SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA
(01Z1111311
CHESS
Viva Espafia
Raymond Keene
LAST WEEK I GAVE results and games from two top-class tournaments in Spain at Leon and Madrid. One has to take one's hat off to the Spanish. Earlier this year they organised the world championship qualifying match between Timman and Short, in February the world's strongest tournament was staged at Linares and, following that, Karpov added another tournament victory to his laurels in Seville. Last week yet another competition be- tween leading grandmasters was held, this time in Las Palmas, resulting in a win for the Chilean Grandmaster Morovic.
Michael Adams started off atrociously with 0 from 3. It seems that his powers of concentration can sometimes be deflected. Nevertheless, a superb finishing spurt of 5 points from his last 6 games brought him back into contention, and he ended with a reasonable score.
Adams — Georgiev: Las Palmas 1993; Trom- povsky. 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 13 Qa5+ The Trompovsky used to be one of the backwaters of chess theory. Under the influence of Julian Hodgson and Michael Adams himself it has recently assumed greater importance, though it is still so obscure that no definitive corpus of theory has emerged to establish the best defence for Black. 5 c3 Nf6 6 Nd2 cxd4 7 Nb3 Qd8 8 cxd4 g6 9 e4 Bg7 10 Bd3 0-0 The opening has been an unmitigated disaster for Black. He has lost two moves with his queen and White is in complete control of the centre. 11 Ne2 d6 12 0-0 Nc6 13 Be3 b6 Sowing the seeds of his future defeat.
Las Palmas Tournament
1 Morovic 2 Anand 3 Khalifman 4 Adams 5 Yusupov 6 Azmaiparashvili 7 Georgiev 8 Topalov 9 Christiansen 10 Rivas
1 2 34 • 1/2, ½1
V2 1½
1/2 0 * 1 0½0
1 I/2 0 'A
1/2 I/2 1/2 0
I/2
1/2 ½0 0 0 0 1
1/2
0 1 0
0 1/2 0 0
5
1/2
0 0 6 7 8
1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2. 1/2 1
1 1 0 0 1 0
• ih 1/2 VI • VI V2 V2 • V2 1/2 V2 ½0 V!
9 0 1 1 6
1/2 ½5½
0 1 5% 1 1 5 1 1 5
1/2 1/2 41/2 1/2 1 4 V2 1/2 4 • V2 31/2 1/2 21/2 The c6 square looks adequately defended at the moment but it proves a fruitful springboard for White's invasion of the black camp. 14 Rd Bb7 15 Bb5 Rc8 16 d5 Ne5 17 Ned4 Rxcl 18 Qxcl Qb8 19 Rf2 Rc8 20 Rc2 Rxc2 21 Qxc2 Qc8 22 Nc6 Nxc6 23 dxc6 White's strategy has triumphed. The passed pawn which has come into being on the exposed c6 square must guarantee White victory. 23 . . . Ba8 24 c7 Bb7 25 a4 Nd7 26 Bxd7 Qxd7 27 a5 Bc8 28 axb6 axb6 29 Bxb6 Qa4 30 Be3 h5 31 h3 MS 32 Kh2 Be5+ 33 f4 Bf6 34 Qd3
d4 Nxd4 Qb4 37 e5 Qc5 38 Nb5 Bxb2 35 Bd4 Bx
MS 39 exd6 A beautiful move, temporarily sacrificing the queen and in the process Jettison- ing the extra pawn. Nevertheless, Adams has foreseen that a forced sequence leads to an endgame where he will annex Black's bishop. 39 Position after 40 d7 . . .Bxd3 40 d7 (Diagram) 40 . . . MS 41 d8Q+ Kg7 42 Qd4+ Qxd4 43 Nxd4 Bc8 44 Nc6 Kf6 45 No7 The final key to White's combination — the black bishop must be surrendered. 45 . . . Bb7 46 c8Q Bxcil 47 Nac8 h4 48 Kgl Kf5 49 Nxe7+ Kxf4 50 Kf2 g5 51 Nd5+ Ke5 52 Ne3 Kf4 53 Nd5+ Ke5 54 Nc3 The right solution to such endgames is to wait until Black runs out of pawn moves. The only danger facing White is a premature exchange of pawns which might allow Black to eliminate all of them from the board. 54 . . . Kf4 55 Ne2+ 56 Ngl Kf4 57 Nf3 fik5f1 Nd2 g4 59 Nc4 f5 60 Nd2 Ke5 61 Ke3 f4-F 62 Kf2 Kf5 63 Nc4 Black resigns A superb win against one of the world's top 20.
The diagram below is the concluding position of the game Short — Kramnik from the Euwe Memorial tournament in Amsterdam. Here Black, to move, res- igned, doubtless believing, as did most commentators, that after 1 . . . exd5 2 b6 White's passed pawn would romp home.
However, things are not so clear and in the 22 May issue I set this position as a reader competition to find the best line.
Two of the answers I received from readers were particularly outstanding: R. F. Tindall of Cambridge offers the following line: 1 . . . exd5 2 b6 Rc8 3 b7 Rb8 4 Kb5 d4 5 Kb6 Kd8 6 Ka7 d3 7 Kxb8 d2 8 Ka8 dl/Q 9 b8/Q+ Ke7 10 Qc7+ Ke8 11 Kb8 and White should win.
Michael Brock from Herts suggests: 1 . . . exd5 2 b6 Rc8 3 Kb5 f6! 4 b7 Rd8 5 Na6 fxe5 6 b8/Q Rxb8+ 7 Nxb8 and White should probably win. A better defence in this line is 3 . . . Rb8 which would in fact transpose to the main line.
Nigel Short himself gives the best play for both sides as following Mr Tindall's line to move 4, when he diverges with 4 . . . Rxb7+ 5 Nxb7 Ke6 and suggests that White may still be able to win after 6 Kb4! Kxe5 7 Kc3 Ke4 8 Kd2. Mr Tindall and Mr Brock will both be receiving a Batsford chess book in due course as a prize for their efforts.
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