CHESS
Taimanov strikes
Raymond Keene
1Mosco w n the world championship match here Kasparov, after draws in games 14 and 15, has blasted through with a brilliant win in game 16, which I hope to deal with in detail next week. This puts him one point ahead of Karpov with eight games at most still to play.
Meanwhile, games 12 and 14 have both been fascinating Taimanov Variations of the Sicilian Defence. Mark Taimanov is one of the most famous Soviet Grandmas- ters, a concert pianist of national standard and one of the commentators in the press- room on the current match in Moscow. He is naturally delighted that Kasparov is demonstrating the viability of 'his' varia- tion. Game 12 was especially interesting and Kasparov told me that his gambit in this game was absolutely sound and he was willing to repeat it.
Karpov — Kasparov: Game 12; Sicilian De- fence, Taimanov Variation.
1 e4 c5 2 NO e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nb5 d6 6 c4 Nf6 7 N1c3 a6 8 Na3 d5!? Kasparov's new gambit, improving on his 8 . . . Be7 introducing passive defence, as in game 3 of the previous match. 9 exd5 exd5 10 cxd5 Nb4 11 Bc4 Bg4 Position after 11 • . . Bg4 (Diagram) If now 12 Qd4 b5 13 Bb3 Bc5! 14 Qe5+ Kf8 with tremendous counterplay. Alter- natively, White can sacrifice a piece with: 12 Qd4 b5 13 0-0 bxc4 14 Bg5 Nbxd5 15 Nxd5 QxdS 16 Bxf6 Qxd4 17 Bxd4 Bxa3! Also: 14 . . . Be6!? is OK for Black e.g. 15 Bxf6 gxf6 16 Qe4 Nxd5 17 Radl f5 18 Qe5 Qf6 19 Rxd5 Qxe5 20 Rxe5 and now either 20 . . Bxa3 or 20 . . . Bg7. Inadequate, however, is 12 Qd4 Bd6? 13 0-0 Nc6 14 Qe3+ (14 dxc6? Bxh2+) 14 . . . Ne5 15 f4 Qe7! 16 fxe5 Bc5 17 exf6!! Bxe3+ 18 Khl and White wins. 12 Bet Bxe2 13 Qxe2+ Qe7 14 Be3 Nbxd5 15 Nc2 Nxe3 Even stronger is 15 Nxe3 .
Nxc3 16 bxc3 g6 followed by . . . 1g7. 16 Nxe3 Qe6 17 0-0 Bc5 18 Rfel 0-0 Draw agreed.
Karpov — Kasparov: Game 14; Sicilian De- fence, Taimanov Variation. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Karpov avoids the game 12 continuation. 5 . . . d6 6 g4!? And this is an utterly new move. The normal Keres variation is with g4 against . . . Nf6. The text looks aggressive, but evidently loosens White's King's side.
The British press is well represented here — better than any other country (apart from the USSR) — myself, David Goodman (AP), Jon Tisdall (Reuters), Dominic Lawson (Financial Times). The latter pointed out to me Kasparov was staring intently at Karpov during the open- ing phase of this game.
6 . . . h6 7 h4 a6 Kasparov had been moving slowly until now, but after this Karpov stopped for a lengthy period of cogitation. 8 Bg2 Be7 9 Be3 If now 9 . . Bxh4? 10 Nxc6 bxc6 11 e5 d5 12 Qd2 and Black cannot complete develop- ment. 9 . . Nxd4 10 Qxd4 e511 Qdl Be6 12 Nd5 R s 13 c3 N16 14 Nxe7 Qxe7 14 . . Kxe7 is very interesting, e.g. 15 g5 Ng4 16 Bd2 hxg5 17 hxg5 Rxhl + 18 Bxhl Qb6 19 Qe2 Rh8 20 Bf3 Rh2! attacking f2. Stronger is 15 Bf3! 15 g5 hxg5 16 hxg5 If 16 BxgS Qc7! 17 Bxf6 gxf6 followed by . . Ke7 and . . . Rcg8 with counterplay. 16 . . . Rxhl 17 Bxhl N g4 Risky; safer is 17 . . . Nd7 18 Oh5 Nf8. 18 Bd2 Qf8! Introducing a highly original counterattack manoeuvre. 19 Qf3 Qh8 20 Bg2 Qh4 21 b3 To stop . . Bc4. 21 . . . d5!
Position after 21 . . . d5!
(Diagram) If now 22 exd5 Bxd5 23 Qxd5 Qxf2+ 24 Kdl Rd8 wins. Karpov now wriggles out of Black's initiative by deft simplification. 22 Qg3! Qxg3 23 fxg3 Rd8 24 Keg Ke7 25 Bel Looks odd, but Kasparov told me it was the best. If 25 Rhl? dxe4 26 Bxe4 Nxf2!! wins, a neat variation demonstrated to me by Kasparov. 25 . . . d4 26 Ba3+ Ke8 27 cxd4 exd4 28 Rhl Ne5 29 Rh8+ Kd7 30 Rxd8+ KxdS 31 Bb2 Bg4+ 32 Kd2 Nf3+ Draw agreed.
There is encouraging news of Nigel Short from the Candidates' tournament, which began in Montpelier on 12 October. He drew in the first round with Spassky and with Korchnoi in the second. He has now beaten Ribli with White in round three, and is up with the leaders.
Previous page
