Round 5 10th July 2002

EINS, ZWEI….?

AS always, the Germans are cursed with being able to penetrate deeper into the meaning of events than anyone else, and so are wreathed in Wagnarian apprehensions of the Göttterdämmerung kind.

To the Germans money represents security. Fear of losing their beloved Mark prompted them to question for the first time the value of European unification. Obviously sacrifices were made – though mainly they proved to be on the part of the consumer, as just about every country that changed to the Euro on the first day of the year decided to opt for the unscrupulous rounding up not just to the nearest decimal point but to the largest possible profit margin. As Uncle Karl Marx would say before he made it big on the silver screen with his whacky brothers, that’s Capitalism in action for you.

Right now, most Germans I seem to be talking to are concerned about the precarious state of the financial markets – and with good reason. Twice in the 20^th century, after the First and Second World Wars, Germany was hit by a chronic devaluation. Inflation reached astronomical proportions in the early 1920s. Everyone became a billionaire, yet money was not worth the paper it was printed on. The majority lost all their savings – this was the main reason why Manny Lasker had to come out of retirement, he’d lost all his money. The shock of what happened during this turbulent financial period – and what was born out of it – still lingers in the German soul.

I told you in an earlier report about how trading in Einstein Group's shares was suspended for a few days after the company missed its six-month deadline for supplying audited accounts to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Apparently the unaudited accounts showed an annual loss of £4.5m on turnover of £3.1m. This is almost healthy in comparison to some of the shady dealings going on in the likes of Enron and Worldcom. Maybe this is just because they are talking in millions and Enron and Worldcom dealt in billions? Zena Howard, Einstein's head of marketing, said in the Sunday Independent last week that the trading suspension was "down to the financial people not getting their finger out". In other words they forgot to put the accounts in on time.

This malaise in the accountancy world can be traced back to the Monty Python sketch, the one where the accountant wanted to change jobs to something more exciting, like Lion taming. These guys are getting ideas above their station these days. Now thanks to the unsavoury practices of Arthur Anderson not so much cooking the books but more like sautéing them in a rich, duck sauce, you’d be simpler off letting a top GM submitting the accounts and to do all the counting for you…or would you?

Andrezej Filipowicz and Alexander Bach

Yesterday Alexander Morozevich seemed quite happy during his game with Mickey Adams. And he had every reason to be. He’d built up a nice advantage thank you very much, only to be rocked when Adams leant over the board, pointed that he’d written “47 Ra7” and would like to now claim a draw by a threefold repetition! Moro almost fell off his chair in shock. This is when the regulators were called in, and for the first time in the tournament we’d seen the reliable duo of chief arbiter IM & IA Andrezej Filipowicz (who was also in charge of the Kasparov-Kramnik Braingames match), and his faithful sidekick, IA Alexander Bach in action. Boy, these guys are very, very reliable – I can see why they got the gig. It took them all of a couple of minutes to check, recheck and check again Adams’ scoresheet to approve his application for a potentially lucrative threefold. No fuss, no problems and absolutely spot on: a successful threefold repetition had been applied for and accepted. If I was in charge at Einstein I think I’d rather rely on the reliable firm of Filipowicz and Bach to deal with my accounts in the future.

And, like the dark days of the Depression, we almost feared that Morozevich would throw himself out of a nearby window after realising just how much money he’d lost after failing to be able to count up to three. After all, as Arthur Anderson would say, it’s as simple as eins, zwei…

Adams,M (2752) - Morozevich,A (2716) [C42]

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Bd6 7 0–0 0–0 8 c4 c6 9 Re1 Bf5 10 Nc3 Nxc3 11 bxc3 Bxd3 12 Qxd3 dxc4 13 Qxc4 Nd7 14 Qb3 Qc7 15 c4 Rfe8 16 Bb2 h6 [ 16 ..Bf8 17 g3 Qb6 18 Qc2 Qa5 19 d5 cxd5 20 Qf5 Rxe1+ 21 Rxe1 Rd8 22 Rd1 g6 23 Rxd5 gxf5 24 Rxa5 Bc5 25 Ba3 Bxa3 26 Rxa3 a6 27 Rd3 Kf8 28 Nh4 f4 29 Nf5 fxg3 30 hxg3 Ke8 31 Nd6+ Ke7 32 Nxb7 Rc8 33 Re3+ Kf8 34 Nd6 Rc6 35 Re8+ Kg7 36 Nf5+ Kf6 37 Ne3 Nb6 38 Re4 Rc5 39 Rh4 Ke7 40 Rxh7 Nxc4 41 Nxc4 Rxc4 (65) 1/2–1/2 Ye Jiangchuan-Khalifman,A/Shanghai CHN 2001/The Week in Chess 357.] 17 g3 Rad8 18 Nh4 Bf8 19 Qc2 Qa5

[White's hanging pawns and Black's better pawn structure gives Morozevich something to work on here.] 20 Ng2 Rxe1+ 21 Rxe1 b5! 22 Bc3 [ Nicely timed - White can't exchange or advance the pawn as 22 c5 Nf6 and; 22 cxb5 cxb5 give Black an advantage.] 22 ..b4 23 Ba1 Nb6 24 Qb3 c5 25 d5 Qa6 [There's nothing much in the position now, White's pawn weaknesses are compensated by his better piece play.] 26 Ne3 Re8 27 Rc1 Qc8! 28 a3 a5 29 axb4 axb4 [ The double connected passed pawns has the potential of going either way: 29 ..cxb4!? 30 Qc2 Nd7 31 Bd4! Bc5 ( 31 ..Nc5!? 32 Ra1 Qc7 33 Kg2 Ra8 is unclear.) 32 Nf5 Bxd4 33 Nxd4 Nc5 and anything can happen here - but in reality both sides will have to stop the pawns, inevitably leading to an impasse.] 30 Kg2 h5 31 h4 Qd7 32 Bb2 Qa4 33 Qd3 Qa2 34 Qc2 [ Perhaps 34 Rc2!? Qb1 35 Rd2 Qxd3 36 Rxd3 As it is Adams has allowed Morozevich a biting edge by allowing his pieces to infiltrate the queenside.] 34 ..Na4 35 Ra1 Qxb2 36 Rxa4 Qxc2 37 Nxc2 b3 38 Na3 b2 39 Kf1 g6 40 Ra5 Bg7 41 Nb1 Bd4 42 Ra6 Kg7 43 Ra7 Re4 44 Rb7 Re8 45 Ra7 Bf6

[A threefold repetition is tough to spot at the best of times (rumour has it this is the first time Morozevich has had this!), but under the extreme pressure the players are under its perfectly understandable. It's more of a heartache when you had a rock-solid win on the board: 45 ..Rb8! 46 Ke2 ( 46 d6 Rd8! and Black picks up the d-pawn as White can't defend it against the king, rook and bishop closing in.) 46 ..Rb4 47 d6 ( 47 f3 Rxc4 48 d6 Rc2+ 49 Kd3 Rc1 50 d7 Rxb1 51 d8Q Rd1+ 52 Kc4 b1Q) 47 ..Kf6! 48 Kd3 Bxf2 with an easy win.] 46 Ra5 Bd4? And Adams casually writes 47 Ra7 with his trusty old Parker pen on his scoresheet, and informs Moro what he intends playing, and is claiming a threefold repetition - to which a stunned Moro almost collapses in shock, muttering things under his breathe in Russian. ½–½

Shirov,A (2697) - Lutz,C (2650) [B48]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be3 a6 7 Qd2 Nf6 8 0–0–0 Bb4 9 f3 Ne7 [ Lutz improves over his opening round debacle against Topalov: 9 ..Ne5 10 Nb3 b5 11 Kb1 Nc4 12 Bxc4 bxc4 13 Nc1 Qb7 14 N1e2 Rb8 15 b3 0–0 16 Bf4 Ra8 17 Bd6 Bxd6 18 Qxd6 cxb3 19 axb3 a5 20 Rd4 Ra6 21 Qa3 d5 22 exd5 exd5 23 Nf4 Be6 24 Rhd1 h6 25 Ncxd5 Nxd5 26 Nxd5 Rb8 27 Nf6+ gxf6 28 Rd8+ Rxd8 29 Rxd8+ Kh7 30 Qf8 Kg6 31 Qg8+ Kh5 32 Qg7 f5 33 Rd4 Bc8 34 g3 1–0 Topalov,V-Lutz,C/Dortmund GER 2002. ] 10 Nde2 d5 [Being a relatively obscure sideline of the Sicilian, we are in uncharted territory.] 11 a3! Ba5 [ Nice timing! Exchanging on c3 would leave Black vulnerable on the dark-squares and retreating to d6 was bad as 11 ..Bd6 12 f4! so Lutz is forced to go to a5.] 12 Bg5 dxe4 13 Bxf6 gxf6 14 Qh6 f5

[The snake pawn formation is only strong if it can't be broken down - here quite vulnerable] 15 Qf6 Ng6 [ Lutz can't afford to keep the queen's on the board in a position like this - particularly against Shirov! 15 ..Rg8? 16 fxe4 fxe4 17 Nxe4 Nd5 18 Qh6 and Black's in a bad way.]] 16 fxe4 Qe5 17 Qxe5 Nxe5 18 exf5 Ng4 19 Re1 Bb6 [ 19 ..Nf2?! 20 Rg1 Bb6 21 fxe6 Be3+ ( 21 ..Bxe6 22 Nf4!) 22 Kb1 Bxe6 23 Nd5! and we end up with the sort of mess Shirov thrives on.] 20 Nd1 Nf2 21 Nxf2 Bxf2 22 Rd1 exf5 [Lutz is now over the worst of the storm - but the doubled f-pawns gives Shirov something to play on for a while.] 23 g3 Bd7 24 Bh3 0–0–0 25 Rhf1 Be3+ 26 Kb1 Be6 27 Rd3! [ A nice way to stop Black's pieces coming into the game and at the same time allowing the White king to be more active: 27 Rxd8+ Rxd8 28 Bxf5 Bxf5 29 Rxf5 Rd1+ 30 Ka2 Rd2=; 27 Nc3 Bd4 28 Bxf5 Bxc3 29 Rxd8+ Rxd8 30 Bxe6+ fxe6 31 bxc3 Rd2 32 Rf8+ Kc7 33 Rf7+ Rd7 and if anything the pawns are too fractured for White to try and win.] 27 ..Rxd3 28 cxd3 Rd8 29 Rf3 Bb6 [ 29 ..Rxd3? 30 Nc1!] 30 Nc3 Bg1 31 Ne2 Bb6 32 Bxf5 Bxf5 33 Rxf5 Rxd3 34 Kc2 Rd7 [ 34 ..Re3? 35 Nc3 Re7 36 Rh5 f6 37 Nd5!] 35 Nc3 Bg1 36 h4 Kd8 37 Nd5 Rd6 38 Kd3 Ke8 39 Ke4 Kf8 40 g4 Rc6 41 Rf3 Re6+ 42 Kd3

42 ..Re1?! [ "This surprised me very much," said Shirov in the press room after the game. "With accurate play this simply a draw - I was lucky today!". Correct, according Shirov, is: 42 ..Rd6! 43 Rf5 and White has a little something, but with the rook ideally placed to oscillate along the sixth rank, Shirov felt Black would easily hold - however he was prepared to play on to see what he could squeeze out of the position.] 43 Nf6 h6 44 g5 hxg5 45 Nh7+ [You can now see the difference in the activity of the pieces after Lutz's incorrect Re1: White's are working together, and Black still has to find something to do with his rook and bishop which are simply bystanders on e1 and g1.] 45 ..Ke7 46 Nxg5 f6 47 Ne4 Rd1+ 48 Kc2 Rd4 49 Ng3 Kf7 50 Nf5 Rd8 51 h5 Rh8 52 h6 Ke6 53 Kd3 Ke5 54 b4 b5 55 Rf1 Bb6 56 Ne7! Ke6 [ 56 ..Rxh6? 57 Re1+ Kd6 ( 57 ..Kf4 58 Nd5+) 58 Nf5+] 57 Re1+ Kf7 58 Nd5 Rd8 59 Re7+ Kg6 60 Ke4 Bf2 [Lutz also found himself in time trouble during the second time control and when he reached it at move 60, his position was, in Shirov's words, "very difficult."] 61 Re6 Bh4 62 Rxa6 Kxh6 63 Nxf6 Kg5 64 Ke5 Be1 65 Ne4+ Kg4 66 Nd6 Kf3 67 Nxb5 Bg3+ 68 Ke6 Ke4 69 Nd6+ 1–0

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.