The Kibitzer 
by Tim Harding

KILKENNY OPEN

I rarely play over-the-board games at present, my local club having
closed down after the death of its principal organiser; I keep busy
with correspondence play. However, I paid a visit to the small but
ancient Irish town of Kilkenny the last Sunday in November to
promote my new magazine "Chess Mail" and to do, as it were,
some hands-on kibitzing. I was rewarded by seeing a very nice
game played by English super-GM Michael Adams.

The annual Kilkenny Open, sponsored by leading-edge Irish
software company Iona Technologies, always attracts the top Irish
players as well as a contingent of masters and GMs from the
neighbouring island. It's a busy weekend at the top: travel on the
Friday with a game starting at 8pm; all your moves in the game in
105 minutes. After the game, a drink - or several drinks. Saturday
morning, 9.30am, the first of three rounds in the day. If your game
goes down to the wire, the break between rounds is just 90
minutes. Round two at 2.30pm, round three at 7.30pm. Then two
games on the Sunday, starting at 9am and only an hour for lunch
because most people have to travel. 

The Iona International Masters event was supported by two other
tournaments for medium and lower-rated players and the whole
event takes over the Club House Hotel for a weekend. Every room
seems to have a few chessboards tucked away in it, including (of
course) the bar.

In all there were seven GMs in the field this year, six from England
and the seventh (Russian-born Alexander Baburin) was Ireland's
top board in the Yerevan olympiad. Also visiting was 12-year-old
prodigy Luke McShane (soon to be an IM), who finished joint
third despite feeling unwell, and from Austria came Mark
Heidenfeld (also on Ireland's team at Yerevan) who is a son of the
late Wolfgang Heidenfeld, a noted writer on the game. Also
playing was Dr. John Nunn's German-born bride of a few months,
Petra.

The competition in the top group was very tough and four points
from six rounds proved good enough for a (small) prize. When I
arrived, round five was well under way and I found grandmasters
John Nunn and Michael Adams going over their game which had
just ended in a draw. Nunn had dropped an earlier half-point so
Adams was set to enter the final round a half point clear of him and
a point ahead of most of the field.

I gave Adams a complimentary copy of my new "Chess Mail"
magazine to read over lunch. I cannot be sure, but I think he may
have glanced at it because there was definitely a touch of Ulf
Andersson about the way he handled the last round game. (The
principal article in the January issue of my magazine features the
Swedish GM and his brilliant debut in a top correspondence
tournament.)

William Watson-Michael Adams Vienna Opening [C26] Kilkenny
open (6), 1996

1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 The Vienna, good coffee-house chess  2 Nf6 3 g3
But with a modern twist. 3...Nc6 4 Bg2 Bc5 5 d3 d6 6 Na4 Bg4 7
f3 Be6 8 f4?! White is unprepared for this; 8 Ne2 is normal. I took
a look at the top boards after a few moves; nothing much was
happening and I went to eat lunch. There I meet several players out
of contention who have agreed a quick draw in the last round,
although I tell some of them they have missed an opportunity to
collect a scalp. Strong players lacking last-round motivation after a
poor tournament can be beaten in such events; it was in such
circumstances that I once beat Nigel Short in the days before he got
his first FIDE title, and Willie Watson too, when he was a teenage
star. 8...Bxg1 9 Rxg1 exf4 10 Bxf4 This Bishop never finds a role
in the game, especially after White's next move. 10...d5 11 e5 Nd7
12 Qe2 Qe7 13 0-0-0 Nb6 14 Nc3 White doesn't want to open the
a-file by Nxb6 so he offers a hot pawn instead. 14...d4 15 Ne4 h6
Adams would be first with a draw from this game so he prefers to
secure his king before starting to erode White's queenside. Perhaps
if he had been the one half a point behind he might have ventured
15...Bxa2!? which under the present circumstances must have
looked too risky to Adams although it's not clear. A possible
continuation is 16 Qg4 (16 b3? Qa3+; 16 Bg5 Qxe5) 16...0-0? 17
Nf6+ Kh8 and now 18 Be4 with a very strong attack is superior to
the unclear 18 Bh6 Rg8 19 Nxg8 Rxg8. However, 16...Kf8 could
be playable, but the rook out of play on h8 would not be Adams'
style. 16 c4 dxc3 17 Nxc3 Nb4! 18 Bxb7 Otherwise (e.g. 18 a3
N4d5) White has no material compensation for his misery.
18...Rb8 19 Qe4 0-0 20 a3 c5! 21 Bc6 If 21 axb4 cxb4 (but not 21
..Rxb7? 22 bxc5) regains the piece and opens lines. 21...Nxc6 22
Qxc6 Rfc8 23 Qe4 Rd8 24 g4 This was the position the second
time I saw this game. When I returned, Dr. Nunn and Chris Ward
(the 1996 British Champion) had agreed a draw after their 2 c3 d5
Sicilian petered out; the draw meant they were sure of joint second
place whatever happened to Adams. Then McShane offered a draw
on board three as this guaranteed him a small prize. This cleared
space for kibitzers around the top board. I could tell that many of
the club players watching thought White held the advantage
because of his extra pawn but I told Mark Heidenfeld that his
four-point finish would probably be in the money as Adams was
going to win. 24...Rd4 25 Qf3 Black has excellent compensation
for the pawn because of the quantity of weak squares around the
white K and White's absence of threats. I was pleased that I
predicted Black's next moves. 25...Na4! To get rid of the defender
and open the b-file, after which it is hard for White to prevent a
combination occurring on the dark squares. The exchange of a pair
of pieces doesn't bother Black as the opposite coloured bishops (in
the presence of heavy pieces) strongly favor the attacker. 26 Nxa4
Rxa4 27 Bd2 27 g5 would seem more plausible especially as White
needed to win this game. 27 ..h5 28 Rdf1 c4 gives Black a strong
attack 29 d4 c3. 27...Qd8 28 Bc3 Rb3 29 Qe3 (See Diagram)
Probably underestimating the reply; 29 Kc2 looks better, although
I would still rather be Black. 29...Raxa3! 30 bxa3 Rxc3+ 31 Kd2
Rxa3 I watched from here to the finish (almost) but not without
considerable difficulty, although I am over six feet tall. There were
already two banks of kibitzers seated and standing around the
board where the Ward-Nunn game had ended. If you lost your
place it was very hard to get back to a position where you could see
the game.

Imagine two dozen spectators on tiptoe (if not standing on chairs)
and craning their necks for a sight of the board and clock. This was
no large playing hall with the GMs on an inaccessible stage; the
flavour of the Irish tournament is very much masters
cheek-by-jowl with the rank and file of woodpushers. It was also
very hot and stuffy after two hours play. Except that there was no
smoke in the air, it could have been the Caf‚ de la Regence, Paris,
170 years earlier, with Adams cast as Deschappelles dismissing the
challenge of a pawn-and-move upstart in a late-night odds game.
32 Ke2 c4 33 Kf2 Qh4+ The decisive blows will come on the
queenside but this diversionary check draws the white queen to an
inferior square. 34 Qg3 Ra2+ 35 Ke1 Qe7 After this neat
switchback everyone could see who stood better. Besides, Adams
had half an hour left on his clock; Watson was down to two or
three minutes to complete the whole game. 36 d4 Time trouble.
"He should have played 36 Rg2" I heard Dr. Nunn whisper to his
wife. True, but there could follow 36...Qb4+ 37 Kf1 Qb3 38 Ke1
(38 Rxa2 Qxd1+) 38...Qc3+ 39 Kf1 Ra1 and Black stands much
better, e.g. 40 Rxa1 (40 Rgd2 Qxd2 41 Rxa1 c3!) 40...Qxa1+ 41
Ke2 Qc1 (or 41...c3!?). 36...Qb4+ 37 Kf1 c3 Now the pawn is
heading for a queen and the c4 square is cleared for the bishop.
Adams spent a few minutes on the key moves, not attempting to
blitz Watson. The tension accumulated. 38 Rg2 c2 39 Rc1 Qxd4 40
Qf2 Qxe5 Instead 40...Qd1+ gets nowhere after 41 Qe1. 41 Qd2
Bd5 42 Rf2 Qe4 43 Qf4 Qd3+ 44 Kg1 Rb2 45 Rd2 Qb3 46 Kf2
Qb6+ 47 Kf1 Qc6 48 Qd4? A blunder in a lost position; White
loses control over c1. 48 Kf2 was relatively best but without
long-term prospects, especially with White's hanging flag. If 48
Qf5 Rb1 49 Rxb1 c1Q+ 50 Rxc1 Qxc1+ 51 Ke2 Bc4+ 52 Ke3
Qe1+ or 48 Kg1 Rb1 or 48 Rd4? Rb1 threatening ...Qb5+. 48...Rb1
0-1

The evening before I arrived, Adams had destroyed the challenge
of another of his English GM colleagues as follows. A typical
Saturday night game in a weekend tournament in which White
hardly looks like a GM.

Danny King- Michael Adams English Opening [A20] Kilkenny op
(4), 1996 1 g3 e5 2 c4 Nf6 3 Bg2 c6 4 d4 exd4 5 Qxd4 d5 6 Nf3
Be6 7 0-0 dxc4 8 Qxd8+ Kxd8 9 Ng5 Nbd7 10 Rd1 Ke8 11 Nd2
Nb6 12 Nxe6 fxe6 13 Bh3 Rd8 14 Bxe6 Bc5 15 Rf1 Ke7 16 Bh3
Rhe8 17 Nf3 h6 18 b3 Kf7 19 e3 c3 20 a3 a5 21 Ra2 Nbd5 22 Re2
Ne4 23 Ne1 Ndf6 24 Nf3 g5 25 Bg2 b5 26 Nd4 Bxd4 27 exd4
Rxd4 28 Be3 Rd3 29 b4 axb4 30 axb4 Nd5 31 Rb1 Nd2 0-1.

The final scores were: Adams 5.5/6; Nunn and Ward 5; McShane,
Watson and Heidenfeld 4 ahead of Baburin and others on 3.5
which was par for masters in this tough event.