CHESS

Supermen

Raymond Keene

So-called 'Super-Tournaments' are often dull affairs where Grandmasters with inflated ratings spend most of their time concocting new ways to draw quickly and maintain their super ratings as painlessly as possible. With some such events one scours the bulletins in vain in a desperate search for publishable games. Tilburg 1986 was a shining exception. There were so many splendid fighting games that only a sequence of articles can do justice to them. Add to this outstanding fighting spirit the sensational failures of Karpov and Korchnoi, and Tilburg '86 is ready for a permanent spot in chess his- tory. Interpolis Super-Tournament: Tilburg, 18 October-7 November

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total

1 13eliaysky

2585 x 11 1/21

01/2 1/21/2 11/2 01/2

1/21 81/2 2 Ljubojexic 2600 09 x 1/21/2 10 11/2

1/21/2

1/21 11 8 3 Karpov 2705 1/20 1/21/2 x

1/21/2

11/2

1/2112

1/21/2 1/21

71/2

4 Mile5

2570 11/2 01

1/21/2

x 1/20 01 1/21/2

01 7

Portnch 2605 1/21/2 01/2 01/2 1/21 x 01 V21/2 V21 7 6 Timman 2620 01/2 1/242 V21/2 10 10 x V21/2 1/21 7 7 Hubner 2620 11/2 1/20 1/21/2 1/21/2

1/21/2 V2V2

x 01/2 61/2 8 Korchnoi 2650 1/20 00 1/20 , 10 'hO 1/20 11/2 x 41/2

Average rating 2619 Category 15 England's Olympic number one, Tony Miles, had a particularly fruitful time on the White side of Kasparov's favourite weapon against the Queen's Indian. As White he won two devastating games against Beliaysky and Timman, both of which started: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 Ne3 Bb4 5 Bg5 Bb7 6 e3 h6 7 Bh4 g5 8 Bg3 Ne4 9 Qc2 d6 10 Bd3 Bxc3+ 11 bxc3 f5 12 d5 Nc5 13 h4 g4 14 Nd4 Qf6 15 0-0 Now Beliaysky chose 15 . . . Nxd3 16 Qxd3 e5 as in Kasparov-Timman, 6th match game, Hilver- sum 1985. 17 NxfS! If 17 Ne6 Nab 18 f3 Bc8! 19 fxg4 Bxe6 20 dxe6 Qxe6 21 gxf5 0f6 with blockading compensation for the pawn. 17 . . . Bc8 18 14!! A brilliant improvement prepared jointly by Miles and John Nunn before the game. Kasparov had played the spectacular if slightly less convincing piece sacrifice 18 Nd4 in game 6 of his match with Timman, while Miles himself had lost with 18 e4 in an earlier exhibition game against Timman. John Nunn told me that Black is probably lost after this new move. 18 . . . QxfS 19 e4 Qh5 20 fxe5 dxe5 21 c5 Kd8 22 d6 Qe8 23 dxc7+ Kxc7 24 Qd5 Nc6 25 Rf7+ Bd7 26 Rafl Rd8 27 R1f6 Kc8 28 cxb6 axb6 29 Qb5 Black resigns.

Miles-Timman varied with 15 . . . Nba6 16 Nxe6 Nxe6 17 BxfS Ng7 18 Bg6+ Kd7 19 13 Raf8 20 fxg4 Qe7 21 e4 Kc8 22 Qd2 Nc5 Timman's last move is an attempt to improve on 22 . . . Kb8 which he had played in game 4 of his match with Kasparov. In that case Kasparov had claimed a win with 23 Qd4! followed by g5 and h5. Timman's move is a logical improvement, but with his king still on c8 there is always the chance of an annoying check. 23-Rxf8+ RxfS 24 Qxh6 Qf6 25 Bf5+ The difference. White transposes into an ending with a golden horde of passed pawns. 25 . . . NxfS 26 Qxf6 Rxf6 27 exf5 Ba6 28 Bf2 Bxc4 29 Bd4 Rf7 30 f6 Rh7 31 Bxc5 dxc5 32 Rdl Bb5 33 g5 Be8 34 Rel Kd7 35 g3 b5 36 Kg2 a5 37 Kh3 b4 38 cxb4 cxb4 39 g4 Rh8 40 h5 Kd6 41 Rxe8! Black resigns After 41 . • . Rxe8 42 g6 White soon queens a pawn.

Miles was less devastating with the Black pieces: Portisch-Miles: Benoni.

1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 c4 a6 4 NO c5 5 d5 b5 6 Bg5 b4 A curious and untrustworthy system. Similar adventures have cost Miles points in the past against Kasparov and Chernin. 7 Ne4 d6 8 g3 Raj 9 Bg2 e5 10 a3 bxa3 11 b4 A powerful sacrifice which lames Black's queen's side. 11 . . . cxb4 12 Bxf6 gxf6 13 Qa4+ Nd7 14 Qxb4 f5 15 Nxd6+ Bxd6 16 Qxd6 Qa5+ 17 Kfl Rb7 18 Bh3 e4 19 Nh4 Rb6 20 Qf4 Qc3 21 Kg2 Black resigns Black has not yet lost material, but his position is disgusting.

After four rounds of the Olympiad in Dubai the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia shared the lead, each with 13 points and an adjourned game, followed by England and China with 121/2. Next came Hungary (12 and an adjourned game) and Cuba, France, Finland and Bulgaria, all with 12 points.