CHESS
Home grown
Raymond Keene
Fide, the World Chess Federation, re- quires three Grandmaster performances from a player before it can award the title. The traditional problem has been that, although two of these results can come from Open tournaments, one must arise from a Closed all-play-all event. Opens, by their very nature, are much simpler to organise. Any number may compete and such tournaments can be partially self- financing. Amateurs, or young players who have not yet made their reputation, only too happy to play with Masters and Grand- masters, are consequently prepared to pay for the privilege. The Lloyds Bank Mas- ters, held in London each summer, is a typical Open, and has been responsible for manifold British title norms in the past. The Foreign and Colonial Hastings Chal- lengers is a similar event. Pairings for Opens are made on the Swiss system, a kind of subtle knock-out, which allows a field of many players to reach a meaningful result, even if there are only, for example, nine rounds available. The principle is that in each round, a player meets an opponent who has his or her score. Thus, if one loses in the first round, one meets a fellow loser in round two, and so on. . . Winners, of course, continue to face other winners.
Closed all-play-ails are more expensive, since revenue cannot, for obvious reasons, be generated from a small field which is composed, in any case, largely of Masters and Grandmasters. Closed tournaments require a sponsor to pay for the entire costs of the event. Until quite recently, there- fore, the closed norm was the elusive stumbling block for most British title aspir- ants. Now, fortunately, this appears to have changed. Michael Adams became a GM entirely by playing in British closed tournaments. He made his first GM result in last year's NatWest Bank International, the second came in the Granada /Park Hall tournament in Preston during June, while the clincher was in the Icklicki Internation- al, held in North London in July. There is, in fact, now what essentially amounts to a small four-event British GM circuit from May (starting with the Watson Farley Williams) to September, finishing with the NatWest, organised by the King's Head pub in Bayswater. Adams certainly ex- tracted the maximum from the circuit in the past year.
Matthew Sadler, thk 15—year-old who is doubtless hoping to emulate Michael Adams's feat, has also been active this summer, winning an International Open Tournament in Toulon. Here he de- molishes a highly-rated Bulgarian Master, who unwisely chooses an unsound defence:
Sadler — Donchev: Toulon, July 1989; Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Bg5 c5 A dubious gambit liable to succeed only against the unpre- pared. 5 exd5 cxd4 6 Qxd4 Bel 7 e4 Nc6 8 Qd2 exd5 The normal line is 8. . . Nxd5 though 9 exd5 Bxg5 10 f4 Bh4+ 11 g3 exd5 12 gxh4 Qxh4+ 13 Qf2 Qe7+ 14 Qe2 Be6 15 Nf3 d4 16 Nb5 0-0 17 f5! (Furman-Dzindzihashvili, USSR 1969) casts serious doubt on Black's play. Donchev tries to improve Black's prospects by sacrificing a pawn rather than a piece. 9 Bxf6 Bxf6 10 exd5 Qe7+ 11 Nge2 Ne5 12 0-0-0 Nc4? An over-optimistic attack which quite underesti- mates the force of White's riposte. Black had to castle instead. 13 d61 Qd8 14 Qd5 Be6 15 Qb5+ Qd7 16 Nd4 Nxd6 17 Nxe6 NxbS 18 BxbS Qxb5 19 Nc7+ Black resigns. He loses a piece. A punishing miniature.
Reverting to Michael (now engaged in the British Championship in Plymouth, where he has begun with 11/2 points after two rounds), here is a sharp win from the Icklicki tournament which confirmed his Grandmaster title:
Adams — Dunnington: Icklicki International Tournament, July 1989; Alekhine's Defence.
1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 g6 5 Bc4 Nb6 6 Bb3 Bg7 Theory states that 7 Ng5 plus f4 is strong, but Adams claims that his method is even better. It seems to me that Alekhine's defence is going through a crisis against 4Nf3. a4 a5 8 0-0 0-0 9 h3 a 10 Nc3 c6 11 Ref Na6 12 Ne2 Nc7 13 c3 Nc4 14 Bc2 b5 15 b3 Nb6 16 Nf4 bxa4 17 bxa4 Nc4 18 Rbl f6 19 e6 Qd6 20 Qd3I5 21 Ng5 Ba6 This looks natural, but it driVes White's queen in a direction it wishes to go. 22 Qg3 c5 23 Nych7 Black resigns (Diagram) After 23. . . Kxh7 24 Qxg6+ Black's position is hope- less.
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