Chess
Match rules
David Levy
The last of the Candidates' quarter-finals has finally ended with Spassky's victory in the second, two-game minf-match. Spassky will now meet Portisch in one semi-final while Polugayevsky will play Korchnoy in the other, and Ray Keene will be Korchnoy's second for this important encounter.
On his way home from Reykjavik, Vlastimil Hort visited me for a few days and told me exactly what he thought of the system under which the Candidates' matches are organised. 'It is really terrible. We must train for three or four months before the match and then we have to play sixteen games or maybe even more. Why is it necessary? The spectators do not want it — they are happy just to see how the match is going and if it ends after ten games or twenty it is just the same for them. The organisers do not like it because they cannot know how long the match will last and in Iceland, for example, they probably lost money.
'Of course if Fischer was playing then we would put up with any system of rules, but without Fischer it is ridiculous what FIDE is doing with these rules. In the same time that we played this match and prepared for it we could have played in three nice tournaments without any unpleasant effects on our nervous system. Why do we not just play ten games, and then if it is 5-5 we toss a coin just like in the World Cup?' The way in which the Spassky-Hort
match ended was a Grandmaster's nightmare. Hort reached a crushing position in which he could have forced Spassky's immediate resignation in two different ways. With half a minute or more on his clock for the last six moves before the time control, Hort., sat entranced at the thought that the match was his. He completely forgot about the clock and lost on time. After this disaster' he was shattered and even though he had the advantage in the sixteenth and final gamc of the match,
Hort was unable to pull back.
To console himself after the match Hort broke the world simultaneous record by playing 550 opponents in 24 hours and 20 minutes, scoring 477 wins, 63 draws and only 10 losses.
Here is his fateful game against Spassky with notes by• Hort specially for the Spectator.
Spassky-Hort: Queen's Indian Defence. 1 P-Q4 N-KB3 2 P-QB4 P-K3 3 N-KB3 P-QN3 4 P-K3 B-N2 S B-Q3 P-Q4 60-0 B-K2 7 P-QN3 0-08 B-N2 QN-Q2 9 N-83 P-B4 10 Q-K2 R-BI More usual is 10. . . BPxP, followed by. . . R-K1, but probably
best is 10 • Q-B2 and then . . QR-Q1, since later on the OR must move to 01 anyway. 11 QR-B1 Q-B2 12 KR-Q1 KR-K! 13 BPxP KPxP 14 B B5 P N3 15 B-KR3 R(QB1)-Q1 16 N-QR4 N-K5 Threatening to cut the bishop out of the game by . P-B4. 17 BxN QxB 18 N-K5 Q-B2 19 PxP PxP 20 P-B3 N-B3 21 N-Q3 P-B5 22 N(Q3)-B5 B-B3 23 B-Q4 If White tries to win a pawn by 23 PxP PxP 24 RxR RxR 25 QxP BxN(R5) 26 NxB, Black can force a draw by 26 . . . R-Q8ch 27 K-B2 R-Q7ch etc, and at this point Spassky was playing for a win. 23. . . B-N4 24 Q-KB2 N-Q2 25 NxN BxN(Q2) 26 N-B3 B-KB4 27 P-K4 Better was 27 PxP QxBP, when Black is only marginally better and the game should be drawn. 27. . . PxKP 28 NxP BxN 29 PxB P-B6! A very strong move which Spassky overlooked. 30 R-B1 If 30 R-Q3 B-N5 31 Q-B6 RxB! 32 RxR B-B4 33 RxP RxP, and Black is winning. 30 . . . B-N5! Threatening 31 . RxB or 31 . . . RxP. 31 BxRP The only move was 31 K-Rl but then comes 31 . . . RxP 32 B-B6 R(1)-K1, and Black is a.good pawn up. 31 . . . R-Q7 32 Q-K3 Of course if 32 OxR QxBch 33 Q-B2 B-B4. 32 . . . R-R1! 33 B-N6 Q-Q2 Threatening simply 34 . R(R1)xP. 34 P-QR4 P-B7 With many threats, including 35 . . . Q-N5, and 35 . . . B-R6. 35 B-B5 Now I can win immediately with 35 . . . Q-N5, and if .36 P-N3 Q-R6 or if 36 R-B2 RxR 37 KxR BxB 38 QxB Q-B5ch and 39 .. . OAR. Also winning is 35 . BxB 36 QxB Q-N5 37 R-82 R-Q8ch 38 R-B1 RxR(QB8) 39 RxR Q-Q8ch. But instead of playing one of these simple wins I lost on time.
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