CHESS
The annual general meeting of the Grandmaster Association (the AGM of the GMA) took place in Moscow over the weekend of 27 and 28 May. I attended this with Jon Speelman, who was standing for the governing board. In the event, Speel- man lost in the election to America's Max Dlugy, a relative hawk in the conflict between the GMA and Fide. Is it possible that in the future the Grandmasters may come to miss Speelman's restraining voice in their dealings with the World Federa- tion?
As it was, the tenor of the Moscow meeting was distinctly anti-Fide. Campo- manes has more or less rejected the com- promise solution for co-operation between the two bodies, which I discussed in this column on 29 April. Holland's Jan Tim- man, who had been largely responsible for conducting the negotiations, explained to his GM colleagues that this outcome was `deeply disappointing'. The meeting then endorsed, by a substantial majority, the Board's intention of proceeding with their commission to run the world cham- pionship, whether Fide joins in or no. Fighting talk. At times the Grandmasters' debates in Moscow seemed more like a gathering of radicals and incendiaries, with no discerni- ble structure to the discussion, than the deliberation of chessplayers, accustomed
A la lanterne
Raymond Keene
to silent contemplation of intellectual problems. Nevertheless, it was highly re- freshing to see Soviet Grandmasters, perhaps for the very first time, openly discussing and freely voting on sensitive issues in their own capital city. Perhaps the most extreme suggestion of all came from the Soviet world championship semi- finalist, Artur Yusupov, who argued that the GMA should, henceforth, issue its own Grandmaster, titles and ignore those sub- mitted solely to Fide. Of course, the power to award ratings and titles is the lifeblood of any chess organisation. Yusupov has clearly put his finger on a key issue.
Kasparov, as President of the GMA, naturally played a large part in the meet- ings, and was evidently delighted that the majority of the GMs were right behind him on his stance towards Campomanes. Kas- parov was also responsible for finding the first commercial sponsors for a tournament held in Moscow, the World Cup Qualifier (won by Dolmatov). This was supported by Tabani, a Pakistani trading company, and Kontur, a Moscow co-operative. Karpov, however, was not present. He has been elected an MP (if that is the right word) to the new Soviet parliament, which held its deliberations in Moscow at the same time as the GMA. The Grandmasters will now hold a further meeting in Palma de Mallor- ca in December, to ratify the items raised in Moscow.
Here, from the Grandmaster tourna- ment in the City of London (which ran concurrently with the Moscow Qualifier), is a drastic win by the Danish veteran, Larsen:
Larsen — Wilder: Watson Farley Williams Tournament; Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi- Slav Defence.
1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 d5 4 d4 c6 5 e3 The trulY sharp lines arise after Kasparov's favourite 5 Bg5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 Bh4 g5 9 Nx.g5. Larsen, however, succeeds in proving in this game that the restrained 5 e3 is also not without poison. 5. . . Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bitc4 b5 8 103 A shrewd choice. The US champion was doubt- less armed to the teeth against the main line, starting 8 Bd3. After the uncommon text, Black is, more or less, on his own. 8. . . 13137 8. . . b49, Na4 Bbl is, perhaps, more accurate. 9 0-0 00 And this is much too slow. It was high time to attend to his development with 9. . . Be710 Re1 0-0. As played, Black never manages to castle. 10 e4 c5 11 e5 cxd4 12 Qxd4 Bey 13 Qf4 b4 Black should, at least, have tried 13. . . Nh5. 14 0116 bxc3 15 fxg7 Rg8 16 Ba4 Rxg7 and Slick resigned without waiting for White's rePlY. Wilder was clearly demoralised by the failure of his opening, and could have struggled on for a few moves, though 17 0e5 Bf8 18 Rdl does leave Black with a wretched position.
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