CHESS

Short fuse

Raymond Keene

Nigel Short is leaping from success to success in a way never before seen in British chess and has now rocketed into the lead in Iceland. An individual Olympic gold in Dubai, a win against Kasparov in Brussels, in Wijk aan Zee (January) his greatest tournament triumph to date, and I can assure readers that his result in the speed challenge to Kasparov was highly creditable.

Now Nigel is in Reykjavik for a category 14 tournament which includes Portisch, Polugaievsky, Tal and Timman. In Ice- land, everyone has been chess crazy since they organised the 1972 Fischer v. Spassky match. After five rounds, Nigel has beaten Korchnoi and Ljubojevic and three Icelan- ders for a 100 per cent score. Keep your fingers crossed for another Short triumph.

Korchnoi — Short: Reykjavik, February 1987; French Defence. 1 d4 e6 2 e4 d5 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 exd5 exd5 6 Bb5 Bb4 7 0-0 0-0 8 Bxc6 bxc6 9 Ne5 Qe8 10 Rel Be6 11 Bd2 c5 12 a3 Bxc3 13 Bxc3 Ne4 14 dxc5 Nxc3 15 bxc3 Qa4 16 h3 Rab8 17 Qd4 Qxc2 18 Nc6 Ra8 19 Re3 Kh8 20 Rael Qg6 21 Rg3 Qh6 22 Qe3 Qf6 23 Rf3 Qg6 24 Ne5 Qe4 25 Qd2 Qh4 26 Nc6 Qa4 27 Ne5 Qxa3 28 Qd4 Qa6 29 Rfe3 Qc8 30 Nd3 Qd7 31 Nf4 Rae8 32 Rg3 f6 33 Rge3 Br 34 Nxd5? Bxd5 White resigns.

Short rehabilitated a discredited and highly unorthodox line with 6. . . Bb4. 6 . . . Bg4? was tried without success in Fischer-Petrosian, game 9, Candidates' Final, Buenos Aires 1971.

Korchnoi's position looked threatening in the

middle game, but his initiative was defused by Negel's amazing 11 consecutive move queen manoeuvre (20-30), when the black queen roamed all over the board and picked up a vital pawn on move 27.

In the final position, Black wins after 35 Rxe8 Rxe8 36 Rxe8+ Qxe8 37 Qxd5 Qel + 38 102 Qe5+ 39 QxeS fxe5 and the Black 'a' pawn will inevitably queen.

Here is the first game in the Speed Chess Challenge for the London Docklands Tro- phy. The remaining five games are being screened on Channel 4 at 6 30 pm each Saturday until 28 March.

Kasparov — Short: Game One; Dutch Defence.

1 d4 e6 2 Nf3 f5 3 g3 Nf6 4 Bg2 d5 5 c4 c6 6 0-0 Bd6 7 b3 Qe7 8 a4 0-0 9 Ba3 Bxa3 10 Nxa3 Nbd7 11 a5 b6 12 Qd2 Ne4 13 Qb2 Bb7 14 b4 bxa5 15 bxa5 Rab8 16 Rfbl c5 17 Qcl Rfc8 18 Qe3 cxd4 19 Qxd4 Qc5 20 Rb5 Qxd4 21 Nxd4 Kr? 22 cxd5 Bxd5 23 NxfS!! Nd7-f6 24 Bxe4 Nxe4 25 f3 exf5 26 Rxd5 Nc3 27 RxfS+? Ke6 28 e4 g6 29 Rg5 Rb2 30 IChl Kf6 31 h4 Rf2 32 Rcl Rd8 33 Nc4 Ne2 34 Rbl Rxf3 35 Kg2 Rd8-d3 36 Ne5 Rxg3+ 37 Kf2 Rc3 38 Ng4+ Ke6 39 Kxe2 Rc2+ 41) Km Rt3+ 41 Kel Rh3 42 ReS+ Kd6 43 Rdl + Kc6 44 Nf2 Rxh4? 45 Rd8 Rat 46 RedS Rh2 47 Rd2 Rxa5 48 Rc2+ Kb7 49 Rd7+ Kb6 50 Rd3 Rb5 51 Rd6+ Kb7 52 Kfl g5 53 Kgl Rh4 54 Kg2 a5 55 Nd3! Rg4+ 56 Kf3 Rgl 57 e5 g4+ 58 Kf7 Rgbl 59 e6 Rf5+ 60 Kg2 h5 61 e7 Black resigns.

Nigel stood well in the opening, but 21 . . . Kf7? should have been replaced by the simple 21 . . . dxc4! 23 NxfS!! is brilliant. If 23 . . . exf5 24 Rxd5 or 23 . . . Rxb5 24 Nxb5 exf5 25 Bxe4 and 26 Nd6+. 27 RxfS+ is overconfident; 27 Rd2 is best. Instead of 44 . . . Rxh4? Nigel could have drawn with 44 . . . Re3+ 45 Kfl Rf3.

In the British Zonal at Bath, sponsored by Praxis Systems, one round remains to be played as I write these lines. The likely qualifiers for the Interzonals are British champion Jon Speelman and Glenn Hear who has outgunned established Grandmas- ters such as Mestel and Chandler, though Julian Hodgson still has a chance to catch up and force a play-off match. Of course, Short, Miles and Nunn, by virtue of their Elo ratings, are already through to the Interzonal. Here is a brilliancy by Flear from Bath.

Hear — Condie (Scotland): Round 9; Queen's Gambit Accepted.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6 5 e4 Blb4 6 Bg5 h6 7 Bxf6 Qxf6 8 Bxc4 c5 9 e5 Qe7 10 0-0 cxd4 11 Ne4 0-0 12 Qxd4 Rd8 13 Qe3 Bd7 14 Radl Bc6 15 Nf6+ Kh8 16 Rxd8+ Qxd8 17 Ng5 Qe7 18 Qd3 g6 19 Bxe6 Be8 20 Qh3 Kg7 21 NxeS+ Qxe8 22 Nxf7 h5 23 Bb3 Nc6 24 Qe3 25 Rdl Qe7 26 Qh6+ Ke8 27 Qxg6 Black resigns. White's 15th move was a knight sacrifice which Black dare not accept since 15 . . . gxf6 16 Qxh6 grants White a vehement attack.

After 17 Ng5 Black is lost. He has no defence to White's massed attacking forces around his king. 17 . . . hxg5 naturally loses to 18 Qh3.