CHESS
Last laugh
Raymond Keene
THE NEXT event in the chess calendar after the Fide (World Chess Federation) championship in Lausanne was the elite tournament in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee. This is a traditional event and is con- ducted in traditional fashion. There is plen- ty of time to think, blitz finishes are not imposed and the stately procession of rounds is punctuated by frequent rest days. This is classic tournament chess.
The gravitas exuded by Wijk aan Zee renders its results doubly significant, and the results could hardly have been worse from the point of view of the credibility of Fide, its championship and its champion. Kasparov, who chose not to compete in Wijk aan Zee, must have been laughing himself to death. True, it is my firm belief that the chess world, in the not too distant future, will demand that Kasparov defends his crown against a worthy challenger. But in Wijk aan Zee, Anatoly Karpov, the rival claimant to the chess throne and Fide's anointed champion, personally under- mined any residual belief that he is the world's top player. He put in a dismal per- formance, and at one stage had lost two games without recording any wins. Here is his demolition by Salov, as well as the full crosstable of results.
Salov-Karpov: Wijk aan Zee 1998; Queen's Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Ba6 5 Nbd2 Bb7 6 Bg2 c5 7 e4 cxd4 8 0-0 d6 9 Nxd4 This opening is known as the Hedgehog variation of the Queen's Indian Defence and the black position is regard- ed as highly resilient, even though he has lost one move with his queen's bishop. Black now has two choices, the move played in the game and 9 ... Qd7. For example 10 Rel Be7 11 Nbl Nc6 12 Nc3 Nxd4 13 Qxd4 0-0. This is Ivanchuk- Karpov, Linares 1994, a game Karpov won in 30
moves. However, it is clear that White's 11th move in the above extract was artificial, unneces- sary and time-wasting. Indeed, the immediate 10 a4, planning to roll up Black's queenside with a5, would have been an improvement. In what fol- lows, Karpov seems quite unaware of the dan- gers which the move a4 poses for Black in this line. 9 ...a6 10 Ref Qc7 11 a4 In the Hedgehog there is a natural reluctance to play this move, since it weakens the entire queenside dark square complex around the squares a5, b5 and c5. This, though, is one of those cases where dynamic advantages outweigh static disadvan- tages. 11 ...Nc6 More sensible would appear to be 11 ...Nbd7 but after 12 a5 Be7 13 N2b3 Rd8 14 axb6 Nxb6 15 Na5 White has the advantage, as in the game Bonsch—Chuchelov, Berlin 1996. 12 Nxc6 Bxc6 13 a5 Rb8 14 axb6 Qxb6 15 Re3 Black's opening has been a disaster. His pieces are badly developed and White now plans to rearrange his rooks to pound at the weakness on a6. 15 Nd7 16 Rb3 Qa7 17 Rba3 Bbl 18 b4 Qb6 19 Qa4 Intensifies the pressure and also pins Black's knight. 19 ...Be7 20 Bbl Bf6 (Diagram) Black has no good move. His best Position after 20 . Bf6 chance might be the repulsive 20 ...e5, but then Bh3, adding to the pin, will be very strong. 21 e5 A crushing blow after which Black must lose material. If now 21 ... dxe5 22 c5 is murderous. 21 ... Bxe5 22 c5 Qc7 23 Bxe5 dxe5 24 Bxb7 Rxb7 25 c6 Nb6 26 Qxa6 Qxc6 27 Nc4 (Diagram) Position after 27 Nc4
Black could now have resigned. Massive losses are inevitable. If 27 ... Qxc4 28 Qxb7 is killing. Meanwhile there are threats of Nxe5, Na5 and Qxb7, followed by a deadly fork on d6. 27 ...Rb8 28 Nxb6 0-0 29 Nc4 Qe4 30 Re3 Qd5 31 Nxe5 Rfc8 32 Qd3 Black resigns A superb demonstra- tion of the power of the initiative. After his opening play Black was given no respite.
Wijk aan Zee Final Crosstable
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1. Kramnik * 1/2 0 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 1/2 1 0 1 81/2 2. Anand 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 1 1 81/2 3. Shirov 1 1/2 * 1 1 1/2 0 1/2 1 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 71/2 4. Timman 1/21/2 0 * 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 71/2 5. Adams 0 1/2 0 0 * 1/2 1/2 1/2 2/2 1 1 1 1 1 71/2 6. Karpov 1/21/21/2 1/2 1/2 * 1 1/2 1/2 0 0 1/2 1/2 1 et 7. Polgar 0 1 1 1/2 1/2 0 * 0 1/2 2/2 y21/2 1/2 1 61/2 8. Gelfand 0 1/21/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 * 1/2 1/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 61/2 9.11iiet 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 * 1 1/2 0 1 1 61/2 10. Topalov 1/2 0 1/21/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 0 * 1 1/2 1 I/2 61/2 11. Salov 1/2 0 1 0 0 1 1/2 1 1/2 0* 1/2 1/2 0 51/2 12. Nljboer 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 1 1/2 1/2 * 1/2 1/2 5 13. Van Wely 1 0 1/21/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 0 1/2 * 0 41/2 14. vd Sterren 0 0 1/2 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 1/2 1 1/2 1 * 4
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