CHESS

Dragon's lair

Raymond Keene

I LEFT the world championship match last week with honours even at the midway stage, Anand having scored a fine win in game nine and Kasparov striking back with some brilliant home-brewed analysis in game ten. Kasparov's victory seems to have knocked the stuffing out of Anand, for in the following week he has collapsed. All the magic seems to have gone out of his ability to maintain the balance of his Indian rope trick, keeping Kasparov at bay for so long. As I write, the once proud rope is a small, twisted pile of string on the floor.

In game 11 Kasparov surprised everyone by switching to the sharp Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defence. Kasparov had never played this before in a serious game and Anand's preparation was inadequate to challenge it seriously. Unwisely turning down a draw in an equal position, Anand fell into a diabolical trap.

Anand—Kasparov: Intel World Champion- ship, 1995, Game 11; Sicilian Defence.

1 ezt c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 NO g6 A brilliant psychological blow. I have always felt that the Dragon Sicilian suited Kasparov's style. It is an aggressive counter-attacking line and in order to play it properly you need to know a vast amount of theory. 6 Be3 Anand was already uncomfortable, doubtless having honed more weapons against Kasparov's habitual 5 a6. He finally chose the text move after quite some thought. 6 ...Bg7 7 f3 0-0 8 Qd2 Nc6 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 0-0-0 Ne5 11 Bb3 Rc8 The Dragon theme is clear. The players castle on opposite sides and will proceed to hack against each other's kings. 12 h4 h5 13 Kbl Nc4 14 Bxc4 Rxc4 15 Nde2 b5 16 Bh6 Anand tries to improve on one of his own games, one which Kasparov of course knew about, where 16 Bd4 e5 17 Be3 b4 got him nowhere. This was Anand—Tiviakov, Tilburg 1992. 16 ... Qa5 17 Bxg7 Kxg7 18 Nf4 Rfc8 19 Ncd5 White sees no alternative but to transpose into a level ending. His own attack is stillborn and Black is already threatening an advanta- geous exchange sacrifice on c3. 19 ...Qxd2 After making this move Kasparov, quite reasonably, offered a draw. 20 Rxd2 Anand spent four min- utes before declining, the first time in this match that either player has knocked back a draw offer. During the subsequent press conference Kaspar- ov drew attention to game 47 of his marathon 1984/85 world championship against ICarpov. Kasparov said during the course of an interview which at times bore the ecstatic overtones of a Roman triumph: 'It gave me pleasant memories of a previous world chess championship game in which I offered Karpov a draw in a level posi- tion. 1Carpov refused and then I went on to win.' 20 ... Nxd5 21 Nxd5 Kf8 It is quite reasonable to defend the e7 pawn, but Kasparov soon starts to complicate the issue by allowing White to take it in certain variations. This kind of psychological play reminds me strongly of Emanuel Lasker. By continually offering bait, Kasparov encouraged Anand to overestimate his own position. 22 Rel Rb8 23 b3 Rc5 24 Nf4 Rbc8 25 Kb2 a5 26 a3 Kg7 Here we have it. Kasparov deliberately removes the protection of his `e' pawn and Anand starts to become excited. 27 Nd5 Be6 28 b4? The New York press centre quite rightly condemned this move. 'Losing the thread,' they said. The right move was to play the immediate 28 Nxe7 when the following variation is forced: 28 ... Re8 29

Nd5 Bxd5 30 b4 axb4 31 axb4 Rc4 32 Rxd5 Rxb4 + 33 Kcl f5 34 Rxd6 fxe4 35 Kd2 when a draw is more or less unavoidable. 28 ... axb4 29 axb4 Rc4 30 Nb6?? (Diagram) Anand completely

Position after 301Vb6??

overlooks the tactical trick that Kasparov had prepared long in advance. By this stage he was obliged to play 30 Nxe7 30 ...Rxh4+ 31 Ka3 Rxc2 As the New York Times put it, 'a monster move'. Black is two clear pawns ahead after either 32 ICxb4 Rxd2 or 32 Ftsc2 Rb3+ 33 ICa2 Re3+ 34 ICb2 Rxel, so White resigned.

After this debacle, there were fears that Anand's morale would collapse entirely, but instead he conducted a fierce rear- guard action in game 12 and salvaged half a point from an unpromising situation.

Kasparov-Anand: Game 12; Ruy Lopez.

1 e4 e5 2 Ni3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 b5 6 Bb3 Bc5 7 a4 Bb7 8 d3 d6 9 Nc3 b4 10 Nd5 Na5 11 Nxf6+ Qxf6 12 Ba2 h6 13 c3 bxc3 14 bxc3 0-0 15 Be3 Rad8 16 Rbl Bc8 17 Qe2 Be6 18 h3 Bxa2 19 Qxa2 Bxe3 20 fxe3 Qe6 21 Qxe6 Exe6 22 Rb4 Rb8 23 Rib! Nc6 24 Rb7 Rbc8 25 Kf2 Rf7 26 Ke2 Reed 27 d4 g5 28 Kd3 Rg7 29 d5 exd5 30 exd5 g4 31 dxc6 e4+ 32 Kxe4 gxf3 33 gxf3 Re7+ 34 Kd4 R3d3 35 e4 Rxh3 36 Rxc7 Rxc7 37 Rb8+ Kf7 38 Rb7 Re7 39 c7 Rxc7 40 Rxc7+ Ke6 41 Ra7 h5 42 Riia6 Rh! 43 Ra8 h4 Draw agreed.

For game 13 Kasparov wheeled out the Dragon yet again. One wonders what Anand and his team of seconds could have been doing with their time since game 11, since their intended improvement was an utter flop. True, the line introduced with Anand's 12th move does not give Black an immediate advantage but it seemed, at most, to promise White chances of equali- ty. Unwilling to acquiesce in the fact that the position was completely equal Anand once again over-reacted. His 19th move betrayed an utter lack of comprehension of the situation and thereafter Kasparov pun- ished him mercilessly for his presumption.

Anand-Kasparov: Game 13; Sicilian.

1 e4 c5 2 NE3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3 Bg7 7 Qd2 Nc6 8 13 0-0 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 h4 h5 11 Bb3 Rc8 12 Nxc6 bxc6 According to conven- tional theory, Anand's 12th move is quite wrong. It strengthens Black's pawn centre and allows him to operate on the newly opened t' file. Nevertheless, the move does have some points to it. 13 Bh6 c5 14 Bc4 A good alternative is 14 Bxg7 Kxg7 15 Qe2 , Madl—S. Farago, Budapest 1989. 14 ... Qb6! A very powerful move and in fact an innovation. The game Tolnai—Watson, Kecskemet 1988 saw 14 ... Rb8 15 0-0-0 Rb4 16 Bb3 Qc7 17 Bxg7 Kxg7 18 a3 Rd4 when, in spite of White's gyrations with his king's bishop White's position is by no means unplayable. Kasparov's key perception in all this is that it is the black queen which belongs on the 'b' file, not the black rook. 15 Bxg7 Kxg7 16 b3 Be6 17 Nd5 Bxd5 18 exd5 e5 18 ... e6 would have invited White to find the correct continuation 19 0-0-0. 19 dxe6? A blunder which releases all of the energy in the black position. After the correct 19 0-0-01 the position is equal. White can always block the black advance ...a5 with a4 (to be fol- lowed by Bb5 and Bc6) while if Black ever moves his knight away from f6 to join in an attack against the white king, then White can immediately stir up trouble with g4. 19 ...d5 White is now pulverised in the centre. He cannot castle into safety, he has no time to develop his rooks and his unfortunate bishop turns into a hunted animal. 20 Be2 c4 A move with global consequences. White's king is prevented from castling on either side of the board. 21 c3? 21 Rdll c3 22 Qd4 fxe6 is excellent for Black, in view of his centre pawns, but it is nothing like a forced win and White woulil have plenty of opportunity to resist. Now Anand is swept away with elemental fury. 21 ...Rce8 (Diagram) 22 a bcde f gh Position after 21 . Rce8 bxc4 Everything is now hopeless. If 22 Qd4 Qxe6 setting up a deadly pin on the `e' file or 22 exf7 Rxf7 23 Rfl Rfe7 24 Rf2 Rxe2+ 25 Rxe2 Qgl mate. Finally, 22 exf7 Rxf7 23 Kdl Rfe7 24 Rel d4 25 cxd4 Nd5 and Black's knight joins the attack in decisive fashion. 22 ...Rxe6 23 Kfl If 23 0-0-0 Rb8 wins. Or if 23 cxd5 Re5 leaves White helpless since 24 0-0-0 can again be met by 24 ...Rb8. 23 ...Rfe8 24 Bd3 dxc4 25 Bxc4 Ne4! White resigns A devastating blow to the jugular, putting the finishing touches to the most overwhelming Black win in a world champi- onship match for over 100 years. If the knight is taken with 26 face4 then 26 ... Rf6+ 27 Kel Rxe4+ 28 Be2 Qf2+ 29 Kd1 Rxe2 30 0Xe2 Rd6+. Alternatively, if White spurns Black's offer with 26 Qel then 26 ...Rd6 27 Rdl Rxd1 28 Qxdl allows a choice of mates by 28 Qf2 or 28 ... Ng3.

In game 14, Arland continued his losing ways, so I expect next week's report will be the final one.

Match Score

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Kasparov 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0

1 1

1/2 1

1 81/2 Anand IA 1/2 it2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 0

1/2 0

05'/2