Usual suspects
Raymond Keene
Asure sign that Gary Kasparov and Nigel Short have made the right decision in deciding to contest their championship match outside Fide is that all the jokers in the chess world have closed ranks to denounce them. The British Chess Federa- tion, in a stinging press release, dated 30 March, has launched a fierce attack on Short. This is amazing considering that Short has done so much for British chess. `You could have been a chess hero, a legend in your lifetime, but not this way', whines the release. Curiously, it repeats the allegation that Short had made himself `totally incommunicado' at the time of Fide's decision to award the match to Manchester, which contradicts the oft- stated Fide view that Short had given his consent to Manchester. The press release is co-signed by that well-known patriot and globetrotter Grandmaster Tony Miles, the former top board for Andorra, or was it the US, or Australia, I forget. Fide itself, the World Chess Federation, in a four- page denunciation, confirmed that: 'In accordance with regulations Fide shall in- vite former world champion Anatoly Kar- pov of Russia and former candidates final- ist Jan Timman of the Netherlands to contest the 1993 World Championship Match.'
Of course, as I pointed out several weeks ago, this is a terrible blunder which will just make poor old Timman and Karpov a laughing stock. It would be much more sensible to invite a top field of ten of the most exciting players to contest a quadru- ple round all-play-all tournament, along the lines of the 1959 and 1962 Candidates. That would produce a worthy Fide cham- pion who, next year, could challenge the real world champion, the winner of the Kasparov — Short match.
Likely entries for this kind of event could be the Russians Karpov, Kramnik and Gelfand, Anand from India, Judith Polgar from Hungary, Shirov from Latvia, our own Michael Adams, Ivanchuk from the Ukraine, Kamsky, who now represents America, while Timman (the Fide reserve champion) himself would probably squeeze in at number ten.
Here is a game from the recent Alekhine Memorial tournament in Moscow between two of the contenders, in which Timman, in his own words, 'tried to play like Alekhine'.
Timman – Kamsky: Alekhine Memorial, Mos- cow. 1992; Torre Attack.
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Bg5 Bg7 4 c3 d5 5 Nbd2 0-0 6 Position after 10 e4
e3 Nbd7 7 Bet Re8 8 Qb3 c6 9 0-0 e5 10 e4 (Diagram) Timman claims, after his sedate opening, that this move is in the style of Alekhine. Since it comes close to losing, I think he is flattering himself. 10 . . .exd4 11 cxd4 dxe4 12 Bc4 White sacrifices a piece in order to create pressure against the vulnerable pawn on f7. Black could now play 12 . . . exf3 but after 13 Bxf7+ Kh8 14 Bxe8 White has considerable pressure. Kamsky defends more accurately. 12 . . . Re7 13 Nxe4 Spectacularly insisting on sacrificing a piece. 13 Ne5 is less sensational but it leads nowhere after 12 . . Qe8. 13 . . . Rxe4 14 Bxf7+ Kh8 15 Rael Qf8 16 Ne5 Rxd4 17 f4 Rd5 (Diagram) A powerful move which returns
Position after 17 . . . Rd5
some material in order to break the force of White's attack. If now 18 Nxg6+ hxg6 19 Qh3+ Nh7 20 Re8 Qxe8 21 Bxe8 Ndf6 and White's attack dissolves. Also 18 Bxg6 Qc5+ 19 Khl Nxe5 20 fxe5 Rxe5 21 Bxf6 Bxf6 22 Qf7 fails to 22 . Bg7. 18 BxdS NxdS 19 Bel A cute trick. Black cannot take the piece because of a check on f7 with the white knight. However, White's ingenuity can be sidestepped and Kamsky trades off into a favourable endgame. 19 . . . Qg8 20 Nxd7 Bxd7 21 Qxb7 Qc8 22 Qxc8+ Rxc8 23 Bc5 a6 24 b3 It often happens that when a cavalier offensive is repulsed, the attacking party becom- es demoralised and slides rapidly downhill. Here, for example, the solid 24 Rf2, as recomen- ded by Timman after the game, would have been good enough to hold on for a draw. By needlessly surrendering control of the c3 square to Black's minor pieces Timman facilitates Kamsky's technical task of exploiting his slight material advantage. 24 . . . Kg8 25 Rf2 Bc3 26 Rdl Re8 27 h3 Re4 28 Kh2 h5 29 Rcl Bel 30 Rfc2 Nxf4 31 Rc4 Rxe4 32 bxc4 Bg3+ Of course White cannot capture this because of the knight fork on e2. 33 Khl B15 34 lic3 h4 35 Re3 Nd3 36 Bd4 KV 37 c5 a5 38 a4 Bel 39 Reg Bb4 40 Bf2 Nxf2+ 41 Rxf2 BxcS White resigns Black's bishops will shepherd home his passed pawn.
Finally, as their last splendid exploit the British Chess Federation have suspended their publicity director, Adam Black. Black was invited by Short and Kasparov to act as secretary of their newly formed Professional Chess Association, in which role he has performed sterling service. Of course, for chess officialdom, any notion that the game should actually be promoted is anathema.
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