CODD MU
SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA
atom CHESS
SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA
Absent friend
Raymond Keene
IN SPITE of his brilliant triumph in Linares, Anatoly Karpov has not demons- trated the same expertise in charting his subsequent appearances. After Linares, a tournament in which he triumphed by a record margin ahead of Kasparov and most of the world's top grandmasters, Karpov had acquired a new mystique which even lent him credibility as a genuine world champion in his own right. It will be remembered that Kasparov is recognised as world champion by the Professional Chess Association (PCA) while Karpov's credentials derive from Fide, the World Chess Federation.
The most intelligent course for Karpov after Linares would have been to accept the challenge of competing directly against Kasparov, Short and Timman in the Am- sterdam tournament which I covered last week. Instead, Karpov withdrew to con- centrate on a number of less daunting fixtures. In my view it was an error for him to compete at all in the rough and tumble of the Monaco speed chess/blindfold chess event. He lost so many games there that any fear and trembling initially experi- enced by his younger opponents swiftly evaporated. From Monaco, Karpov moved on to Seville where he not only took second prize to Gelfand, he also lost to the veteran Gulko. Karpov's latest tournament has been Las Palmas, where he faced loss yet again against the young French grand- master Joel Lautier. Karpov enjoyed im- mense momentum and prestige after Li- nares, but much of this has evaporated, while Kasparov, in spite of some ups and downs, now has a firmer grip on things after his win in Amsterdam and his first prize in the Munich blitz tournament. In Munich Intel sponsored a five-minute event which included not just Kasparov but also Nigel Short, Kramnik, Anand and the devastating new software program Fritz3/ Pentium. In spite of losing one game to the program Kasparov dominated the event and on the broad chess front has now regained some of the initiative which he forfeited to Karpov at the start of the year.
Lautier — Karpov: Las Palmas, May 1994; Nimzo-Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 0-0 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 Qxc3 b6 7 Bg5 Bbl In their Fide world championship match last year, game 15 between Timman and Karpov had gone 7 . . . c5 8 dxc5 bxc5 9 e3 Nc6 10 Nh3 h6 11 Bh4 g5 12 Bg3 Ne4 13 Qc2 Qa5+ 14 Keg and Black won easily. 8 e3 c5 9 dxc5 bxc5 10 13 a5 11 Nh3 h6 12 Bh4 a4 13 0-0-0 Re8 14 Bet e5 15 Nf2 Qb6 16 Nd3 g5 Karpov plays aggressively to drive back the white bishop. However, despite surface similar- ities, this position is quite different from his game against Timman. Here Karpov exposes himself to a future counter-punch against his ragged king's flank. 17 Bg3 d6 18 h4 g4 19 h5 Nbd7 20 N12 d5 21 Rh4 d4 22 Qd2 gxf3 23 gxf3 Rab8 24 Rgl K18 25 exd4 cxd4 26 Qxh6+ Ke7 27 Nd3 Ba6 28 Qd2 Kd8 29 Rd1 Nc5 30 NxcS QxcS 31 Qg5 (Diagram) Black resigns The threat is not just Qxf6+ but also Rhxd4+.
Gulko — Karpov: Seville, 1994; Caro-Kann Defence.
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 Bf5 4 h4 h5 5 c4 e6 6 Nc3 Be7
7 cxd5 cxd5 8 Bd3 Bxd3 9 Qxd3 Nc6 10 Nf3 NM 11 Qe2 Rc8 12 0-0 Nc6 13 g3 Qd7 14 Bd2 Nh6 15 Bxh6 Rxh6 16 Racl Kf8 Black's problem is that he is unable to get his king to safety on either side and his king's rook can only enter play artificially. 17 Na4 Rc7 18 Rc3 Rg6 19 Rfcl White increases the queenside pressure by doubling rooks on the 'c' file. 19 . . . Rg4 20 Qd3 KgS 21 a3 f6 22 Nc5 BxcS 23 RxcS Qf7 24 b4 a6 25 Qc3 Rd7 26 a4 Ne7 27 Nh2 Rg6 28 Qd3 Nf5 29 Rc8+ Kh7 30 Khl Nh6 31 R1c2 Nf5 32 b5 axb5 33 axb5 Qe7 34 R2c5 b6 35 R5c6 Raj 36 Nf3 Ra3 37 Qdl Rg4 38 exf6 Qxf6 (Diagram) 39 NgS+ As a result of White's pressure and threatened invasion of the eighth rank, Black has been obliged to sacrifice the exchange. 39 . . . RxgS 40 hxg5 QxgS 41 Rxe6 h4 42 ReeS hxg3 43 Rh8+ Kg6 44 f4 Ne3 45 Rc6+ Kf7 46 fxg5 Nxdl 47 g6+ Ke7 48 Kg2 Ne3+ 49 Kxg3 Nf5+ 50 Kf4 Nxd4 51 Rxb6 Ne6+ 52 Key Re3+ 53 Kxd5 Rel 54 Rxe6+ Black resigns White wins neatly after 54 . . . Rxe6 with 55 Re8+ Kxe8 56 Kxe6.
Next week, to be precise on 6 June, Nigel Short and Michael Adams fly the flag for Britain in the quarter-finals of the PCA World Championship qualifying competi- tion in New York. Their opponents are respectively Boris Gulko (USA) and Sergei Tiviakov (Russia). The field is completed by Viswanathan Anand (India), Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine), Gata Kams- ky (USA) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia). There will be regular reports each week in The Spectator.
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