Round 5 28th February 2002

FIELD OF DREAMS

IT’S no secret that I’m something of a baseball fanatic - and I just can’t wait until the new season starts on April 1st. In the meantime, rather than going cold turkey, I have to make do with watching baseball films to cure my habitual fix - easily the finest is Kevin Costner’s Field Of Dreams.

The premise of this film involves Costner as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa corn farmer, who for all of his life has been searching for his dreams - to have his heroes come back from the dead and play for him. Suddenly, one day while working on the farm, his dreams come looking for him. He hears voices asking him to "Build it and they will come" and interprets it as a command to build a baseball diamond in his field; he does and the infamous Chicago Black Sox along with Shoeless Joe Jackson in spirit form play for him on his field - his field of dreams.

The story is actually one that can be associated with the Hotel Anibal in Linares, the venue for all the action. The tournament began life in the less than salubrious venue of the Hotel Cervantes as a mere category 5 in 1978. That inaugural event was won by the Swede Jaan Elson, who tragically died a few years ago in a traffic accident. However, millionaire sponsor Don Luis Rentero had his own "dreams" - he wanted his chess heroes to come to his home town of Linares to play chess for him.

Luis Rentero

Unfortunately, the venue was not a fitting one for such superstars. There was only one solution - he would have to build his own field of dreams. The legendary Rentero, nicknamed "The Steam-roller" by his fellow citizens due to his very successful business methods, discovered that a brand new hotel was being built in his own backyard - one that he could use to finally lure his heroes to Linares. The Hotel Anibal was built in 1987; unfortunately the owners didn’t want to be involved with hosting a chess tournament.

This proved no obstacle for "The Steam-roller". If they weren’t prepared to host the tournament, he would just make them an offer to buy the hotel that, as they would say in Godfather parlance, they "couldn’t refuse". So, in 1990, Rentero finally bought the Anibal - and then spent another small fortune refurnishing it so that he could finally hold his tournaments.

In chess circles, Rentero is regarded as something of dictatorial bully due to...well, let’s just say some of his wheeling and dealing at Linares. Being a shrewd business man, he would stop at nothing to turn Linares into "the greatest show on Earth" with fighting chess. Take the case of former world champion Boris Spassky, who begged for an invite - and indeed won here in 1983. He had fallen into the habit of stringing short draws together; but in his contract for participating he had agreed to "not make any compromises before move forty"! And what Rentero couldn’t get in print, he obtained through "mammon".

One particular trick he used to employ was taking a particular player to one side prior to a game and, revealing a stuffed envelope full of pesetas in his inside jacket pocket, he would tell them that they could have the envelope at the end of the day - but only if they fought hard and made sure the game lasted more than 40 moves.

Asked about this policy of "bribing" the players to perform, he once remarked, "I’d offer them women or a Caribbean cruise, but those I haven’t got. What I have got is money. - Of course, it worked. Rentero found himself in charge of a tournament that bucked the trend with around two thirds of the games being decisive.

Unlike Jaan Elson the first winner at Linares, Rentero barely survived a tragic car accident a few years ago. Popping out briefly to collect something, Rentero, instead of using his Rolls Royce, opted to use his wife’s smaller family car which unfortunately was hit at a junction by a lorry. Whether he would have been better protected in the Roller is open to question – however his injuries were such that he was no longer the person he once was. There was a long, but steady recovery from his horrific injuries - injuries that forced him to relinquish control of "his" tournament which has now passed over to the City of Linares.

The Anibal is still the venue for Linares, and Rentero makes the occasional visit there to watch the play. Of course he doesn’t sit in the audience like others, he can be found behind the stage sitting in a comfy armchair watching the games on a large bank of TV screens, happy to still have some association with his field of dreams.

"Garry Kasparov tries to win all the important tournaments which Anatoly Karpov has ever won - to erase his rival from the history of chess", joked a journalist a while ago. True or not, in 1990 Kasparov first arrived in Linares at what till then had been Karpov country for at least a decade.

It was to prove to be a relationship with Rentero that more or less made Linares what it is today - traditionally the strongest tournament of the year. Along with his faithful sidekick Yuri Dokhoyian, "Mr Linares" has appeared here eleven-times, winning outright on six occasions (1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2001) and sharing once (in 2000) with his nemesis Vladimir Kramnik. Legend has it that Kasparov was the first person to coin the phrase ‘Wimbledon of Chess’ to describe Linares, a tournament that decides, as he puts it, ‘who is who for the coming year’.

After a tradition slow start with three draws, Kasparov moved up a gear in the fifth round with a nice win over England’s Mickey Adams.

Kasparov,G (2838) - Adams,M (2742) [C42]

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 [Who says the romantic side of chess is dead in today's elite circus? In Linares 1999, Veselin Topalov shocked Linares (and the world of elite chess) when he used the swashbuckling Cochrane Gambit with 4 Nxf7 to draw with Vladimir Kramnik. Incidentally, almost 124 years to the day on 2nd March 1878, John Cochrane died. A very aggressive player of his day, he was a Scot who was also credited with inventing the Scotch Game in the famous correspondence match between London and Edinburgh in 1824 - whilst playing for the opposition!] 4 ..Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Nc6 7 0–0 Be7 8 c4 Nb4 9 Be2 0–0

This line of the Petroff proved popular in Linares 2000 (played four times), where Kasparov opted for 10 Nc3 in three of these games - against Shirov, Kramnik and Anand. 10 a3 Nc6 11 cxd5 Qxd5 12 Nc3 Nxc3 13 bxc3 Bf5 [13 ..Bf6 14 Bf4 Bf5 15 Re1 Rac8 16 Nd2 Na5 17 Bf3 Qd7 18 Ne4 Be7 19 Ng3 Bg6 20 Bg4 f5 21 Bf3 Bd6 22 Be5 Kh8 23 h4 Bf7 24 h5 Kg8 25 Qc2 Bc4 26 Rab1 b6 27 Qc1 Rce8 28 Qf4 Bxe5 29 Rxe5 Rxe5 30 dxe5 Be6 31 h6 g6 32 Ne2 c5 33 Qg3 Nc4 34 Nf4 Nxe5 35 Rd1 Nxf3+ 36 Qxf3 Qf7 37 Qc6 Bc8 38 Re1 g5 39 Nh3 Bb7 40 Qd6 Qf6 41 Re6 Qxc3 42 Re7 Bc8 43 Rg7+ Qxg7 44 hxg7 Kxg7 45 Nxg5 1–0 Kasparov,G-Dao Thien Hai/Batumi 2001/CBM 86. ] 14 Re1 [After the immediate 14 Bf4 Kramnik's Spanish second Miguel Illescas opted for piece play by sacrificing the pawn with 14 ..Na5 15 Bxc7 b6 16 Bf4 Rac8 17 Bd2 Bd6 0–1 Krakops,M-Illescas Cordoba,M/Leon 2001/CBM 86 (54).] 14 ..Rfe8N [Adams tries to improve upon a Nataf-Sakaev game from the Fide World Ch KO in Moscow: 14 ..Bf6 15 Bf4 Qd7 16 Bd3 Bg6 17 Rb1 b6 18 Rb2 Bxd3 19 Qxd3 Rfe8 20 Rbe2 Rxe2 21 Qxe2 h6 22 h3 Be7 23 Qe4 Rd8 24 c4 Bd6 25 d5 Na5 26 Bd2 Nb3 27 Bc3 Nc5 28 Qd4 f6 29 Qe3 Kf7 30 Nd4 Re8 31 Qf3 Rxe1+ 32 Bxe1 Qe7 33 Bc3 Qe4 34 Qxe4 Nxe4 ½–½ Nataf,I-Sakaev,K/Moscow RUS 2001/The Week in Chess 369.] 15 Bf4! Rac8 16 c4 Qe4 17 Be3 Bf6

18 Ra2! A nice multi-purpose move - it stops the exchange of queens with ..Qc2 and prepares to swing across to e2 and doubling on the e-file. 18 ..b6 19 h3 In the press room, Ljubo Ljubojevic came in late at this stage and immediately predicted a Kasparov victory, explaining "it was a simple position - he [Kasparov] understands them very well indeed." 19 ..Na5 20 g4 Bg6 21 g5 Be7 22 Ne5! Bd6 23 Nxg6 [It looks tempting to immediately go for the win of material by embarrassing the queen - unfortunately for white, black has a nice resource: 23 Bf3?! Qh4 24 Bg4 Bxe5 25 Bxc8 Rxc8 26 dxe5 Qxh3 27 Rd2 (27 f3 Bh5! 28 Rh2 Qg3+ 29 Rg2 Qh3 30 Rh2=) 27 ..h6 28 Rd8+ (28 Bf4 hxg5 29 Bxg5 Nxc4 30 Rd4 Qf5!=; 28 gxh6? Be4! winning.) 28 ..Kh7! 29 Rxc8 Be4 30 f3 Qg3+=] 23 ..hxg6 24 c5! Bf8 [24 ..bxc5?! 25 dxc5 Bf4 26 Bg4 Rcd8 27 Rd2 Bxg5 28 Bd7 Re7 29 Rd4 Qe5 30 Rd5 wins material.] 25 Bg4 Rcd8 26 Rae2 Qd5 [Another post mortem attempt was 26 ..Qb7 but Kasparov was quick to respond with 27 Qc2 (27 Qa4 Qd5! with the idea of Qc4 or Nb3 looks ok for black - it's a position he can hold.) 27 ..b5 (27 ..bxc5 28 dxc5 Qc6) 28 Qc3! Nc4 29 Bf4 Rxe2 30 Rxe2 Qc6 31 Re1 (to allow the defence of d4 with Rd1) 31 ..a6 32 a4 and white has good prospects due to the bishop-pair.] 27 Bf4 [27 Qa4 Nc6! and the centre falls and with it white's advantage.] 27 ..Rxe2 28 Qxe2 c6 [28 ..Qc6 29 Qe5! bxc5 30 dxc5 Bxc5 31 Qxc7 Qb6 32 Kg2!] 29 Bc7 Ra8

30 Qe5 [The most accurate route to victory looks like 30 Qa6! Qxd4 (30 ..Qc4 31 Qxc4 Nxc4 32 Rc1 b5 (32 ..Nxa3 33 cxb6 axb6 34 Rxc6 b5 35 d5 Nc4 36 d6 and the d-pawn is going to cost black a piece.) 33 Rc3 and the bishops will soon win through.) 31 cxb6 Bc5 32 Qxa5 Qxf2+ 33 Kh1 and white is a piece to the better.] 30 ..Qxe5 31 Rxe5 Nc4 32 d5 Nxe5? [A big mistake - during the post mortem Kasparov and Adams discovered that black was holding ok after: 32 ..cxd5! as 33 c6 Na5 34 Bd7 (34 Rxd5 Nxc6 35 Bd7 Na5=) 34 ..Nxc6! 35 Rxd5 (35 Bxc6 Rc8!=) 35 ..Na5 with a draw.] 33 Bxe5 cxd5 34 c6 f5

35 gxf6 [35 Bf3 was probably stronger: 35 ..d4 36 c7 Re8 37 Bc6 Rc8 38 Bb7 Rxc7 39 Bxc7 Bxa3 40 Ba6! and all the queenside pawns fall.] 35 ..gxf6 36 Be6+ Kg7 37 Bg3 Bxa3 [37 ..d4 38 c7 Bxa3 39 c8Q Rxc8 40 Bxc8 d3 41 Kf1 is much the same as the game.] 38 Bxd5 Rc8 39 c7 Bc5 40 Bb7 Rxc7 41 Bxc7 a5 42 Bc6 (the pawns are now paralysed) 42 ..g5 43 Kf1 Kg6 44 f3 Kh5 45 Be8+! Kh6 [It's all immaterial, but 45 ..Kh4?? 46 Kg2 threatens mate or wins more material.] 46 Ke2 f5 47 Bd8 White wins 1–0

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.