CHESS
David and Goliath
Raymond Keene
THE final day of the Mind Sports Olympiad at London's Olympia Conference Centre was enlivened, to put it mildly, when eight-year-old David Howell defeated the senior grandmaster Dr John Nunn. What followed was described by the Independent as 'a total media meltdown'. Hordes of photographers descended on Olympia, David's photograph dominated the front page of the Times the next day, and even the Sun wrote a substantial fea- ture about the new prodigy. On returning home after the event, one Spanish journal- ist, Leontxo Garcia of El Pais, was prompt- ly ordered by his editor to return to London to interview the young hero.
Here, then, is that historic game, with the youngest ever competitor to win against a grandmaster in a formal competition.
Nunn—Howell: Mind Sports Olympiad, London 1999; Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 N13 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3 A quiet but still dangerous method of conducting the Ruy Lopez. It might be considered particu- larly appropriate against a relatively inexperi- enced opponent, unfamiliar with the strategic nuances of the Lopez. 5 ... b5 6 B133 Be7 7 0-0 0-0 8 Nbd2 d6 9 c3 Now that Black has protected his e-pawn White plans an escape route for his bish- op against the threat of ... Na5. 9 ... Na5 10 Bc2 c5 11 Rel Re8 12 Nfl Bf8 Standard manoeuvres in the Ruy Lopez, but the patience displayed by the eight-year-old is impressive. 13 Ng3 g6 14 Bg5 Bg7 15 Qd2 Bb7 16 h4 h5 17 Radl Nc6 18 a3 Rc8 19 Bbl Na5 Here White has the chance to maintain the slight edge he has been nursing from the early opening. The critical thing is to reactivate his bishop along the a2-g8 diagonal, but the question is how to achieve this? The right way is 20 b4 cxb4 21 axb4 Nc6 22 Ba2 with fur- ther threats of converging on the black king's fortress by means of Bh6 and Ng5. After 20 b4 Nc6 21 Ba2 the picture has not changed vety much while again after 20 b4 the desperate sortie 20 ...Nb3 is easily parried by 21 Qb2 c4 22 Ba2 when Black starts to lose material. 20 Ba2 Having missed his chance, Nunn now discovers that Black's position can become full of vitality. Howell's next move ensures that White's king's bishop stays out of the game for some time to come. 20 ... c4 21 d4 exd4 22 cxd4 Superficially attractive but 22 Nxd4 is stronger. 22 ...Qb6 23 d5 Ng4 24 Nd4 Ne5 25 Bbl Nb3 26 Nxb3 cxb3 27 Be3 Qd8 28 Bg5 Qb6 True, Black has a weak pawn on b3, and his bishop on b7 is locked out of play. In spite of these defects, Black's pieces are actively ,placed and the wisest thing now for White would have been to tacitly agree to a draw by means of 29 Be3 Qd8 30 Bg5. In seeking to extract more from the position and in particular, trying to round up the weakling on b3, the grand- master overlooks a vital tactic. 29 Qe3 Qxe3 30 Rxe3 Nc4 31 Rxb3 Nxb2 32 Rd Rxcl+ 33 Bxcl Nc4 34 Bd3? In order to stay in the game White now had to play 34 Bf4. 34 ... BxdS A horrible surprise, winning a pawn in broad daylight. 35 exd5 Acquiescing in Black's plans,
but White is pinning his hopes on the fact that endgames with bishops of opposite colours tend to be quite drawish. 35 Rel+ 36 Kh2 Rxcl 37 Ne4 Ne5 38 Be2 And not 38 Nxd6 Nxd3 39 Rxd3 Be5+ expanding Black's material gains. 38 ...Nd7 39 g3 Be5 40 Kg2 Nc5 41 NxcS R=5 By playing instead 41 ... dxc5 Black would ensure an easier victory given his mobile mass of queen- side pawns. It is clear though that Howell did not want to grant his mighty opponent even the ves- tige of a countcrchance, such as a passed d- pawn. 42 Rd3 Rc3 43 Kf3 Rxd3+ 44 Bxd3 f5 This ending is extremely difficult for White since so many of his pawns are fixed on vulnerable dark squares and thus can fall easy prey to the black bishop. Meanwhile, White's light-squared bishop finds it virtually impossible to manoeuvre around to the rear to attack the black pawns. 45 Ke2 Kf7 46 K13 Ke7 47 Ke2 Kf7 48 Kf3 Bb2 49 a4 bxa4 50 Bxa6 Kf6 51 Ke2 Ke5 One of the most impressive things about this game is the way in which the eight-year-old, hav- ing first won a pawn, kept his nerve in the endgame and did not throw away the fruits of his previous strategy by over-impatience. 52 Bc4 Kd4 53 Ba2 Kc3 54 Kdl Ba3 55 Ke2 Bel 56 KcIl Kb2 57 Bc4 Bh6 58 Ke2 a3 59 Kd3 a2 60 I3x2 Kxa2 Black's whole conduct of this game was In the style of the young Capablanca: a solid but unsophisticated opening followed by neat tactics and a near-perfect technical exploitation of the advantage thus obtained. 61 Kc4 Bd2 62 KO Bel 63 Kc6 Bxf2 64 Kxd6 Bxg3 + 65 Ke6 Bxh4 66 d6 f4 White resigns
Previous page
