John Henderson Dortmund Reports

Round 4 Sunday 15th July 2001

ON YOUR MARKS

THOSE fun-loving Germans appreciate nothing more than a good reliable system. After all, systems make the world go round. And by far the most important system they have is their financial one.

To the Germans money represents security. Fear of losing their beloved Mark prompted them for the first time to question the value of European unification that would have made Margaret Thatcher envious. Wreathed in Wagnerian apprehensions of the Götterdämmerung kind, they realised that sacrifices would have to be made, and so, despite the initial strong fears, January 1^st, 2002, sees the ECU replaces the Mark.

The apprehension is due to the fact that twice in the 20^th century, after the First and the Second World Wars, Germany was hit by a seismic devaluation. Inflation reached astronomical proportions in the early 1920s. Everyone became a billionaire, yet money was not worth the paper it was printed on, and in some respects was utilised for another purpose in the smallest room in the house. The majority lost all their savings, all of which sadly led to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.

It was also during this tragic period of German history that the legendary Emanuel Lasker (world champion from 1894 to 1921) – Germany’s only world champion to date – lost the fortune he had made in the game through his long reign. After cashing-in his final pension plan when he accepted the big payday of $10,000 on offer to go to Havana and lose to Capablanca, Lasker discovered that he had to come back out of retirement a few years later as his money had, well, simply disappeared due to the rampant inflation.

But then again, he very nearly retired from the game before he got started! Lasker had his first serious tournament win (Breslau in 1889) by accident. Another competitor, needing a draw or win for first place, had a won adjourned game. After the adjournment he lost. It was later discovered that one of his pawns was knocked off the board between sealing and resumption of the game, which would have given him the winning advantage.

As a result Lasker, who was on the verge of giving up chess, won the event and the title of national master. Five years later he was world champion. The rest, as they say, is history.

Despite his long and illustrious reign, Lasker only ever defended his title once in his homeland. And, the last time there was a world championship match in Germany was back in 1934, when Alexander Alekhine successfully defended the challenge of Bogoljubov.

In the 115-years of world championship history, this was the guiding reason, according to Ray Keene, for looking towards Dortmund for the future. The reliable system that produced 29 Sparkassen Chess Festivals proved that this was a city that could organise things - and in typical German ship-shape fashion!

Not only will next year’s 30^th anniversary festival see the starting pistol fired for the race to challenge Kramnik in a Candidates-style tournament, but in 2004 the city has an option on staging the title match – the first in German since 1934. And, should Kramnik successfully defend his title in 2002, he will return here to Dortmund – where over the years he’s enjoyed unparalleled success with five wins out of six appearances.

With a nice win over fellow Russian Morozevich in round four, Kramnik could be heading for a sixth win in Dortmund as he takes the sole lead in the tournament. And it was his turn to entertain us in the pressroom after the game by going over the game for us.

Kramnik,V (2802) - Morozevich,A (2749) [D12]

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3 Bf5 The same continuation as recommended by Shirov, who used this against Kramnik at Astana. 5 Nc3 a6 [The ending after 5 ..e6 6 Qb3!? tends to be a bit tricky for Black. Now, if 6 Qb3, then 6 ..Ra7 would (probably) be a Morozevich manoeuvre. Another problem with 6 ..e6 is that after 7 Nh4, white gains the bishop-pair.] 6 Bd3 Bxd3! 7 Qxd3 e6 [Also worthy of consideration was the immediate 7 ..b5!?, a typical thrust in the ..a6 Slav: 7 ..b5 8 b3 e6 9 0–0 Nbd7 10 Nd2 Bb4 11 Bb2 0–0 12 Rad1 Qb8 13 Qe2 Bd6 14 Nf3 Re8 15 h3 b4 16 Nb1 Ne4 17 Rc1 a5 18 Nbd2 f5 19 Nxe4 dxe4 20 Nd2 Nf6 21 f3 Bh2+ 22 Kh1 Nh5 23 Qf2 Ng3+ 24 Kxh2 Nxf1+ 25 Kg1 Nxd2 26 Qxd2 exf3 0–1 De Graaff,R-Strating,S/NED 2000/CBM 76 ext (26). ] 8 0–0 Be7 9 e4 0–0 10 Rd1 [In his analysis to the press room, Kramnik mentioned that he considered briefly the possibility of a French-type position with: 10 cxd5 cxd5 11 e5] 10 ..b5 11 c5 dxe4 [No good is 11 ..b4 12 e5 bxc3 (12 ..Ne8 13 Ne2! a5 14 a3 doesn't look too good for black - white has the better development and obvious targets on the queenside.) 13 exf6 Bxf6 14 bxc3 and white has good prospects: able to use the b-file and a good target on a6 to home in on. Morozevich try's to solve the problems with an exchange of queens.] 12 Nxe4 Nxe4 13 Qxe4 Qd5! [Kramnik: "White gets a dangerous initiative if black takes on c5", and supported it with the following analysis: 13 ..Bxc5? 14 Ng5 g6 15 Qh4 h5 16 g4! Bxd4 (16 ..Bd6 17 gxh5 Qf6 18 hxg6 Qxg6 19 Kh1!) 17 Be3! (17 gxh5? Bxf2+!) 17 ..c5 18 gxh5 Qf6 (18 ..Qe7?? 19 hxg6 fxg6 20 Rxd4! cxd4 21 Bxd4) 19 Bxd4 cxd4 20 hxg6 Qxg6 21 Kh1!] 14 Qxd5 cxd5 15 Bf4 Nc6

16 Ne5! The knight exchange would leave black with a bad bishop, and white with a dangerous passed pawn, so Morozevich try's a regrouping to shift the e5 knight with f6. 16 ..Nb8 17 Rd3! Rc8 [The immediate f6 doesn't work - white has activated the rooks: 17 ..f6 18 Nf3 Rc8 19 Re1 Nd7 (19 ..e5?! 20 dxe5 Rxc5 21 exf6 Bxf6 22 Re8+ Kf7 23 Rde3) 20 b4 Kf7 21 Rde3 Nf8 and Morozevitch is just going to have to sit and defend this position against Kramnik.] 18 Re1 Bf6 19 Ng4 Nc6 [19 ..Nd7 20 Nxf6+ Nxf6 21 Be5 Nd7 22 f4! Rc6 (22 ..f6 23 Bd6 Re8 (23 ..Kf7 24 f5! and white crashes through.) 24 Rde3 Kf7 25 f5 e5 26 dxe5 and white wins any resulting ending.) ] 20 Nxf6+ gxf6 21 Bg3! Typically deep for Kramnik. He's simply going to pile on the pressure on f6 with moves like Bh4 and Rf3. If Morozevich play ..f5, white's going to have a superb bishop, 21 ..Kg7 22 Bh4 Ne7 23 g4 [23 Rg3+ Ng6 24 f4 may have been stronger, but Kramnik has his own train of thought in a particular breakthrough.] 23 ..Ng6 24 Bg3 a5 25 Bd6 h5? Morozevitch cracks under the pressure. He's doing badly, but this just hastens his demise. 26 gxh5 Nh4 27 Rg3+ Kh6 28 Be7 Nf5

29 Bxf6! Nxg3 30 fxg3 Rg8 31 Kg2 Kxh5 Kramnik may only have one pawn for the exchange, but all the aces are in his hand. The two passed pawns on the c and h-file cannot be stopped by Morozevich. 32 h3 Kg6 33 Rf1 Kh7 34 g4 b4 35 Kg3 b3 36 a3 Rac8 37 h4 Rg6 38 h5 [Black is just going to be a spectator in a gruesome death: 38 h5 Rgg8 39 g5 Rc7 40 Kh4! Ra7 41 Be5 Re7 42 Rf6 Rg7 43 c6 Kg8 44 Rf3 a4 45 c7] 1–0

Veselin Topalov missed a golden opportunity to join Kramnik in the lead after missing a couple of sure-fire wins against Mickey Adams. And as a treat for the TWIC readers, Topalov's Bulgarian trainer of long-standing, IM Silvio Danailov annotates his game for us.

Adams,M (2744) - Topalov,V (2711) [C78]

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0–0 b5 6 Bb3 Bc5 Both Topalov and Shirov have been playing this line for a number of years now and have been responsible for it's growth in popularity. They have had many interesting encounters in this line as well 7 a4 Rb8 8 d3 d6 9 c3 Bg4 10 Nbd2 0–0 11 h3

11 ..Bd7N [11 ..Bh5 12 Re1 b4 13 Bc4 Na5 14 Bxa6 c6 15 Bc4 d5 16 Ba2 Qb6 17 Qe2 b3 18 Bb1 Rfe8 19 Nf1 d4 20 cxd4 exd4 21 g4 Bg6 22 Bf4 Ra8 23 Ne5 Bb4 24 Rc1 c5 25 Nd2 Bxd2 26 Qxd2 Rec8 27 f3 Ne8 28 Nc4 Nxc4 29 dxc4 f6 30 Bd3 Ra5 31 Ra3 Rca8 32 Rca1 Nd6 33 Qh2 R8a6 34 Bd2 Bf7 35 Qe2 h6 36 Bxa5 Rxa5 37 f4 Qa6 38 Rc1 Rxa4 39 Rxa4 Qxa4 40 e5 fxe5 41 fxe5 1–0 Bruzon Bautista,L-Godena,M/Havana 1999. ] 12 Re1 Bb6 13 Nf1 Ne7 14 Ng3 Ng6 15 d4 c5 16 Be3 cxd4 17 cxd4 Ba5 18 Re2 Bb4 19 a5 Bc6 20 Bd2 Bxd2 21 Qxd2 b4 22 Ree1 Qc7 23 h4 Rfd8 24 Rac1?! [24 Qg5 with attack.] 24 ..Qb7 25 h5 Nf4 26 dxe5 dxe5 27 Qe3 Ng4! [27 ..Nd3?! 28 h6 and again white has a strong attack.] 28 Qc5 Be8 29 Bc4 Rdc8 30 Qd6? [30 Qb6!=] 30 ..Qa7 31 Qd2? [31 Rf1 was the only move.] 31 ..Rd8??

31 ..Rxc4!! 32 Rxc4 Rd8 33 Qc2 (33 Nd4 Rxd4 34 Rxd4 Qxd4 35 Qxd4 exd4 winning) 33 ..b3 34 Rc7 bxc2 35 Rxa7 Nd3 winning] 32 Bd5 Nxd5 33 exd5 Rxd5 34 Qxd5 Qxf2+ 35 Kh1 Qxg3 36 Rc2 Bb5 37 Kg1 h6 38 Rec1 Re8 39 Rc8 Qf2+ 40 Kh1 Qxb2 41 Rxe8+ Bxe8 42 Rc8

42 ..Qa1+? [Topalov misses the continuation that would have gained him a crucial tempo: 42 ..Qb1+! 43 Ng1 Nf6 44 Qxe5 (44 Qb7 Qf5 45 Nh3 (45 Qxa6 Qxh5+ 46 Nh3 Qd1+ 47 Kh2 b3 48 Rb8 Kh7!) 45 ..Kh7! 46 Qxa6 Bd7 47 Rd8 Qe4 48 Qa8 Qe1+ 49 Ng1 Qh4+ 50 Nh3 Qxh5 51 Rxd7 Nxd7 52 Qe4+ f5 53 Qxb4 Qd1+ 54 Ng1 Qa1 with advantage) 44 ..b3 45 Rxe8+ Nxe8 46 Qxe8+ Kh7 47 Qxf7 b2 and this time black is winning.] 43 Ng1= Nf6 44 Qc6 b3 45 Rxe8+ Nxe8 46 Qxe8+ Kh7 47 Qxf7 Qb1 48 Kh2 b2 49 Ne2 Qd3 50 Nc3 Qxc3 [50 ..b1Q 51 Nxb1 Qxb1 52 Qe6!=] ½–½

You can contact John Henderson at: jbhthescots@cableinet.co.uk

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center.