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Raymond Keene
That amazing old warrior, Victor Kor- chnoi, has fought his way back into the Candidates' tournament by winning the third and final Interzonal in Zagreb. Final scores out of 16 possible were: Korchnoi (Switzerland) 11; Seirawan (USA) and Ehlvest (USSR) 10; these three qualify. Further scores were: Nikolic (Yugoslavia), Granda (Peru) and Noguieras (Cuba) 91/2; Torre (Philippines) 9; Polugaievsky (USSR), Einghorn (USSR), Pinter (Hun- gary) and Griinfeld (Israel) 81/2; Hulak (Yugoslavia) 71/2; Inkiov (Bulgaria) 7; Miles (GB) 61/2; Barlov (Yugoslavia) 6; Hickl (W. Germany) 5; Barager (Canada) 11/2. Tony Miles's performance was miser- able, one of the worst of his career. Any thought that he might have been spurred on by the other British triumphs at Suboti- Ca and Szirak was rapidly dispelled.
The Canadian organisers of the 1988 Candidates' tournament have told me that the first round pairings will be as follows: Yusupov (USSR) v. Ehlvest (USSR); Kor- chnoi (Switzerland) v. Hjartarson (Ice- land); Short v. Salov (USSR); Timman (Holland) v. Sax (Hungary); Spraggett (Canada v. Sokolov (USSR); and if John Nunn beats Portisch in their play-off he will Play Vaganian (USSR) while Jon Speelman will meet Seirawan (USA). The seven winners from the first round of the Candi- dates' will he joined by the loser of Kasparov-Karpov from Seville to form the eight quarter-finalists. These pairings have yet to be confirmed by Fide", so changes should not be ruled out.
Here is a selection of games from the Zagreb Interzonal:
Nogueiras — Korchnoi: Nimzo–Indian Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 c.5 dxc5 Ibic5 6 Qb6 7 e3 Qc7 8 b3 a6 9 Bbl Be7 (Diagram)
Position before 10 g4!
10 g4! h6 11 Rgl Nc6 12 h4 h5 13 gxh5 Nxh5 14 Bet d5 15 cxd5 exd5 16 Nxd5 Qa5+ 17 Qd2 Qxd2+ 18 Nxd2 hd8 19 Nc4 Be6 20 0-0-0 Nf6 21 N14 Bxc4 22 Bxc4 K18 23 h5 Rc8 24 KW Bc7 25 Nd5 Nxh5 26 Be2 Nf6 27 Bxf6 gxf6 28 Bg4 Black resigns. Korchnoi's opening wasted too much time. (. . 01)6-0 and . . Bxc5-e7). From the diagram position Nogueiras launched a bold offensive to which his great opponent could find no answer.
Griinfeld Korchnoi: Ray Lopez.
1 ezle5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 lib5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 Bh3 d5 S dxe5 Be6 9 c3 Nc5 10 Be2 Bg4 11 Rel Be7 12 Nhd2 Qd7 13 Nfl RdS 14 Nei Bh5 15 Nf5 0-0 16 Nxe7+ Nxe7 17 Qd4 Bxf3 18 gxl3 Ne6
19 Qh4 Ng6 20 Qg4 d4 21 Be4 Rfe8 22 Qg3 dxc3 23 bxe3 Ne5 24 Bg5 Nxe4 25 Rxe4 Rc8 26 h4 h5 27 Rael Qf5 28 Kh2 Re6 29 Bel Rce8 30 f4 Ne7 31 Q13 Ng6 32 Qh3 Qxh3+ 33 Kxh3 Ne7 34 Rd4 N15 35 Rd7 Rc6 36 Bd2 Kf8 37 a4 Bxa4 38 Re4 a3 39 Ra4 11118 40 Rxa3 Ke8 41 Rd5 Rhl 42 RdaS Rhl + 43 Kg2 Rdi 44 Be3 Nxh4+ 45 Kh3 Rg6 46 Ral Rxal 47 Rxal Nf5 48 13c5 Kd7 49 Rxa6 KeS 50 Ral Kb7 51 c4 Rc6 52 RaS g6 53 Kg2 Ng7 54 Be3 Rxc4 55 Rd5 Kc8 White resigns. A typical Korchnoi game in one of his favourite defences. White cannot, of course, play 18 Qxc5? (which was actually recommended in the Swiss paper Schachwoche) on account of 18 . . Qg4 19 g3 Qh3.
Baragar Ehlvest: Nimzo-Indian Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 Bd3 d5 6 Nt3 c5 7 0-0 Nc6 S a3 Bxc3 9 bxe3 Qc7 10 cxd5 exd5 11 Nh4 Ne7 12 g3 Re8 13 13 Ng6 14 MS Bxf5 15 Bxf5 Ne7 16 Bbl Nc8 17 Rat Nd6 18 Reg RacS 19 a4 Qa5 20 Rfel Nc4 21 Qd3 Nb6 22 e4 c4 23 Qe2 dxe4 24 fxe4 Qxa4 25 Qd2 Re6 26 Q14 Qb5 27 Bc2 Qh5 28 Qfl Qa5 29 Q13 Ree8 30 g4 R6e7 31 g5 Nfd7 32 h4 Nf8 33 Rfl Na4 34 Bd2 b5 35 Ref2 Nb2 36 h5 Qb6 37 e5 a5 38 Kh2 b4 39 Be4 Nd3 40 Rg2 h3 41 g6 hxg6 42 hxg6 Nxg6 43 Rxg6 fxg6 44 Bd5+ Re6 45 Qf 7+ Kh7 46 Kg3 Black resigns. Baragar's sole win in the Interzonal. Ehlvest should have steered for a draw with 29 . . 0h5, but probably did not conceive that he could lose.
The Lloyds Bank Masters has been won jointly by Michael Wilder (USA) and Murray Chandler, both scoring 8/10. The trophy goes to Wilder on superior tie- break, but Chandler earns the title of Commonwealth champion for the coming year. Other leading scores were: Benjamin (USA), Rogers (Australian champion), Ernst (Sweden) and Fedorowicz (USA), all 71/2. Igor Ivanov, the Canadian cham- pion, and John Nunn were among those
who came next with 7.
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