Round 6 1st March 2002

HAPPY MEALS ALL ROUND?

I know I tend to gad about all over the globe as if I’ve got my own private Lear Jet. Believe me, the rumours aren’t true. Lear yes, Jet no. But on the eve of leaving for Linares I was beginning to think the rumours were true.

I got a call from Malcolm Pein esq., who kindly asked (OK, ordered) if I could be in London on 1st March to cover Big Vlady in action. “No problem, Malc,” I replied while struggling to close my suitcase. “So I suppose you just want me to forget all about Linares, then? While I’m at it I could probably also pop in to Cannes for an hour or two”.

Such is the crowded chess calendar these days it’s not so much a Lear Jet a chess journalist needs to keep up with the top-ten but rather the Starship Enterprise! Honestly, these organisers have no consideration for journalists! Why don’t they just stagger the events (ideally with five-star accommodation for the press) so they don’t clash? I think it’s all an international conspiracy from the warring chess bodies to stop me from gaining more air-miles.

I was actually tempted to go to London as I was struggling to remember what Big Vlady looked like these days. Apparently Brain Games have been officially pronounced brain-dead, or near to it, and Big Vlady was sold to Einstein (who I thought had been dead since 1955!). Is it just me or is the logo for Einstein plc worryingly very similar to Enron’s? If I was you Vlady I’d ask who Einstein’s accountants are.

After missing out on Wijk aan Zee and Linares, here in the press room we’ve been having our own Where’s Wally?-styled search for Kasparov’s nemesis. And on the same day that Kasparov finally realised what Ponomariov actually looked like when he sat down to play him in Linares, over in London Big Vlady opted to come out of his cave to take on another whiz kid: 11-year old David Howell.

In case you haven’t seen the result yet in amongst all the blurb on Linares and Cannes, Big Vlady, after conceding a draw in the final game, won the ‘Einstein Trophy’ by beating Howell 3.5-0.5; both were seen after the match heading to the nearest McDonald’s where Big Vlady treated “pint-size” to a Happy Meal. I’m sure Mark Crowther, if he ever recovers from leaving Bradford for the day to cover the match, will let you know more about the political content of the Einstein press conference. However, unbelievably the match between Kramnik and Howell looks as if it has set a world record.

WARNING: VERY TENUOUS SPANISH LINK TO GET BACK TO LINARES COMING UP.

Apparently with the draw in the final game, pint-size has beaten the record to become the youngest player to get a result against a reigning world champion in a competitive match. The previous holder, so I’m led to believe, is Spain’s Arturo Pomar.

Born in Majorca in 1931, Pomar was a child prodigy who caught the imagination of the press and became quite famous. He was also 11-years old when he played in his first international tournament, Madrid 1943. Although he barely avoided last place, he did beat Samisch. Alekhine took an interest in the development of the young Pomar and devoted a section of his last book (Legado 1946) to him. Both played in a match in Gijon 1944, when Pomar was aged 12, and he achieved a creditable draw in a tough 77-move Ruy Lopez.

Unfortunately Pomar never lived up to all his early promise and suffered badly from two nervous breakdowns – the final one being in Dundee (If you’ve never been there I know the feeling) in Scotland in 1967 when he was forced to withdraw from the GM tournament set-up to commemorate the centenary of, naturally enough, Dundee 1867.

Meanwhile, back in Linares, there was nothing short of a rugby scrum of media around the board of another child prodigy, Ruslan Ponomariov, as he came face-to-face with numero uno Garry Kasparov for the first time. I can’t help feeling that near the end of this tense-tussle Kasparov missed a win somewhere. However, after the game, Kasparov placed a fatherly hand around the shoulders of young Ponomariov and invited him round to the new Linares McDonald’s for a Happy Meal – NOT!

Ponomariov,R (2727) - Kasparov,G (2838) [B80]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 f3!? This is an Alexander Grischuk specialty (he played it last year at Linares against Kasparov) - basically white wants to play the English Attack (6 Be3) without all the complications of 6..Ng4 - the Kasparov variation! 6 ..e6 7 Be3 Nc6 8 Qd2 Be7 9 g4 0–0 10 0–0–0 Nxd4 11 Bxd4 b5 All standard stuff so far - white goes on the kingside, black on the queenside. 12 a3 Nd7 13 h4 Rb8!?N [The best defence is attack! Black has to be quick to generate play against the white king - the reason for Kasparov opting for the new move (..Rb8) to go on the offensive immediately: 13 ..Bb7 14 g5 Rc8 15 Rg1 Ne5 16 Qe3 Nc4 17 Bxc4 Rxc4 18 Kb1 Qc7 19 Bf6 Kh8 20 Bxe7 Qxe7 21 Rd3 b4 22 axb4 Rxb4 23 Rgd1 Rd8 24 Qc5 1–0 Motylev,A-Selin,O/Tula 1999/EXT 2000 (24). ] 14 f4 Ponomariov carries on with the attack. 14 ..Bb7! [I think Kasparov's thought for around 20 minutes here over this move. His rational here is that the a8-h1 diagonal has been weakened with f4, therefore he has sufficient counterplay on e4 to quell the white attack. However, the other tricky line I'm sure he must have been looking at was: 14 ..b4 15 axb4 e5! (15 ..Rxb4 16 Nd5!) 16 fxe5 (16 Be3? Rxb4 17 g5 Qa5 with the attack.) 16 ..dxe5 17 Ba7 (17 Be3 Bxb4 and white's king is in danger.) 17 ..Rxb4 18 Nd5! Rxe4 19 g5 with a very unclear position - for the pawn, white has superb piece-play.] 15 g5 Nc5 16 Bg2 a5

17 Bxc5! [On reflection, probably the wise decision as keeping queens on leads to a potential minefield - I'm sure Kasparov wouldn't have minded!: 17 Qe3 Qc8! 18 Na2 (18 Nxb5 Ba6 19 Nc3 Qb7 with Rfc8 to follow.) 18 ..b4 19 axb4 axb4 20 Nxb4 Bxe4! 21 Bxe4 Rxb4 22 Bf3 Nb3+ 23 Kb1 Nxd4 24 Rxd4 Qc5 25 c3 Rb3 26 Bd1 Rb6 and there's good play for black down the b-file.] 17 ..dxc5 18 Qxd8 Rfxd8 19 Nxb5 Bxe4 20 Bxe4 Rxb5 21 Rxd8+ Bxd8 22 f5! (Apart from the fact that white had too many pawns on black squares, this opens the route to f7.) 22 ..exf5 23 Bxf5 g6 24 Re1 Kg7 [24 ..Bxg5+ 25 hxg5 gxf5 26 c4 Rb6 27 Re5 and black is going to suffer in the ending due to the all the weak pawns.] 25 Bd3 Rb7 26 Re5 Be7 27 c3 h6 28 Kc2 hxg5 29 hxg5 (White has a nice little edge - though nothing that can lead to a win. Ponomariov should have accepted that by this stage and agree the draw. However, he tries to "make" something of the position - always a bad call in a drawn ending.) 29 ..Kf8 30 Rd5 Rb8 31 Rd7?! [31 Bc4! Rd8 32 Re5=] 31 ..Bxg5 32 Bc4 Be7 33 Ra7 g5 34 Rxa5 g4 (The black pawns look strong, but white has everything under control...perhaps?) 35 Bd5 f5 36 Be6 g3 37 Bd5 Rd8 38 Bf3 [38 Ra8 Rxa8 39 Bxa8 draws quickly.] 38 ..Kf7 39 b4 Rh8 40 Kb3 Rh2 41 Bd5+ Kf6 42 Ra8 Rd2 [42 ..g2? 43 Rg8!] 43 Bf3

43 ..Kf7? [By this time Kasparov was wiping his brow a la Pavarotti and frantically shaking his head in utter frustration - why he played ..Kf7 allowing the easy draw was beyond me. I think he can play on with good prospects if he takes on b4 first. I would like to know what Kasparov had seen - I just can't find a good defence for white. 43 ..cxb4! 44 axb4 Kf7 (44 ..Kg5 45 b5 Kf4 46 Bc6 g2 47 Rg8 Bg5 48 Bxg2! Rxg2 49 b6 Rg1 50 Kc2 Kf3 51 Rf8 Ke4 52 Re8+ Kd5 53 b7 Bf4 54 Rd8+ Kc6 55 b8Q Bxb8 56 Rxb8=) 45 Ra2 (45 Kc4 Bg5! (45 ..f4 46 b5!=) 46 Bd5+ Kg6 47 Rg8+ Kh5 48 Bf3+ Kh6 49 b5 g2 50 Bxg2 Rxg2 51 Kd5 Rd2+ 52 Kc6 Rc2 and black wins this.) 45 ..Rd3 46 Be2 Re3 47 Bc4+ Kg7 48 Bd5 Bf6 49 Rc2 f4 50 b5 f3 51 Bxf3 Rxf3 52 b6 Bxc3!! 53 Rxc3 g2! and black wins.] 44 bxc5 Bxc5 [44 ..Bf6 45 Ra7+ Kg6 46 c6 Rd3 47 c7 Rxf3 (47 ..Rxc3+ 48 Kb4 f4 49 Be4+) 48 c8Q Rxc3+ 49 Qxc3 Bxc3 50 Kxc3 g2 51 Ra6+ Kf7 (51 ..Kh5 52 Ra8! wins) 52 Ra7+=] ½–½

Adams,M (2742) - Anand,V (2757) [C10]

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 The Rubinstein French - quite a tough nut to crack. 5 Nf3 Ngf6 6 Nxf6+ Nxf6 7 c3!? Though not a "vogue" line, it is nevertheless a very tricky variation. 7 ..c5 8 Be3 Both 8 Bg5 and 8 Bb5+ have been tried here before, but this is a more logical route of development for white 8 ..Qc7 9 Ne5 a6 10 Qa4+ Nd7 11 0–0–0 cxd4 [11 ..Bd6?! 12 Nc4! Bf4 13 g3 Bxe3+ 14 Nxe3 0–0 15 d5 b5 16 d6 Qb6 17 Qh4 Bb7 18 Bd3 g6 19 Rhe1 Qd8 20 Qh6 Qf6 21 Ng4 Qg7 22 Qf4 h5 23 Ne5 Rfd8 24 Nxg6! with a big advantage - 1–0 (42) Dvoirys,S - Zakharevich,I/Novgorod 1997.] 12 Nxd7!N [Adams improves over a Zakharevich refinement over Dvoirys: 12 Bxd4 Bd6 13 Nxd7 Bxd7 14 Qb3 0–0 15 Bb6 Qc6 16 Kb1 Bc7 17 Be3 Qa4 18 Qxa4 ½–½ Dvoirys,S-Zakharevich,I/St.Petersburg 1998. ] 12 ..Qxd7 [Anand really wants to exchange queens here to alleviate some of the white pressure in this simple position. Alternatively: 12 ..Bxd7 13 Qxd4 Rd8 14 Be2 Bc6 15 Qxd8+ Qxd8 16 Rxd8+ Kxd8 17 Rd1+ Kc8 18 Bb6 Be7 19 g3 and white has a niggling little edge - though probably easier to deal with than what happens in the game.] 13 Qc2 Bc5 14 Bxd4 Bxd4 15 Rxd4 Qc7 16 Bd3 Bd7 17 g3 h6 18 Rd1 0–0–0 19 Rc4 Bc6

20 Be4 (Simple chess at its best: Adams is a superb players in such innocent looking positions.) 20 ..Rxd1+ 21 Qxd1 Rd8 22 Qf3 Rd6 23 h4 [23 Bxc6 Rxc6 24 Rd4 f5 25 Qd3 was an alternative.] 23 ..Kb8 Anand just wants to avoid any ideas of a Qd3 hitting a6 with check and h7xg7(or h6) after the exchanges coming on c6. 24 Bxc6 Rxc6 25 Rxc6 bxc6 26 h5 [Nicely fixing the kingside pawns. Not 26 Qd3 Qe5! and black's ok. Not only does he save a6 indirectly due to ..Qe1+, but he also centralises his queen.] 26 ..Kb7 27 Kc2 f5 28 Qd3 Qf7 29 Qe2

29 ..f4? (It's a little uncomfortable and white has a slight advantage, but this is simply a blunder.) 30 g4 g6 31 Qe5! g5 [Probably better was 31 ..gxh5 32 gxh5 - but black will not be able to stop white getting in a winning Qg6.] 32 Qh8 e5 33 Qxh6 e4 34 Qg6! [34 Qxg5 e3! 35 Qc5 (35 fxe3 f3=) 35 ..Qh7+ 36 Kc1 e2 (36 ..Qd3 and its all a bit on the messy side. Adams's option is nice and clean.) ] 34 ..Qc4 35 Qg7+ Kc8 [35 ..Kb6? 36 Qd4+!] 36 Qh8+ Kb7 37 Qg7+ Kc8 38 Qf8+ Kc7 39 Qe7+ Kc8 40 Qe8+ Kc7 41 Qe7+ Kc8 42 h6 c5 [42 ..Qd3+ 43 Kb3 Qb5+ 44 Qb4 Qd5+ 45 Ka3 Qg8 46 Qe7 easily wins.] 43 Qe8+! Kc7 44 h7 [44 h7 Qe2+ 45 Kb3 Qb5+ 46 Qxb5!] 1–0

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.