Chess

Serendipity

Raymond Keene

With Christmas approaching, I will devote this week's article to a sum- mary of books that would serve well as

presents. Some of them I have mentioned this year already but there are also some en- tirely new issues.

For young children who do not yet know the moves, an ideal present would be The Amazing Adventure of Dan the Pawn (Batsford £3.95). There is no obligation to learn anything about chess from this charm- ing tale, which owes something to Alice Through the Looking Glass, but for an in- quisitive child it would serve as an excellent introduction to the game.

For confirmed chess enthusiasts, I can

strongly recommend Jon Speelman's Best Chess Games 1970-1980 (Allen and Unwin

£9.95), a clearly written and produced col- lection of outstanding games, in the style of

the time before wordless chess information became paramount. The 47 games are well

chosen and annotated in deep and original style. If you know a chess fanatic, a good in- vestment would be the five volumes so far

published of Tournament Chess, published by Pergamon Press under the managing

editorship of Martin Richardson. This series includes all the games, in languageless notation, without comments, of every Grandmaster tournament played through- out the year. Really useful if compact infor- mation is what you require.

, A book for the specialist is Der Schach Komponist Johann Berger (by Helmut Roth in Leopold Stocker Verlag). This is an

interesting study, in German, of a well known 19th-century study-composer and active player, which should certainly find an audience with endgame enthusiasts. Un- fortunately, I do not know the price in sterl- ing, but this should be ascertainable from dealers.

Books and chess equipment can be ordered from Chess, Sutton Coldfield, or the BCM, 9 Market St, St Leonard-on-Sea, Sussex, while Batsford books can also be ordered direct from the publishers at 4 Fitz- hardinge St, London W1 . No game this week, but instead here is a remarkable piece of analysis by Kasparov

from Batsford Chess Openings (£7.95), the young Russian star's first book in the West,

which he co-authored with me. The opening is a Caro-Kann.

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Highly fashionable at the moment is the old Advance Variation, 3 e5 Bf5 4 Nc3 e6 5 g4!? with obscure complications. 3 ... dxe4 4 Nxe4 B15 The main alternatives are: 4 ... Nd7 and 4 ... Nf6. The text is cons! somewhat drawish, but not for the rea5;b4 displayed in Kasparov's analysis. 5 N g3ng9pd3 h6 7 h5 Bh7 8Nf3 Nd7 To prevent NO. ;of: Bxd3 10 Qxd3 Qc7 11 Bd2 e6 12 c4 Ngf6 Attempting to insist on the occupation °N,!.,.he 13 ... Bd6 Restoring control of e5, but • has the chance to advance with his N, explot the 'e' file pin. 14 Nf5 0-015 Ndx6 Qx"A-A 160', b5 17 g4 The conflict resolves into a rin i n-!g I raci to destroy the opponent's K. 17 . • • bxe,L„52•1 hxg5 19 h6 g6 20 h7+ Nxh7 21 Nxg5 Bxg5. All this occurred in a game Mnatsaknued — Bagirov, Kirovakan 1978, which C9 1B 22 ... f6 23 Qe4! when Black was in 00'1 danger. When Bagirov complained to Kasl/r.p that this position was disastrous for Black, 'which showed him the following fantastic line, w31 also forms a variation in our book: 22 • • • c

Position after 23 Qe5!

X5 xelIC51112481Y

Black is mated. 23 ... cxb201121 Qe5! (Diagram) If now 23 .. dxe5 Black's position looks desperate, bum' ate. the move of his 'f' pawn comes to the ,rilfliter5 25 ... 16! 26 Rdx7 fxg5 27 Rhh7 and in sropoitkesowr will is dpelaiwvenrsamdirnauws. by perpetual chec