CHESS
Battling Boris
Raymond Keene
The Foreign and Colonial tournament at Hastings this year (which is currently at the halfway stage) is once again category 14 on the World Chess Federation scale, the highest category ever achieved in the UK. Among the competitors are the two world semi-finalists, Jon Speelman and Artur Yusupov and the prodigious young
British champion, Michael Adams. In his opening address, the artist Patrick Hughes
welcomed the recent political upheavals in Eastern Europe and looked forward to far greater circulation of grandmasters from those countries in tournaments to come. Indeed, one of the stars at Hastings, Boris Gulko, now the highest rated grandmaster in the US, is a Soviet emigre whose struggle to leave the USSR when his playing rights were restricted was a cause célèbre in the early 1980s. Boris opened his account at Hastings with a game which may well win the brilliancy prize.
Yusupov — Gulko: Foreign and Colonial Grandmaster Tournament, Hastings, Round I.. Grunfeld Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 Boris Gulko is currently one of the leading experts in the Grunfeld Defence, while Artur Yusupov has a reputation as an anti-Grunfeld guru. 4 cxd5 NxdS 5 e4 Nxe3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 B' c4 0-0 The Exchange Variation, where White ruthlessly occupies the centre with his pawns, is the archetypal Grunfeld battlefield and the line most likely to test its soundness. 8 Net Nc6 9 0-0 Spassky — Stein, Soviet Championship play-off 1964, continued 9 h4. Stein obtained a good position after 9 . . . Na5 10 Bb3 c5 11 h5 Nxb3 12 axb3 cxd4 13 cxd4 Bd7 14 hxg6 hxg6 15 Qd3 Qb6. Spassky had probably now intended 16 Qg3 threatening Qh4 but then Black could repulse the attack by means of 16 . . . Rfc8 17 Qh4 Rxcl + 18 Rxcl ()b4+ 19 Kfl Bb5. Instead, Spassky contented himself with the humble 16 Bd2 but Black went on to win. 9 . . . b6 10 Bg5 According to theory, this gives White a good
position, but Gulko seems unimpressed. 10 . . . Bb7 11 Qd2 Qd6 12 Radl It might seem that 12e5 would be unpleasant for Black but he has the defensive trick 12 . . . Nxe5 13 dxe5 0c6, threatening mate on g2 and the bishop on c4. 12 . . . Na5 13 Bd3 c5 White should now play 14 Bh6 to eliminate Black's powerful king's bishop. Nevertheless, the temptation to advance in the centre must have been irresistible. 14 d5 e6 15 c4 White appears to have emerged from the opening with an ideal position based on a strong passed pawn on d5. However, Black's potential for blockade should not be underesti- mated. 15 . . . Ba6 16 Qc2 exd5 17 exd5 Of course not 17 cxd5 ?? c4 winning material. 17 . . . Qd7! A subtle move. Nimzowitsch pointed out in his classic book My System that the queen is an inefficient blockader of passed pawns. The queen retreat makes space on d6 for the most powerful blockading unit, namely, the black knight which will travel there via b7. 18 Ng3 Rae8 19 Bd2 Nb7 20Ne4 Nd6 21 Nxd6 Qxd6 22 Qa4 Frustrated by Black's fine defence Yusupov goes pawn-hunting with his queen, a notoriously risky procedure. The simple 22 Bc3, reverting to the theme of challenging the dangerous black king's bishop, would have been more sensible. 22 . . . Bc8 23 Qxa7 BeS 24 h3 White cannot allow 24 g3 Bh3 when the white Position after 26 Be3 queen is in danger from . . . Ra8. Also 24 Bh6 Bxh2+ 25 Khl does not worry Black who can safely sacrifice the exchange to expose White's king and gain dark square control. 24 . . . Bd4 The threat is . . . Bxh3 and . . . Qg3. 25 Khl Qf6 With White's queen exiled at the edge of the board, Black establishes the threat of . . . Bh3 to rip away the defensive pawns around White's king. 26 Be3 (Diagram) Bxh3 27 Bxd4 cxd4 28 d6 After this it is clear that Black's attack against White's denuded king must triumph. The critical variation is 28 gxh3 Qf3+ 29 Kh2 Re5 30 Rgl Qxf2+ 31 Rg2 Qf3 32 Qa4 but then 32 . . Rh5 33 Rg3 Qf2+ 34 Rg2 Qf4+ 35 Rg3 Rg5 with the further plan of . . h5 — h4 should be decisive. 28 . . . Re5 29 f4 Re3 30 Qb7 Qh4 31 Kg1 Bxg2 The final sacrifice which either forces mate or wins White's queen for hopelessly inadequate compensation. 32 Qxg2 Rg3 33 Be4 Rxg2+ 34 Bxg2 Qf6 35 d7 Qd6 36 f5 Qxd7 37 Bd5 Qe7 38 Rf3 Qe5 39 Rdfl g5 40 f6 Re8 41 Khl g4 42 Rf5 Qe3 43 Rh5 Re5 44 Rh2 d3 45 Bxf7+ Kxf7 46 Rxh7+ Kg6 47 f7 Kxh7 48 f8 = Q At this point Boris made a 19th-century gesture by announc- ing checkmate in three moves. Yusupov, there- fore, noticing the accuracy of his opponent's claim, had no choice but to concede.
Chess did not stand still over the Christ- mas and New Year period. Nigel Short recovered brilliantly to draw a six-game match against Jan Timman in Holland, after getting off to a very poor start. Kasparov has officially broken Fischer's 1972 rating record of 2785 with his 2800 in the 1 January Fide list. Nevertheless, there will still be questions in the House, since all the statisticians had calculated that Kaspar- ov's new figure would be 2810. A hunt for the missing ten points is currently under way. In number two slot is Karpov on 2730. Nigel is the best Brit at eighth place on 2635.
At Hastings after five rounds the scores are: Nikolic 31/2; Gulko, Dolmatov 3; Spraggett, Adams 21/2; Yusupov, Speel- man 2; Chandler 11/2.
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