CHESS
Into Europe
Raymond Keene
The European Team Championship ended in a further success for Russia, after their Olympic gold at Manila earlier this year. Kasparov and Kramnik proved an unstoppable force, making a colossal score between them. In second place were the Ukraine, while England finished third, conforming to the pre-event seeding. Not a brilliant result, but perfectly satisfactory considering that three members of the team, Speelman, Nunn and Miles, seemed relatively out of form.
The heroes of the English squad were undoubtedly Nigel Short and Michael Adams. At one point Adams had 5/5 while Nigel won no fewer than three games with black against Vaganian, Nikolic and Hulak. This is an extraordinary achieve- ment and augurs well for his forthcoming Candidates Final against Jan Timman which starts on 10 January in El Escorial near Madrid.
Minasian — Adams: European Team Cham- pionship, Armenia — England, Debrecen, November 1992: Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack.
1 b3 e5 Bb2 Nc6 3 e3 d6 4 Bb5 Bd7 5 Ne2 White's opening is unusual, but in the hands of Bent Larsen it has claimed many victims. 5 . . . a6 6 Bxc6 Bxc6 7 0-0 Qg5! An excellent move, one hitherto ignored by theory. White is driven into a passive position, for if 8 Ng3 h5 9 f4 C1%6 with the dangerous threat of . . . 14. 8 f3 A horrible move to have to make, but it seems unavoid- able. 8 . . . Nt'6 9 c4 d5 Nbc3 0-0-011 a4 White is playing with fire, neglecting his development. 11 . . . dxc4 12 bxc4 Bc5 Black's play in this game reminds me of Boris Spassky at his best. After this brutally direct move the ghastly truth dawns on White that 13 Qc1 would be refuted by 13 . . . Rxd2 14 Qxd2 Bxe3+ winning. 13 KM Bxe3 14 Bel Bxd2 The upshot of White's inferior handling of the late opening is that Black has
won two pawns. White now launches a counter- attack with an ingenuity born of desperation. 15 Nb5 Kb8 16 Ned4 Bxcl 17 Nxc6+ bxc6 18 Qb3 This attack could be dangerous, even though it is essentially unsound. Nevertheless, Black's posi- tion must be handled with great accuracy, since his king is exposed. I have seen many lesser players than Adams fall foul of diabolical swindles in such situations in the past, but the young Truro grandmaster handles the following complications with superb aplomb. 18 . . . cxb5 19 axb5 Qe3 20 Qa4 Bb2 21 Qxa6 Bxal White's threats appear to have reached serious propor- tions, and this might be considered going a rook too far. Adams, though, has seen his way through to the final and conclusive banishing of Position after 22 Rxal
White's offensive. 22 Rxal (Diagram) Black's next move must have come as a horrible surprise to Minasian but Adams probably foresaw it when he played his 19th move. 22 . . . Rdl+ A brilliant deflection of White's rook from his attacking post on the a file. This is the key move that allows Adams to escape unscathed with his booty. 23 Rxdl Qa7 24 Qc6 Qb6 The rest is very easy. 25 c5 Qxc6 26 bxc6 Re8 27 g4 h6 28 h4 g5 29 hxg5 hxg5 30 Kg2 Kc8 White resigns. In the same last round match Nigel won a hair-raising defensive masterpiece which more or less defies rational analysis.
Vaganian — Short: European Team Cham- pionship, Armenia — England, Debrecen, November 1992; Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e3 0-0 6 Rcl b6 7 cxd5 NxdS 8 NxdS exd5 9 Bxe7 Qxe7 10 Bd3 c6 11 Ne2 Bbl 12 Ng3 Nd7 13 Nf5 Qf6 14 Qg4 Rfd8 15 h4 Nf8 16 Qg5 QxgS 17 hxg5 Rd7 18 f4 RadS 19 Kd2 Rc7 20 b4 Ne6 21 Rh4 c5 22 Rchl h6 23 bxc5 bxc5 Clearly concerned that 24 gxh6 g6 followed by . . . cxd4 would release Black's game, Vaganian now proceeds to stir up a witches' cauldron of unfathomable complica- tions. 24 Nxh6+ gxh6 25 Rxh6 NIB 26 f5 f6 27 Rxf6 c4 28 Bc2 c3+ 29 Keg Rg7 30 g6 Rc7 31 g4 Bch 32 g5 Rb8 33 Kf3 Rcc8 34 Bb3 Rxb3 35 axb3 Bb5 36 e4 c2 37 Rcl Rc3+ 38 Kf4 dxe4 39 Rr e3 40 Rb7 a6 41 Rb8 Bd3 42 d5 Rc5 43 Ke5 Rb5 „ Position after 46 . . . e2 Rd8 Rxb3 45 Rhl Rb6 46 Rc8 e2 (Diagram) The crisis has been reached, passed pawns are landing everywhere like armies of Space Invad- ers. Vaganian's next throw looks dangerous but it is thwarted by a sacrificial decoy, similar to that adopted by Adams in the previous game. 47 f6 Bxg6 48 Rc7 e1Q+ 49 Rxel Rbl 50 Re3 clQ 51 Rxcl Rxcl 52 Ra3 Rgl 53 Rxa6 Rxg5+ 54 Kd4 Kf7 White resigns.
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