Chess from Malcolm Pein Chess Saturday May 12th 2007

Veselin Topalov’s fighting spirit occasionally gets him into trouble and he over-pressed in the first round of the MTel Masters in front of his home fans at Sofia. The former Fide Champion advanced all his remaining pawns in a complex but equal middlegame position and succumbed to some clever tactics from Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Topalov defeated the Romanian 3-1 in a match last year.

Michael Adams drew with Krisnan Sasikiran in what was a rather correctly played game. Adams held a small advantage throughout but never looked like winning and arbiter allowed play to end when a totally drawn queen and pawn endgame was reached. Under the ‘Sofia Rules’ the players are not allowed to offer draws.

Topalov 0-1 Nisipeanu, Scandinavian Qd6, 45;
Adams draw Sasikiran Caro Kann, Panov-Botvinnik Attack, 47;
Mamedyarov 1-0 Kamsky Slav Bg4, 38;

The following game provided most of the entertainment. Kamsky likes to play these risky lines but after his 12th move he is objectively lost. Mamedyarov nearly ruined his position by trying to ‘Blitz’ Kamsky, playing quickly in the latter’s time pressure and Kamsky hit back with a nice tactic but then his time ran out with two moves to make.

Mamedyarov,S (2757) - Kamsky,G (2705) [D10]
MTel Sofia BUL (1), 10.05.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.f3 Be6 6.Nge2 dxc4 7.Nf4 Qc8 8.e4 g6 [8...b5!?] 9.g4!? White is not messing about. He plans to storm the kingside where Black's king seems to be headed 9...Bg7 10.h4 h6! 11.b3 Making the pawn sacrifice permanent but by opening the a file White hopes to rule out a run for the queenside by the Black king 11...cxb3 12.axb3 Nbd7? [If this is the best Black has its time to get a new opening. 12...Bd7!? 13.Bc4 (13.e5 Nd5 14.Ncxd5 cxd5 15.Nxd5 e6 16.Nf6+ Bxf6 17.exf6 Qc3+ is good for Black) 13...b5 14.Bd3 Nxg4 15.fxg4 Bxd4 was possible] 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.e5 Qc7

[A completely unsound idea but in practical terms possibly correct. Black gets two pawns, a check and the chance to run his king to the queenside. Also White now has to defend a little. If 14...Nd5 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.Bd3 Nf8 17.f4 gives White huge compensation with h4-h5 and f4-f5 coming] 15.exf6 Qg3+ 16.Ke2 Nxf6 17.Qd3 0-0-0 18.Rxa7 Kb8 19.Ra4 Rhf8 20.Rh3 Qc7 21.Be3 [The crude 21.Qxg6 Rg8 22.Ne4 e5 23.Nxf6 Bxf6 24.Qxh6 exd4 also looks very good for White] 21...e5 22.Qc4 Playing for tricks 22...Nd5 [22...b5 23.Nxb5 cxb5 24.Ra8+ Kb7 25.Ra7+ wins the queen] 23.Nxd5 Rxd5 24.Qd3 exd4 25.Bd2 Rf6 26.Kd1 Re6 Black still has a few practical chances, his king is slightly safer 27.f4 Qb6 28.Bg2 Rc5 29.Rc4 Rb5 30.f5 gxf5 31.gxf5 Rd6 32.Kc2 Qa7 33.Kb2 Re5! Setting a trap 34.Ra4 Qb6 35.Bf4? Re2+! 36.Kb1 [36.Qxe2 d3+ wins the queen] 36...Rxg2 37.Rg3 Rxg3 38.Qxg3 as Black ran out of time After 38.Qxg3 c5 Black is losing the exchange but things are not totally clear however 39.Kc1 Bf8 40.Qg8 Qd8 41.Qf7 should be very good for White. 1-0

The English Chess Federation has written to Fide in support of Nigel Short regarding the complaint made about him to the Fide Ethics Committee.

Formal complaint of the English Chess Federation to the Ethics Commission of FIDE (8 May 2007) Dear Colleagues, The English Chess Federation reacts with dismay and anger at the news that Grandmaster Nigel Short, a respected member of the federation, has been asked to appear before the FIDE Ethics Commission to answer for comments made concerning events surrounding the Kramnik vs. Topalov World Championship match and the San Luis World Championship tournament. We understand the Commission may be acting following a complaint from Grandmaster Zurab Azmaiparashvili. While the federation has formed no firm views on GM Short's precise comments and the allegations contained therein, it believes that they were a legitimate response to a series of mistakes and missed opportunities made during the above events which have impacted disastrously on the worldwide image of chess, and made the important work of this federation much more difficult. We ask the Commission: 1) To cease this attempt to stop GM Short commenting on issues which are of legitimate importance to all chess players. This is an abuse of the Ethics Commission against a former title contender who has always spoken passionately and honestly about chess. In the event that this complaint should progress we ask the Commission: 2) To investigate with full vigour the background to GM Short's remarks and the events at those tournaments which led him to make them, and if justified by the evidence, to charge Vice President GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos under 2.2.10 and 2.2.11 of the FIDE Code of Ethics for damaging the reputation of FIDE and its events. Even in the event, that the complaint against GM Short is withdrawn, we reserve the right to ask the Commission to investigate the conduct of Messrs Azmayparashvili and Makropoulos. Yours Faithfully, Martin Regan (Chief Executive ECF) Peter Sowray (ECF International Director)