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Five alive

Raymond Keene

BRITAIN's Michael Adams has nosed into the number five slot on the latest FIDE (World Chess Federation) ranking list. The top scores are as follows: 1 Kasparov 2849; 2 Kramnik 2770; 3 Anand 2762; 4 Morozevich 2756; 5 Adams 2755; 6 Shirov 2746; 7 Leko 2743; 8 Ivanchuk 2719; 9 Topalov 2707; 10 Krasenkow 2702. Adams's most recent exploit, following on his career best share of second prize at Sarajevo, was a convincing victory in the second section at Frankfurt. Indeed, given the news of the recent rankings, there was a powerful argu- ment that Adams should have been invited to the top section, which I covered last week. As it was, he romped home and the only fly in the ointment, as it were, is that, as with Anand's triumph which 1 reported a week ago, these rapid-play games do not qualify for the ranking list.

With White, Adams can be a demon of attack. With Black he enjoys a slow, strate- gic counter-punching style, as the Russian grandmaster Bareev found to his cost in the following encounter.

Masters, Frankfurt

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. Adams ** Y21 1Y, 0Y2 11 K..1 1y, 11 10Y2

2. Ivanchuk Y,0 1Y2 ly2 Y2Y2 1Y2 1Y2 11 9Y2 3. Bareev 0f2 0Y2 ** 172 10 01 11 lh 8

4. Rublevsky 15'2 0Y2 0Y2 ** Y21 1Y2 Y20 YA 6Y,

5. Topalov 00 Y2Y2 01 Y20 ** 1Y2 10 6Y2

6. Yusupov Y20 0Y2 10 0Y2 0Y2 ** 1Y2 10 5Y2 7. Van Wely 13Y2 0Y2 00 y,1 01 OY, ** 5Y2 8. Rabiega 00 00 0Y2 M. Y20 01 Y20 ** 4 In the above table, 1 represents a win, y: a draw and 0 a loss. Bareev-Adams: Frankfurt Masters 2000; Nimzo-Indian Defence (by transposition)

1 c4 Nib 2 Nf3 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 e3 d5 5 d4 cxd4 6 exd4 Bb4 7 Bd3 dxc4 8 Bxc4 0-0 9 0-0 b6 The position has now devolved into direct transposi- tion into a variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence usually achieved by the sequence start- ing 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4. 10 Bg5 Bbl 11 Rcl Nc6 Avoiding the pitfalls of Taimanov–Browne, Wijk aan Zee 1981, which went 11 Nbd7 12 Qe2 Rc8 13 Ne5 h6 14 Nxd7 Qxd7 15 Bxf6 gxf6 16 Rfdl Qc6 17 Qg4+ Kh7 18 Nd5!! with a winning attack. 12 a3 Bxc3 13 Rxc3 Rc8 14 Ba2 Ne7 15 RxcS QxcS 16 Ne5 Ng6 17 Bxf6 gxf6 18 Ng4 Qd8 Bareev has been playing as if to recreate the conditions for Taimanov–Browne. In particular he hopes to profit from the shattered pawns around the black king. However, there are some big differ- ences here. First of all, reduced material increas- es Black's defensive chances. Secondly, the knight on g6 is an additional sturdy defender. 19 d5 f5 20 Ne3 f4 21 Ng4 h5 22 Nh6+ Kg7 23 QxhS Rh8 24 Nxf7 White had been relying on this ferocious blow to further his attack. Paradoxically, though, after the sacrifice it is Black who has more pieces in play, including his king. 24 ... Kxf7 25 dxe6+ Kf6 26 Qg4 Rh4 27 Qdl A somewhat pathetic admission that his attack has misfired. White relies instead on an endgame where he has three pawns for a piece. 27 ... Qxdl 28 Rxdl Rh7 29 f3 Rc7 30 Rel Bc8 31 Bb3 Re7 32 Kf2 Bxe6 33 Bc2 Bf5 34 Rxe7 Nxe7 35 Bb3 Be6 36 Bc2 Nf5 37 g4 Nh4 38 Be4 Ke5 White resigns There is no defence to the threat of ... Bd5 forc- ing further simplification.

There will be 16 games with around 200 seats available at the Kasparov-Kramnik world championship match. Ring 020 7462 5747 for ticket details.

Ardbeg Malt Whisky Puzzle No. 38 White to play and win — first move only required. This puzzle is taken from the game Ivanchuk-Van Wely, also from Frankfurt. How did White force a decisive material gain?

Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 25 July or via email to vanessa@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7242 0603. The winner will be the first cor- rect answer drawn out of a hat, and each week I shall be offering a prize of a bottle of Ardbeg Malt Whisky.

Last week's solution: Rd4 Last week's winner. G.W. Hoverstadt, Cheshire.