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SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA
Timman of Athens
Raymond Keene
FOR MANY YEARS Fide, the World Chess Federation, was based in Lucerne, Switzerland. In the past few months their headquarters has transferred to Athens and it is from the ancient Greek capital that Fide has masterminded its alternative world championship between Jan Timman and Anatoly Karpov. Given the relocation it is hardly surprising that Timman decided to limber up for the match by playing a training session against a Greek Grand- master, Spyridon Skembris. That this match resulted in almost total shipwreck for the Dutchman was reported in this column last week. What was surprising was the elegance and incisiveness of the Greek's victories. This week's lead game is a case in point.
Skembris – Timman: Corfu 1993; Queen's Gam- bit Accepted.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 dxc4 Undoubtedly anticipating the complexities of the variation 5 e4 Bb4 6 Bg5 c5 in which Timman is an expert. Skembris prefers a quieter path which does not place any great theoretical strain on Black's position. 5 e3 a6 6 a4 Bb4 At this stage of the match Timman was obliged to play for a win, even though he had Black. Instead, the simple 6 . . . c5 makes life completely equal. 7 Bxc4 c5 8 0-0 0-0 9 Nat b6 10 Nxb4 cxb4 11 Bd2 a5 By all classical precepts White has now won the battle of the opening. He has the bishop pair, a central pawn majority and in contracting doubled pawns Black has been obliged to capture away from the centre. Still, over the coming moves Black's influence over the central light squares proves that he is not entirely without resource. 12 Ne5 Bb7 13 f3 This move demonstrates that Skembris is a pure classicist in style. The object is to blunt the power of Black's queen's bishop and deprive Black of the use of the e4 square. I cannot help feeling, though, that 13 Qe2 followed by Rfdl would be more dynamic. 13 . . . Nc6 14 Nxc6 Bxc6 15 Qe2 Qd7 16 b3 Ne8 17 Rfdl Nd6 18 Bel An admission that White's orthodox strategy has not extracted the maximum from the situation, since Black can now trade minor pieces and with opposite bishops on the board he should not lose. Instead, 18 Bd3 would have preserved the bishop pair but Skembris probably feared 18 . . . b5 in response. 18 . . . Nxc4 19 Qxc4 Bb7
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Introducing a convoluted plan to dominate the a6-fl diagonal while simultaneously seizing con- trol of the 'c' file. However, this goal could have been achieved immediately by means of 19 . . . b5 20 axb5 Bxb5 when Black could never lose. 20 e4 Ba6 21 Qcl RacS 22 Qe3 h6 This smacks of complacency. It would have been more active to play 22 . . Rc2. 23 d5 Suddenly White is in control again. The black pawn on b6 is weak and White's central pawn majority starts to count for something. 23 . . . Rc5 24 Bf2 exd5 25 Qf4 Rc2 If 25 . . . Rc3 Timman clearly feared that White would play Bd4 with tempo. However, it could not have been much worse than the game, since Black soon changes his mind and plays . . . Rc2-b2 to attack White's pawn on b3. From here on in the signs are that Timman's morale was crumbling. 26 RxdS Qe6 27 Radl Rb2 28 Bd4 The bishop reaches the key square. 28 . . . Rxb3 29 Rd6 Qc8 30 Bxg7 With Black's pieces pushed to the perimeters of the board White's central- ised forces strike the decisive blow. If Black accepts the bishop sacrifice, dare one say a Greek gift, with 30 . . Kxg7 then 31 Qxh6+ Kg8 32 Qg5+ Kh8 33 Rh6 is checkmate. 30 . . .
Position after 31 . . . Qg5
QcS+ 31 Bd4 Qg5 (Diagram) With this move Black appears to have engineered the exchange of queens when he would still have chances of survival. Nevertheless White's riposte annihi- lates any such hope. 32 Rxh6! Optically a difficult move but the threat of Rhil mate is brutal enough to render White's hanging queen inviolate. 32 . . . f6 33 RhS+! Blaack resigns Another beautiful finish by Skembris to match his game from last week. If 33 . . . Kxh8 34 Qxg5 or 33 . . . Kf7 34 Qc7+ and the game is up.
The Fide Interzonal has finished in Biel. It is notable that the winner, Grandmaster Boris Gelfand from Belarus, was yet another of Nigel Short's match victims in recent years along with Karpov and Tim- man. The full list of qualifiers for the next stage of Fide's version of the world cham- pionship was: Gelfand, van der Sterren, Kamsky, Khalifman, Adams, Yudasin, Salov, Lautier, Kramnik and Anand. Amongst those notables who fell by the wayside were Vassily Ivanchuk, Evgeny Bareev, Alexei Shirov, Viktor Korchnoi and Judit Polgar. The greatest surprises amongst the qualifiers were van der Ster- ren, Lautier and Yudasin.
Gelfand – Anand: Biel Fide Interzonal 1993; Semi-Slav Defence.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 Nf3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5 8 Bd3 Bb7 9 a3 b4 10 Ne4 Nxe4 11 Bxe4 Qc7 12 axb4 Bxb4+ 13 Bd2 Bxd2+ 14 Nxd2 c5 The complications of the opening appear to have burnt out and a draw does not seem far off. However, White's coming man- oeuvre subtly nudges the black queen away from the defence of the knight on d7. 15 Qc2 Qb6 16 dxc5 QxcS 17 Qa4 The point of White's play. The pin against the black knight hamstrings Black's development. 17 . . . Rb8 18 0-0 0-0 An ingenious solution. Anand seeks to break the Gordian knot by sacrificing a piece temporarily. 19 Qxd7 Rdf8 20 Bxh7+! The only way to refute Black's strategem. White sacrifices two pieces back to expose the black king. 20 . . . Kxh7 21 Qxf7 Rxd2 22 Ra4 This sudden and unexpected introduction of hitherto dormant reserves into the battle swiftly decides the issue. 22 . . . Qg5 23 g3 The winning move. Black cannot avoid the deadly check on h4 and his queen sacrifice merely staves off inevitable defeat. 23 . . e5 24 Rh4+ Qxh4 25 gxh4 Rd6 26 h5 Be4 27 Qe7 Rbb6 28 QxeS Re6 29 Qf4 Black resigns.
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