CHESS
Life-saver
Raymond Keene
Kasparov and Karpov have just announced that they will be donating all of their colossal prize from the world cham- pionship to the Chernobyl Relief Fund. This has been set up to assist those whose lives were blighted by the nuclear accident in the USSR. The champions' gift amounts to £300,000 from London, matched by Leningrad, plus the £10,000 prize for the most brilliant game in the London half of the contest. It is a noble gesture, unpre- cedented in chess history, which is never- theless quite in tune with the current charitable fund-raising activities of leading pop stars and sporting personalities. But the two Super-Ks have gone further than most by actually giving large sums of money which they might legitimately re- gard as their own. The £10,000 brilliancy prize has been specially donated by the unit trust firm, Save & Prosper, and it may well be the greatest sum ever offered for one game. I would certainly be interested to hear from any readers who know of a larger amount given for just one game. Previous highs to my knowledge were the thousand dollars given by I. S. Turover for the most brilliant game of the 1974 Nice Olympics and the £1,000 won by Murray Chandler for his game against Vaganian at the GLC London tournament earlier this year.
It is, of course, possible that some chess-loving Maecenas of the past was impelled to offer more than £10,000 for one game, perhaps at the series of tourna- ments in Monte Carlo at the beginning of the century. Here, in any case, is Michael Stean's $1,000 effort from Nice:
Stean (England) — Browne (USA): Nice Olym- pics 1974; Sicilian Defence Najdorf Variation.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 N16 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 Nbd7 A move with a reputation for passivity, 6. . . e6 is more combative. 7 Bc4 e6 8 0-0 h6 9 Bxf6 Nxf6 10 Bb3 b6 If 10. . . Be7 11 f4 0-0 12 f5 e5 13 Nde2 followed by Ng3-h5 with tremendous light square control for White. 11 f4 Bb7 12 Qd3 Be7 13 Nxe6! 13 f5 e5 14 Nde2 is still an excellent strategy, but this sacrifice is even more forceful. 13. . . fxe6 14 Bxe6 b5 If Black does not fight back, White simply plays Radl, Khl and ultimately e5. 15 e5 Qb6+ 16 Khl dxe5 17 Qg6+ Kd8 18 Qf7 Qc5 19 fxe5 Bxg2+ A desperate counter-sacrifice which meets with a brilliant refutation, but if 19. . . Qxe5 20 Radl+ or 19. . Nd7 20 Rfdl Bc6 21 Bxd7 followed by e6. 20 Kxg2 Rf8 21 Radl+ Kc7 22 Qxg7 Rg8 23 exf6! Rxg7 24 fxg7 Bd6 The point is that 24.. . Qg5+ 25 Khl Qxg7 fails to 26 Rf7 followed by Rxe7+ and Nd5 +. 25 Rf7+ Kc6 26 Bd5+ Kb6 27 BxaS Qg5+ 28 Khl Bey 29 b4 a5 30 Rb7+ Kc6 31 g8=Q Qxg8 32 Rb8 dis+ Black resigns.
The Kasparov-Karpov centenary world chess championship match begins on 28 July in the Ballroom of the Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly, in London. Gaines will be played at 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednes- day and Friday of each week; adjourn- ments (when required) from 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; Sundays will be rest days. As each player is allowed three 'time outs' during the match, play may be cancelled on some days. There will be numerous side-events and displays, with commentary on games as they are played provided by leading Grandmasters and International Masters. Newly developed computerised video screens will show each move instantaneously as it is played. In addition, for £2 a game you can hire earphones to hear the commentary in progress. A programme and bulletins of the games may be purchased at the site. Tickets and travel packages are being handled by Mr John Boon, American Express Travel Division, 19-20 Berners Street, London W1 (Tel: 637 8600). Admission to the site is £10 daily for reserved seating in the playing hall (£90 season) and £20 daily for reserved front five rows of seats (£190 season). Unre- served £3 tickets will be for sale daily at the door (back rows — season £30). Twenty- five tickets at £50 each are available from American Express for the gala opening ceremony on 27 July at 7.30 p.m. in the Ballroom. (Please write 'Re World Chess Championship' on top of envelope.) Among other special events, American Express will arrange for tickets to the new Tim Rice musical Chess at the Prince Edward Theatre.
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