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Dec. 17, 2000

Position #5616: White to play and win. From the game Speelman - Macieja, FIDE World Championship, New Delhi 2000.

Solution to Position #5615: Black wins both Knights and a pawn for a Rook by 1 . . . Rxb2 2 Nxb2 Rxd2.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The New Delhi phase of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) 100-player knockout tournament ended Friday with one of the best possible results: semifinal victories by top-rated Viswanathan Anand of India and fourth-seeded Alexey Shirov of Spain. They will play a six-game final match in Tehran, beginning Dec. 20. The winner earns $528,000 and the title of FIDE world champion. The loser will receive about $316,000.

Anand won two difficult matches last week. He edged FIDE’s 1999 world champion, Alexander Khalifman of Russia, 3 1/2-2 1/2 by winning a 15-minute game after drawing two standard games and two 25-minute games. Then he defeated Michael Adams of England, 2 1/2-1 1/2, in the semifinal. When Anand won the first FIDE knockout in 1997, he nearly lost to Khalifman and he needed nine games to outlast Adams.

Shirov, who has scored an amazing 9 1/2-1 1/2 as White in the tournament, recovered from a first-game loss to defeat Evgeny Bareyev (Russia), 2 1/2-1 1/2, in the quarterfinals. His semifinal against 17-year-old upstart Alexander Grischuk (Russia) featured three straight wins for White before Shirov barely held a draw with Black to clinch the match, 2 1/2-1 1/2.

Adams and Grischuk will take home about $138,000 each. The $2.4-million tournament is by far the most lucrative in chess.

Xie Jun of China retained her title of women’s world champion by defeating Qin Kanying of China, 2 1/2-1 1/2, in the final match of the 61-player women’s tournament. Xie Jun won the first game and drew the next three.

Gisela Kahn Gresser, the first U.S. woman to achieve a master’s rating, died Dec. 4 in New York City. Gresser won nine U.S. Women’s Championships between 1944 and 1969. She was 94.

LOCAL NEWS

The second Joseph Ileto Memorial attracted 47 players to Monterey Park last weekend. Eduardo Ortiz and Jack Peters, who drew their last-round meeting, tied for first place at 4 1/2- 1/2. Leo Raterman (who lost only to Ortiz), Francisco Alonso (who lost only to Peters) and top Class A Alan Bishop shared third place at 4-1.

A massive tie at 3-2 earned class prizes for Mark Flores and Gunter Kellotat, best B; William Au and William Doobenen, best C; Richard Henri, best D; and Henry Castro and Arcie Pragale, best unrated.

The tournament was the fourth moderately priced event hosted by the Southern California Chess Federation (SCCF) in the last two years. Alonso, the former master who serves on Monterey Park’s City Council, helped provide the playing site.

State champion Cyrus Lakdawala swept the 40-player Holiday Open in San Diego last weekend with a perfect 4-0 score. Carey Milton and Tony Davis tied for second place at 3-1.

Mario Amodeo, Mike Maloney and Jeff Turner shared first place in the Express (under-2000) section. Hector Cabrera led the Reserve (under-1600) section.

The tournament was run by the San Diego Chess Club, which meets Wednesday evenings in the Balboa Club, 2225 6th Ave. in San Diego.

The first annual Holiday Scholastic Championship takes place Dec. 23 at St. Anthony of Padua School, 1003 W. 163rd St. in Gardena. The tournament comprises a four-round Open (grades K-12) section and a five-round Junior Varsity (grades K-8) section. For more information, call Kurt Stenzel at (310) 704-8660 or John Surlow at (310) 479-8377.

The Wilshire Chess Society, which usually runs 45-minute tournaments, plans to host a blitz (five-minute games) tournament Dec. 24 at the Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles. Register at the site (Community Room C, on the third floor, west of Barnes & Noble bookstore) at 10:30 a.m., or call Michael Jeffreys at (310) 473-6291.

Richard Henderson won last Sunday’s tournament at Chess Academy, 1335 N. La Brea Ave. in Hollywood. Mike Almeida finished second. The club hosts another tournament (at 11 a.m.) and Eduard Gufeld simultaneous exhibition (at 3 p.m.) Sunday. Call Gufeld at (323) 883-0164 or (323) 512-4564 for full information.

John Surlow will conduct a series of chess workshops for students ages 5 to 14 at St. Paul the Apostle School, 1536 Selby Ave. in Westwood. Classes will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Dec. 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28. Call him for details.

TODAY’S GAME

GM Anand (India) - GM Bologan (Moldova) #2, FIDE World Championship, New Delhi 2000: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Nb8 The Breyer Defense to the Ruy Lopez. 10 d4 Nbd7 11 Nbd2 Bb7 12 Bc2 Re8 13 Nf1 Bf8 14 Ng3 c5 An interesting deviation from the habitual 14 . . . g6 15 a4 c5 16 d5 c4 17 Bg5 h6 18 Be3 Nc5 19 Qd2 h5. Bologan will attempt to defend his King by keeping his Kingside pawn structure intact. 15 d5 c4 16 Bg5 Qc7 17 Nf5 Kh8 Consistent. If 17 . . . g6?! 18 Nh6+ Kg7, then 19 Nh2 Ng8 20 Nxg8 Kxg8 21 Ng4 eyes the weak squares f6 and h6. 18 g4 Ng8 19 Qd2 Nc5 20 Be3 Bc8 21 Ng3! White has time to patiently regroup while Black begins Queenside counterplay. Rb8 22 Kg2 a5 23 a3 Ne7 White can refute the premature 23 . . . b4? 24 axb4 axb4 25 cxb4 Na6 by either 26 Ba4 Rd8 27 Bc6 Ne7 (not 27 . . . Nxb4? 28 Ra7 Bb7 29 Qxb4) 28 b5 or 26 Ra4 Qb7 27 Rea1 Ra8 28 Qc3 Bd7 29 Ra5 Rec8 30 Ba4. However, 23 . . . Qb6 deserves a try. 24 Rh1 Ng6 25 g5 Preparing h3-h4-h5. b4?! Probably 25 . . . Qb6 26 h4 b4 improves. 26 axb4 axb4 27 cxb4 Na6 28 Ra4 Also strong is 28 Ba4 Rd8 29 Bc6 Nf4+ 30 Bxf4 exf4 31 b5! Nc5 32 Qxf4. Nf4+ The only chance. Recovering the pawn, by 28 . . . Qb7 29 Rea1 Nxb4?, loses instantly to 30 Ra7 Qb5 31 Ba4. 29 Bxf4 exf4 30 Nh5! Black gets more counterplay from 30 Qxf4?! Nxb4 31 Bb1 Nd3. Qb6 31 Qxf4 Nxb4 32 Bb1 Rb7 Necessary. The direct 32 . . . Nd3 33 Bxd3 cxd3 34 Qxf7 Bb7 35 Nf4! Qxb2? allows 36 Ng6+! hxg6 37 e5 and 38 Rh4 mate. Black would have to pause for 35 . . . Re7 36 Qh5 Kg8, when 37 g6 h6 38 Nxd3 wins routinely. 33 Ra3 Anticipating 33 . . . Nd3 34 Bxd3 Qxb2 35 Qc1 cxd3 36 Rxd3, with an extra pawn and a likely win. Rc7 34 Rd1 Na6 Hoping for 35 Rd2?? c3, but Anand abandons the b-pawn and revives his Kingside attack. 35 Nd4! Qxb2 36 Rg3 c3 37 Nf6! White plans 37 . . . gxf6 38 gxf6, threatening mate with 39 Qg5. Black cannot save himself by 38 . . . Re5 39 Nf5 Bxf5 40 exf5 h6 41 Qg4. Against the trickier 38 . . . h6, White should preface his invasion on the g-file with 39 Bc2!, shutting out the Black Queen. For example, 39 Bc2! Nb4 leads to 40 Rg1 Nxc2 41 Kh1 Nxd4 42 Rg8+ Kh7 43 R1g7+ Bxg7 44 Rxg7+ Kh8 45 Qxh6 mate. Re5 38 g6! A second shot destroys Black’s impregnable fortress. Now White foresees 38 . . . h6 39 gxf7 g5 (or 39 . . . Rxf7 40 Qxh6+!) 40 h4 c2 41 Bxc2 Rxc2 42 Nxc2 Qxc2 43 Rc1 and 38 . . . Nb4 39 Nxh7 Kg8 40 Nf6+! gxf6 41 g7 Rg5 42 Rxg5 fxg5 43 gxf8Q+ Kxf8 44 Qxd6+ Re7 45 Qc5! Bd7 46 Nc6 Bxc6 47 dxc6. fxg6 39 Nd7! Be7 Black emerges the exchange down after 39 . . . Re8 40 Nxf8 Nb4 41 Qxd6 c2 (worse is 41 . . . Rc4 42 Nxh7! c2 43 Qxg6 Re7 44 Nf6) 42 Nxc2 Rxc2 43 Bxc2 Qxc2 44 Rd4. 40 Nxe5 dxe5 41 Qf7 h6 42 Qe8+, Black Resigns. If 42 . . . Bf8, White finishes with 43 Rf3! Bf5 44 Qxf8+ Kh7 45 exf5.