.C.DD1 ) :41,1113 CHESS

• ;Dry rift

SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA

Short of time

Raymond Keene

THERE HAVE BEEN three players in the world championship at the Savoy Theatre, Kasparov, Short and the two- faced chess clock. Every game has seen time pressure, with both champion and challenger racing to beat the clock, desper- ately seeking to complete their allotted 40 moves before the clock flag, signifying the termination of their two hours thinking time, finally falls.

Nigel has had his chances in the first week of play, plenty of them, but lime's winged chariot', the clock, that merciless enemy of considered thought, has struck him down twice. Firstly, a fatal blow in the opening game, when Nigel lost on time with one move still to make. Then, in game two, Nigel's advantage evaporated in the time scramble, while in game three, Nigel escaped past the time control but, en route, missed a vital check which could well have saved half a point.

The root cause in the two lost games has been the champion's superior opening strategy. In seeking to escape the coils of Kasparov's habitual opening advantage, when Kasparov is playing with White, Nigel has run himself perilously short of time. When the chances come, he has not had the time time to exploit them.

Kasparov — Short: Times World Championship, London, 7 September, Game 1; Ruy Lopez.

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Ref b5 7 Bb3 0-0 Short's intention was apparen- ty to play the Marshall Gambit, which he has used at the highest level in previous games. 8 a4 Sidestepping the Marshall. Perhaps it will sur- face in a later game. 8 . . . b4 In game three Short varied from this with 8 . . . Bb7. 9 d3 d6 10 aS Be6 11 Nbd2 Rb8 12 Bc4 Qc8 13 Nfl Re8 14 Ne3 Nd4? Much stronger is 14 . . . Bxc4 followed by . . . Nd8. The text is based on a miscalculation. 15 Nxd4 exd4 16 Nd5 NxdS 17 exd5 Bd7 Short's plan had been to play 17 . . Bg4 but only now did he notice that this is refuted by 18 Bxa6 Bxdl 19 Bxc8 Bxc2 20 Bd7 with a decisive gain of material. 18 Bd2 Bf6 19 Rxe8+ Bxe8 20 Qe2 Bb5 21 Rel The upshot of the opening is that White totally controls the 'e' file. 21 . . . Bxc4 22 dxc4 h6 23 b3 c5 After this Black is left with a very weak pawn on d6 but otherwise his own pawn on b4 would remain a serious weakness. 24 Bf4 Qd7 25 h3 Rd8 26 Qe4 h5 27 Re2 g6 28 Q0 Bg7 29 Re4 Reversing the position of queen and rook on the 'e' file and thus preparing Re7 with deadly effect. 29 . . . Bf8 30 Qe2 Qc7 31 Bg5 Rc8 32 g4 Both players were extremely short of time, but it was Nigel Short who was in graver peril. Both players had to complete 40 moves within two hours, other- wise they faced forfeit by time. 32 . . . hxg4 33 Bf6? I have seen Kasparov do this before, seek to confuse opponents in a time scramble, rather than play the best move. 33 . . . gxh3 Short grabs everything in his rush to beat the clock. 34 Qg4 Ra8? Black misses a draw with 34 . . . Bg7 35 Re7 Bxf6 36 Rxc7 Rxc7. 35 Qxh3 Bg7 36 Bxg7 Kasparov should have played instead 36 Re7. For example 36 . . . QxaS 37 Rxf7 Kxf7 38 Qe6+ Kf8 39 Qe7+ Kg8 40 Qxg7 checkmate.

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Alteatively 36 Re7 Qc8 37 Qxc8+ Rxc8 38 Bxg7 Kxg7 39 Rd7 with a winning rook and pawn endgame. 36 . . . Kxg7 37 Rh4 Rg8 38 Rh7+ Kasparov offered a draw but Short ignored him and made a move. 38 ... Kf8

Final position

Qg4 Ke8 (Diagram) With his clock flag hanging, Short hesitated agonisingly before making his move. A split second after, his flag fell. Result, a loss on time with one move still to make. Tragic. After the game Kasparov claimed that he could draw with 40 Qe6+ but after 40 . . . fxe6 41 Rxc7 exd5 42 cxd5 Rf8 43 Rc6 Rf3 44 Rxa6 Rc3 45 Rxd6 Rxc2 46 Kfl d3 47 Kel c4 48 bxc4 b3 49 Rb6 b2 Black wins. Without this bogus resource, Kasparov is simply a pawn down with a mis- placed rook and no shelter for his king. Short only has to ferry his king over to the queenside, when he would be virtually certain of a win.

Short — Kasparov: Times World Championship, Game 2; Sicilian Defence.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 Nc6 7 Qd2 e6 8 0-0-0 Bd7 9 f4 h6 10 Bh4 g5 Apparently giving up a pawn, but the point is to gain control of e5 for a black knight and, as we shall see, White's extra pawn cannot be re- tained. 11 fxg5 Ng4 12 NO hxg5 13 Bg3 Be7 14 Be2 White cannot capture the pawn on d6 because after 14 Bxd6 Bxd6 15 Qxd6 Nf2 Black forks the white rooks and wins the exchange. 14 . . . Nge5 15 Kbl b5 16 Rdfl The first new move. 16 . . . Rc8 17 Nxe5 Nxe5 18 Rf2 f6 Although this overprotects the black knight on e5, it leaves the black king somewhat open to attack. 19 Rhfl Bc6 20 a3 Bb7 21 h3 Nc4 Kasparov was worried about plans based on Qd1 and Bh5+ , so he hastened to force White to exchange his aggres- sive light-squared bishop. 22 Bxc4 Rxc4 23 Qd3 e5 Black's pawn formation is beginning to look like a Swiss cheese, full of holes. 24 Re2 Qc8 25 Rf5 Perhaps indicating an overly respectful attitude towards the world champion. Short wanted to play 25 Bf2 but was deterred by the possibility of 25 . . . f5 26 exf5 Bxg2. This course, however, looks extremely risky. 25 . . . Rxc3 Kasparov's sacrifice of rook for knight gives Black a temporary initiative and wrecks White's pawn structure, even though long term White's prospects are probably somewhat bet- ter. 26 bxc3 Qe6 27 Kb2 Kd7 28 Rfl Qc4? Kasparov wasprompted to make this move, which virtually forces the exchange of queens, in order to create a situation where Black's moves would be easy to find and thus survive his horrible time trouble. 29 Qxc4 bxc4 30 Ka2 White wants to occupy the 'b' file with a rook. However, his king move is not the best way to do this. 30 . . . Bc6 31 Rbl Bd8 32 Rb8 Re8 33 Bf2 Ba5 34 Rxe8 KxeS 35 Kb2 Kf7 36 Ba7 Ke6 37 g4? After the game it was widely held that White should have played 37 g3 with the plan of h4, if he wanted to retain serious winning prospects. Kasparov — Short: Times World Championship, game 3; Ruy Lopez.

1 e4 e5 2 NO Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Rel 135 7 Bb3 0-0 8 a4 Bb7 Trying to improve on the 8 . . . b4 of game one. 9 d3 Re8 10 Nbd2 Bf8 11 c3 h6 12 Ba2 d6 13 Nh4 White could have played 13 axb5 axb5 14 Qb3 Qd7 15 QxbS Ba6 16 Bxf7+ followed by Rxa6. The point of the text is to try to seize the bishop pair and Black should probably have prevented this with the defensive 13 . . . Ne7. 13 . . . Qd7 14 Ng6 Ne7 15

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NxfS K 16 White has emerged from the opening with a superb position. The text move is strategically excellent, in that it radically reduces the perspective of Black's flanchettoed queen's bishop. 16 . . . Rad8 17 b4 Ng6 18 Nb3 Bc8 19 Bbl Nh5 20 axb5 axb5 21 Be3 Nh4 Nigel was again becoming critically short of time, but Kasparov was not much better off on the clock. Short's idea is to randomise the position and throw everything into a blitz offensive against the white king. 22 Ra2 Re6 23 d4 Rg6 24 Kh 1 Re8 25 dxe5 Rxe5 26 g4 An excellent move. Instead, the apparently tempting 26 f4 would have been wrong, since Black coud then sacri- fice, and possibly even win. 26 . . . Rf6 27 Bd4? Kasparov had overlooked Short's next coup. This seems to win a rook, but the simplest is 27 Nd4 Nf4 28 Nf5, when Black is completely surrounded. 27 . Ng3+ After the dramatic events of the last few moves the audience in the Savoy Theatre was gasping in amazement, as the cascade of black pieces sacrificed themselves against the world champion's king. 28 hxg3 Nxf3 29 BxeS Qxg4 30 Rh2 Nxel 31 Qxel Not 31 Qxg4 Rfl checkmate. We now reach the crucial moment. Once again, with his clock flag hanging Nigel misses a vital move. He had to play 31 . . . 0f3+. Here are some sample variations: 32 Kg 1 dxe5 33 Rd2 Bh3 34 Nc5 Rg6 35 Kh2 Qh5 36 Kgl Qf3. Instead of 33 Rd2 White can play 33 Ncl , with the idea of playing Net to defend the white king. In that case, though, Black has an active position and two pawns for his knight, in other words plenty of compensation. 31 . dxe5 32 Nd2 Rd6 33 Bc2 Be6 34 Kgl Kg8 35 Nfl Qg5 36 Qe3 36 Rd2 is more accurate but Kasparov was also short of time, although less so than Nigel. Short now misses a better opportun- ity to make a draw, namely 36 . . . Qxe3+ 37 Nxe3 Rc6 38 Ndl Bg4 39 Rd2 Bxdl 40 Rxd1 Rxc3 when, with three pawns for a knight, Black, although he still has to struggle, at least has a material equivalent. 36 . . . Qd8 37 Rd2 38 Rxd6 Qxd6 It is clear that Kasparov has survived Short's attack, and now has the advan- tage in the endgame. Short's compensation of two pawns is probably inadequate for White's extra knight. 39 Qc5 Qxc5+ 40 bxc5 h5 41 Nd2 Kf8 42 Kf2 Ke7 43 Bb3 Bd7 There is still some hope of a draw. Nigel should have played 43 . . . Bg4. If then 44 Nf3 Bxf3 45 Kxf3 g5, followed by . . . g4. Here Black has his fortress and I do not see how to break through. 44 NO Kf6 45 c4 bxc4 46 Bxc4 Be6 47 Be2 Bg4 48 Bdl g6 49 Ba4 Bd7 50 Nel Ke6 51 Bb3+ Ke7 52 Nd3 f6 53 Nb4 f5 54 Ba4 fxe4 55 Bxc6 Bxc6 56 Nxc6+ Ke6 57 Ke3 85 58 Kxe4 h4 59 gxh4 Black resigns.

Latest: Nigel Short has lost Game 4 and now trails 1/2-31/2. However, I can understand that this might have appeared too risky and committal a decision, especially just before the time control. 37 . . . Bd8 38 Kcl Be7 39 Re3 d5 40 exd5+ Kxd5 41 Kb2 Ke6? 42 Bb6 Bd6 43 h4 gxh4 44 Rh3 e4 45 Rxh4 Bf4 46 Rh3 Bg5 47 Bd4 a5 48 Rh2 a4 49 39 Rhl Bd7 50 Rh2 Kd5 51 Rh5 Draw agreed The draw is now clear. After 51 . . . Bxg4 52 Rxg5+ fxg5 53 Be3 White captures the black pawn on g5 and the endgame with bishops moving on opposite coloured squares is totally drawn.