Round 12 27th January 2001

THE UNDUTCHABLES

Hans Ree and Gert Ligterink

NOW here’s the thing about the cloggies – not only do they know how to run a bloody good chess tournament, but such is the standing of the game in the Netherlands, newspapers give a high priority to the many and various chess columns scribed by notable journalists like Hans Ree, Gert Ligterink, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Tim Krabbé.

How high? Well, lets just say that during a big tournament like Wijk aan Zee, you can safely expect about as much coverage as your typical Madonna “quiet wedding” in a Highland retreat! Up to about as much as a page and half daily can be set aside with the likes of annotated games, reports, features, results and pictures – they have it all from start to finish.

Richard de Weger (The top man! Want to know where we got the moves for the early live broadcasts on the Internet? MC)

Even the TV and Radio outlets are in on the act. They consider chess to be “newsworthy” with many daily reports during the tournament. Coupled with the excellent coverage on Dutch Teletext from Richard de Weger, a guy who was into the concept of “live” games from the tournament hall long before the likes of Bill Gates realised what the Internet was never mind become a zillionaire out of it, you’ve basically got the whole country covered.

Allard Hoogland the owner of NIC and Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam in conversation

The Dutch are untouchable when it comes to chess coverage – and the same can be said for chess publishing! If in New In Chess they don’t have the best chess magazine in the world, then the guy sitting next to me is a Dutchman - Hey! It’s none other than one of their editors-in-chief, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam!

Believe me, nothing can touch this magazine on quality and quantity. It’s so good, the latest edition of NIC mag can always be found in my toilet as essential reading matter – unlike a Keene or Schiller effort that makes it into the same room for an entirely different emergency service!

OK, John, lets have today’s history lesson: How did the magazine start? Well, it was born out of the wave of new possibilities following the advent of the computer revolution in the early eighties. Another Dutch publisher, Elsevier, developed a data base system for chess games - still on a ‘mainframe’ then - and approached Schaakbulletin with a view to marketing a number of new products under the name ‘New in Chess’. This allowed the team at Schaakbulletin in 1984 to realise a long cherished dream: to cross the Dutch-language barrier with the birth of a publication that we’ve come to love and know as New In Chess Magazine.

Top players regard it as their platform, and there is hardly a chess player of distinction who does not contribute to the Magazine on a regular basis. Jan Timman, already Schaakbulletin's editor-in-chief, didn’t take much persuading over a good bottle of wine to take up the same function in NIC-Magazine, and Dirk Jan ten Guezendam, who does most of the interviews and tournament reports for the magazine, ably assists him – in the writing, that is. Not the wine drinking! Completing the editorial line-up is Editor, René Olthof.

Regular contributors include that well-known chess sage Hans Ree with his upbeat and light-hearted reflections on the game, and the chess Grim Reaper himself, Genna Sosonko, who you can always count upon for an interesting obituary or feature on one of the old masters – hopefully after rigor mortis has set in. Hmmm, I wondered why Mark Taimanov was feverishly looking over his shoulder when Genna was around at Wijk.

Well, I don’t think the editor-in-chief of NIC will wish for this game to feature in his magazine. An error in the opening and poor old Jan was completely busted.

Timman,J (2629) - Anand,V (2790) [E15]

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Ba6 First played in the 1920s by Nimzowitsch and later favoured by Keres and Taimanov, this line of the Queen's Indian had a big resurgence in the 1980s. 5 b3 And this, ever since the Karpov-Kasparov marathon of 1984/5, is now generally accepted as the main line. 5 ..Bb4+ 6 Bd2 Be7 7 Bg2 c6 8 Bc3 d5 9 Ne5 Nfd7 10 Nxd7 Nxd7 11 Nd2 0–0 12 0–0 Nf6 13 e4 b5 14 Re1 dxe4 15 Qc2 Rb8!?N

It's novelty time from Anand - the usual move here has been Rc8 to take advantage of the queen on the c-file. 15 ..Rc8 16 Rad1 Nd5 17 Bxe4 Nxc3 18 Qxc3 Bf6 19 Qc2 g6 20 Nf3 bxc4 21 bxc4 Qa5 22 Re3 ½–½ Anand,V-Adams,M/Wijk aan Zee 1998/CBM 63. 16 Rad1 Qc7 17 Bf1?! The start of a bad plan from Timman. Taking on e4 now was his best (and only) option: 17 Nxe4! bxc4 18 bxc4 Nxe4 (18 ..Bxc4?! 19 Nxf6+ gxf6 (19 ..Bxf6? 20 Bd2 Bd5 21 Bxd5 exd5 22 Bf4!) 20 Bd2 Bb5 21 d5! exd5 22 Bxd5!) 19 Bxe4 Bxc4 20 Bxh7+ Kh8 21 Be4 Bd5 22 Bd2 Bd6= 17 ..bxc4 18 bxc4 18 Bxc4 was better. 18 ..c5! 19 dxc5 19 Nxe4 Nxe4 20 Rxe4 cxd4 21 Bxd4 Bb7 and long white diagonal is going to be a big problem fro White. 19 ..Bb7

White's simply busted. Losing the c5-pawn is the least of Timman's problems - the e4-pawn will simply cramp White's game. 20 Nb3 Nd7 21 Qb2 g6 22 Bg2 f5 23 Nd4 Nxc5 24 Nb5 Qb6 25 Qa3 Rf7 26 Qxa7 Qxa7 27 Nxa7 Nd3 28 Re2 Bc5 29 Nb5 f4! 30 Bh3 Nxf2! 30 ..Nxf2 31 Rxf2 fxg3 32 Bxe6 gxf2+ 33 Kf1 e3 0–1

Highlight of the round easily had to be the Shirov-Kramnik encounter. Despite Kasparov’s protestations about Shirov accusations of the recent BGN match being “fixed”, Kramnik didn’t resort to refusing to shake his opponents hand. However, much like Kasparov, Kramnik did all the talking over the board.

Shirov,A (2718) - Kramnik,V (2772) [B12]

1 e4 c6! Well that must have shocked Shirov! Kramnik has only ever played the Caro-Kann once before in his life - and it was in a simul in Frankfurt 4 years ago! 2 d4 d5 3 e5 True to form, Shirov sticks to his favourite Advance variation. In the aforementioned Kramnik Caro-Kann, he faced the Fantasy Variation: 3 f3 g6 4 Nc3 Bg7 5 Be3 dxe4 6 fxe4 e5 7 dxe5 Qxd1+ 8 Rxd1 Nd7 9 Bg5 h6 10 Bh4 g5 11 e6 gxh4 12 exd7+ Bxd7 13 Bc4 0–0–0 14 Bxf7 Ne7 15 Nge2 Bg4 16 Rxd8+ Rxd8 17 h3 Bd7 18 0–0 Rf8 19 Rf3 Kc7 20 Kf2 b5 21 Ke3 Nc8 22 Bh5 Rxf3+ 23 Bxf3 ½–½ Drill,F-Kramnik,V/Frankfurt 1996/EXT 2001 3 ..c5 4 dxc5 e6 5 Bf4?! I'm not too sure about the bishop being here. The position has transposed into a sort of French Defence, and 5 Be3 - not just protecting the c5 pawn but also bolstering the d4-square - is standard and correct. It seems that with 5 Bf4, Kramnik has equalised immediately. 5 ..Bxc5 6 Bd3 A bit too risky is 6 Qg4 Ne7! and White falls back in development - Taking on g7 gives Black too many active pieces. 6 ..Nc6 7 Nf3 f6! It's a typical French move, aiming to break down the White centre. Of course, taking on f6 is bad as Nxf6 gives Black the centre. 8 Nbd2 fxe5 9 Bxe5 Nf6 10 Qe2 0–0 11 0–0–0 a5 12 Nb3 Bd6 13 Kb1 Bxe5 14 Nxe5 a4 15 Nc1

15 Nxc6 bxc6 16 Nd4 Qb6! 17 c4 c5 18 Nf3 is good for Black - he's got the centre and an attack on the White king. 15 ..a3 16 b3 Qa5 17 c4 dxc4 Taking the e5 pawn isn't all that clear: 17 ..Nxe5 18 Qxe5 dxc4 19 Qxa5 Rxa5 20 Bxc4 Ne4 21 Rd4 Nxf2 22 Re1 Rg5 23 g3 Rg6 24 Ne2! with good play against the weak e-pawn. 18 Nxc4 Qc7 19 Rhe1 Nd5 20 Qd2 Ncb4! 21 Ne2 There's no escape - White's losing material: 21 Be4 b5 22 Ne3 Nc3+ 23 Ka1 Bb7! 24 Bxb7 Nxd1 25 Rxd1 (25 Nc4 Qxb7 26 Qxb4 Qd5; 25 Bxa8 Qe5+!) 25 ..Rad8! 21 ..Rxf2 22 Be4 b5! 23 Qd4 Rxe2 24 Rxe2 bxc4 25 Bxd5 Nxd5

Shirov has some chances if Kramnik recaptures with the pawn: 25 ..exd5 26 Re8+ Kf7 27 Re5! Black's better, but the danger signs are all there for Shirov to work his magic. 26 bxc4 Ba6 27 Rc1 Nf4 28 Rd2 e5 29 Qe3 Bxc4 30 Ka1 Qf7 31 g3 31 Qc5 Nd3! 32 Qxc4 Nxc1 33 Qxc1 e4! wins. 31 ..Nd3 32 Rxd3 Bxd3 33 Qxd3 h6 33 ..e4! as the previous note is stronger. 34 Qb3 Qxb3 35 axb3 Kf7 The passed e-pawn is too strong. 36 Rc6 a2 37 h4

37 Rc2 Ke6 38 Rxa2 Rxa2+ 39 Kxa2 Kd5 40 Kb2 Kd4 41 Kc2 and the king and pawn ending is drawn. However, 37 ..Ra3! 38 Rb2 (38 b4 e4 39 b5 Ke6 40 Rb2 Kd7) 38 ..Ke6!, and the ending is won. 37 ..Ra3 38 b4 e4 39 Rc4 e3 40 Re4 Kf6 41 g4 h5 42 gxh5 Kf5 43 Re7 Kf4 44 b5 Rb3 45 Rf7+ Ke4 46 Re7+ Kd3 47 Rd7+ Kc2 48 Rc7+ Kd2 49 Kxa2 Rxb5 The rest is elementary stuff - Kramnik now does a spot of bridge-building. 50 Rxg7 e2 51 Rd7+ Kc2 52 Rc7+ Kd3 53 Re7 Rxh5 0–1

Despite making a recovery of sorts after his recent illness, somehow Peter Leko not only managed to find the energy to beat Alexander Morozevich, but he also picked up the Spectators’s Prize for the round.

As usual, Weird Al went his own way in the opening with one of his original ideas in the Najdorf. However, he was tempting fate by leaving his king in the center.

Leko,P (2745) - Morozevich,A (2745) [B98]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Be7 8 Qf3 Qc7 9 0–0–0 A rarity these days in top-flight chess - The main line Najdorf. 9 ..Bd7!?!

This is an oddity. 9..Nbd7 is, of course, the big main line favoured by perhaps the Najdorf’s greatest exponent, Bobby Fischer. 10 f5 Pushing the e-pawn looked more adventurous: 10 e5!? dxe5 a)10 ..Nd5 11 Nf5!?; b)10 ..Ng8 11 Bxe7 Nxe7 (b)11 ..dxe5 12 Bd6! Qxd6 13 Ndb5 Qb6 14 Na4 Qa5 15 Nd6+ Ke7 16 fxe5!) 12 exd6 Qxd6 13 Ndb5 Qb6 14 Na4!; 11 fxe5 Nd5 (11 ..Qxe5 12 Bf4!) 12 Bxe7 Nxe7 13 Qh5 10 ..Nc6 11 Nxc6 bxc6 12 Kb1 d5 13 g4 h6 14 Bc1! A nice touch - White will sooner or later have to defend his king. Leko's retreat anticipates the Morozevich attack. 14 ..Rb8 15 e5 Ng8 16 fxe6 Bxe6 17 Ne2 Bg5

Taking on e5 wasn't as bad as it looked: 17 ..Qxe5 18 Nd4 Rb6 19 Bg2 (19 Nxe6 fxe6 20 Bd3 Bf6 21 Bg6+ Kd7!) 19 ..Bh4! 20 Qh3 Bf6 21 Rhe1 Qb8 with chances for both sides. 18 Nf4 Qxe5 19 Nd3 Qd4 20 Qg3 Qb6 21 Bxg5 hxg5 22 b3 Nf6 23 Bg2 Nd7 24 Rhe1 a5 Now that White's moved the rook from the h-file, this might just have been Black's chance to consolidate his position with 24 ..0–0!? As it is, Morozevich doesn't seem to have enough material in play for the attack to crash through. 25 Ne5 Nxe5 26 Rxe5 a4 27 Rxg5 Black can't generate an attack with the few pieces he has. Leko, however, now has a safe king and the better pieces now. 27 ..axb3 28 cxb3 g6 29 h4! Not so much thinking of the attack - Leko's simply creates a passed h-pawn. 29 ..Ra8 30 h5 Qa7 31 a4 gxh5 32 gxh5 Qb8 33 Qc3 Ke7 34 Re1 Qf4?

Morozevitch was in time trouble here, so perhaps can be forgiven for not fancying the complications of 34 ..Rxa4!? However, I think it leads to a forced draw! 35 Rxe6+! fxe6 (35 ..Kxe6 36 Qxc6+!) 36 Bxd5! (36 Qg7+ Kd6 37 Qe5+ Kc5 38 Qc3+ Kd6 39 Qe5+=) 36 ..cxd5 (36 ..exd5?? 37 Rg7+ Ke6 (37 ..Kd6 38 Rg6+ Kd7 39 Qxc6+) 38 Qxc6+ Ke5 39 Re7+) 37 Qg7+ Kd6 38 Qe5+ Kc5 39 Qc3+ Kb5 40 bxa4+ Kxa4+ 41 Kc2 Qc8 (41 ..Rc8?? 42 Rg4+ Kb5 43 Rb4+ Ka6 44 Rxb8) 42 Rg4+ Kb5 43 Rb4+ Ka6 44 Ra4+ Kb7 45 Rb4+ Ka7 46 Ra4+= 35 Rge5 Kd6 36 Bh3! Bxh3 37 Qxh3 Rab8 38 Re7 Rhd8 39 Qc3 d4? Morozevich can probably still save himself with: 39 ..Rd7 40 Rxd7+ Kxd7 41 Qh3+ f5 42 h6 Qg4! 40 Qc4 Qf5+ 41 Ka2 Qd5 42 Qc2 42 Qc2 Qxh5 43 Qf2! and Black's king is caught among the White heavy pieces. 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