CHESS
Slavonic dance
Raymond Keene
ames between world champion Kas- parov and the Dutch grandmaster Timman are always good value for money. Both of them are equipped with immense know-, ledge of long, sharp theoretical variations and neither of them lacks courage. Their game from the third cycle of the European Options Exchange Tournament was a typi- cally complicated and uncompromising ex- ample.
Kasparov — Timman: Slav Defence, Am- sterdam 23 May.
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 c4 c6 The distinguishing move of the Slav Defence. Black relinquishes ideas based on . . . c5, but in exchange he retains freedom of movement for his queen's bishop. 4 Nc3 dxc4 5 a4 Usually considered necessary to prevent Black from clinging to his pawn with . . . b5. 5 . . . Bf5 6 Nh4 Alekhine once wrote of this: 'The main objection which can be made against this move is that White wastes time in order to exchange a piece he has already developed. However, the idea of elimi- nating at all costs the ominous Black queen's bishop is not as anti-positional as is generally thought, and at least has not been refuted in the few games where it was tried.' 6 . . . Bc8 Alekhine — Stoltz, Bled 1931, had continued: 6 . . e6 7 NxfS exf5 8 e3 when White's bishop pair gave him a slight edge. 7 Nf3 Kasparov is known to be an avid Alekhine fan but in this case he decides to transpose back to the main lines of the opening rather than risk the obscure gambit recommended by Alekhine, namely 7 e4 e5 8 Bxc4 exd4 9 e5. Indeed, severe doubt can be cast on this by 9 . . dxc3 10Bxf7+ Kxf7 II Qxd8 cxb2 (threatening to win back the queen with . . Bb4+) 12 Qc7+ Ke6!! when Black threatens . . . bxa 1 and . . Na6 followed by . . . Bb4+ capturing White's queen. 7 . . . Bf5 8 e3 e6 9 Bxc4 Bb4 10 0-0 Nbd7 11 Qb3 a5 12 Na2 Be7 White cannot of course now play the greedy 13 Qxb7 on account of . . Rb8 14 Qxc6 Rb6. If 14 Qa6 Ra8 15 Qxc6 Rc8 forces a draw, Waugh . . . Be4 can be considered as well. 13 Nh4 Bg6 14 g3 Qc7 This move had been suggested by Kasparov himself as an improve- ment over 14 . . . Qb6 15 Nc3 Qxb316 Bxb3 Be4 17 Nxe4 Nxe4 18 f3 Nd6 19 e4 with great advantage to White in Kasparov — Dolmatov, USSR championship 1981. Alternatively., from the same tournament, 14 . . . Qc8 15 Nc3 0-0 16 Nxg6 hxg6 17 Rdl e5 18 Bfl Bb4 19 Bg2 Re8 20 Na2 Bf8 21 Bd2 g5. This was Kasparov- Beliaysky. One can see from this extract the • germs of Timman's counterplay from a later phase of the current game. 15 Nc3 0-0 16 Nxg6 hxg6 17 Rdl Bb4 18 Qc2 Rad8 19 Na2 Be7 20 Bd2 Qb6 21 Racl Nd5 So far this game has been characterised by a war of quiet manoeuvre. White has a slight edge based on his bishop pair, mobile central pawns and the target represented by Black's pawn on a5. Nevertheless, Black's position is solid and he has a firm grip over the b4 square. What Timman does over his next few moves is to transform the position at a stroke and invite Kasparov into a wild dance on the edge of a precipice. The world champion is not slow to accept this challenge. 22 e4 N5f6 .The more sedate 22 . . . Nb4 comes into considera- tion but was clearly not in Timman's ambitious game-plan. 23 Bet e5 Of course, Black cannot capture with 23 . . .Qxd4 on account of 24 Bxa5. 24 Be3 exd4 25 Bxd4 Qc7 26 f4 g5 The point here is that if now 27 fxg5 Nh7 advantageously regains the pawn. 27 e5 Kasparov prefers to concentrate his forces in the centre and this course looks like the refutation of Black's strategy. 27 . . . Nd5 28 Qe4 N7b6 29 Bd3 g6 30 f5 Kasparov's position now seems over-
whelming but Timman discovers an ingenious way of creating counterplay. 30 . . . f6 31 fxg6 Also possible is 31 e6 but Kasparov may have rejected it on the grounds that it renders the central situation too static. 31 . . . IS 32 Qe2 Kg7 33 Qh5 Rh8 34 Qf3 Once again Black seems doomed since the 'f' .pawn cannot be defended, but Timman inventively continues the fight, hoping to exploit the temporary absence of White's knight from the battlefield to launch a, central counterattack with sacrifices. 34 . . . N14 If now 35 gxf4 Rxd4 is messy. 35 Bxf5 Rxd4 36 Rxd4 QxeS 37 Re4, BO+ 38 Khl QxfS 39 gxf4 Bd6 Thp past few. moves have seen, forced play by both slides leading to a position where Black is considerably behind on material but is on the point of launching a dangerous attack, against the White king. If Black could just bring his knight into play with . . . Nd5 while White's knight is languishing on the perimeter, White would be in serious danger. Hdwever, Kasparov now proceeds hyper-accurately to snuff out the vestiges of Black s counterattack. It should be noted that Black could not play 39 . . . Rh3 on account of 40 Rxc5. 40 Qc3+ Kxg6 41 Qd3 Threatening Qxcl6+ and Re6+. 41 . . . Be? 42 fxg5 Qd5 43 Qe2 Significantly, Kasparov prefers to continue his own attack, rather than exchange queens which would also have been sufficient for, victory. 43 . . . Rh4 44 Nc3 Rxe4 45 Nxe4 Nxa4 46 Rdl Qe6 This loses a piece but by now there is no good move. 47 Qc2 Qf5 48 Qxa4 Qf3+ 49 Kgl Qg4+ 50 Kf2 Qf4+ 51 Ke2 Qg4+ There is no perpetual check. 53 Rdi Bb4 53 Qc2 Qf3+ 54 Kd4 Kg7 55 Ke5 Black resigns. A wonderfully well fought game.
After nine rounds of the tournament in Amsterdam Kasparov leads with 61/2 points, ahead of Karpov 5, Timman 4 and van der Wiel on 21/2. Kasparov's lead ldoks decisive with only three rounds left, but he must still surmount the hurdle of one more game against Karpov, who must be detet- mined to overtake him.
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