By Lubomir Kavalek
Monday, February 28, 2000; Page C13

Before he starts playing today in the strongest tournament of the year in Linares, Spain, Vishy Anand could claim the title of the fastest-thinking grandmaster in the world. Last month, he won the Blitz World Cup in Poland, edging by half a point such skilled grandmasters as Anatoly Karpov and Boris Gelfand. After sharing second place in an elite traditional tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, Anand won a tough rapid tournament in Haifa, Israel.

With his tremendous successes abroad, the Indian superstar has triggered a chess boom at home. Large numbers of people in India are learning the game and follow Anand's tournament results. But he seldom plays in India. This month, the Godricke International open in Calcutta went to Gregory Kaidanov, the lone American grandmaster in the field of 72 players.

Kaidanov scored 8.5 points in 11 games. Sharing the second place with 8 points were Armenian grandmaster Vladimir Akopian and IM Mathias Roeder of Germany. Akopian's last round victory in the Tartakover variation of the Queen's gambit featured a powerful attack against the black king, crowned with a knight sacrifice.

Akopian - Vladimirov

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Qc2 0-0 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Rd1 h6 8.Bh4 b6 9.cxd5 exd5 (Forced, since 9...Nxd5? 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.Qc6 Ba6 13.Qxd5 drops a pawn.) 10.e3 Bb7 11.Bd3 c5 12.0-0 a6 13.Bf5 Re8?! (Rolling the pawns on the queenside with 13...c4 is preferable.) 14.Ne5! cxd4 15.exd4 Nf8 (After 15...Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nh5 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Rxd5 Nf4 20.Rd4 Qxe5 21.Re4 Qb8 22.Rfe1 white dominates.) 16.Qb3 (The queen is indirectly looking at the pawn f7 and prevents any freeing attempt Nf6-e4.) 16...g6 17.Bb1 Rc8 18.f4 (Consolidating the knight in the center.) 18... Qd6

19.Bxf6! (A timely exchange, solving the position with a nice tactical idea.) 19...Qxf6 (After 19...Bxf6 20.Ne4! white breaks through either after 20...dxe4 21.Qxf7+ Kh8 22.Qxe8 Rxe8 23.Nf7+ winning; or after 20...Qd8 21.Nxf6+ Qxf6 22.f5! g5 23.Ng4 Qd6 24.f6 Nd7 25.Qh3 wins.) 20.f5 Qd6 (On 20...g5 21.Ng4 Qh8 22.Qxb6 Bc6 23.Qxa6 white cleans up the queenside.) 21.Ne4! Qd8 (After 21...dxe4 22.Qxf7+ Kh8 23.Nxg6+ Nxg6 24.fxg6 wins. Even after the better 21...Qc7, white strikes forcefully with 22.Nxf7! Kxf7 23.fxg6+ Kg7 24.Qf3, e.g. 24...Bh4 25.Nd6! Ne6 26.Qh5 Bf6 27.Rxf6 Kxf6 28.Nxe8+ Rxe8 29.Rf1+ winning.) 22.Nxf7! (A decisive sacrifice. White opens up the floodgates to black's king.) 22...Kxf7 23.fxg6+ Kg8 (A nice mating picture is 23...Ke6 24.Qh3 mate.) 24.Qf3 (Black's position is hopeless. After 24...Nxg6 25.Qf7+ Kh8 26.Qxg6 dxe4 27.Rf7 white mates.) Black resigned.

Chess in France

Seventeen-year-old Etienne Bacrot was giving Karpov a hard time in an exhibition match in Cannes over the weekend. After drawing two regular games, Bacrot beat the former world champion in two 30-minute rapid games. Karpov won both 5-minute blitz games yesterday.

In Northern France, grandmasters Yuri Kruppa of Ukraine and Gilberto Milos of Brazil dominated the record breaking open in Cappelle La Grande, scoring 7.5 in 9 games. The open, which finished Saturday, attracted 643 players from 50 countries, including 105 grandmasters and 59 International masters.

Here is a spirited Sicilian Rauzer game won by IM Yasha Murey of Israel, known mostly as Viktor Korchnoi's analyst in his world championship quests.

Murey-Malakhov

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Be7 9.f4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 b5 11.h4!? (An original idea, bringing the rook into play via the third rank.) 11...Bb7 12.Rh3 Qc7 13.Bxf6 gxf6 (After 13...Bxf6 14.Qxd6 Qxd6 15.Rxd6 black is a pawn down, since 15...Bxc3 16.Rxc3 Bxe4 allows 17.Rxa6! Rxa6 18.Bxb5+ Ke7 19.Bxa6 Bxg2 20.Rc7+ Kf6 21.b4 the white pawns run faster.) 14.a4!? bxa4 15.Qxa4+ Bc6 16.Qc4 Qb6 (Black was escaping from the threat 17.Nd5 Qb7 18.Nxe7 Kxe7 19.Rb3.) 17.f5! Bd7 18.Qa2!? (Hoping to increase pressure on e6 by setting up a queen-bishop battery on the diagonal a2-g8.) 18...Bf8 (After 18...Rg8 Murey would not miss the double attack 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.Nd5!! exd5 21.Qxd5, e.g. 21...0-0-0 22.Rc3+ Kb8 23.Rb3 winning.) 19.Kb1 Bh6 20.fxe6 fxe6

21.Bb5!! (The bishop is tabu because of various pins and white threatens 22.Qxe6+.) 21...Ke7 22.Bxd7 Kxd7 23.Na4 Qa7 24.e5! (Opening more files on the kingside and eliminating the bishop from an active defense, e.g. 24.Qa3 Bf4.) 24...fxe5 25.Qa3 Bf8 (After 25...d5 26.Nc5+ Ke7 27.Rb3 white wins.) 26.Nc5+ Ke8 (On 26...Ke7 27.Ne4 wins; and on 26...Kc6 27.Qa4+! white mates soon.) 27.Nxe6 Qd7 28.Qf3! Rc8 29.Qf6 Rg8 30.Rf3 (White could have won an exchange with 30.Rg3 Qf7 31.Qxf7+ Kxf7 32.Rf1+ Kxe6 33.Rxg8, but prefers to go after the king.) 30...Qa4?? (In a hopeless position black snaps, but he was lost anyway, e.g. 30...Qe7 31.Qf5 with the threat 32.Qh5+.) 31.Qf7 mate.

Solution to today's study by F. Lazard: (White:Ka8,Rc7,Bb8,P:b7,g7;Black:Ka6,Ra5,Rg2, P:d7,h2): 1.Ba7 h1Q (1...Rxg7 2.Rc1!) 2.b8N+! Kb5 3.Rb7+ Ka4 4.g8QRxg8 stalemate.

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