A new move
THE BIEL INTERNATIONAL Junior (under 20) in Switzerland was contested by 72 players from eight different ยท countries. I won the tournament with seven out of seven one-and-a-half points clear of E. Lobron (USA) and W. Markus (Germany).
The tournament was timed so the participants could watch the second interzonal (the second of the two tour naments to help decide a lenger to world champion Anatoly Karpov) which was taking place in the same building.
Each afternoon several hundred spectators would follow the 10 interzonal games on large demonstration boards. At the same time we could watch the players' reactions - such as walking around between moves, foot tapping, and looking at other games to pick up clues as to how much each player liked his position.
The strength of the tournament was such that any player could beat any other. Even the best must be careful as shown in the following game where one of the weaker players; International Master Oscar Castro of Columbia, out-combines one of the favourites, Soviet International Grandmaster Efim Geller.
Castro, O - Geller, E - Biel 1976
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5!? g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.Re1 e5 6.c3 Nge7 7.d4!? A known sacrifice. White plays to regain his pawn and to hinder Black's development. 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 exd4 9.Bf4 a6 10.Bf1! A new move? I have seen previously only (10.Bc4 after which the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings suggests 10...d6 and the line 11.Ng5 O-O 12.Qb3 d5 13.Bxd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 Na5 15.Qg3 Qxd5 16.Bd6 Bf5! 17.Bxf8 Rxf8 18.Nd2 d3 with the initiative. ) 10...d6 11.Nbd2 O-O 12.h3 h6?! Preferable is 12... Be6 when White will have trouble getting his pawn back. 13.Nc4 d5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.Bd6 Re8 16.Rxe8+ Qxe8 17.Bc5 Be6 18.Nxd4 Rd8 19.Nxe6 Qxe6 20.Qb3 b5
Moves are clickable
21.Rd1!! The beginning of a deep combination which completely bewildered poor Geller, who took the knight after only three minutes' thought. 21...bxc4 22.Bxc4 Na5 But the Russian spent 29 minutes on this move maybe only now seeing the point. 23.Qb6! Threatening both the rook and the knight on a5. Since 23... Nxb6 fails to first Rxd8ch and then Bxe6, Black's next move is forced. 23...Qxb6 24.Bxb6 Nxc4 25.Bxd8 Black still appears to be doing well, with two minor pieces for a rook and pawn. But Castro has seen that the black knights are awkwardly placed and he can win the pawn on a6. This gives him two connected passed pawns - usually a winning asset in end games. 25...Nf4 26.b3 Ne5 27.Rd6 Ne6 28.Ba5 Nc5 29.b4 Ne4 30.Rxa6 Nd3 31.Kf1 Bd4? Geller is losing anyway but with only one minute left on his clock he throws away a piece. 32.Ra8+ Kg7 33.Rd8 1-0
After the game Geller just
sat in his chair staring at the
board and slowly shaking his
head from side to side - as
if to say he just didn't understand!
I would like to thank very much the National Bank of New Zealand for making my successful and extremely interesting trip to the World Under 18 championships and to Biel possible. I have learnt far more new ideas and concepts from this one trip than from all the books I have read.