Semi-Final Round 2 14th July 2002

THE LAST CHANCE SALOON

THERE comes a time when you can grow tired of eating pumpernickel with the incessant sound of James Last blasting out “Here Comes Summer” as the required Muzak just about everywhere in Germany – I can tell Summer is here, Mr Last. My clothes are drenched in sweat and I’m not working!

The king of "non-stop dancing," Last has churned out more instrumental albums than Mark Crowther has produced weekly editions of his TWIC magazine, and he continues to record and release records at the rate of one every 11 days. Soon about to exhaust the supply of Western popular songs, Last is rumoured to be exploring the potential for adapting Chinese operas to his seamless style, which would provide him with at least another decade's worth of material. Everything from Gregorian chant to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has been fed into the Last-icizer to produce countless medleys that somebody, somewhere, must be playing at their non-stop parties.

Chances are, if you don't like the first James Last album you hear, you won't like the rest – it saves a lot of time. However, with a quantity of output like Last's, something odd is bound to slip through. His Voodoo Party is undoubtedly the most popular with the exotica fan, and his "a Go-Go" albums (Hammond, Guitar, Humba-Humba) are close seconds…or so I’ve been reliable told.

Shirov: Beyond the last chance saloon, at least in Dortmund

While were on the subject of “Last”, it’s getting near that time in the tournament when one of the players finds himself drinking at the last chance saloon – unfortunately it looks like Alexei Shirov (BREAKING NEWS as they would say on CNN: As we write Leko wins game three to go through to the Final). The chess fans out there wouldn’t have begrudged the lapsed Latvian a title shot with big Vlady – after all, it would have been poetic justice for Alexei after all his trials and tribulations of beating Kramnik a few years ago in a so-called Candidates Final, only to find his title match (and with it his prize money) with Kasparov going down the big Andalusian plughole as the sponsors pulled out of the match.

Meanwhile, after losing the first game to Topalov, Bareev bounced back into contention with a nice win to level the scores at 1-1. Later on after the game, I went back to the hotel and got into the elevator (still blaring out another James Last album!) to go up to the room. As it stopped at the first floor, the jubilant Bareevs, heading for diner, jumped in. Immediately I informed them that this lift was “only going up”. Ever the wit, Evgeny retorted: “Ah, so am I!”.

Topalov,V - Bareev,E

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bf5 5 Ng3 Bg6 6 h4 h6 [The late, great British GM Tony Miles also had a fondness for the Classical variation with Bf5. He would often say that if you can tuck in and weather the early White storm, then the endgame is good for Black as the White pawns will be over-extended and vulnerable - this is what exactly happens in this game.] 7 Nf3 Nd7 8 h5 Bh7 9 Bd3 Bxd3 10 Qxd3 e6 11 Bf4 Ngf6 12 0–0–0 Be7 13 Kb1 0–0 14 Ne5 Qa5 [Note how this queen move also keeps an eye on the h-pawn also.] 15 Ne4 Nxe4 [Bareev improves of his game against Adams from the earlier group stages: 15 ..Rad8 16 Nxf6+ Nxf6 17 Qg3 Kh8 18 Rd3 c5 19 Qf3 Rxd4 20 Rxd4 cxd4 21 Qxb7 Nd5 22 Bg3 Qa4 23 Qb3 Qa6 24 Qd3 Qa4 25 Rd1 Bc5 26 Qb3 Qa6 27 a4 Nf6 28 Qb5 Qc8 29 Nd3 Be7 30 Ne5 Bc5 31 Nd3 ½–½ Adams,M-Bareev,E/Dortmund 2002. ] 16 Qxe4 Rad8 17 c4?!

[If anything the White loss can be directly traced to this move, as Topalov weakens the d-pawn. Instead, he should have played something like 17 Rd3 or 17 c3, and like Leko play for the draw to hold his lead. Also, the speculative sac with 17 Ng6 backfires: 17 Ng6 fxg6 18 Qxe6+ Kh8 19 Qxe7 Rxf4 20 hxg6 (with the idea of following up with Rxh6+!, is easily thwarted off with..) 20 ..Nf8!] 17 ..Nxe5 18 Bxe5 Bd6! [Black's objective is to exchange off as many pieces as possible and head asap for the ending - just look at those hanging pawns on c4 and d4 along with the h5-pawn.] 19 f3 Rd7 20 Bxd6 Rxd6 21 Qe5 Qd8! [ 21 ..Qxe5? 22 dxe5 would give White a big ace with the control of the d-file.] 22 Rd3 b5 23 b3 [ 23 cxb5 Rd5! ( 23 ..cxb5? 24 Qxb5 Rxd4 25 Rhd1 Rxd3 26 Qxd3=) 24 Qe4 cxb5 and Black will soon be tripling the heavy furniture on the d-file, which will soon win the pawn to an eventual e5.] 23 ..bxc4 24 bxc4 Qe7 25 Kc2 Rfd8 26 Qc5 R8d7 27 Rhd1 Qh4 28 g4?! [ This just creates a further weakness on f3 - perhaps Topalov would have been better defending the position after 28 Qe5 f6 29 Qc5 Qg3 30 R1d2] 28 ..f6 29 Qb4 f5!

[Again creating more pawn weaknesses in the White camp.] 30 Qb8+ Kh7 31 Qe8 Qf6 32 c5 Rd5 [The weaknesses soon begin to tell, as the White pawns collapse like a deck of cards - and with it stripping away any protection for the White king.] 33 Re1 Re7 34 Qxc6 fxg4 35 fxg4 Qf2+ 36 Kd1 Rxd4 37 Rxd4 Qxd4+ 38 Kc2 Qc4+ 39 Kd2 Qxa2+ 40 Ke3 Qb3+ 41 Ke2 Qc2+ [Unlike Morozevich, this Russian knows how to count to three!] 42 Ke3 Qc3+ 43 Ke2 Qe5+ 44 Kd2 Qd4+ 45 Kc2 Qc4+ 46 Kd2 Qb4+ 47 Ke2 Qb2+ 48 Ke3 Qc3+ 49 Ke2 Qe5+ 50 Kd2 Qd4+ 51 Kc2 Qc4+ 52 Kd2 Qb4+ 53 Ke2 Rf7 54 Qxe6 Rf6 55 Qd5 Qxg4+ 56 Kd3 Rf5 57 Re5 Qg3+ 58 Kd4 Qf2+ [ 58 ..Qf2+ 59 Kc3 ( 59 Kd3 Rf3+ 60 Kc4 Qf1+ 61 Kb4 leads to the same mate.) 59 ..Rf3+ 60 Kc4 Qf1+ 61 Kb4 Qb1+ 62 Ka4 ( 62 Kc4 Qb3+ 63 Kd4 Qd3#) 62 ..Rf4+ 63 Ka5 Qa1+ 64 Kb5 Qa4#] 0–1

Leko,P - Shirov,A

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 [An ultra-safe line against the Najdorf that was popularised in the 1970s by Karpov - a very wise choice from Leko.] 6 ..e5 7 Nb3 Be7 8 0–0 0–0 9 Be3 Be6 10 Qd2 Nbd7 11 a4 Nb6 [ 11 ..Rc8 12 a5 Qc7 13 Rfc1 Qc6 14 Bf3 Bc4 15 Ra4 Rfd8 16 Rb4 Qc7 17 Nd5 Nxd5 18 exd5 f5 19 Be2 Bxb3 20 Rxb3 f4 21 Bb6 Nxb6 22 Rxb6 Bg5 23 Bg4 Rb8 24 Re1 Qc5 25 Re4 Rf8 26 b4 Qc7 27 c4 Kh8 28 c5 dxc5 29 d6 Qd8 30 bxc5 f3 31 Qd5 fxg2 32 Rxe5 Qf6 33 Rf5 Qa1+ 34 Kxg2 Bf6 35 d7 Qxa5 36 Rxb7 Rxb7 37 Qxb7 Qd8 38 c6 a5 39 c7 Qxd7 40 Rf4 1–0 Karpov,A-Portisch,L/London 1982/MCD (40). ] 12 a5 Nc4 13 Bxc4 Bxc4 14 Rfd1 Rc8 [ 14 ..h6 15 Nc1 Rc8 16 Nd3 Be6 17 Bb6 Qe8 18 f3 Nd7 19 Be3 f5 20 exf5 Rxf5 21 Nb4 Nf6 22 Nbd5 Nxd5 23 Nxd5 Bf8 24 b3 Qf7 25 Nb6 Rc6 26 c4 Be7 27 Qe2 Bd8 28 Nd5 Bxd5 29 Rxd5 b5 30 axb6 Bxb6 31 Kh1 Bxe3 32 Qxe3 Qc7 33 Rad1 Rf6 34 h3 Qb6 35 Qd3 Qb4 36 Kh2 Qb8 37 Re1 Rf8 38 Re4 Qc7 39 Rg4 Rf6 40 b4 Qb6 41 c5 Qc7 42 Kh1 a5 43 Rc4 Qb8 44 cxd6 Rcxd6 45 bxa5 Qd8 46 Rcc5 1–0 Karpov,A-Quinteros,M/Luzern 1982/EXT 97-B (46). ] 15 Nc1 d5N

[The retreat to e6 is normal, but Shirov somehow has to at least make an effort to complicate the game in an attempt to level the scores. Leko has everything under control though.] 16 Bb6 Qe8 17 exd5 Bb4 18 d6! Qd7 19 Nd3 Qxd6 20 Nxb4 Qxb4 21 Ne4 Qxd2 22 Nxf6+ gxf6 23 Rxd2 Be6 24 f3 Rc4 25 c3 Kg7 26 Re1 Rfc8 27 Kf2 h5 28 Red1 Ra4 29 Rd6 And if anything White holds the advantage - though the opposite coloured bishops heavily favour the draw. ½–½

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

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