John Henderson Linares Reports

Round 4 27th February 2001

THE RAIN IN SPAIN

Home Sweet Home or Edinburgh Airport as its also known

I’M beginning to wonder if I’ll be stranded here in Linares come the end of the tournament. I received an email from my beloved who dutifully informed me that, due to the severe snowstorms hitting Scotland right now, all the airports have been closed until further notice. It’s even been reported that the snowploughs have been stuck in the snow, though how on earth the guys who drive them ever manage to get into work in the first place in wintry weather like this is way beyond me.

Yes, apparently poor old Scotland right now is making Wijk aan Zee look like a tropical paradise – apparently the last two days its been cut off from England, so there has been some benefit! I wouldn’t have felt so guilty about this if it wasn’t for the fact that I’d just come back from the daily ritual of a leisurely walk up to the paseo off the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, where the palm trees gently sway in the light breeze under an idyllic, clear blue sky. When I received the email, I was lounging on the hotel room balcony, barefooted, wearing a pair of shorts and a natty little KasparovChess.com T-shirt (thanks for the Christmas present, Mig!) and sipping a piña colada. I immediately put her mind at rest by telling her that the weather was pretty awful here, too - when we go out in the evening after the games we have to make sure to wear a sweater!

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that when I get back on the 8^th of March, 4 days later I’ll be jetting off again to Seattle to cover the USA vs. China match (Website: http://www.seattlechessfoundation.org), the organiser of which were kind enough to give me a weather update by email also. Ed Gwozda of the Seattle Chess Foundation informs us: To assist you in your packing for your trip to Seattle I thought I'd give you an historic "forecast" for Seattle in March based on data from the NOAA. March weather in Seattle is usually cool and rainy. The average temperatures range from 40F (4C) in the evening to 55F (13C) during the day. We get about 17 days of rain on average in March. I usually get by with a rain jacket but carry a small umbrella just in case.

Unfortunately he spoke too soon. With an almighty crash of a thunderstorm, the traditional balmy Linares weather took its own turn for the worse in the form of a monsoon-like downpour. I immediately complained to the management that something had happened to all that nice, sunny weather that was always on tap during Linares. They replied it was good for the town, as the breakthrough in the weather would “clear the air”. It did more than just “clear the air”; it also cleared the drawing spell in the tournament.

Much has been made of the number of draws in the first three rounds at Linares. But, as my little Antipodean friend in the press room, GM Ian Rogers, commented: “Fair dinkum. That's what you get when you have six top players preparing in-depth for each other in a tournament of this stature.” Of course, Linares isn’t the worse offender for draws. Take, for instance, the Petrosian Memorial 1999 in Moscow. The ten players there found a fitting way to pay tribute to the memory and dynamic playing style of the late, great, Tigran Petrosian, the 9th world champion - a mind-boggling 42 draws from 45 games at an average of just 26.78 moves per game. Somehow I feel that Tigran would have approved wholeheartedly!

At the start of the tournament, the kasparovchess.com chief number cruncher, Jeff Sonas, revealed that after doing irreparable finger damage on his abacus (He does live in California after all, and with all those power cuts and vigilantes from the Yuppie Eradication Project in Silicon Valley, I’m reliably informed that he’s been without the aid of his computer), he’d worked out the odds against a completely drawn tournament (30 straight draws!) would have been 95-million-to-1. At the end of round three, however, he had revised the odds somewhat to 305,000-to-1 against!

Well, first to break the deadlock was the bookies favourite, Garry Kasparov, who weaved that “Ol’ Black Magic” against tournament debutante, Alexander Grischuk. After that, we were on a roll – there was even talk of three wins in the press room. As the saying goes, “When it rains, it pours”.

Grischuk,A (2663) - Kasparov,G (2849) [B90]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 f3 A Grischuk pet-line. The young Muscovite wants to play the English Attack without having to worry about the crucial, crunch-line, 6 ..Ng4 - the Kasparov Variation. 6 ..Qb6! If Black wants to avoid going into the English Attack, then this is the way to do it -despite the fact that your opponent has a 100% score of 4/4 against this; including a win over Shirov in the semifinal of FIDE World Championship KO in New Delhi recently. 7 Nb3 e6 7 ..Nc6 8 Qe2 e6 9 Be3 Qc7 10 g4 b5 11 0–0–0 Bb7 12 h4 Rc8 13 Kb1 Nd7 14 Rg1 Nce5 15 Qf2 b4 16 Na4 Nxf3 17 Qxf3 Qc6 18 Nac5 Nxc5 19 Bxc5 dxc5 20 Na5 Qc7 21 Nxb7 Qxb7 22 Bc4 Be7 23 Qe2 Qc6 24 g5 0–0 25 h5 Rcd8 26 g6 Rxd1+ 27 Rxd1 fxg6 28 hxg6 Rf4 29 Qh2 1–0 Grischuk,A-Shirov,A/New Delhi IND 2000 (29). 8 Qe2 Qc7 With Be3 coming, the queen was going to have to move anyway. 9 g4 b5 10 Be3 b4N

10 ..Nc6 11 g5 Nd7 12 Qf2 Nce5 13 0–0–0 b4 14 Nb1 Nc4 15 Bxc4 Qxc4 16 N1d2 Qc7 17 Kb1 Bb7 18 Rc1 a5 19 c4 Nc5 20 Nxc5 dxc5 21 h4 a4 22 Qh2 Bd6 23 f4 0–0–0 24 Rhd1 Rd7 25 e5 Be7 26 Nf1 Rhd8 27 Qe2 Rxd1 28 Rxd1 Rxd1+ 29 Qxd1 Qc6 30 Nd2 Kc7 31 Qf1 g6 32 Kc2 Qa6 33 Qd3 Qc6 34 h5 Qh1 35 hxg6 hxg6 36 Qf1 Be4+ 37 Kc1 Qxf1+ 38 Nxf1 Bd3 39 Nd2 Kc6 40 b3 a3 41 Kd1 ½–½ Prasad,D-Ruck,R/Istanbul TUR 2000/TWIC 313 (41). 11 Na4 Nbd7 The scene is set: White is looking to exploit the queenside, Black is staking his claim in the centre. 12 Qc4 Qxc4 13 Bxc4 d5! 14 exd5 Ne5 15 Be2 15 Nb6 Nxc4 16 Nxc4 Nxd5 17 Bc5 Bd7! with the strong idea of ..Bb5 or ..Ba4 coupled with ..Rc8. 15 ..Nxd5 16 Bd4 Bd6 17 Bc5 Be7 Supported by Ljubomir Ljubojevic, we'd come to the conclusion in the press room that the other retreat looked good for Kasparov: 17 ..Bc7! 18 a3 bxa3 19 Rxa3 Bb7 with the Black pieces looking the more ready for the first strike. 18 a3 a5 18 ..Bh4+ 19 Bf2 Bf6 20 Bd4 achieves nothing for Black. 19 Bd4!

I think by now Kasparov was regretting he hadn't placed the bishop on c7 - White's no worse here. 19 ..f6 19 ..Bf6? 20 g5! 20 Nac5? Despite the fact that it cedes the bishop-pair, Grischuk have taken on e5: 20 Bxe5! fxe5 21 Nac5 bxa3 (21 ..0–0 22 axb4 Nxb4 23 Kd2 Rd8+ 24 Kc1²) 22 Rxa3 Bd7 23 Ra1 Black's got slightly the better of it, but White has the better pawn structure. 20 ..0–0 21 0–0 bxa3 22 Rxa3 Nf4 23 Bb5 Rb8 24 Bxe5 Nh3+! 24 ..Rxb5? 25 Bxf4 Rxc5 26 Nxc5 Bxc5+ 27 Kg2 Bxa3 28 bxa3 e5 (28 ..Rd8 29 Bc7 Rd2+ 30 Rf2=) 29 Bd2= 25 Kg2 Rxb5 26 Bg3? 26 Kxh3! fxe5 (26 ..Bxc5 27 Nxc5 fxe5 28 Nd3 e4 29 c4! Rb6 30 Ne5 Rxb2 31 Rxa5) 27 c4! Rb4 28 Rxa5= 26 ..Ng5 Kasparov could have gone for a simple win of a pawn, but was probably worried about the prospects of an opposite coloured bishop ending. 26 ..Bxc5 27 Nxc5 Rxc5 28 Kxh3 Rxc2 27 Bf2? White's last - and only - chance was: 27 c4! Rxc5 (27 ..Rb4 28 h4 Rxc4 29 Rxa5 Nf7 30 Rc1 Rxc1 31 Nxc1=) 28 Nxc5 Bxc5 29 Rxa5 and the passed c and b-pawn offer good survival chances against the Black pieces. 27 ..Bb7 There's no-way back for Grischuk now. 28 Bg1 Rc8! 29 h4 Bxf3+!

30 Rxf3 Nxf3 31 Kxf3 Bxc5 32 Nxc5 Rbxc5 33 Bxc5 Rxc5 34 c3 h5 35 gxh5 Rxh5 36 b4 axb4 37 cxb4 Rxh4 0–1

Game of the day though is unquestionably Judit Polgar’s superb win over Alexei Shirov. After a lean period, she’s back to her brilliant best again.

The Polgar phenomenon is well recorded. The youngest of three Hungarian sisters (all chess masters), Judit, like Zsuzsa and Sofia, was taught at home by their psychologist father, Laszlo (and mother, Klara), who planned their entire family as an experiment to test his controversial theory that geniuses are made, not born, which led to Dominic Lawson in his controversial book, The Inner Game, to cruelly (and unfairly) christen her “Lassie”, because she was no more than just a trained dog. Their education included five hours’ daily chess instruction. All three played and studied chess to the exclusion of virtually everything from the age of four. It didn ’t take long for the trio hit the headlines and, in 1984, they started attending international tournaments – and beating up the men!

Judit is beyond doubt the greatest female player in the game’s history – even at one time regarded as a potential heir to the Kasparov throne. She has proved that it was possible for a woman to compete at the very top, something she only achieved by never competing in the weaker female game, which she’s always shunned. Playing on board three in the men’s team in the recent Olympiad, she was their star performer with a score of 10/13 - the second highest points total of any player in the men’s Olympiad.

This “toughening-up” policy of competing only in Open tournaments quickly paid off. In 1991 she became the first female to win a full national title (Hungarian champion); a result that led the way for her to break the 30 year record of arch misogynist Bobby Fischer, by becoming at 15 the youngest grandmaster in the game.

Before the tournament started, “Honest” Jeff Sonas and finger-operated abacas had decide that Judit would be trailing the field at the end, alongside Anatoly Karpov. After the comprehensive way she demolished Shirov, I think Jeff will also have to revise his odds here, too!

Polgar,J (2676) – Shirov,A (2718) [B90]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 Again the English Attack, which must be one of the most popular lines against the Najdorf these days. Intended as a quiet sideline of the Najdorf to avoid all the theory, it first became a big favourite of the man that should have been Britain's first GM, William Hartston, in the early 70s when the Najdorf was at its zenith during the Fischer years. Its was then refined by the likes of Nigel Short (who really had most to do with its development), Mickey Adams, John Nunn and Murray Chandler in the 80s as a way of avoiding all the reams of theory in the Najdorf - now it basically IS the variation in the Najdorf with reams of theory being produced on it! 6 ..e5 7 Nb3 Be6 8 f3 Nbd7 9 Qd2 Shirov is no stranger to this line - with either colour! He had the Black side of it last year in the Spanish Team Championships, he used it twice himself against Gelfand in the FIDE KO in New Delhi, and also against Kasparov in the Frankfurt Giants. 9 g4 b5 10 g5 b4 11 Ne2 Nh5 12 Qd2 a5 13 Ng3 Nxg3 14 hxg3 a4 15 Nc1 Qa5 16 Bh3 Bxh3 17 Rxh3 Nb6 18 b3 d5 19 Nd3 Bd6 20 Rd1 d4 21 Bg1 axb3 22 axb3 Rc8 23 Qh2 Qa2 24 Rxh7 Rxh7 25 Qxh7 Rxc2 26 g6 Qxb3 27 Qxg7 fxg6 28 Nxe5 Qc3+ 29 Kf1 Bxe5 30 Qxe5+ Kf7 31 Qf4+ Kg8 32 Bf2 Nd7 33 Qg5 Qxf3 34 Qxg6+ Kf8 35 Qf5+ Qxf5 36 exf5 Ne5 37 Bxd4 Nf3 38 Be3 b3 0–1 Morovic,D-Shirov,A/Barcelona ESP 2000/TWIC 301 (38). 9 ..b5 9 ..Be7 10 g4 0–0 11 0–0–0 Qc7 12 Kb1 Rfc8 13 g5 Nh5 14 Nd5 Bxd5 15 exd5 Nb6 16 Rg1 a5 17 a3 a4 18 Nc5 dxc5 19 d6 Bxd6 20 Qxd6 Nf4 21 Bxf4 exf4 22 Bb5 g6 23 Rge1 Ra5 24 Re8+ Rxe8 25 Qxc7 Rxb5 26 Qxb7 1–0 Shirov,A-Gelfand,B/New Delhi IND 2000/TWIC 318 (26). 10 a4 b4 11 Nd5 Bxd5 11 ..Be7 was the only move here until the Shirov-Kasparov encounter from Frankfurt. 12 exd5 Nb6 13 Bxb6 Qxb6 14 a5!

The idea is simple: White is going to stymie Black's play by rounding up on the vulnerable b-pawn. 14 ..Qb7 15 Bc4 g6 15 ..Be7 is also an option, but apart from having to defend b4, Black is cramped with no play. The idea of ..g6 is to jettison the pawn and hope to complicate matters with active piece play. 16 Ra4 Rb8 17 Nc1!N A nice innovation: Judit is going to swing the knight round to d3 to first pick up the b-pawn...and then the a-pawn! Such is the seriousness of Black's position now, Shirov has to resort to drastic action. 17 Qd3 Ra8 18 Qd2 Rb8 19 Qd3 Ra8 ½–½ Shirov,A-Kasparov,G/Frankfurt GER 2000/TWIC 294 (19). 17 ..h5! Let's admit it. Shirov was never the one to go quietly now, was he? 17 ..Bg7 18 Nd3 (White can also win the b-pawn without losing the d-pawn with 18 Na2!? b3 19 Bxb3 0–0 20 Nc3) 18 ..Nxd5 19 Bxd5 Qxd5 20 Nxb4 Qxd2+ 21 Kxd2 Kd7 22 Rb1 Ra8 23 Nd5 and the ending would have been too awful to contemplate for Black. 18 Nd3 Bh6 Black's only hope is to take the game into the weird and wonderful world of Planet Shirov. 19 Qxb4 Qc7 20 Qa3 0–0 21 Nf2!

A brave move. Unbelievably, Judit is going to use her King as a defender on the queenside. And if it works, she's also going to have the King primed for the ending. The safer option would have been: 21 0–0!? Nd7 with the idea of ..f5 to try and generate something - anything. 21 ..Bc1 22 Nd3 Be3 23 Kd1! Rfc8 24 Re1 Look at how all the White pieces are working together. Judit's plan has been impressive. 24 ..Bh6 25 c3 Rb5 What else? Shirov was just getting pushed off the board. 26 Bxb5 axb5 27 Rb4 Nxd5 28 Rxb5!

This simplifies everything - the advancing a-pawn cannot be stopped. 28 ..Qc4 29 Rxd5 Qxd5 30 Kc2 Ra8 31 a6 Qc6 32 Ra1 e4 One last throw of the dice. 33 Nb4 Qc4 34 Qa5 exf3 35 gxf3 Re8 36 Qd5!!

37 ..Re2+ 37 Kd1 Rd2+ 38 Qxd2 Bxd2 39 Kxd2 Qf4+ 40 Kc2 Qf5+ 41 Nd3 Qxf3 42 Ra5 42 a7?? Qg2+!= 43 Kd1 (43 Kb3 Qd5+ 44 Kb4 Qb7+) 43 ..Qf3+ 44 Kd2 Qg2+ and White can't escape the perpetual - this has been a superbly played game by Judit. 42 ..Qa8 43 a7 d5 44 Nb4 d4 45 Nd5 dxc3 46 bxc3 Kg7 47 Kb3 Not only getting out of any troublesome checks after Nb6 or c7, but also giving White an added option of a stylish win by taking his king to b6 (via b4 and c5) and then playing Nc7. 1–0

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

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