Steady!
THE WORLD under-18 championship which has just finished in France was won by the Israeli player N. Grinberg with 7½/9. Despite sharing the lead for a long time, I failed to capitalise on some good chances in the final rounds and was just edged out of the title spot, only managing to score seven points. Four players shared third place with 6/9 - I. Rogers (Australia), G. Kasparov (USSR), M. Petursson (Iceland) and A. Groszpetter (Hungary).
A noticeable difference from ordinary events was the fact that each player was accompanied by a second. A second is an experienced player whose main job is to help with analysis of any adjourned games. However, for such an important tournament jt was essential to prepare openings in advance and I was greatly assisted in this by my second, the English theoretician Leslie Blackstock whose advice on openings was invaluable.
Grinberg played steady chess throughout, taking few chances. Here, however, is a game definitely not typical of his style!
Grinberg, N. - Petursson, M. - World Cadet 1976
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 A line popularised by Fischer around 1960 6...e6 7.g4 Nc6 8.g5 Nd7 9.Be3 Be7!? An unclear position was reached in Donoso - Najdorf, Argentina 1971 after (9...Qc7 10.Qd2 b5 11.O-O-O Bb7 ) 10.h4 Nxd4?! Allowing the white queen a dominating position 11.Qxd4 Ne5 12.Be2 O-O 13.O-O-O b5 14.Rdg1 Eyeing the Black monarch! 14...Qa5 15.Kb1 Bd7 16.f4 Nc6 (16...Nc4 is a more aggressive possibility ) 17.Qd2 b4 18.Nd1 Na7 19.Bc4 Bc6 20.Nf2 d5! Black observes the well known maxim that a counter in the centre is the best antidote to a flank attack 21.Bb3 dxe4? (21...Rfd8 (threatening d4) must be played. It has the additional advantage that Bf8 is playable as a defensive measure. Grinberg now conducts the attack in fine style. ) 22.h5 Bd5 23.g6! Nc6 24.Ng4 f5 25.h6!
Moves are clickable
A pretty position in the assault - Black's king side is still intact and the white pawns are on the sixth rank 25...hxg6 ( or 25...fxg4 26.Qh2 where all lines win ) 26.Qh2 fxg4 27.hxg7 Kxg7 28.Qh7+ Kf6 29.Rxg4 Rg8 30.Rh6 1-0
Ian Rogers, the Australian, played some imaginative combinations. He impressed me in the second round with a really nice double-rook sacrifice - the point being one was sacrificed on b6 and the other on hl!
Rogers, Ian - Chia, Alphonsus - World Cadet 1976
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.cxd5 Nxg5 7.Nxg5 e6 8.Qd2 h6 9.Nh3 exd5 10.Nf4 c6 11.e3 Bf5 12.Be2 Nd7 13.g4 Be6 14.Qc2 Qf6 15.O-O-O Nb6 16.h4 O-O-O 17.Na4 Kb8 18.Nc5 Bc8 19.b4 Rhe8 20.a4 Qd6 21.a5 Nd7 22.Nfd3 Nxc5 23.bxc5 Qc7 24.Qa4 Re4 25.Kd2 Rde8 26.Rhe1 Bf6 27.Rb1 Bd8
Moves are clickable
28.Rb6!! Bxg4 29.Bxg4 Rxg4 30.Reb1 axb6 31.axb6 Qh2 32.Rh1! To lure the queen off the crucial black diagonal 32...Qxh1 33.Qa7+ Kc8 34.Qa8+ Kd7 35.Qxb7+ Ke6 36.Qxc6+ Kf5 37.Qxe8 Rg1 38.Qd7+ Ke4 39.b7 Rd1+ 40.Kc2 Rxd3? In time trouble, Chia stumbles into a mate in one but his position is lost anyway. 41.Qg4# 1-0
Solution to last week's problem
White to play and win - - -
Moves are clickable
1.b6+!! (1.bxa6? b5! and Black wins 2.h4 b4 3.h5 b3 4.h6 b2 5.h7 b1=Q 6.h8=Q Qb8+ ) 1...Kb8! 2.h4 a5 3.h5 a4 4.h6 a3 5.h7 a2 6.h8=Q a1=Q 7.Qg8! ( Not 7.Qxa1? stalemate ) ( If immediately 7.Qe8 then 7...Qg7 draws ) 7...Qa2 8.Qe8 Qa4 9.Qe5+ Ka8 10.Qh8 and mates