Alexander Beliavsky

“A PURELY ENGLISH MURDER”

For a long time IBM financed the traditional international tournaments held in the Netherlands. Now Austrian chess enthusiasts have taken over their organization.

The prestige of the tournament was underlined by the presence at its ceremonial opening of Austrian Chancellor F. Sinowatz, and at the closing ceremony of both candidates for the presidency of the republic, K. Waldheim and K. Steyrer.

The Swiss system (9 rounds, 46 participants) enabled the organizers to invite a substantial group of strong grandmasters, whereas in a round-robin tournament probably no more than half as many could have been assembled. For non-professionals it is easier to free up 10–12 days than an entire month and play one game a day, without having to devote additional days to the analysis of adjourned positions.

This tournament also featured an experimental time control: two and a half hours for 50 moves, followed by one hour to finish the game, with another control after 20 moves. If a game remained unfinished, it was resumed in the morning. What happened if even then, “the next day,” the adjournment dragged on, I never found out, because neither Karpov nor I had a single morning resumption… As one can see, the advantages of such a system were obvious.

And yet this time control, quite suitable for mass Swiss events, affected the quality of grandmaster play. I, for example, was constantly afraid of getting into time trouble and therefore hurried too much in the opening stage of my games. I would not make a categorical judgment yet, although I do feel some dissatisfaction: when the highest level of mastery is concerned, it seems more logical not to create conditions that restrict creativity. Still, I have already spoken about the advantages and disadvantages of the new system for the wider body of chess players.

We lived and played, as participants in the tournament, at the Intercontinental, one of Vienna’s best hotels. A park in the city center gave us the opportunity to take a walk before a game. If necessary, one could prepare for the next opponent or accustom the body to night-time resumptions, if they occurred, as they say, “somewhere around midnight.”

How was the draw conducted? A group of six players with the same number of points could arise. How was the problem solved? Six lots were put into a hat and then drawn in pairs. And how were the participants ordered by rating and assigned first place in the pairing order? First played fourth, second played fifth, third played sixth. Good or bad? Probably not bad, because the participants were spared uncertainty and complaints toward the arbiters conducting the draw.

Some rules laid down in the regulations, however, still required refinement. For example, when high-rated participants had to be separated according to the “right” to alternate colors, the principle was indisputable. In addition, such a system more quickly identified the participants with the higher individual coefficient. But it made life considerably harder for the leaders. Thus A. Karpov had to meet seven grandmasters and only two masters.

Naturally, everyone was interested in how Karpov would perform on the eve of his match for the World Championship. The spectators’ area opposite his table was always crowded. One had the impression that our former World Champion could, as they say, “add another gear” at any moment. This impression was confirmed in the penultimate round, in his game against a dangerous rival. Karpov outplayed Korchnoi, but the advantage he obtained proved insufficient for victory.

A. KARPOV – V. KORCHNOI

White achieved both a material and a positional advantage. However, converting it was extremely difficult because of the limited number of pieces remaining on the board. Karpov found an interesting and promising plan.

[The article continues with detailed analysis of the game.]

In the final round, in order to finish among the leading prize-winners, Karpov absolutely had to win with Black against J. Nunn. Unexpectedly for the former World Champion, the English grandmaster played such a fighting game that he fully confirmed the reputation previously established by his compatriot M. Chandler, who had also defeated Anatoly in the seventh round.

And that is how the “purely English murder” took place.

I had played in Swiss-system tournaments before: at Hastings in 1974, and then last year, very successfully, in London. Apparently the experience gained there once again helped me achieve a good sporting result. Perhaps some of the games also gave me creative satisfaction.

The Czechoslovak grandmaster L. Ftáčnik performed very well. His achievement deserves special mention if only because he had to meet practically all the players with the highest ratings.

Continuing the subject of women’s chess, I should mention the Hungarian player Zsuzsa Polgar. She did not meet the Soviet grandmasters during the event, but after the tournament ended we noted with interest that she had scored victories over as many as five grandmasters and international masters.