Chess
Age v youth
Raymond Keene Last Saturday the final of the Candi- dates' matches between Kasparov and Smyslov started up in in Vilnius, the capital of Soviet Lithuania, where Smyslov, at age 62, concedes a full 40 years to his fiery Young opponent. In fact, Smyslov was deposed from his position as world cham- pion in 1958, five years before Kasparov Was born. Most of the predictions in- evitably envisage a slaughterous result, with kaSparov winning four or so games, while Conceding no losses, but Smyslov should take heart from the recent performance of the mega-veteran, Sammy Reshevsky, who at age 73 has just won the Reykjavik Inter- national. Nevertheless, statistics look bleak for the ex-world champion — there is an enormous disparity in Elo ratings and in the three games they have previously contested, Smyslov has scored a meagre half-point.
Here, as a preview, are Kasparov's two wins:
Kasparov — Smyslov: USSR Team 1981; Ruy Lopez.
1 e4 e5 2 N13 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 g6 5 d4 exd4 6 c3 Bg7 6 ... dxc3 7 Nxc3 Bg7 8 Bg5 Nce7 9 0-Q gives White plenty of compensation for the pawn. 7 cxd4 b5 8 Bc2 d6 9 d5 Ne5 10 NxeS dxe5 11 a4 Bd7 12 Be3 Nf6 13 0-0 0-0 14 Qd2 Ne8 A better chance is 14 .. . c6 15 Bc5 Re8. 15 Bc5 Nd6 16 axb5 Bxb5 17 Rel Qd7 18 Nei RIbS 19 b4 Bf8 20 Qg5 Qe7 21 Qe3 Qf6 22 Bd3 Bxd3 23 Qxd3 N65 Losing a pawn, but the weakling on a6 Position after 24 Nxb5 looks doomed anyway. 24 Nxb5 (Diagram) axb5 (24 ... Rxb5 25 QxbS axb5 26 RxaS wins) 25 Rxa8 RxaS 26 QxbS Qa6 27 Qxa6 Rxa6 28 g4 Bd6 29 b5 Ra8 30 Bxd6 cad6 31 b6 Rb8 32 Rbl Kf8 33 Kfl Ke7 34 Keg g5 35 Kd3 Kd7 36 Kc4 Re8 + 37 Kb5 Rc2 38 Ral Rb2 + 39 Ka6 Black resigns.
Fine technique, but in the next game from the same event there was no need for a technical phase.
Smyslov — Kasparov: Queen's Indian/ Hedgehog.
1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 Nf6 3 g3 b6 4 Bg2 B67 5 0-0 e6 6 Nc3 Be7 7 b3 0-0 8 Bb2 d6 9 e3 Nbd7 10 d4 a6 11 Qe2 Ne4 12 Rfdl Qb8 13 Nxe4 Bxe4 14 Ne5 An exchanging continuation which backfires. The humble 14 Nel looks level. 14 ... Bxg2 15 Nxd7 Qb7 16 NxfS Bf3 17 Qd3 Rxf8 18 Rd2 f5 19 Rel Qc8 20 Qc3? White can equalise with 20 dxc5 bxc5 21 e4! fxe4 22 Rxe4 e5 23 Re3 e4 24 Rxe4 Qh3 25 Qxf3 Rxf3 26 Rxe7 1117 27 Re8 + Rf8 28 Rel etc ... 20 ... Rf6 21 a3 Qe8 22 dxc5 Position after 22 dxc5 (Diagram) Qh5 23 h4 Qg4 24 Kh2 bxc5 25 Rh 1 Rg6 26 Kg! Bxh4 27 Qa5 h6 White resigns.
Watch out for the BBC 2 programmes on the match. Further detailed information about the finalists is contained in two
outstanding books, Gary Kasparov's My Games and V. Smyslov's My Best Games (published by Batsford and Pergamon respectively).
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