Blitz 'n' Pieces

The official newsletter of the Edinburgh University Chess Club

Lothians League Latest

First Team

Last season's league round-up concluded with the words: "With no players leaving this year, we should be an even stronger side next season, particularly if another Marcus Löffler comes our way."

Whilst it would be blasphemous in the extreme to even think of comparing anyone less than Kasparov to Herr Löffler, these words turned out to be prophetic. Lacking only Paul Brown from last year's team and still able to call on Steve Rix (1985), Nick Thomas (1985), Iain Gourlay (1975) and Mark Russell (1940), the first team has been boosted by the welcome arrival of three Germans, all rated about or over 2000.

The first match of the season was against University 2. Having pinched most of the stronger players, we had large rating advantages on all boards and won 5½-½.

The main fun against Balerno came from confusion over the start time, which had been set for 7pm. Play had just started between the five players from each side who were present at 7:25pm, when in walked Mark Russell (our intended board 4) and Neil Berry (their usual board 1!). The captains agreed that these two would face each other on the vacant board 6 and made a gentleman's agreement not to accuse each other of board order fiddling. Anyway, once everything settled down, each side won two games on the night. Mark Russell's opponent resigned without resumption, and Steve Rix converted an extra pawn to make the final result 4-2.

Weakened by the unavailability of several players and a last-minute withdrawal, we headed off to Edinburgh 2. For some reason, everyone had a bit of an off-day and the team lost 4½-1½, despite 100-150 rating point advantages on most boards. It was one of those days.

Edinburgh West have been very erratic this season, mainly because their top three boards keep going AWOL. Unfortunately for us, they managed to be at full strength when we played them. Martin Möbus never looked in serious danger on board 1, where he held Lothians champion Jonathan Grant to a draw. Steve Rix and Iain Gourlay won efficiently, making up for the nightmare Bernd "Freddie" Krüger had on board 3 (no, that joke's not one of mine, honest). Short of time, Marcus Wörz wisely accepted a draw offer, although it turned out after later analysis that he had the better position. Board 6 sacrificed too many pawns and lost a painful endgame. 3-3.

The highlight of the season so far came against the mighty Edinburgh 1. Nick Thomas won impressively on board 3 (see below). Marcus won after a time scramble, but Bernd spoiled a good position and lost. 2-1. Meanwhile Iain Gourlay was a safe pawn up, but Steve was getting stuffed and Jonathan Parker (2420) was still playing against Martin. Two swindles balanced out when Steve's opponent got complacent and then short of time, whilst Iain discovered just how tricky K+P endgames can be; these two draws made it 3-2. Martin had quite a few adventures on board 1, but eventually he managed to draw (see below). This excellent result clinched a 3½-2½ victory, sending the statisticians to the record books in search of the last time Edinburgh 1 lost in the Lothians League (not last season, nor the one before).

Poisoned Pawns are a relatively weak side, although they did manage to beat Edinburgh West earlier on in the season. A solid team performance rounded off 1993 with a 4½-1½ win.

1994 began with a ropey performance against Musselburgh. Wins from Steve, Iain and Marcus produced a 3-1 score on the night. Unfortunately, the rest of the first team squad were not available, and the two other places were filled at very short notice by Ed Warner and Patrick Surry, for which the captain thanks them profusely. Their games were both adjourned with level material, so we are hopeful of scraping together another match win.

The team's remaining fixtures are as follows:

Second Team Report

The second team this year is probably one of the strongest ever and yet it has been suffering badly at the hands of first division teams. The score so far is 1 point from 6 matches, with our single draw coming against Balerno 1. Fortunately, we still have a couple of matches against weaker teams, namely Poisoned Pawns and Bankton. However, at the end of the season we have to play the nightmarish triumvirate of Edinburgh 1, Edinburgh 2 and Edinburgh West.

Even if we fail to salvage much pride from the rest of the season, we will hopefully be placed in a more suitable league for next season, as part of the major league restructuring promised by the Lothians League committee. In the meanwhile, thanks to everyone who has turned out to play for the second team!

If you would like to play in any of the remaining matches, please contact John Thompson on (031) 664 9575, or e-mail: jst@ee.ed.ac.uk.

The second team's remaining fixtures are:

Club News and Events

The Chess Club meal will take place on Saturday 19 February 1994, just after the end of week six. The venue selected for trashing is Chinese Home Cooking, in Marchmont.

Plans are afoot for another pub crawl.

Congress News

Entry forms should soon be available for the 1994 Edinburgh Chess Congress, to be held on 8-10 April at Napier University's Craiglockart Campus. Last year, there were six sections of five rounds each, including the Premier (open), Challengers (Under 2000), Major (Under 1800) and Bishops (Under 1600).

World Chess News

Dr John Nunn produced a fine performance at the Hastings congess over the new year to win the tournament for the first time since 1979. Dr Nunn is well known for his tactical play, which was well demonstrated in his final round game against the Russian Krasenkov, who was half a point behind Nunn and so needed to win to take first place.

In the next diagram, Nunn (Black, to play) is in some trouble, as White threatens Rxg6 followed by Qxe6+. If Black tries 1... Rxg1, White plays 2 Rxg1 attacking both bishops.

Nunn now found the incredible

1... Ra5!,

threatening 2... Bd5 pinning the queen. If White plays 2 Bxa5, Black plays 2... Qxd6, threatening ... bxa5 and ... Bd5. If 3 Bb4 Qd5! wins for Black. Play therefore continued:

2 Rxg6 Bd5 3 Re6!? Bxe4+ 4 Rxe4

White now threatens Re8 winning back the queen, so Black played:

4... Ra8

Now 5 Re8 would lead to a better endgame for Black. Both players then rushed to the time control with:

5 Rg1 Qf6 6 Rxe3 Kh8 7 d5

This threatens Bc3, along with ideas of Nf7+ and marching the d-pawn to queen. Nunn replied

7... Qd4!,

attacking most of White's pieces. The move 8 Rxg7 is interesting, as 8... Kxg7 loses to 9. Nf5+, 8... Qxg7 loses to 9 Bc3 and 8... Qxe3 fails to 9 Rg3 with ideas of Rxe3, or Bc3+ and Nf7+.

Fortunately, White has no good response to 8... Qxb4, so Krasenkov continued:

8 Nf7+ Kg8 9 Nh6+ Kh8 10 Nf7+ Kg8 11 Nh6+ Kh8 12 Rxg7

The knight on h6 allows White to meet 12... Qxb4 with 13 Rg4! Qb1+ 14 Rg1, leaving Black unable to stop Nf7 mate. However, Nunn is not a GM for nothing, Brian, and found:

12... Qxe3! 13 Rg2

Instead, 13 Rg3 fails to 13... Qe4+ 14 Kg1 Qd4+, intending lots of checks. But now Nunn forced a draw with

13... Rf8!! ½-½

White can do no better than to allow perpetual check by 14 Bxf8 Qe1+ 15 Rg1 Qe4+ etc.

What a maestro!

Kasparov-Short ended with the PCA "World Champion" winning 12½-7½. Short rallied from 7-2 down to hold his own in the remaining games and fancies his chances should he get another crack at Kasparov.

The PCA "Interzonal" took place over New Year in Gröningen. Co-winners on 7½/11 were England's Mickey Adams and India's Vishy Anand. The other five qualifying places were taken up by Kamsky, Tiviakov, Kramnik, Gulko and Romanishin, who all scored 7/11. Alexander Beliavsky, one of Kasparov's seconds during the Short match, started with an incredible 4/4 but could only manage three draws in his remaining seven games, as losses to three of the qualifiers bumped him down to 50%.

The seven PCA qualifiers are joined by Nigel Short, the loser from the PCA final. They will play knockout matches against each other until only one remains, and that lucky chap will get to play Kasparov.

The young Latvian Alexei Shirov once again finished half a point off qualification. He had an interesting game against Vladimir Kramnik:

White: A.Shirov
Black: V.Kramnik
PCA Interzonal, Round 8

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 Be7 8 O-O-O O-O 9 f4 Nxd4 10 Qxd4 Qa5 11 Bc4 Bd7 12 Rd3 Rad8 13 Rg3 Kh8 14 Rf1 h6 15 e5 dxe5 16 fxe5 Be8 17 Qf4 Nh5 18 Bxh6 Nxf4 19 Bxg7+ Kh7 20 Rxf4 Rg8

A missed chance? 20... Qxc3! has been given as winning for Black. Obviously allowing 21 bxc3 Ba3+ mating is not on, but 21 Rxc3 Bg5 22 Rh3+ Kxg7 23 Rg3 Kh6 24 Rh3+ Kg6 25 Rg3 Rh8! is apparently winning for Black (but why not 26 Bd3+ ?).

21 Rfg4 Rxg7 22 Rxg7+ Kh6 23 Rg8 Kh7 24 R8g7+ ½-½

Meanwhile, changing federations, the FIDE Candidates matches have just been concluded. The ten qualifiers from July's interzonal at Biel were joined by Timman and Yusupov, who qualified through their performance in the last FIDE cycle. Salov beat Khalifman 5-1, whilst Kramnik, Anand and Kamsky won 4½-2½, against Yudasin, Yusupov and van der Sterren respectively. Adams needed to win the last game of his match against Gelfand to force a playoff, but instead lost and went down 5-3. Lautier pressed hard in game 8, but his extra pawn wasn't enough to prevent Timman from holding the draw and winning 4½-3½.

These six winners play one more knockout round against each other. The three survivors are joined at a semi-final stage by "World Champion" Anatoly Karpov; the winners will contest the final, which could, in theory, take place without Karpov.

One of the best hacks was unfortunately the 4th game of Gelfand-Adams:

Adams (Black) seems to be demonstrating how to lose quickly against the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Black is riddled with white-square weaknesses, which Gelfand sets out to exploit with:

1 Qxf5!!.

If Black plays 1... hxg5 2 hxg5 Bxd4, White wins with 3 Qh3+.

1... Bxg5 2 Qg6!!

Revealing the point of his previous move. Now 2... Bxc1 and 2... Bf6 lose to 3 Bb1 Kg8 3 Qh7+ Kf7 4 Bg6 mate. Black chose

2... Qf7 3 Qxf7 Rxf7 4 hxg5,

but found himself a pawn down and soon drifted into a lost endgame.

Blunder of The Month

White: M.Orr (2345, IM)
Black: M.Möbus (c. 2100)
Glasgow Open 1993, Round 2

Things were looking fairly balanced at this point; in fact, Black is doing pretty well after 1... Bxe5. Instead, there followed:

1... Qb6

Not in itself disasterous...

2 Qd7 Rd8??

Based on a failure to consider the legality of White's next move.

3 Qxg7++ (1-0)

Games

White: S.Rix (1985)
Black: P.Hopper (1645)
Perth Open 1993, Round 1

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 Nc3 Nxc3 6 dxc3 Be7 7 Be3 O-O 8 Qd2 a6 9 O-O-O b5 10 Bd3 Bb7 11 Ng5 g6 12 h4 c5 13 h5 h6 14 Nxf7 Rxf7 15 hxg6 Rf6 16 Rxh6 Bxg2 17 Rg1 Bc6 18 Bd4 cxd4 19 Rh8+ Kxh8 20 Qh6+ Kg8 21 Qh7+ 1-0

White: S.Rix (1985)
Black: M.McPartlin (1805)
University 1 v. Edinburgh 2, Board 3

1 e4 c5 2 c3 d6 3 d4 Nf6 4 Bd3 cxd4 5 cxd4 e6 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Nc3 Be7 8 O-O O-O 9 e5 dxe5 10 dxe5 Nd7 11 Re1 Qa5 12 Qe2 Nc5 13 Bc4 a6 14 a3 b5 15 b4 Nxb4 16 axb4 Qxa1 17 Bb2 Qxe1+ 18 Nxe1 Nd7 19 Bd3 Bxb4 20 Qe4 [Oh dear] 1-0

White: M.Möbus (2100 ± 500 or so)
Black: J.Parker (2420)
University 1 v. Edinburgh 1, Board 1
Notes by Martin Möbus

1 d4 d5 2 c4 Bf5 3 Nc3 e6 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 Bf4 Nf6 6 e3 Bd6 7 cxd5 exd5?!

7... Nxd5 8 Nxd5; 7... Nb4!? 8 Bb5+!? c6 9 dxc6 bxc6 10 Ba4 Bxf4 is very messy.

8 Bg5 Be7 9 Be2?!

I played this and my next move very quickly, without even considering 9 Bxf6 Bxf6 10 Qb3 Ne7 11 Qxb7 and Black probably does not have enough compensation for the pawn.

9... O-O?! 10 O-O?!

10 Bxf6 Bxf6 11 Qb3 was still preferable.

10... Ne4 11 Bf4 Re8?!

11... Nxc3 and 11... Bf6 are both better, although White still retains an advantage.

12 Rc1

12 Bb5 may be good as well.

12... Bf6 13 Qb3 Na5

13... g5 14 Bg3 (or even 14 Qxb7) 14... g4 15 Ne1 Nd2 16 Qxd5 Qxd5 17 Nxd5 is certainly not better.

14 Qa4

14 Qxd5?? Nxc3.

14... c6 15 Nxe4 Bxe4

15... dxe4 16 Nd2, and the Na5 is in trouble.

16 b4 Nc4 17 Bxc4?

Sudden confusion made me reject my intended 17 b5 Nb6 18 Qb3, when Black is struggling: even a4-a5-a6 might become a threat. If instead (17 b5) Bxf3, 18 Bxf3 Nd2 19 Rfd1 Nxf3+ 20 gxf3 and Black loses a pawn.

17... dxc4 18 b5 cxb5 19 Qxb5 Bd5

I had overlooked this. 19... Bd3 is also good for Black.

20 a4

To prevent ... a6 and ... b5, but 20 Bc7 a6 21 Qa5 may be the lesser evil.

20... a6 21 Qb4 Be7 22 Qb1 Bxf3?!

I was more worried about 22... Ba3 23 Rc3 Bf8 24 Nd2 Qa5 25 Rfc1 b5 26 e4 Be6 27 d5 Bd7.

23 gxf3 Qd5 24 e4 Qxd4 25 Qxb7 Qf6 26 Bc7 Qxf3 27 Rxc4 h5 28 Rb1

White intends to play either 29 e5 or 29 Qb3. Neither 28 Qc6 (intending e5) Bf6 nor 28 Qd5 (intending Qf5 or Qd1) Qg4+ 29 Kh1 Qe2 make a better impression.

28... Qg4+

28... Bh4 29 Rb2 is okay for White, but 29 Bg3 Bxg3 30 hxg3 Rad8 probably loses, because Black threatens ... h4 and can meet 31 e5 with 31... Rd1+.

29 Kh1?

A serious mistake in mutual time trouble.

29... Qf3+? 30 Kg1 Qg4+ 31 Kh1? Qe2

The correct move. Instead, 31... Bh4 leads to the same consequences as indicated above and 31... h4 32 Qb3 is harmless.

32 Qd5 Qxf2?

An unambitious move, due to severe time pressure. After 32... Bh4 (not 32... h4 33 e5 Qxf2 34 e6, with compensation), Black has a clear but maybe not yet decisive advantage: 33 e5 (not 33 Bg3 Bxg3 and 34... Rad8) 33... Qxf2 (33... Bxf2? 34 Rf4 Rf8 35 Bd6) 34 e6 fxe6 35 Qxh5, with some compensation for White.

33 Qxh5 g6 34 Qh3 Qh4 35 Qxh4

The sealed move. After White had been a queen up for two weeks, the game resumed with the match score 3-2 to University 1.

35... Bxh4 36 e5?!

I had initially intended to play 36 Kg2, but in analysis both alone at home and collectively on club evenings, I/we "found out" that the draw was even safer if the exchange of bishops could be avoided.

The conclusion was that White has little to fear after 36 Kg2, but no problems at all after 36 e5 Rac8 37 Rbc1 Bg5 38 R1c2 Re6 39 Kg2 Bh6 40 Kf3 Bg7 41 Rc5 Rce8 42 Kf4.

36... Rac8 37 Rbc1 Bg5 38 R1c2 Re6 39 Kg2 Kg7

What's that? I decided to ignore this and to play quick, non-commital moves.

40 Kg3 Be7 41 Kg4?

41 h4 was necessary, after which White is in no great danger of losing.

41... Rh8 42 Kg3 g5 43 Rc1

My first close look at the board after the resumption revealed that my position had suddenly become highly critical.

43... Reh6 44 Rh1 Rc8

44... Rh3+ 45 Kg2 R3h4 46 Rxh4 Rxh4 47 a5 Rc4 48 Bb6 is also good for Black, but probably not winning.

The following moves are forced:

45 a5 Rh4 46 Rc6 Bb4 47 Rhc1 Bd2 48 e6

I was forced to put all my hopes on this move, praying that it would work. 48... Rch8? 49 Rf1 f6 50 e7 is no problem, but 48... Bxc1 49 Be5+ f6 50 Rxc8 Ba3 51 Bb8 Ra4 52 Rc6 Rxa5 53 h4 gives Black some winning chances.

Fortunately my opponent, once again short of time, played:

48... Rxc7?! 49 Rxc7 Bf4+ 50 Kf3 Bxc1 51 Rxc1 fxe6

After 51... Rxh2 52 Rc7 Ra2?? 53 e7 or 51... f5 52 Kg3, there is no win for Black either, although in the latter case White still has to defend accurately.

52 Rc6 Rxh2

This leads to a quick draw, but 52... Kf6 53 Kg3 Ra4 54 Rxa6 is also equal.

53 Rxe6 Rh6 54 Rxh6 Kxh6 55 Kg4 Kg6 56 Kg3 Kf5 57 Kf3 Kf6 58 Kg4 Kg6 59 Kg3 Kf5 60 Kf3 Ke5 61 Kg4 Kf6 62 Kg3 Kf5 ½-½

63 Kf3 Ke5 64 Kg4 Kd5 65 Kxg5 Kc5 66 Kf4 and White's king reaches a1.

White: N.Thomas (1985)
Black: A.White (2105)
University 1 v. Edinburgh 1, Board 3
Notes by Nick Thomas

1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Bf4 O-O 6 Qd2 c6 7 a4 a5 8 Be2 Na6 9 O-O Nb4 10 Rfe1

White has developed quietly, playing to hinder Black's ... e5 thrust and eventually to play e5 himself. White was intending to reposition his Nc3, by first supporting e4 with the rook and then playing c3.

10... d5?! 11 e5 Ne4?!

On 11... Nh5, 12 Bh6 is strong for White, e.g. 12... Nxc2 13 Bxg7 Nxa1 (Maybe 13... Nxe1, intending 14 Qh6 Nxf3+ - SR; 14 Bxf8 Nxf3+ 15 Bxf3 Qxf8 16 Bxh5 gxh5 17 Qg5+ seems okay for White - JST) 14 Qh6 Nxg7 15 Ng5, or 12... Bf5 13 Nh4 Bxc2 14 Bxh5 gxh5 15 Ne4!? (15 Qg5 Bg6 16 Bxg7 Kxg7 17 Nf5+ is safer - JST) 15... Bxe4 16 Rxe4 e6 17 Ra3.

12 Nxe4 dxe4 13 Ng5 Bf5?

Black should play 13... c5, when play continues 14 c3 Nc6 15 dxc5. White is a pawn up with good winning prospects.

14 c3! e3 15 fxe3 Nc2 16 e4 Nxa1 17 exf5 Nb3 18 Qd1

Not 18... Qc2 Nxd4!, winning for Black.

18... Qd5 19 Be3!

Now the threat of c4 is too strong.

19... b5 20 axb5 cxb5?

Black should try 20... a4, but after 21 bxc6, White's strong centre pawns easily compensate for the loss of the exchange.

21 Bf3 Qc4 22 Bxa8 Rxa8 23 Qf3 Rd8 24 e6 f6 25 Nf7 Rd5 26 Qg3!

The threats of Qb8+ followed by Bh6 and fxg6 are too much.

26... g5 27 Qb8+ Bf8 28 Qe8 Rxf5 29 Nh6+ Kg7 30 Nf5+ 1-0

Stop Press:

The editors have just heard that the Hungarian Peter Leko has just made his final GM norm. Not much of a surprise, because he is already rated 2560. However, he is only fourteen years old and has become the youngest ever Grandmaster. Sometimes we wonder why we bother!