CHESS

Short sharp shock

Raymond Keene

It might have been expected that Nigel Short would suffer a reaction after his famous victory against Karpov. Indeed, when Nigel travelled to the Euwe Memo- rial tournament in Amsterdam towards the end of April his start could scarcely have been declared auspicious. After four of the six rounds he was trailing in last place with 11/2 points. Then, however, England's number one rapidly pulled himself together to inflict a heartening defeat on Jan Timman, who will be his opponent in the Candidates final next year, and round- ed off with a short, sharp win against Yasser Seirawan. This was sufficient for a share of first prize and a useful put-down of Timman, who cannot have felt particularly happy with his own form.

Amsterdam Euwe Memorial Tournament

1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4

1 Short UK * *

1/21/2

0 1 1/2 1 31/2 2 Anand India 1/2 1/2 * " 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 31/2 3 Seirawan USA 1 0 1/2 0 * "

1/2'h

21/2 4 Timman Netherlands % 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 * 2'/2

Short — Timman: Amsterdam 1992; Ruy Lopez. 1 e4 e5 21413 Nc6 3 B135 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Qe2 Once again Nigel resorts to his speciality the Worrall or English Attack in the Ruy Lopez. 6 . . . b5 7 Bb3 0.0 8 c3 d5 9 d3 Bb7 10 Nbd2 Re8 11 a3 Bf8 12 Ba2 Nb8 The opening of this is very similar to Short — Hubner, Manila 1990, except that, in that case, the German grandmaster played his knight to a5 instead of b8. 13 Rel Nbd7 14 Nn c5 15 exd5 Bxd5 16 Bxd5 NxdS 17 Bd2 g6 18 Radl Bg7 Black's position is satisfac- tory, his only weaknesses being a slight sensitiv- ity on the light squares. Nigel now sets about exploiting this with great gusto, the first step being an advance of his 'h' pawn to undermine the squares around the black king. 19 h4 Nf8 20 h5 Qd7 21 hxg6 hxg6 22 Qe4 Rac8 23 Qh4 f6 24 Ng3 Ne6 25 Ne4 Kf7 26 Qg4 Re7 27 c4 Nb6 28 Ba5 Rc6 29 Bxb6 Rxb6 30 Nh4 Nf8 31 Q13 Rc6 32

Nc3 Rd6 33 Nd5 Re8 34 Qg3 RxdS A reasonable- looking exchange sacrifice to eliminate White's dominating knight but Black never really obtains full compensation. 35 cxd5 QxdS 36 b4 cxb4 37 axb4 Bh6 38 Qf3 Rd8 39 Qe4 Qd6 40 g3 Bg7 41 Ral Qxd3 42 Qxd3 Rxd3 43 Rxa6 Rb3 44 Rcl Rxb4 5 Rc7+ Kg8 46 Ra8 Rg4 47 Kh2 f5 48 Rb7 Ra4 49 Rab8 Ra6 50 RxbS Kf7 51 R8b7+ Kf6 52 Nf3 e4 53 Ne5 Ne6 54 Rd5 Kg5 55 Nf7+

Kh5 56 Kg2 Bd4 57 Rb4 Bf6 58 Rxe4 (Diagram) 58 . . . Ng5 Were it not for the fact that Black's position is already technically lost, this blunder, allowing checkmate in one move, might have qualified as an additional effect of sunspots (see my article of 16 May) 59 Rh4 mate.

Seirawan — Short: Amsterdam 1992; Queen's Gambit Declined.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 104 0-0 6 e3 c5 7 dxc5 BxcS 8 Qc2 Nc6 9 a3 Qa5 10 Rdl The game which essentially eliminated Nigel from the last world championship cycle was the third game of his 1988 match with Speelman. In that encounter White won brilliantly after 10 0-0-0. Since then Nigel has devoted enormous effort to preparing against the 5 Bf4 Queen's Gambit and Position after 58 Rxe4 he was armed to the teeth when he came to face Seirawan. 10 . . . Be7 11 Nd2 e5 12 Nb3 Qb6 13 Bg5 Be6 An amazing idea which at first sight looks unplayable. It seeks to improve on 13 . . . Bg4 which Nigel played against Kamsky at Tilburg last year. 14 Na4 Now we see it. The apparently lethal 14 Bxf6 is met by the intermez- zo 14 . . . dxc4. 14 . . . Qa6 After the game 15 NacS BxcS 16 cxd5 Bb4+ 17 Nd2 was now recommended for White. 15 cxd5 Qxa4 16 Bxf6 If 16 dxe6 Rac8 leaves White bereft of good

Position after 16 . . . Nb4/1 moves. 16 . . . Nb4!! (Diagram) Without paus- ing to recapture, Nigel hurls a devastating thunderbolt from an only partially threatening sky. This kind of sudden dynamic resource, combined with his new treatment for White in the Ruy Lopez, makes me feel that Nigel's style is resembling ever more closely that of the great Alekhine. If White accepts the Greek gift with 17 axb4 then 17 . . . Bxb4+ 18 Ke2 Rac8 19 Qd3 Bd7 planning . . . Bb5 and . . . gxf6, when White is utterly disorganised. 17 Qe4 Rac8 The threat of . . . Nc2+ obliges White to accept the sacrifice. 18 axb4 Bxb4+ 19 Ke2 If 19 Nd2 Bxd2+ wins White's (peen. 19 . . . Qx113 20 Bxe5 If 20 dxe6 fxe6 with the horrible threat of . . . Rc2+. This, of course, prevents White's marooned bishop at f6 from escaping. 20 . . • Rc4 21 Rd4 Rxd4 22 Qxd4 Bxd5 White resigns White has not even managed to keep any extra material and with his king and queen his best developed pieces he has no defence to Black's multiple threats such as . . . 0c2+ or . . . Rd8.