CHESS: Lubomir Kavalek

The future of the FIDE world chess championships looks brighter. On Thursday FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the Dutch businessman Bessel Kok signed a memorandum of understanding launching an Amsterdam-based company called Global Chess BV to manage the championships and other chess ventures in the next five years. But for Kok to succeed, FIDE has to establish stable rules for the world championship cycles that go beyond the next year.

Looking Back

---

When William Steinitz defeated Johann Hermann Zukertort in the first official world championship in 1886 in the United States, the organization of the match was left to the players' seconds, Thomas Frere and James Innes Minchin. We can read about the negotiations leading to the match in Martin Frere Hillyer's fascinating work "Thomas Frere and the Brotherhood of Chess: A History of 19th Century Chess in New York City," recently published by McFarland & Co. ( http://www.mcfarlandpub.com). Frere, one of the most significant American chess authors and organizers of that period, was Steinitz's second and a good friend of the legendary Paul Morphy. The book offers a unique look at chess life in this country in the 19th century and includes games and compositions by the best chess artists of that time.

Russian Superfinal

---

In the absence of a few of Russia's top talents, Evgeny Alekseev, 21, won the national title in Moscow this month. He defeated Dmitry Jakovenko, 23, in the rapid playoff after the players shared first place in the championship with 7 1/2 points in 11 games. Ernesto Inarkiev was third with 7 points. Peter Svidler, the highest-rated player of the event, finished fourth with 6 1/2 points.

Sixteen-year-old Ian Nepomniachtchi is not yet Russia's answer to Norway's Magnus Carlsen or Ukraine's Sergei Karjakin, but the young player from Moscow is undoubtedly talented. In the Paulsen variation of the Sicilian, he defeated last year's Russian champion Sergei Rublevsky with highly original play.

Nepomniachtchi-Rublevsky

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 (The solid Paulsen variation eliminates many dangerous lines in the Sicilian defense, where white develops his bishops either to c4 or to g5.) 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Qf3 (Aiming for a quick development of the queenside, this unusual move was played by Viktor Korchnoi in 1958.) 6 . . . Nf6 (Attacking the knight in the center with 6 . . . Nc6 seems more logical. After 7.Be3?! black has the shocking 7 . . . Ba3!?, for example 8.bxa3? Ne5 or 8.Nxc6 Bxb2 9.Bd4 Bxa1 10.Bxg7 Qxc6 with advantage.) 7.Bg5!? Qe5 (Rublevsky tries to refute white's opening experiment, going after the e-pawn.) 8.Be3 Bb4 9.0-0-0!? (White hopes that his bishop pair and better development will compensate for the shattered queenside.) 9 . . . Bxc3 10.bxc3 0-0 (Black suddenly realizes that taking the pawn is dangerous. After 10 . . . Qxe4 11.Qg3 0-0 12.Bd3 Qg4 13.Qd6 white jams black on the dark squares; and 10 . . . Nxe4? loses the knight after 11.Bf4 Qd5 12.c4.)

11.Bd3 d6 12.Nb3 d5 (Grabbing the c-pawn 12 . . . Qxc3?! is risky. After 13.Bd4 Qb4 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Rhe1! Nd7 16.Re3 Re8 17.Qh5 white has a fierce attack, for example 17 . . . Nf8 18.Rg3+ Ng6 19.Rh3 Nf8 20.e5! dxe5 21.Bxh7+ Nxh7 22.Qxh7+ etc.) 13.exd5 exd5 14.h3 Nc6 15.Bf4 Qe7 16.Bg5! (The pin is unpleasant.) 16 . . . Be6 17.Qg3 Rfe8 (Black should have tried to unpin himself with 17 . . . Rfc8 18.Kb1 Qc7.) 18.Kb1 a5 19.Rhe1 a4 (Hoping to gain ground on the queenside, black runs into a surprise.) 20.Nc5! Ra5 (After 20...Qxc5 21.Bxf6 Qf8 22.Qh4 g6 [Or 22...h6 23.Re3!] 23.f4 white has strong pressure. Computers can calculate well the piece sacrifice 20...h6? 21.Bxh6! Nh5 22.Qf3 Qxc5 23.Qxh5 gxh6 24.Qxh6 and white should prevail, for example 24...Qxc3 25.Bh7+ Kh8 26.Be4+ Kg8 27.Re3 Qb4+ 28.Ka1 Qxe4 29.Rg3+ Qg6 30.Rxg6+ fxg6 31.Qxg6+ Kf8 32.Qh6+ Ke7 33.f4 and the kingside avalanche of the white pawns decides.)

21.Nd7!! (Jumping into the storm, white takes advantage of various cross-pins and forces a promising endgame.) 21...Nh5 (After 21...Ne4 22.Rxe4 Qxd7 23.Bf6 g6 24.Rh4 d4 25.Rxh7! wins; and 21...Qxd7 loses to 22.Bxf6 g6 23.Qf4 followed by 24.Qh6 and mate on g7.) 22.Bxe7 Nxg3 23.Bb4 Ra7 (Not 23...Nxb4? 24.cxb4 Ra7 25.Rxe6! fxe6 26.fxg3 and white should win.) 24.Bc5 Ra5 25.Bb4 (White decided against 25.Rxe6 fxe6 26.fxg3 Rd8, although after 27.Rf1! e5 28.Bb4 he should win.) 25...Ra7 26.Nc5 Nh5 27.Bb5! (Threatening both 28.Nxb7 and 28.c4.) 27...Nf4 28.g3 Nxh3 29.f4 (Threatening the unpleasant 30.f5.) 29...Raa8 (After 29...Nf2 comes 30.Rxd5.) 30.Nxb7 Rec8 31.Nd6 Nf2? (Loses, but 31...Rc7 32.f5 Bd7 33.Rxd5 only prolongs the game.) 32.Nxc8 Rxc8 (After 32...Nxb4 33.Ne7+ Kf8 34.cxb4 Nxd1 35.Nxd5! white should win. And 32...Nxd1 33.Bxc6 Rxc8 34.Bxa4 wins for white, for example 34...Nf2 35.f5 Bxf5 36.Rf1; or 34...Nxc3+ 35.Bxc3 Rxc3 36.f5; or 34...Bg4 35.Kc1 Nf2 36.Bb3.) 33.Rd2 Ne4 34.Rxe4! dxe4 35.Bxc6 e3 36.Rd4 e2 37.c4 Rb8 38.Kc1 (Saving the bishop since 38...Rxb4 is met by 39.Rd8 mate.) Black resigned.

Solution to today's six-mover by G. Nadareishvili (White: Ke2,Rh4,Ba6,Ng4; Black: Kg1,P:g2,g3): 1.Rh2!! gxh2 2.Ne5 Kh1 (Or 2...h1Q 3.Nf3 mate.) 3.Bb7 Kg1 4.Nf3+ Kh1 5.Kf2 g1Q+ 6.Nxg1 mate.