On the Trail of Bobby Fischer

April 13, 2001

Position #5633: White to play and win. From the game Kasparov--Bareyev, Cannes 2001.

Solution to Position #5632: Black wins with 1 . . . Nd3, threatening 2 . . . Rxh2+ 3 Kg1 Qg8+. If 2 Ng3, then 2 . . . Bxg3 3 Qxd3 (or 3 hxg3 Qh6+ 4 Qh4 Qc6+, mating) Rxh2+ 4 Kg1 Bf2+! 5 Kxh2 Qf4+ 6 Kh1 Bd5+! 7 Qxd5 Qh4+ leads to mate.

LOCAL NEWS

The Ventura County Open takes place April 21-22 at Days Inn, 1320 Newbury Road in Thousand Oaks. It’s a four-round tournament with a Championship and an Amateur (under-1800) section. For more information, call Dan Nystrom at (805) 486-3842.

The Southern California Junior High School Championship will be held April 21 at Castaic Middle School, 28900 Hillcrest Parkway in Castaic. The tournament, which is open to any student in grades K-9, offers trophies to the best performers in each grade and rating class. There are separate sections for players rated under 1000 and under 700. For information, call Jay Stallings of the sponsoring California Youth Chess League at (661) 288-1705 or send a message to jay@thinkchess.com.

Frank Berry and Rusty Krutic shared first place in Chess Academy’s tournament last Sunday. Tom Cannon and Steve Labollita drew games against Eduard Gufeld in the grandmaster’s weekly simultaneous exhibition. For details of the Hollywood club’s next events, call Gufeld at (323) 883-0164.

Filiberto Zadini edged Robert Tischler on tie-break to win the Ides of March tournament at the West Valley Chess Club. Each scored 5-1 in the 44-player event. Rashid Rakhimov, Bernabe Flores, Grigory Furman, Yale Warsaw and Rick Rand earned class prizes.

The West Valley Chess Club, which meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays in the Jewish Community Center, will begin the Spring Swiss and Spring Round Robin on April 19. For information, call John Price at (818) 363-1379 or Duane Cooper at (818) 999-0837.

Roger Aramayo and Ken Philipson won their sections in the Exposition Park Chess Club’s April tournament. The club, which meets every Sunday afternoon in the public library, 3665 S. Vermont Ave. in Los Angeles, will conduct its May tournament on May 6.

READERS WRITE

Reader Dennis Uchimura of Los Angeles has suggested that this column occasionally include questions from readers. To ask your chess question, leave a message at (213) 237-5808 or write to Jack Peters, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, 90012.

Uchimura asks about Bobby Fischer. Unfortunately, there is little to report. Several months after Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in their 1992 rematch in Yugoslavia, the eight-time U.S. champion moved to Budapest. Although he has analyzed chess with Hungarian GMs Peter Leko, Andre Lilienthal and Judit Polgar, he claims to have lost interest in the standard form of the game. He advocates “Fischerrandom” chess, in which the pieces are randomly placed on the first and eighth ranks. Fischer offered to contribute money for a Fischerrandom match in Argentina, but the match never happened.

Fischer guards his privacy intensely. He made an exception for a 1999 interview on a Budapest radio station, charging that an American friend was selling his memorabilia without his permission. I cannot confirm rumors that he has tried to return to this country.

TODAY’S GAMES

GM Benjamin (U.S.A.)--GM Xu Jun (China), Summit Match, Seattle 2001: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 a4 Squelching . . . b7-b5, a key idea in the Najdorf Sicilian. g6 Black switches to the Dragon formation. Both 6 . . . e5 and 6 . . . Nc6 make sense, too. 7 Be2 Bg7 8 0-0 0-0 9 f4 Nc6 10 Be3 Qb6?! Weaker than 10 . . . Bg4! or 10 . . . Rb8 11 Nb3 Be6. 11 a5! Inviting 11 . . . Qxb2?? 12 Na4 Qb4 13 c3 Qxa5 14 Nxc6 bxc6 15 Bb6, trapping Black’s Queen. Nor is 11 . . . Nxa5?! 12 e5 Ne8 13 Nf5 Qd8 14 Nxe7+ Qxe7 15 Nd5! Qd8 16 Bb6 attractive to Black. Qc7 12 Nb3 Be6 13 Nd5 Bxd5 14 exd5 Nb8 15 c4 Gaining space while strengthening his center. Nbd7 16 Nd4 Rfe8 17 f5!? Ceding e5 to restrain . . . e7-e6. Ne5 18 b3 Rac8 19 Kh1 Qd8 20 g4 Nfd7 21 g5 b6 Inevitable. Passive defense lets White attack by Rf1-f4, Qd1-f1-h3, Ra1-f1, and Rf4-h4. 22 Qd2 bxa5 23 Rxa5 Nc5 24 b4!? Ncd7 25 fxg6 hxg6 26 Rxa6 Nxc4 27 Bxc4 Rxc4 28 Qf2 Rf8?? White’s optimism pays off! The correct 28 . . . Ne5 29 Nc6 Nxc6 30 Rxc6 Rxb4 31 Qxf7+ Kh7 gives Black plenty of counterplay. For example, 32 Rf3 Qd7 33 Rc7? loses to 33 . . . Qg4. 29 Nc6 Qe8 30 Ra8! White’s attacking dreams become real. Qxa8 31 Nxe7+ Kh7 32 Qg3 Nf6 Hoping for 33 gxf6?? Bxf6 34 Rxf6 Qa1+, when Black wins. 33 Rxf6! Seeing 33 . . . Bxf6 34 Qh3+ Kg7 35 Qh6 mate. Qa1+ 34 Bg1 Qd1 35 Rf3 Bh6 Forced. Black sets the trap 36 Qh3?? Rh4. 36 gxh6 Gaining material and threatening 37 Nxg6. However, White’s exposed King complicates the win. Qb1 37 Nf5 Even stronger appears 37 Qxd6, threatening 38 Qf6. Black cannot escape with 37 . . . Rg4 38 Qc5 Qe4 39 Qe3 or 37 . . . Rc1 38 Qg3 Qe4 39 d6 Rc3 40 Kg2 Ra8 41 Qf4. Rxb4 38 Nxd6 Qd1 39 Rd3 Qe2 40 Re3 Qh5 41 Qf3! Qxf3+ As 41 . . . Qxh6 42 Nxf7 Rf4 (or 42 . . . Qh4 43 Ng5+ Kg8 44 Re8!) 43 Nxh6 produces an easy endgame for White. 42 Rxf3 f5 43 Bc5 Rb1+ 44 Kg2 Rd1 45 Ne4! Preserving the essential d-pawn. Ra8 46 Nf6+ Kxh6 47 Be7 Kg7 48 d6 Kf7 49 Nh7 Ra2+ 50 Rf2 Raa1 51 Ng5+ Ke8 52 Nf3 Ra4 53 h3 Re4 54 Ra2 Kd7 55 Ra7+ Kc6?! Black can still fight with 55 . . . Ke8 56 Ra8+ Kd7 57 Rg8 Re6 58 Kf2 Rd5. 56 Rc7+ Kb6 57 Rc2 Kb5 58 Kf2 Rd5 59 Rd2! Rxd2+ 60 Nxd2 Rd4 61 Nf3, Black Resigns. As 61 . . . Rd5 permits 62 Ne5! Rxe5 63 d7.

GM Wahls (Germany) - GM Rogers (Australia), Germany 2001: 1 e4 c6 2 c4 Avoiding the main lines of the Caro-Kann Defense. d5 3 cxd5 cxd5 4 exd5 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 Karpov once chose the simpler 5 . . . Nxd5 6 Nf3 Nxc3 7 bxc3 g6. 6 Bc4 Bg7 7 Nf3 0-0 8 0-0 Na6 Against the natural 8 . . . Nbd7, White has scored well with 9 d3 Nb6 10 Qb3. 9 Qb3 Nc7 10 Re1 b5!? A promising sacrifice, as White’s development lags. 11 Bxb5 After 11 Nxb5 Rb8, White must settle for 12 Nfd4 (not 12 Ne5?? Bd7 13 Nxd7 Qxd7 14 a4 a6) Bd7 13 Qd3, when 13 . . . Ncxd5 favors Black. Rb8 12 Ne5 Bd7 13 Nxd7 Nxd7 14 Qa4 Nxb5 15 Nxb5 Nb6 16 Qxa7 Combative. Returning the pawn with 16 Qd1 Nxd5 17 Nc3 Nb4 18 d4 (fearing . . . Nb4-d3) Qxd4 19 Be3 nearly equalizes, although 19 . . . Qxd1 20 Raxd1 Nc2 21 Re2 Nxe3 22 fxe3 Rb7 secures a Black edge. Nxd5 17 a4 Too uncomfortable is 17 Nc3 Nb4. For example, 18 Rb1 Nd3 19 Re2 lets Black attack with 19 . . . Nf4 20 Re1 Qd3 21 Ra1 Bd4 22 Qxe7 Rbe8 23 Qxe8 Rxe8 24 Rxe8+ Kg7 25 Re1 Qf5, eyeing f2 and g2. Nb4 18 d4! Nc2 19 Bg5 Nxa1 20 Rxa1 Not 20 Bxe7?? because 20 . . . Re8! 21 Kf1 Nc2 22 Re2 Rxe7 leaves Black a piece ahead. Qd5 21 Qc5 With 21 Qxe7 Rfe8 22 Qc5, White keeps fair compensation for the exchange. If 22 . . . Qxc5 23 dxc5 Bxb2, then 24 Rb1 Bd4 25 c6 activates White’s passers. Qa8 22 Bxe7? Tougher is 22 Be3 Rfc8 23 Qb4. Rfe8 23 Bg5? An oversight, but neither 23 h3 Rxb5 nor 23 Nc7 Qe4 24 Nxe8 Rxe8 25 Rd1 Rxe7 26 h3 Qe2 offers White much hope against Black’s extra Bishop. Qxa4! 24 Na3 Bxd4 25 Qc2 Qa6! More material must fall. 26 Qc4 Qa5 27 h4 There’s no salvation in 27 Nc2 because 27 . . . Qxa1+ 28 Nxa1 Re1+ 29 Qf1 Rxf1+ 30 Kxf1 Rxb2 wins the Knight. Bxb2, White Resigns.