Round 3 25th February 2002

GOING LARGE IN LINARES

WHAT on earth is the world coming to, I ask myself. It’s nothing more than sacrilege, I tell you, sacrilege. The (once) proud city of Linares has finally sold out - just last month they opened a McDonalds in this little Spanish backwater.

Rumour has it that it may have been part of the pre-conditions negotiated by the mayor, Juan Fernandez, to make sure Ruslan Ponomariov would play in the tournament! You could just picture him running his little legs off after each round so that he could get a "Happy Meal". It might just be a coincidence here, but they built the latest house of Ronald’s right beside the Linares hospital. Then again, maybe it wasn’t such a coincidence.

Luis Rentero and the Mayor of Linares Juan Fernandez

However the bit about conditions for Ponomariov is not far from the mark. Super-Mario’s reign as Champion immediately began in controversy after he got involved in a protracted war of words with the organisers of Linares, who in turn threatened to sue the teenager for $1m (which considering he only won $400,000 at the Fide shindig would have had serious consequences for his pocket money for the next zillion years), blacklist him from future events and tell the world that he was a coward, after he suddenly withdrew after winning the title last month in Moscow. Mayor Fernandez set off with a peace-seeking delegation to Moscow and a face-saving deal between the two parties was soon agreed - apart from a guaranteed invitation to next year’s event, I always wondered what else Super-Mario got out of the deal. The McDonalds is now making me suspicious...

Upset that he lost in round two after playing someone other then big Chucky, Super-Mario immediately threw a tantrum (and I’m not making this up). He discovered that his hotel room (I kid you not: coincidently next door to me) didn’t have a mini-bar! He immediately went down to the reception to remonstrate vociferously (though how you can do this with a squeaky voice is beyond me) with the organisers that he, as Fide Champion, should be treated in the same way as Kasparov and Anand. About an hour later, I could hear the all too familiar clanging noises of bottles coming from the corridor just outside my door (a Scotsman can recognise this sound at up to 100 feet). Opening it, I saw a smirking Pono taking delivery of the disputed mini-bar.

Respect seemed to be etched on his face as the organisers succumbed to the powers of his Fide title. At least the delivery of said mini-bar would give him parity with Kasparov and Anand. I just didn’t have the heart to tell him that they don’t have humble rooms in the Anibal - they have a suite each!

The two titans have more or less been permanent fixtures here since Vishy made his début in 1991, when he first played Kasparov. And, in their 72nd meeting over the board since Linares 1991, it was a not-quite-firing-on-all-cylinders-yet Kasparov who missed a golden opportunity to put away his old rival from a commanding position. Kasparov looked to have Anand at his mercy but failed to find the correct moves to win though many suggestions came forward during their light-hearted post mortem after the game.

Kasparov,G - Anand,V [B49]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 A system refined by former Candidate Mark Taimanov in the 1960s, which now bears his name. 6 Be2 a6 7 0–0 Nf6 8 Be3 Bb4 9 Na4 Be7 10 Nxc6 bxc6 11 Nb6 Rb8 12 Nxc8 Qxc8 13 Bd4 0–0 [A relatively new way of playing this variation, the main-line being 13 ..c5: 13 ..c5 14 Be5 Rb6 15 Qd3 d6 16 Bc3 0–0 17 b3 d5 18 e5 (18 exd5 Nxd5 19 Bd2 Nb4 20 Qc4 Rd6 21 Bxb4 cxb4 22 Qxb4 Qxc2 23 Bxa6 Rxa6 24 Qxe7 Rxa2 25 Rxa2 Qxa2 26 b4 h6 27 h3 Qb3 28 Rc1 Rb8 29 Rc7 Qb1+ 30 Kh2 Qf5 31 Qd6 Ra8 32 Qc5 Qxc5 33 bxc5 Ra2 ½–½ Kasparov,G-Anand,V/Frankfurt 2000/CBM 78 (33). ) 18 ..Nd7 19 f4 f5 20 exf6 Bxf6 21 Bxf6 Nxf6 22 Bf3 Kh8 23 Rae1 a5 24 Re2 Rd8 25 Rfe1 a4 26 bxa4 Qa6 27 Qxa6 Rxa6 28 Rxe6 Rxa4 29 Rc6 c4 30 g4 Ra3 31 Kg2 Rxa2 32 Re2 Ra4 33 g5 Ng8 34 Rce6 Ra7 35 Re8 Rad7 36 Bg4 Rd6 37 R2e7 1–0 Kasparov,G-Lautier,J/Cannes FRA 2001/The Week in Chess 333 (37). ] 14 e5 Nd5 15 c4 Nf4

16 Bf3N [16 g3 Nxe2+ 17 Qxe2 c5 18 Bc3 f6 19 Rad1 fxe5 20 Bxe5 Rb6 21 Rd2 Bf6 22 Bxf6 Rxf6 23 Rfd1 Rf7 24 Rd3 a5 25 R1d2 h6 26 Qd1 Rb7 27 Rd6 with a big advantage that was converted in 67 moves: 1–0 Tseshkovsky,V - -Tregubov,P /Krasnodar 2000/EXT 2001. ] 16 ..Qc7 17 Re1 Ng6 18 c5 f6 19 exf6 Bxf6 20 Be4 Nf4 21 Bxf6 Rxf6 22 Qc2 h6 23 Rad1 Nd5 24 g3 a5 25 a3 Rff8 26 Re2 Qd8?

27 Rd4! Rb7 28 Bh7+ Kh8 29 Bd3 Qf6 30 Ra4 Ra8 31 Qd2 Qd8 32 Bb1? [Criticized during the post mortem as it allows black to wriggle out. In the press room, Yugoslavian ace Ljubomir "Ljubo" Ljubojevic came up with the "probable" winning plan, and one that both players readily admitted would have been better - the innocuous looking 32 Kg2!: 32 Kg2! Kg8 (32 ..Rab8 33 Rxa5 Rxb2 34 Qxb2! Rxb2 35 Rxb2) 33 Rg4 Kf8 34 Rg6 and black's in a difficult position: 34 ..Qe7 (34 ..Rab8? 35 Rxh6! Kf7 (35 ..gxh6 36 Qxh6+ Ke7 (36 ..Kg8 37 Bh7+ Kf7 38 Bg6+ Kf6 39 Bh5+ Ke7 40 Qg7#) 37 Qg7+ Ke8 38 Bg6#) ) 35 Qc1 Rab8 36 Be4 Nf6 37 Bb1 and white has only a marginally better position than the game.] 32 ..Rb5! 33 Rh4 [There's nothing in loading up the shotgun on the b1–h7 diagonal: 33 Qd3 Nf6 34 Rf4 Qe7! and if anything black may be better here - he has a solid position and the c5-pawn is a liability.] 33 ..Qe7!

The only move - it looks scary for black, but white never has enough. 34 Rxh6+ Kg8 35 Rh4 [Ljubo suggested to the players a time saving resource, however, despite many tries, Kasparov couldn't quite get Ljubo's idea to work as Anand always had an escape plan: 35 Bh7+! Kf7!? 36 Bg6+ Kg8 37 Rh4 Rab8 38 b4! axb4 39 Re5! Qf6! (39 ..Nf6 40 axb4 and black's all tied up - something has to give.) 40 Bh7+ Kf7 41 Rxd5 cxd5 42 Rf4 bxa3 43 Rxf6+ gxf6 44 Qd3 a2 45 Qg6+ Ke7 46 Qg7+ Kd8 47 Qxf6+ (47 Qf8+? Kc7 48 Qd6+ Kb7 49 Qxd7+ Ka8 50 Qc6+ Ka7 and white's run out of checks.) 47 ..Kc7 48 Qe5+ Kc8 49 Qh8+ Kb7 (49 ..Kc7 50 Qe5+=) 50 Qa1 Ra8 51 h4 Rxc5 52 Kg2 and a probable draw - it's going to be difficult for either side to make progress soon.] 35 ..Rab8 36 Bh7+ Kf7 37 Qd3 [37 Rg4? Rxb2 38 Qxb2 Rxb2 39 Rxb2 Qxc5 just leaves white defending a difficult position - he may have material equality but black has superior prospects due to the d5 knight.] 37 ..Qg5 38 Qd4

38 ..Rxb2 [Taking the c5-pawn is very risky with all the heavy furniture around the black king, though even here it looks as if black can wriggle out in a very murky position: 38 ..Qc1+ 39 Kg2 Qxc5 40 Bg6+! Kxg6 (40 ..Ke7?? 41 Qxg7+; 40 ..Kg8 41 Qg4 Nf6 42 Qh3 Qd5+ 43 f3 Kf8 44 Rh8+ Ke7 45 Rxb8 Rxb8 46 Qh4=) 41 Rg4+ Kf7 42 Qxg7+ Ke8 43 Rh4 Kd8 44 a4! (44 Rxe6 Kc7!) 44 ..Rb4 45 Qe5 Nf4+ 46 Rxf4 Qxe5 47 Rxe5 Rxf4 48 gxf4=] 39 Bg6+ Kg8 40 Bh7+ Kf7 41 Bg6+ Kg8 42 Bh7+ ½–½

And, for the record, Kasparov still holds a commanding lead over his rival after this draw with a personal score of won 26, lost 8 and drawn 38.

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.