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FLYING
DUTCHMAN
by John Saunders
The afternoon got off to a
disappointing start when the clash of the English titans
failed to live up to its billing. Mickey Adams and Nigel
Short concluded hostilities in 12 moves. This sparked
off some disapproving emails to us, and messages on
chess forums lamenting their lack of fighting spirit. It
is hard to argue with some of the sentiments expressed
though perhaps the ire needs to be directed towards the
format of modern tournaments rather than the players
themselves who have a living to make and a limited
shelf-life (very few players maintain their status and
earning power after the age of 45-50 these days). They
simply adapt their approach to the prevailing
conditions. They carefully assess their share of the
prize and how many rating points they stand to win or
lose. Where the two players’ aspirations coincide, a
draw is going to happen regardless of the demands of the
spectator. They agree draws because they can. As regards
the specific case of Adams and Short, it may have been
more a case of mutual respect (or fear) rather than any
calculation of prizes or rating points.
Delivering entertainment to spectators is not an issue
for professional players themselves to decide – it is
for tournament designers to address. The need to get
tournament formats and prize structures right is
becoming urgent because we now have a new – and huge –
internet audience to consider. I haven’t the time to go
into what I think about all these issues here but the
problem obviously needs to be addressed if professional
chess is to move forward and attract sponsorship.
Mickey Adams v Nigel Short
Re the internet audience: we know from the vast numbers
of hits being recorded, and our web servers which are
groaning under the strain, that there are a lot of you
folks out there watching us here in Liverpool. Now that
Bilbao and the Women’s World Championship have ended,
and we are down to our last couple of rounds, it is
quite apparent that the gaze of chess-watching people is
now firmly on Liverpool. It is difficult to extrapolate
actual viewers from ‘hit’ figures and I’m not even going
to try, but we can be pretty sure that there is the
equivalent of a large sports stadium full of people
watching the Liverpool chess games live every day –
maybe even more than regularly pack into Anfield or
Goodison Park to watch Liverpool’s two Premiership
football teams (prospective sponsors please note). And,
while we are on the subject, let’s hear it for the
techies who are bringing you live action: keeping the 21
electronic boards going (no easy task, believe me) are
Dave Clayton and Steve Hughes, and integrating the live
boards and associated info into the website is webmaster
Steve Connor. One of the best things about this congress
for me personally has been working alongside these guys
who are completely dedicated and unfailingly
good-humoured in their work.
Erwin L'Ami
There was another draw on the top boards, between
Alberto David and Erwin L’Ami, though this was a genuine
struggle which went down to an evenly-balanced rook
endgame. But thankfully we had a decisive result on the
top board which has helped stretch the field and
increased the chances of us having a single champion.
Werle’s win against Laznicka almost looks too easy. A
couple of positional errors by the Czech player and
Werle simply pushed him off the board.
Round 9
Viktor Laznicka -
Jan Werle
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 d5 4 Nf3 dxc4 5 Bg2 c5 6 0–0 Nc6 7
Ne5 Bd7 8 Na3 cxd4 9 Naxc4 Bc5 10 Qb3 0–0 11 Qxb7
Credit to Viktor Laznicka for opting to go in for this
relatively tricky line. The safer move is 11 Bf4
11...Nxe5 12 Nxe5 Rb8 13 Qf3 Bd6 14
Nc6
A move first played by Garry Kasparov in his 1996 match
in Philadelphia against Deep Blue. 14 Nxd7 Qxd7 15 Bg5
Be5 16 Rab1 h6 17 Bf4 Bxf4 18 Qxf4 Rfe8 19 Rfc1 e5 20
Qd2 was a bit better for Black in Vaganian-Serper,
Lucerne 1993, but ended in a draw.
14...Bxc6 15 Qxc6 Qe7
A new move. 15...Qb6 16 Qxb6 Rxb6 17 b3 Bc5 18 Bb2 was
Likavsky-Volodin, Presov 2000, which looks a bit better
for White; 15...e5 16 Rb1 Rb6 17 Qa4 Qb8 18 Bg5 Be7 19
b4 Bxb4 20 Bxf6 gxf6 21 Qd7 Qc8 22 Qxa7 was game two of
the 1996 Kasparov-Deep Blue match, which Kasparov won in
73 moves (it was his first match with the electronic
monster in which he was successful).
16 Qa4
All the queen moves have cost White time in terms of the
development of his other pieces.
16...e5 17 Rb1 h6 18 Bd2 Bb4 19 Bxb4
White seems to be falling in too easily with Black’s
plan, which is to advance the e-pawn. Perhaps 19 Rfd1
should be played, to answer 19...e4?! with 20 Bf4
19...Rxb4 20 Qa3 e4 21 Rfc1
If 21 Rfd1 Qc5 22 Rdc1 Qb6 maintains the pressure on
White’s position.
21...Rd8 22 Rc2 Ng4!
23 Rbc1?
23 Rd1 is answered exactly the same way: 23...d3! 24
exd3 e3 and White’s position is critical; I think White
has to take his chances with 23 h3 d3 24 exd3 exd3 25
Rd2 Ne5 when his position, though uncomfortable, may yet
be tenable.
23...d3! 24 exd3
24 Rc8 Rxc8 25 Rxc8+ Kh7 26 Rc1 d2 27 Rd1 Qc5! wins.
24...e3 25 Rc8?
This simply puts one of White’s pieces out of action as
regards the defence of the king. He should either have
resigned himself to 25 fxe3 Qxe3+ 26 Kh1 Nf2+ 27 Rxf2
Qxc1+ 28 Rf1 Qc5 29 Be4 which admittedly looks pretty
bad, or 25 Bf1 exf2+ 26 Kh1 Rd5!? which also looks
fairly nasty.
25...Rxc8 26 Rxc8+ Kh7 27 Re8 exf2+
28 Kf1 Qc5 0–1
So there is an interesting last-round situation with
24-year-old ‘Flying Dutchman’ Jan Werle in pole position
on 7½. Mickey Adams is right behind on 7 and ten players
are on 6½. Note that the title of 2008 European Union
Chess Champion cannot be shared. If there is a tie for
first place, the title goes to the player with the best
TPR (tournament performance rating), though prize money
would be shared. I think that means we can only have
three possible champions. One is, of course, Jan Werle
(if he finishes clear of the field), the second is
Mickey Adams (if he finishes clear first or ties with
anybody else – he has met an extremely strong field);
the third is Emanuel Berg (if he beats Adams and Werle
loses to Vachier-Lagrave). I stress that this has not
been officially confirmed yet but is simply based on a
quick scan of the rating possibilities. Let’s hope for
some bloodthirsty last round action...
Our game of the day comes from further down the
tournament where Jovica Radovanovic produced this
attractive miniature to advance his score to 5/9. It is
my personal favourite of all the ‘games of the day’ so
far and gives a flavour of the strength in depth of the
tournament.
Round 9
Hans Groffen - Jovica Radovanovic
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Qc2 g6
Transposing into a sort of Grünfeld.
5 Bf4 dxc4 6 Qxc4 Bg7 7 Qb3
7 Nc3 0–0 8 e4 is more enterprising.
7...0–0 8 e3 c5
Black is already at least equal.
9 Nc3 cxd4 10 exd4
10 Nxd4 Nbd7 11 Nf3 Nh5 12 Bg5 h6 13 Bh4 g5 14 Bg3 Qa5
15 Rc1 a6 16 Qc4 Nb6 17 b4?? Qa3 0–1, was Taggatz-Babula,
Bad Wiessee 2001.
10...Nc6 11 0–0–0?
After 11 Rd1 Castling queenside is asking for trouble -
which Black duly provides.
11...a5 12 d5
After seeing what follows, one is tempted to suggest 12
a3 here. Then Black would respond with 12...a4! 13 Qc4
(13 Nxa4 allows Black to whip up a strong attack with
13...Be6 14 Qc2 Nd5 15 Bd2 Qd6, etc) 13...Bf5 14 Bd3 Be6
15 Qb5 Nd5 and Black has strong pressure against White’s
castled king.
12...Nb4 13 a3 Bf5!
14 Nd4
14 axb4? axb4 15 Qxb4 Ra1+ 16 Kd2 Nxd5! is not to be
contemplated.
14...Qc8! 15 Nxf5
15 axb4 axb4 16 Qxb4 Nxd5 and Black has too many
threats.
15...Qxf5
The queen proves to be as effective on this square as
the bishop was before it, making the white king very
uncomfortable and with nowhere to run.
16 Be3
16 axb4 Qxf4+ 17 Kb1 axb4 and Black has material as well
as a big attack; 16 g3 is another defence but 16...Rfc8!
17 axb4 axb4 18 Bd3 Qh5 19 Qxb4 Nxd5 still looks
extremely strong.
16...Rfc8!
White’s position is already beyond repair.
17 axb4
Fritz’s attempt to confuse the issue with 17 d6 exd6 18
Kd2 runs into 18...Ne4+ 19 Nxe4 Rc2+ 20 Ke1 Rxb2 and the
end is nigh.
17...axb4 18 Bd3 Qe5! 19 Kd2
19 Qxb4 Nxd5 20 Qe4 Nxc3 21 Qxe5 Nxd1+ 22 Kxd1 Bxe5
leaves Black the exchange and a pawn up.
19...bxc3+ 20 bxc3
One more attractive sacrifice and the job is done...
20...Rxc3! 21 Qxc3 Ne4+ 22 Bxe4 Qxc3+
23 Ke2 Qc4+ 24 Bd3 Ra2+ 25 Rd2 Qg4+ 0–1
POSITION OF THE DAY
The following position doesn’t quite match Lawrence
Trent’s remarkable ‘commando force behind enemy lines’
position from round seven, but is also bizarre...
Round 9
Vachier-Lagrave - Wells
It looks like Black has castled kingside, but also
managed to sneak his queenside rook round to h8. But if
you think about it, that would be impossible. In fact,
it is relatively easy to see that the king has moved two
squares and the queenside rook joined in the defence of
f7. It amounts to a horrible fix for Peter Wells as the
French prodigy is effectively playing with an extra
rook.
23 h4
Fritz rather likes 23 Re8! Qd5 24 Qe2 Qd7 25 Rxf8+ Kxf8
26 Bg6 f6 27 Rd1 which is crushing.
23...Qd8 24 Bc4 Rh7 25 Qf5 Bb6 26
Bxf7+ Kh8 27 h5 Bc7 28 Qg6 c5
28...Qd6 29 Qxd6 Bxd6 30 Rf3 g5 31 hxg6 Rg7 32 Rh4 is
hopeless.
29 g3 Qd7 30 Kg2 Qd2+ 31 Rf2 Qd7 32
Rfe2 Bd6 33 Re8 Qc6+ 34 Kh2 1–0
‘LIVERPOOL OLYMPIAD’
Here are the ‘team scores’ with one round to go...
England, Netherlands still neck and neck on 26; France
24½; Germany 23½; Sweden 23; Lithuania 22½; Scotland,
Spain 19½; Ireland 19; Wales 15½. England ‘B’ have 23.
One Latvian reader pointed out that her country has four
players here, because both Rausis (CZE) and Fridman
(GER) are Latvians by birth. So for her benefit the
Latvian score would be 22. |
