CHESS
Amazonian
Raymond Keene
It is hard to believe, but 11-year-old Judith Polgar from Budapest has just tied for first place in a category 7 tournament in Iceland. (She shared the honours with her older sister Zsuzsa.) The tournament in- cluded experienced Grandmasters such as Jim Plaskett and Helgi Olafsson, yet the Polgar sisters dominated it. But it was Judith's result which was phenomenal. Indeed, it must be some kind of record and represents her second International Master norm this year, the earlier one coming from the New York Open.
If Judith can maintain her prodigious curve of success it seems quite possible that she could even be the challenger for the world championship itself in 1999. At the age of eleven not even Fischer, Kasparov and Nigel Short were able to achieve this degree of success. Is it possible that Judith's result is, in fact, a remarkable evolutionary statement about what the human brain can achieve? A comparison with her rivals seems to indicate that she is simply able to utilise a far greater percen- tage of her grey cells. In other respects, though, she seems a perfectly ordinary 11-year-old girl. At the New York Open spectators were amused by the sight of Judith playing with her doll between moves while swarthy chain-smoking Grandmas- ters cudgelled their brains to find the best response to her moves on the board.
The game of Judith's from Egilsstadir in Iceland which most impressed me was her win against Grandmaster Olafsson (Helgi, not Fridrik, the former Fide President). Olafsson was subjected to persistent press- ure and, having apparently recovered into what seemed a complicated middle game with chances for both sides, he was still allowed no respite. Finally, in a difficult endgame, Olafsson cracked under the pressure and allowed the young girl to force a tactical win. It was a profoundly complex game and a wonderful display by Judith.
Judith Polgar-Helgi Olafsson: Sicilian De- fence, Najdorf Variation.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3 b5 8 0-0 Be7 9 Qf3 A relatively new way of playing against the Najdorf. The older method was to advance the White 'f' pawn before blocking it with the queen. 9 . . . Qc7 In the .game Sofia Polgar (the middle Polgar sister) against Winslow, New York 1987, 9 . . . Qb6 10 Be3 Qb7 11 Qg3 Bd7 12 Nf5 exf5 13 Qxg7 Rf8 14 Bg5 led to a very fierce attack for White, and a win in seven more moves. 10 Qg3 Nc6 11 Be3 0-0 12 Nxc6 Qxc6 13 Bh6 Ne8 14 a4 b4 15 Nd5 Bd8 If 15 . . exd5 16 BxdS nets material. 16 a5 Threatening Ba4. 16 . . . Qb7 17 Bd2 A remark- able idea which leads, more or less by force, to a rare situation where White has two rooks and several pawns against three Black minor pieces. 17 . . . exd5 18 BxdS Qa7 19 Bxa8 QxaS 20 e5 dxe5 21 Bxb4 f6 22 Rfdl Judith's love of the initiative carries her away somewhat. At this point the more brutal 22 Bxf8 Kxf8 23 b4 is also the most effective. 22 . . . Be6 23 Bxf8 KxfS 24 Qd3 Be7 25 Qxh7 Qc6 The Grandmaster has managed to consolidate his lines of defence. Traditionally, once the first wave of an attack has been beaten off and material imbalance has become a major feature of a position, as here, the more experienced player tends to emerge on top. In this case, however, Judith continues to play with the utmost vigour and sets her opponent a series of ultiMately insoluble prob- lems. 26 h4 Nd6 27 Rd3 Qxcl 28 Radl e4 White cannot now play 29 Rxd6 Bxd6 30 Rxd6 on account of 30 . . . Qcl+ 31 Kh2 Qf4+. 29 R3d2 Qc5 30 Qh8+ K17 31 Rd4 Bf8 32 b4 Qe5 33 b5!
Position after 33 b5!
(Diagram) A brilliant move. If 33 . . . axb5 34 a6 or 33 . . . Nxb5 34 Rd8 while 33 . . . Oxb5 fails to 34 Rxd6. 33 . . . e3 34 ixe3 Nxb5 35 Rd8 Qxe3+ 36 Khl Qc5 37 Rel Nc7 If 37 . . . Nd4 38 Qxf8+ Qxf8 39 Rxf8+ Kxf8 40 Re4. White now plays a very similar combination, the goal of which is to win Black's 'a' pawn. 38 Rxf8+ Qx18 39 Qxf8+ KxfS 40 Rcl Nb5 41 Rc6 Ke7 42 Rxa6 Nc7 43 Rb6 Bd5? A major error of judgment. Black must play 43 . . . Bc8 to prevent White from advancing the passed 'a' pawn. 44 a6 Kd7 45 a7 Na8 Possibly one of the least illustrious squares from which to establish a blockade of an advancing pawn. 46 Rb8 Ke6 47 Kh2 Kf5 48 Rb5 Ke5 49 g4 Ke6 50 Kg3 Bhl 51 Kf4 Bg2 A further error which places the bishop on just the square which is soon proven to be the least convenient. 52 g5 fxg5+ Fearing the advance g6 followed by h5, when there would be an ever-present threat of a breakthrough by means of h6, Olafsson exchanges pawns. Sadly for him, White's reply simply fdrkt his badly positioned bishop and his last remaining pawn. 53 RxgS Bhl 54 Rxg7 55 Rgl Bd5 56 h5 Nc7 and Black resigns. His resources are overstretched to cope with the two widely separated White passed pawns.
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