CHESS

Ladislav Prokes (1884-1966) was a prolific Czech chess composer and a strong practical player, participating in three chess Olympiads (1927, 1928 and 1930). He composed nearly 1,200 studies. In his creation from 1929 (White: Kh4,Rf5,Ba4,P:f3; Black: Kh1,Bg2,Ne6,P:a2) he used wonderful geometrical ideas, allowing white to draw. Can you find how? (Solution next week.)

A Canadian Dream

It was not just a fantasy, as the legendary Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen first suspected. "I now believe it's happening," he said after the opening ceremony of the Man and His World Chess Challenge Cup, played 30 years ago this month in Montreal. The 10-grandmaster double round robin was also known as the 1979 World Cup or the Tournament of Stars. By any name, it became the greatest tournament in Canada and one of the strongest in chess history. The city was generous to us. The mayor, Jean Drapeau, even offered the Olympic Stadium, with some 66,000 seats, as the venue. Eventually, we settled on a pavilion from the 1967 Expo. We flew first class, slept in a top hotel and ate in great French restaurants. It may sound unbelievable these days, but we had the newspaper La Press as our main sponsor. Chess became the talk of the town. Guy Lafleur, the popular fast-flying wing for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, had to compete for publicity with chess players. The tournament victory was shared by two world champions, Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Tal, each with 12 points in 18 games. It was the first major event I organized and played in at the same time. The same month, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, the 16-year-old Garry Kasparov won his first international tourney.

The Rise and Fall of Hikaru

Hikaru Nakamura showed excellent results at a younger age and was considered the best American prodigy since Bobby Fischer. He became grandmaster at 15, won the U.S. championship at 16 and shortly thereafter beat the Ukrainian grandmaster Sergei Karjakin 4½-1½ in a match. He was flying high, but Karjakin has been invited to more elite tournaments. Last January, at 19, Karjakin won his first major: the prestigious Corus tournament at the Dutch coastal town of Wijk aan Zee. Nakamura, 21, is not any less of a talent. A great fighter without short draws on his resume, he is inventive, fast and almost unbeatable in blitz games. But instead of challenging the best in the top-class events in Europe, he travels in North America, playing in open tournaments, often against amateurs.

This month, Nakamura took part in the Foxwoods Open and the Toronto Open, stumbling in both events. The American GM Josh Friedel and the Russian GM Bator Sambuev won in Toronto with a perfect 5-0 score. Somehow, Nakamura carelessly invited an attacking fury by the Canadian IM Artiom Samsonkin in the Scheveningen Sicilian. He lost the game and the chance to finish first.

Samsonkin - Nakamura

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qc7 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0-0 Nf6 8.a4 b6 (White wanted to restrict black's advances on the queenside. Black could have chased the knight in the center with 8...Nc6 and only after 9.Nb3 b6, preventing 10.a5.) 9.Qe2 d6 (The game transferred into the Scheveningen Sicilian.) 10.f4 Bb7 11.Bd2 Nbd7 12.Rae1 Nc5 (The flexibility of the Sicilian defense is amazing. White did everything correctly, preparing the advance of his e-pawn. Yet it didn't quite work. For example 13.e5!? dxe5 14.fxe5 Nxd3 15.cxd3 Bc5 is in black's favor.)

13.b4!? (White finds a different plan, consolidating the center and opening the c-file.) 13...Nxd3 14.cxd3 Nd7 (Hoping to absorb any attacking attempts from white. Breaking in the center backfires: 14...d5? 15.e5 Nd7 16.f5! and black is in trouble either after 16...Qxe5 17.Qf2 Qf6 18.Nxe6! fxe6 19.Rxe6 Qf7 20.Bg5 Nf6 21.Rfe1; or after 16...Nxe5 17.fxe6!) 15.Rc1 Qd8 16.f5! e5? (A losing blunder. Black should have tried 16...Bf6 17.Be3 e5, although after 18.Nb3 0-0 19.Nd2, followed by 20.Nc4, black is tied up.)

17.Ne6! (The knight sacrifice wins material by force and brings black to his knees.) 17...fxe6 18.Qh5+ g6 (After 18...Kf8 19.fxe6+ and 20.Qf7 mates.) 19.fxg6 Nf6 20.g7+ Kd7 (After 20...Nxh5 21.gxh8Q+ Kd7 22.Qxh7 white wins.) 21.Qf7! (This double-attack, threatening to win either the rook or the knight, is stronger than 21.gxh8 Qxh8.) 21...Qe8 (After 21...Rg8 comes 22.Rxf6.) 22.gxh8N (The knight underpromotion is not the only way to victory. After 22.Rxf6 Qxf7 23.Rxf7 Rhg8 24.Bg5 Rae8 25.Nd1 Ba8 26.Ne3 black can hardly move, e.g. 26...Kd8 27.Bxe7+ Rxe7 28.Rc7! and white wins.) 22...Qxh8 23.Ne2 (The fancy 23.Nb5!? was possible, for example 23...axb5 24.Rc7+! Kxc7 25.Qxe7+ Nd7 26.Rc1+ Kb8 [26...Bc6 28.axb5!] 27.Qxd6+ Ka7 28.axb5, threatening 29.Ra1+.) 23...b5 (After 23...Rf8 24.Rc7+ Kxc7 25.Qxe7+ Kb8 26.Qxd6+, followed by 27.Be3, white wins.) 24.Bg5 Qg8 25.Rxf6 Qxg5 26.Qxe6+ Kd8 27.Rc7! Qe3+ 28.Kf1 Kxc7 29.Qxe7+ Kb6 30.Qxd6+ Ka7 31.Qc7! (Threatening 32.Rxa6+! Kxa6 33.Qa5 mate, to which black does not have a suitable defense.) Black resigned.

In the last round, Nakamura defeated Michael Barron of Canada with a sharp exchange sacrifice in the Leningrad Dutch. It was an important theoretical struggle and showed Hikaru at his best.

Nakamura - Barron

1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.h4!? (Bent Larsen, who loved engaging his rook pawns, would approve of the ramming attack.) 4...Bg7 5.h5! Nxh5 6.e4! (White is ready to sacrifice the exchange to chase the black king, but he can't do it right the way. After 6.Rxh5 gxh5 7.e4 0-0!, black is fine.) 6...fxe4 (Defending with 6...e6 leads to a disaster after 7.exf5 exf5 8.Rxh5! gxh5 9.Qxh5+ Kf8 10.Nd5!, threatening 11.Qxf5+ Kg8 12.Bg5 Qe8+ 13.Ne7+ winning. In the game Krush-Esserman played last December at the Berkeley International, white had great compensation for the pawn after 6...Nf6 7.exf5 gxf5 8.Bg5 e6 9.Qd2 Qe7 10.0-0-0 d6 11.Nd5! and won in 23 moves.)

7.Rxh5! gxh5 8.Qxh5+ Kf8 9.Bh6 (Exchanging black's only active piece.) 9...Bxh6?! (Making it easy for white, but even after 9...d6 10.Nxe4 black will have a tough time.) 10.Qxh6+ Kg8 11.Qg5+ Kf7 12.Nxe4 (Nakamura's novelty, paving the way for the other pieces.) 12...Qg8 (After 12...d6 13.Be2 Qg8 14.Bh5+ Kf8 15.Qf4+ Kg7 16.Qh4 Kf8 17.Nf3 the white pieces are ready for action.) 13.Qf4+ Ke8 14.Qxc7 Nc6 (After 14...Na6 15.Qe5 Kd8 16.Ng5 Ke8 17.c5! Nb4 18.Bc4! Nc6! 19.Bf7+ Kf8 20.Qf4 Qg7 21.0-0-0 Qf6 22.Qg3, threatening to win with 23.Nxh7+.) 15.0-0-0 Qg6 16.Re1! (Threatening 17.Nd6+.) 16...Kf7 17.d5 Nb4 (After 17...Nd4 18.Qe5 Qg7 19.Qf4+ Kg8 20.Re3! white breaks through, for example 20...e5 21.dxe6 Nxe6 22.Qf5 Qf7 23.Nf6+ Kf8 24.Rf3!, threatening 25.Nxd7+.) 18.Nf3 d6 19.Neg5+ Kg8 20.Qd8+ Kg7 21.Rxe7+ Kh6 22.Nf7+! Kh5 (After 22...Qxf7 23.Qxd6+ Qg6 24.Qf4+ Kh5 25.Qh4 mates.) 23.Re5+! dxe5 (Not waiting for 24.Qh4 mate...) Black resigned.

Solutions to Last Week's Puzzle

April 20: Mate in two by Walther von Holzhausen (White: Kg2,Qf1,Rd8,Bh2,P:a4; Black: Kb7, Ba7): 1.Ra8! Kxa8 (or 1...Bb6) 2.Qf3 mate; 1...Bg1 2.Qa6 mate; 1...Kb6 2.Qb5 mate.