Round 4 26th February 2002

LOSING YOUR VA VOOM

RECENTLY I had the misfortune to reach the first time control with my 40^th birthday. I know they say that life begins at 40, but I had a dreaded fear of the big day – maybe it had something to do with the “present” from my girlfriend: a bungee jump!

What an adrenalin rush! And that was only on the car trip over to where I was to do the jump. Her excuse for giving this special present was, she lovingly explained whilst flicking through my insurance policies, that “I needed more excitement in my life other than boring chess as I was in grave danger of losing my Va Voom”. Silly girl – doesn’t she know the high we get from playing chess?

Thankfully a Dr. Jeff Joireman came to my rescue here (no – not something to do with the bungee jump). He’s the Assistant Professor of Psychology at Seattle Pacific University, who recently published a major study in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences that chess, far from being the boring anorak image that it’s usually tagged with, actually attracts sensation-seekers with a thirst for action and adventure on par with skydivers, scuba divers, mountaineers and skiers!

He revealed in the report that when men win a tense game, the rise of testosterone in the blood is just the same as that experienced by people who go in for risky sports. Sounds good so far If you want to take this valuable information down to the nearest nightclub to impress the ladies, however there was a sting in the tail – he concluded that competitive chess players score highly for unconventional thinking and paranoia, both of which have been shown to relate to sensation-seeking.

I began to wonder if Dr. Joireman had considered doing a study on the effects on the breakdown of relationships and creativity? There’s another school of thought out there that cites angst and depression in your personal life can lead to you being more creative. Apparently many artists and writers produced their most creative work when in the throws (or at the end) of a very bad relationship. This started me thinking about the poor form of late of true artists at the chess board like Garry Kasparov, Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexei Shirov – now they certainly have lost their collective Va Vooms.

The trio have had well-documented problems with the opposite sex in the past, during which period they were, however, very creative at the board. Now they all have very happy personal lives with new partner’s (Shirov recently becoming a daddy again when WGM Viktoria Cmilyte gave birth earlier this month to a baby boy). Yet, this stability in the home life as far as I can see has made them less exciting at the board. Maybe to get back to their glory days at the when they would amaze us with some remarkable conceptions at the board, what we need to see is a loved one sending them an urgent message with the present of a bungee jump.

Going into the first rest-day at Linares, Garry Kasparov and Alexei Shirov might be kicking themselves over some missed opportunities – rare oversights from elite grandmasters that could have given them the tournament lead.

Kasparov, the defending champion and perennial favourite in Linares, let slip golden chances in his two opening games against teenager Francisco Vallejo and old rival Vishy Anand, and now finds himself without a win so far in the tournament after a solid fourth round draw with big Chucky.

Meanwhile, Shirov finished his fourth round game against Ruslan “The Mini-Bar Kid” Ponomariov with a nice rook sacrifice that secured a draw – the only problem was that in finding the sacrifice to secure the draw, I think he may have inexplicably overlooked a win with a very forcing continuation...

Ponomariov,R (2727) - Shirov,A (2715) [B30]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 e5 4 Bc4 Far from being innocuous, this is a dangerous little variation that was first played in praxis way back in 1873 by the 'Black Death' himself, Joseph Henry Blackburne. 4 ..d6 5 d3 Be7 6 Nd2 Bg5 7 h4 Bxd2+ 8 Bxd2 Nf6 9 Bg5 Be6!?N [9 ..h6 10 Bxf6 Qxf6 11 Nd5 Qd8 12 c3 Be6 13 Ne3 Qd7 14 Bxe6 fxe6 15 Qh5+ Kd8 16 a3 Kc7 17 b4 Raf8 18 b5 Na5 19 a4 Rf4 20 g3 Qf7 21 Qxf7+ Rxf7 22 Nc4 Nxc4 23 dxc4 Rf3 24 Rc1 Rhf8 25 0–0 Rd3 26 Rc2 Rff3 27 Rfc1 h5 28 Kg2 g6 29 a5 b6 30 Kf1 d5 31 cxd5 exd5 32 exd5 c4 33 Re1 Kd6 34 Rce2 Rxd5 35 Kg2 Rxc3 36 f4 exf4 37 gxf4 Kc5 38 Re7 Rd2+ 39 Kg1 Rg3+ 40 Kf1 Rf3+ 41 Kg1 c3 42 Rg7 Kxb5 43 Re5+ Kb4 44 Rb7 c2 45 Rxb6+ Ka4 46 Rc5 Ra3 47 Rxc2 Ra1+ 1–0 Shabalov,A-Kriventsov,S/Philadelphia 1998/EXT 2000 (47). ] 10 Nd5 Bxd5 11 Bxd5 h6 12 Bxf6 Qxf6 13 Qd2 Ne7 14 Bc4 0–0 15 Kf1 Rad8 16 Re1 d5 17 exd5 Nxd5 18 Qe2 Rfe8 19 Qe4 Nb6 20 Bb3 Rd4 21 Qxb7 c4 22 dxc4 e4 23 Kg1 Rd7 24 Qa6

24 ..e3! 25 fxe3 [25 Rxe3? Rxe3 26 fxe3 Rd1+ 27 Kh2 Qxh4#] 25 ..Rxe3? [This could come as an "exclusive" here - I don't think anyone has noticed that Shirov looks as if he missed a win - probably not even Shirov himself! You kinda get the felling that there's "something" in the position - that's what intrigued me. However, after pointing our little silicon friend in the right direction, it all becomes clear...sort of. I might just be wrong - Shirov did think for something like 15 minutes before opting for the "cop out" with 25 ..Rxe3. He may have tried to fathom out some of the myriad complications at the board, but couldn't find a way through. However, I reckon the Shirov of old would have said "to hell with the consequences - I'm going for it" with 25 ..Rd2! 26 Rf1 (26 Kh2? Qxh4+ 27 Kg1 Qf2+ 28 Kh2 Qxg2#) 26 ..Qc6! (a nice move that highlights all the weaknesses in the white position.) 27 Rh2 (27 Rf2? Rd1+ 28 Kh2 (28 Rf1 Rxf1+ 29 Kxf1 Rd8! 30 Rh3 (30 c5 Rd1+ 31 Kf2 Rxh1 32 cxb6 Qf6+!; 30 Rh2 Qd6 31 Rh3 Qd1+ 32 Kf2 Rd2+ 33 Kg3 Re2 34 c5 Qf1!) 30 ..Rd1+ 31 Ke2 Rg1 32 Rf3 Qd7! and again the king gets caught.) 28 ..Qc7+ 29 Rf4 (29 g3 Rxe3) 29 ..Rd4!! nicely wins in all lines.) 27 ..Qc5 28 Kh1 Rxe3 29 Qb5 (29 Qxa7 Qf5!! 30 Qb8+ Kh7 31 Ra1 (31 Rg1 Qf2 now there's no way of stopping ..Qxg1 and ..Re8 mate.) 31 ..Qf2 and ..Re1+ can't be stopped.) 29 ..Rf2!!

30 Rg1 Qd4 31 Qa5 a)31 c5? Rxg2!! 32 Rhxg2 Qxh4+ 33 Rh2 Qe4+ 34 Rgg2 (a)34 Rhg2 Rh3#) 34 ..Re1+ 35 Qf1 Rxf1#; b)31 Qb4 Ree2 32 Qc3 (b)32 a3 Rf4 33 c5 Qf2 34 Qc3 Re3) 32 ..Qf4 33 Rh3 Rf1 34 Qg3 Qc1 35 Rxf1 Qxf1+ 36 Kh2 Re1 37 Qb8+ Kh7 38 Rf3 Qh1+ 39 Kg3 Nd7 40 Qd6 Ne5 is winning.; c)31 Qc6 Qe5 32 g3 Rf6 33 Qg2 Rff3 34 Rh3 Qe4 35 c5 Re2; 31 ..Nxc4 32 Bxc4 (32 Qb4 Rxg2! 33 Rgxg2 a5!! (an unbelievable move - black deflects the queen from the all-important e1 square.) 34 Qb8+ Kh7 35 Rxg7+ (35 Rg1 Qe4+ 36 Rhg2 Rh3+ 37 Qh2 Rxh2+ 38 Kxh2 Qxh4#) 35 ..Qxg7 36 Rg2 Rh3+ 37 Rh2 (37 Kg1 Qd4+ 38 Rf2 Qg4+ 39 Rg2 Qd1+ 40 Kf2 Rf3#) 37 ..Ne3 (threatening ..Qg2 mate!) 38 Qb7 Rg3 and white can resign now.) 32 ..Qxc4 (the trouble is that white is going to run out of useful moves shortly - black can simply take his time in choosing when to strike) 33 Qxa7 (33 g3 Qe4+ 34 Rhg2 Qxh4+!! 35 gxh4 Rh3+ 36 Rh2 Rfxh2#; 33 b3 Qxc2 34 Qxa7 Ree2

And something is going to give in the white camp - you just don't survive such positions. Black can practically do whatever he wants from here as white is paralyzed: the best that white can hope for is a rook ending where he's a pawn down if black takes the queenside pawns.) 33 ..Qe4 34 Qa5 (white has to defend against the likes of ..Rxg2 and ..Re1 mating.) 34 ..Kh7! and white's in serious trouble as black plays space invaders with the queenside pawns while the white rooks are rendered impotent on g1 and h2 - not a nice position to play on for white.] 26 Rxe3 Rd1+ 27 Kh2 Qxh4+ 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.