CHESS
Tourists
Raymond Keene
THE FIDE (World Chess Federation) Championship in Las Vegas has now reached its final stage. Sadly, the accidental nature of the abbreviated knockout system favoured by the organisers resulted in two players, Akopian and Nisipeanu, reaching the semi-finals; players whom Kasparov had dismissed in advance as 'tourists'. It now seems likely that the ex-Russian grandmaster Khalifman will win but no one could possibly maintain that he is the real world champion.
One consolation from the British point of view is that Adams eliminated Kramnik at the rapid play stage and took home $138,240 as a result.
Adams—Kramnik: FIDE Championship 1999
29 ...Bd5 White's control of the e-file may give him the edge but this is a blunder that overlooks the main threat. 30 Bg5 Kf7 If 30 ... Rf7, White trades twice on e7 and finishes with Qb8+ pick- ing up decisive material gains. This way Black loses rook for bishop but hopes to maintain a fortress-like defensive set-up. 31 Bxf6 Bxf6 32 Nd2 Bh4 33 Qh2 Bg5 34 f4 Bf6 35 g3 h5 36 Nc4 Bbl 37 Kf2 The start of a fine strategic king march which places the white king in absolute safety. 37 ...Qd5 38 Kel Qd8 39 Kd2 Bd5 40 Ne5+ Kg7 41 Qgl g5 42 Kcl Qd6 43 Qel g4 44 hxg4 fxg4 45 Rh2 BxeS 46 fxe5 Qh6+ 47 Kb2 Kf7 48 e6+ By giving up his apparently strong passed pawn Adams ensures the entry of his queen into the battle. This swiftly decides matters. 48 ...Bxe6 49 Qe5 Qe3 50 Qxh5+ Ke7 51 Qg6 Kd6 52 Rh6 Qel 53 Qxg4 Qc3+ 54 Kbl Qel + 55 Ka2 Kd7 56 Qg7+ Kd6 57 Qb7 Qb4 58 Qb8+ Kd7 59 Rh7+ Kc6 60 Qc7+ Black resigns
A feature of the Mind Sports Olympiad currently in progress at Olympia has been the delegation from Bahrain, smartly attired in their gleaming white djellabas. They have brought with them the game of Dama, also known as Turkish Draughts, which is the most dynamic form of the draughts family I have ever seen. An advantage is that it can be played on a standard chess board using pawns or ordinary draughts pieces (the Dama pieces proper resemble colourful lit- tle mosques) as the fighting units. I have based the following explanation on the words of games guru David Pritchard from his excellent Family Book of Games.
Diagram 1 Dama uses a plain 8x8 board with 16 men on either side, arranged as in diagram 1. All 64 squares are used in the game. Men move one square forwards or sideways to an empty square. There is no diagonal or back- ward movement. Captures are made by the usual short leap common to draughts but in one direction of movement only. Capturing is compulsory and, as in continental draughts, the longest captures must be taken where there is a choice. Pieces are removed as they are taken.
A man reaching the end rank is promot- ed to a king or sheik and thereafter moves like a rook in chess. A sheik captures by leaping on to a vacant square beyond its victim but cannot leap over two men hunched together to reach it. The first player to capture or immobilise all the opponent's pieces wins the game.
Opening play tends to be on the flanks. A strong column (three men) offers good chances of a breakthrough. A standard strategy is to deflect the leading defender sideways with a sacrifice, then confront the second defender, who will be obliged to leap, when your second man will recapture and advance to promote.
A curious feature of the sheik's move- ment is that it can turn corners, e.g. a white sheik on a8 could capture isolated black men on a4, d2 and g5, ending its move on g6, g7 or g8 (see diagram 2), if those squares are vacant!
Diagram 2
Previous page
