only defence is to play a move which inflicts a hornble scar on his King's defences. 26 . . . gxf5 27 Qg5+ Kh8 28 Qf6+ Kg8 29 RxfS Qel+ 30 Kg2 Qe2+ 31 Kh3 Qe6 32 Qg5+ Qg6 33 dxc5 As so often it has only been possible to parry an attack at ruinous cost of material. 33 . . . Kg7 34 cxd6 Re4 35 Rd3 Rh8+ 36 Kg2 Re2+ 37 Kf3 Rexh2 38 d7 Rd8 39 Qxg6+ Kxg6 40 Re5 Rhh8 41 RxbS K16 42 Rb4 Ra8 43 Re3 Rhd8 44 Rb7 Kg7 45 Rc7 Kf8 46 Kf4 f6 47 b4 Rah8 48 Re4 Kf7 49 g4
Rb5 50 Ke3 Rg5 51 Kd4 f5 52 gxf5 RxfS 53 Kc4 Rfi 54 Kc5 RfS+ 55 Kb6 Rf6+ 56 Rc6 Black resigns.
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