CHESS
Champion's revenge
Raymond Keene
As I feared, the Manila Olympics have turned out to be very much of a field day for the manifold teams from the old Soviet Union. As I write, at the halfway stage, Russia leads, rather convincingly in fact, while Uzbekistan, Georgia and the Ukraine are well to the fore. The only Western team to be putting up any kind of resistance to this juggernaut of former Soviet republics is the Netherlands. Eng- land, on the contrary, after a few lacklustre results, including losses to Uzbekistan and Georgia, is languishing with the pack just below the leading teams. Nevertheless, England have won one or two sparkling games of which the following is an exam- ple.
Podiesnik — Hodgson: Manila Olympiad 1992; Sicilian Defence. 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 d6 3 f4 Nc6 4 Nf3 g6 5 d4 cxd4 6 Nxd4 11g7 7 Be3 Nf6 8 Be2 0-0 9 0-0 Nxd4 10 Bxd4 Bd7 11 KM Bc6 12 B13 Re8 13 NdS e5 14 hid dxeS 15 Nxf6+ Qxf6 16 Be3 Qe7 17 Qel b5 18 Q12 a6 19 Reel Qb7 20 c4 bxc4 21 Rxc4 Bb5 22 Be2 Re6 23 Rb4 Rf6 24 1113 a5 25 Rb3 a4 26 Rb4 BIS 27 Bc5 Qc6 28 Bxf8 Bxfl 29 Be7 Re6 30 Bg5 Bc4 31 a3 Bb3 32 Bg4 Rd6 33 h3 h5 34 Bf3 Bdl 35 Bxdl Rxdl + 36 Kh2 Rd6 37 Qe2 Rd4 38 Rxd4 exd4 39 e5 Re8 40 Qd2 RxeS 41 Qxd4 Re2 White resigns.
The man on form so far is the world champion Gary Kasparov, determined to show his strength in the home town of his old political rival Florencio Campomanes, the president of the World Chess Federa- tion. In this strongest-ever chess Olympics Kasparov is also intent on cowing into submission all his present and future rivals. In this ambition he has been remarkably successful, utilising his favourite King's Indian Defence to great effect. After Kas- parov's nasty accident against Kamsky in Dortmund earlier this year the champion's win against the young Tartar, who is now playing top board for the USA, must have been particularly sweet.
Kamsky (USA) – Kasparov (Russia): Manila Olympiad 1992; King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 513 The Saemisch Variation, switching from the 5 Be2 which he used with success against Kasparov in Dortmund. Doubtless Kamsky switched since he feared an improvement on Black's part. 5 . . . .0-06 8e3 e5 7 d5 c6 8 Qd2 cxd5 9 cxd5 a6 10 Bd3
Position after 11 g4 Nh5 11 g4 (Diagram) So far standard play, but this is an extraordinary gesture which every Russian schoolboy knows to be bad. White drives the black knight to 14, which is precisely where it wants to go. White can normally pick up a pawn after this, but Black gains such enormous control of the dark squares in com- pensation and unleashes such fiery energy from his fianchettoed king's bishop that the transac- tion is scarcely worth it. Was this hypnotism or does Kamsky really just make up his openings as he goes along? 11 . . . Nf4 12 Bc2 b5 13 Qf2 Nd7 14 Nge2 b4 15 Na4 a5 Of course Black does not bother about the pawn. 16 Nxf4 exf4 17 Bxf4 Ne5 180-0-0 White's king is quite unsafe on whichev- er wing it seeks to find refuge. 18. . . Nc4 19 Be3 Nxe3 It is important to remove White's dark- squared bishop before it can challenge the long diagonal with Bd4. 20 Qxe3 Rb8 21 Bb3 Bd7 22 Kbl Qe8 23 Nb6 Bb5 24 Rd2 a4 25 Bd1 Rb7 26 e5 Trying to gain some breathing space by offering back the pawn. If Black accepts, which he does not, White would either gain a passed 'd' pawn or be able to trade queens and thus alleviate the pressure. 26 . . . b3 27 axb3 axb3 28 Bxb3 Qb8
Position after 31 . . . Qa7 29 Nc4 Bxc4 30 Bxc4 Bxe5 31 Qe2 Qa7 (Dia- gram) A well-known strategical type of position has arisen. This is characterised by the players castling on opposite wings and opposite col- oured bishops being present. Such situations normally resolve into a very easy win for the player with the attack, since he virtually has an extra piece to throw into the battle. In this case it is obvious that Black has the attack. 32 Rdl Rail 33 b3 Bf4 This wins the exchange but Kasparov is out for more. 34 Kc2 Re7 35 Qd3 Qc5 36 Rbl Re3 37 Qd4 Ra2+ 38 Kdl Rx13 A very fine move. If now 39 Qxc5 Rxd2+ or 39 Rxa2 Qad4+ and in both cases Black wins easily. 39 Qxf4 Jettisoning White's queen does not help. 39 . . . Rxf4 40 Rxa2 Qgl + 41 Kc2 Qxh2+ Winning an extra rook into the bargain. White resigns.
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