CHESS
Sweet charity
Raymond Keene
At the 1987 World Chess Federation Cohgress in Seville the Spanish Interna- tional Master, Dr Ricardo Calvo, was declared persona non grata by Fide, for claimed 'political motives' which I have already dismissed in earlier columns. Last month Calvo struck back, gaining a degree of personal gratification by doing what so many Fide functionaries find so difficult. He organised a great chess event, in his home city of Madrid, which had the support of Kasparov, Speelman, Korchnoi, Ljubojevic, Beliaysky and a host of other powerful Grandmasters.
This was a speed chess match between a Soviet team and a Rest of the World side, designed to raise funds for UNICEF and victims of the Armenian disaster. Calvo persuaded Don Joaquin Leguina, chief of the Madrid Council, that this would be a splendid gesture, and accordingly, as a result of the Grandmasters' efforts, Madrid donated $160,000 to charity. The USSR won by a single point (321/2 to 311/2) in what turned out to be a most exciting struggle. Here are two of the best encounters, full of remarkably inventive play, considering the brief space of time allowed for each game.
Speelman — Kasparov: UNICEF Match, Mad- rid, December 1988; King's Indian Defence.
1 c4 g6 2 e4 Bg7 3 d4 d6 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7 Be3 Ng4 8 Bg5 f6 9 Bh4 g5 10 Bg3 Nh6 11 h3 Nc6 12 d5 Nd4 An enterprising sacrifice, but not necessarily sound. Safe is 12 . . . Ne7. 13 Nxd4 exd4 14 Qxd4 f5 15 Qd2 f4 16 Ma Nf7 17 114 h6 18 hxg5 hxg5 White's next move is too bellige- rent. He should instead play 19 f3 in order to reintroduce his queen's bishop into the game via gl. Speelman's choice permits Kasparov to offer a second pawn, in the interests of permanently locking White's bishop out of play. 19 g3 13! Kasparov is never afraid to sacrifice material for the initiative. Indeed, he soon offers a third pawn to clear lines of attack against White's king. 20 Bxf3 Ne5 21 Be2 g4 22 Bgl c5 23 dxc6 bxc6 24 0-0-0 Be6 25 Qxd6 Qg5+ 26 Kbl Qg6 27 Kal Rab8 (Diagram) Speelman's next move is amazingly ingenious but ultimately it fails to solve the problem of the incarcerated queen's bishop. The inventive Korchnoi suggested after- wards that 28 f4! is correct, e.g. 28 . . . gxf3 ep
29 Bfl and now if 29 . . . f2 30 Bxf2 Rxf2 31 Qxb8+. Although 28 f4 commits White to returning some material, the threat of liberating the bishop by Bc5 or Bd4 would still render the situation unclear. 28 Rh5 QxhS 29 Qxe6+ Kh8
30 Qe7 Nf3 31 Bxf3 Rxf3 32 Na4 Re8 33 Qxa7 Position after 27 . . . Rab8 Qe5 34 Qb6 Qxe4 35 Qb4 Qc2 Now Black's forces converge on White's king for the final attack. 36 Rbl Rd3 37 Qc5 Reg 38 Qh5+ Kg8 39 Qxg4 Qxbl + White resigns. 40 Kxbl Rdl is checkmate.
Psakhis-Illescas: UNICEF Match; King's Indian Attack.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d3 d5 4 Qe2 Nf6 g3 Nc6 6 Bg2 Be7 7 0-0 b6 White's coming advance is prema- ture, encouraging Black to castle queen's side with no ill effects. 8 Rel would be more accurate. 8 e5 Nd7 9 c4 Also a feeble move. Blocking the centre in this fashion merely facilitates the Black attack. 9 . . . d410 Rel 11137 11 Nbd2 g5 12 h3 115 13 g4 hxg4 14 hxg4 Qc7 15 Nfl 0-0-016 Ng3 Rdg8 17 a3 a518 Bd2 Kb8 19 b3 Rh4 The key to Black's offensive. Sacrificing the exchange strips away the protection from around White's king. 20 Nxh4 gxh4 21 Nh5 Ncxe5 22 Bf4 Bxg2 23 Kxg2 Bd6 24 Kh3 Nxg4 25 Rgl f5 26 Qxe6 Nxf2+ 27 Kxh4 QdS+ 28 Bg5 Ne5 29 QxfS 29 Bd8 would be met by Nf3 mate and 29 Qe5 by Rg5. 29 . . . Qd7 The Soviet Grandmaster cannot play 30 Oxd7 because Black could then choose between 30 . Ng6 mate and 30 . . . Nf3 mate. 30 Ng7 Desperation. 30 • . . Qxg7 31 Kh5 Rh8+ White resigns. A superb display of aggression by the Spanish Grandmaster.
The Foreign and Colonial Grandmaster tournament, which started last week in Hastings, boasts this year the most highly rated field in the entire history of British chess competition. I calculate the average rating to be 2596, very nearly category 15 on the Fide scale, and two Elo points higher than anything ever held before in this country. After five rounds the scores are: Speelman 31/2, Short and Kosten 3, Smyslov and Korchnoi 21/2, Gulko and Chandler 2, Larsen 11/2.
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