CHESS
Short shrift
Raymond Keene
CLEARLY STUNG by his fall in compara- tive British rankings, Nigel Short has struck back with one of the best performances of his career. By winning the Keres Memorial tournament in Estonia with a two-point margin over his nearest rival, Short matched the shared victory achieved by Adams in the Dortmund tournament which I reported on last week. Apart from his enormous score, Short also excelled in the vivacity and general vigour of his ideas, as witnessed, for example, by the following game against a notorious drawing master.
Short—Andersson: Keres Memorial, Pamul Tallinn 1998; Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 It is interesting to see how Short has matured and broadened his style. Once exclu- sively an e4 player, he now occasionally employs 1 d4. The most illustrious victim of this trend has been Anatoly Karpov. 1 ...Nf6 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nf3 e6 5 Bg5 Nbd7 The sharpest variations occur after 5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 Bh4 g5, but one would hardly expect such a berserk vari- ation from as committed a pacifist as Ulf Andersson. 6 e3 Qa5 The key move of the Cam- bridge Springs variation, in which Black tries to solve his openings problems by intensifying a pin against White's queen's knight. In future play, if given the opportunity, Black will operate with such moves as ...Bb4 and ... Ne4. 7 cxd5 exd5 But this recapture runs counter to Black's entire strategy in the Cambridge Springs variation. The consistent course, naturally, is to respond with 7 ...Nxd5, accelerating the pressure against White's knight on c3. This would lead to a war of movement with chances for both sides. Ulf Andersson is without doubt a great master of the game and a testimony to his prowess is the fact that in 1984 he was invited to play on top board for the global team in the second USSR v. Rest of the World match. However, one of Anders- son's weaknesses is a reluctance to enter critical openings variations. After his poor choice of recapture on 45 he finds himself in a standard version of the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, but one in which his queen is simply misplaced. 8 Bd3 Bd6 9 Qc2 0-0 10 0-0 Re8 11 a3 h6 12 Bh4 Qd8 The reductio ad absurdum of Black's opening play. He has now lost two tempi to reach a known variation. 13 Rael Be7 Black's timidity knows no bounds. He now sacrifices a further tempo merely to chal- lenge the force of White's bishop on the h4-d8 diagonal. 14 Bg3 Setting the trap 14 ... Nh5 15 Nxd5 Nxg3 16 Nxe7+ or in this 15 ...cxd5 16 Bc7 winning Black's queen. 14 ...Nf8 15 h3 Be6 16 Ne5 N6d7 17 f4 Nb6 18 f5 Bd7 19 e4 Given Black's pusillanimous defence Short launches a direct assault. 19 ... dxe4 20 Rxe4 Bf6 (Diagram)
21 Nxf7 A massive strike against the weakest point in Black's camp. Black has wasted so much time that it is scarcely surprising that an incur- sion of this nature is possible. 21 ... Kxf7 22 Qb3+ Ne6 23 Rfel Nd5 24 Nxd5 cxd5 25 QxdS Be6 Black has fought back making the best use of those poor weapons available to him. Now White could have traded queens on d8 since after 26 Qxd8 Nxd8 27 Bc4+ White's attack flares with renewed vigour. However, after 26 Qxd8 Raxd8 27 fxe6+ Ke7 Black can still resist. For this reason Short prefers to invest further material in the interests of pursuing his onslaught against the black king. 26 fxe6+ Kg8 27 Qf5 Bxe4 28 Bxe4 Qxd4+ 29 Bf2 Qd6 30 Qh7+ ICf8 31 Bg6 (Diagram) The dual threats of
Position after 31 Bg6
Bxe8 and Qh8+ now ensure that White moves materially ahead. If, for example, 31 ... Rec8 32 e7+ Bxe7 33 Qh8 mate. So Black must swallow his pride and run for cover. 31 ...Ke7 32 Bxe8 Rxe8 33 Qe4 Rc8 34 Qxb7+ Rc7 35 Qe4 Bxb2 36 Bh4+ g5 37 Qh7+ Kd8 38 Qg8+ Ke7 39 Bf2 Bc3 The conclusion to this game has all the signs of being played out in a desperate mutual time scramble. 40 Qf7+ Kd8 41 Qg8+ Ke7 42 Re4 Bd2 43 g3 Black resigns Having passed the time control Black was able to survey the wreckage of his position and draw the appropriate conclu- sion.
Keres Memorial TallinnIPamu, Final Crosstable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2. Adianto
1. Short 1;2 '/2 111/2211i/221v/22 11/2 1/12 11/2 11/2 11 57 '/2 1/2 * 1/21/21/2 1/21/21/2 1 5
3. Khalifman
1/2 1/2 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 5
4. Morovic
1/2 1/2 1/21/2 * I/2 1/2 J/2 1/2 1/2 41/2
5. Yermolinsky
o 1/2 1/2 '/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 41/2
6. Lautier
0 '/2 1 / 2 1 / 2 1 /2 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 1 4 1 /2
7. Andersson
0 1/2 1 / 2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 * 1 '/2 4 8.011 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 * 1 4
9. Ehlvest
0 0 0 0 1/2 '/2 0 I/2 0* 11/2
10. Seeman
1 represents a win, Ilia draw and 0 a loss
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