Chess
Brobdingnagian
Raymond Keene
An interesting venture has just been brought to my attention — a new company calling itself Giant Chess and Draughts Ltd. It is the idea of Oxford graduate Angus Hanton, and his plan is to produce supersize chess sets for outdoor games. This might appeal to parks, leisure centres, pubs with gardens, schools, chess tournaments etc or, as GCD's press- release mentions, people who prefer an alternative to croquet on their lawn. Prices for the sets and boards vary from £300 to £500, though I imagine it is also possible to hire equipment for specific functions. Giant Chess and Draughts Ltd can be contacted at 16 Dalberg Rd, London SW2.
Coincidentally, an outdoor blitz tourna- ment, using similarly huge pieces, was ar- ranged during the recent International at Arhus in which I competed last month. Here are two miniatures from this competi- tion, which placed as much emphasis on the ability to carry large pieces at high speed as on chess skill. In the games which follow each player had only 7 minutes to complete all of his moves, though luckily an ama- nuensis was available to press the clock.
E. Pedersen — L. Ftacnik: Klostertory/Arhus May 1983; Grunfeld Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 c4 Bg7 4 Nc3 d5 5 Bf4 0-0 6 e3 c5 7 Qb3 cxd4 8 Nxd4 dxc4 9 Bxc4 Nbd7 10 Bg3 e5? Unwisely varying from Capablanca- Botvinnik, AVRO 1938, which looked level after
10 ... Nh5 11 Rdl Nxg3 12 hxg3 Qa5 13 0-0 Nb6. 11 Nf3 Nh5 12 Rdl Nxg3 13 hxg3 Qa5 There is a resemblance to Botvinnik's treatment, but all of the differences are in White's favour. 14 Bxf7 + ! Kh8 If 14 ... Rxf7 15 Ng5 wins. 15 Ng5 h6 16 Bxg6 Nc5 17 Nf7 + Rxf7 18 Qxf7 Be6 19 Rxh6 + Black resigns. 19 ... Bxh6 20 Qh7 mate.
Keene — Helmers: Nimzo-Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 c5 5 a3 Bxc3 + 6 bxc3 Nc6 7 Bd3 b6 8 Net 0-0 On the K-side Black's monarch represents a clear target. Black could also try to arrange ... 0-0-0 with 8 ... d6
but then 9 e4 Qd7 (9 Ba6? 10 Qa4! is a trap into which Capablanca once fell against the variation's inventor, Fritz Samisch) 10 0-0 Ba6
11 13g5 0-0-0 12 Ncl! Na5 13 Nb3 Qa4 14 NxaS QxaS 15 Qc2, with advantage to White, since the Black Q is temporarily out of action. 9 e4 Ne8 To forestall Bg5. 10 0-0 Ba6 Inaugurating the stan- dard attack against White's indefensible c4
pawn. 11 f4 cxd4 it is exceedingly risky to open up the position like this. More sensible is 11 ... f5 though after 12 Ng3 g6 13 Be3 Na5 14 dxc5 Rc8 15 exf5 exf5 16 cxb6 axb6 17 c5! Bxd3 18 Qxd3 bxc5 19 c4 Nf6 20 Radl followed by Bd2- c3 White still has a plus in my opinion. 12 cxd4 Na5 13 f5l f6 White threatened f6 followed by Bg5. 14 N f4 e5 15 Nd5 Rc8 16 Qh5 At the cost of a pawn White enjoys a free hand to throw all his pieces into the assault against Black's K. 16 ... Bxc4 17 Bxc4 Nxc4 18 Rf3 exd4 19 Rh3 Ne5 If 19 h6 20 Bxh6 wins. 20 Qxh7 + Kf7 21 Bf4 Rc6 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
abcdef gh Position after 22 Rf1 22 Rn (Diagram) 22 ... Qb8 This allows a quick finish but it is hard to see a constructive move for Black e.g. 22 ... d6 23 BxeS dxe5 24 Qg6 + Kf8 25 Rh7 with the devastating threat of Qh5 and Rh8. 23 Qh5 + Kg8 24 Ne7 mate.
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