Politiken Cup', Copenhagen, Denmark.
by Alexander Baburin
(Part I)

So far Denmark has not yet given the chess world any super
tournaments, but it does hold a few strong events every year. They
usually have an all-play-all format, but some tournaments are
Swiss opens. Such, for example, is the 'Politiken Cup', which is
taking place in Copenhagen from 3-14 of July. This annual open,
sponsored by the major Danish newspaper Politiken, has been
around since 1979 and over the years it has attracted many strong
players. This tournament saw its strongest field in 1996, when
Copenhagen was a 'Cultural Capital' of Europe and the event was
sponsored by Visa. Then many strong GMs came to play in
Denmark, including Victor Korchnoi, who won it. This year
'Politiken Cup' does not have such a star-studded field, but
nevertheless it's a strong contest, featuring 6 GMs and 13 IMs
among its 163 participants. The top seed is American GM Nick de
Firmian (2598), who is married to a Danish woman and now lives
in Denmark. Not surprisingly the majority of the participants come
from Denmark, but there are players from Sweden, Norway,
Island, UK and some other countries here, which makes it a truly
international event. I was glad to come to Copenhagen, as for me
Denmark is a special place   in 1996 I achieved my final GM-norm
at the 'Politiken Cup'.

The tournament has passed its mid-point   6 of the 11 rounds have
been played and today the players are enjoying their rest day. After
four rounds only Danish GM Sune Berg Hansen was on perfect
score, but in round 5 he lost to yours truly. Nobody managed to
seize a sole lead in round 6 and now there are as many as 11
players on 5 out 6. The group leading includes GMs de Firmian,
Baburin, Hansen, Schandorff and Ward. No doubt that after the
pause the tension will rise, as everyone understands that in such a
tournament one needs to score 81/2 or 9 points out of 11 to
guarantee a decent prize.

The tournament already has produced a few interesting games, two
of which I would like to share with you now, with my comments:

Nick de Firmian (2598)   Casper Rasmussen (2240) [B80]
Politiken Cup, Copenhagen (2), 04.07.1999

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 Nc3 a6 4 g3 d6 5 Bg2 Nf6 6 0 0 Nc6 7 d4 cxd4
8 Nxd4 Qc7 9 Re1 Be7 10 Nxc6 bxc6 11 e5! dxe5 12 Rxe5 (See
Diagram)

I found that in the Mega'99 database White scored 79% from this
position - something Black should think about next time when he
allows 10 Nxc6 and 11 e5. Here White relies on his better pawn
formation (2 pawn islands vs. Black's three) and quite active g2-
bishop.
12...Bd6?
This move looks logical, but in fact it leads to serious problems for
Black. Better is 12...0 0 13 Bf4 Qb7 Then the following game
illustrates well the advantages of White's position: 14 Na4 (or 14 b3
Nd5 15 Nxd5 exd5 16 Re1 Bb4 17 Bd2 Bg4 18 Qxg4 Bxd2 19 Re2
Bc3 20 Rd1 Rfe8 and White was slightly better in Adams-Sadler,
Hove 1997.) 14...Rd8 15 Qf3 Nd5 16 Bd2 Bf6 17 Re4 a5 18 Rd1 Nb6
19 Bc3 Rxd1+ 20 Qxd1 Qd7 21 Qxd7 Nxd7 22 Bxf6 Nxf6 23 Rd4
Ba6 24 Nc5 Kf8 25 f4 Ke7 26 c4 Ra7 27 Bf3ń Nd7 28 Rxd7+ Rxd7
29 Nxa6 Rd4 30 Nb8 1 0 Gavrikov-Agopov, Tallinn 1998.
13 Bf4 Bxe5
13...0 0? drops a pawn after 14 Rxe6!   it is amazing how many
players fell into this trap.
14 Bxe5 Qxe5
This is a mistake, as later in order to restore the material balance
Black will have to make major concessions. Better was 14...Qd7,
although after 15 Bxf6 gxf6 16 Qf3 or 15 Qf3 White's initiative is
very unpleasant.
15 Bxc6+ Bd7 16 Bxa8 Qb8
The only way to get the pawn back.
17 Bf3 Qxb2
Black needs only once move to castle and then the future will be
bright for him. Alas, he does not get even this little time!
18 Rb1! Qxc3 19 Qd6! (See Diagram)

This is the point - Black's king is stuck in the center and he must play
without his rook. The consequences are fatal for Black.
19...Nd5 20 Rb7! Bc8 21 Bxd5 Bxb7 22 Bxb7 Qa5 23 Bc6# 1 0

Martin Matthiesen (2322)   Christopher Ward (2473) [E35]
Politiken Cup, Copenhagen (3), 05.07.1999

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 d5 5 cxd5 exd5 6 Bg5 c5 7 dxc5
h6 8 Bxf6 Qxf6 9 e3 0 0 10 Nge2 Be6
After 10...Nc6 11 a3 Bf5 12 Qd2 Bxc5 13 Nxd5 Qe5 14 Rc1 Bd6 15
Ng3 Rad8 16 Bc4 Be4 17 f4 Qe8 18 Nxe4 Qxe4 19 Qc2 Black did
not get sufficient compensation for a pawn in the game Stohl-
Korchnoi, Tilburg 1993.
11 a3 Bxc5 12 Nf4 Rc8 (See Diagram)

13 Rd1?
Here 13 Nfxd5!? would have been more testing, as then White at least
could count on his extra pawn, while now Black develops his
initiative 'free of charge'.
13...d4 14 Ne4 Qf5!N
Here GM Ward deviates from his early game, which went: 14...Bb4+
15 axb4 Rxc2 16 Nxf6+ gxf6 17 b5!? Nd7 18 Rxd4 Ne5 19 Be2
Rxb2 20 0 0ń Hillarp Persson-Ward, Copenhagen 1998.
15 g4
This is a really bad sign if in order to finish development one needs
to make such weakening moves.
15...Qe5 16 Nxc5 Rxc5 17 Qe2 Bc4! 18 Qf3 Nc6 19 b4 (See
Diagram)

19...dxe3!
Opening up the center when the enemy monarch is still there is
certainly very logical. Chris said that during the game he was
fascinated by the following line: 19...d3 20 bxc5 20...Nd4 21 Qxb7
Bd5 22 Qxd5 Qxd5 23 Nxd5 Nf3#. That would be a brilliant finish,
worthy of every anthology of chess tactics, but, unfortunately for
Black this line is not forced and the calm 22 Nxd3!+- puts an end to
his dream. Instead of 20...Nd4 Black wins with 20...Qc3+ 21 Rd2
Ne5 22 Qd1 Bb3 +, but White does not have to take the c5-rook - he
should play 20 Bxd3 instead. Thus, Ward's choice is better.
20 Qxe3 Re8 21 Qxe5 Rcxe5+ 22 Kd2 Re4 23 Bxc4 Rxc4 24 Nd3
Nd4!
Black carries on the attack even without the queens.

25 Nc5 Nf3+ 26 Kd3 Ne5+ 27 Kd2 b6 28 Nb3 Rd8+ 29 Ke2 Re4+
0 1 A very nice game where Black never let the initiative go once
White shied away on move 13. 

Politiken Cup', Copenhagen, Denmark.
by Alexander Baburin
(Part II)

Although most chess opens have a 9-round format, there are plenty
that consist of only 6 or 7 rounds. Thus, an 11-round Swiss with one
day off looks really long. Yet, even such tournament reach their
conclusion and this is what happened to the Politiken Cup'99, which
finished in Copenhagen on Wednesday the 14th of July. The
tournament saw a two-way tie for first between Swedish GM-elect
Tiger Hillarp-Persson and your author. We scored 81/2 out of 11 and
finished a half-point ahead of a large group of 11 players on 8 points.
That group included GMs N. de Firmian (USA), S.-B. Hansen, L.
Schandorff and H. Danielsen (all - Denmark) and Ch. Ward
(England), as well as IMs E. Mortensen, H i (both - Denmark), J.
Barkhagen (Sweden), L. McShane (England), FM K. Mah (England)
and S. Schneider (Sweden).

The tournament was well organized - top games were displayed on
demonstration screens, while in a special room there was also live
commentary of most of the interesting games by IM Jens Kristiansen.
Every day the participants received a free bulletin with results and
games of the previous round, along with IM Kristiansen's annotations.
The Danes have a reputation for being well-organized with a high
level of efficiency. Still, I feel that for the smooth running of this
tournament, chess players owe respect to the efforts by the organizing
committee, headed by Lars Bech Hansen, Danish chess arbiters and
enthusiasts. The only problem, in my opinion, was that the playing
venue - Egmont College - was a bit too small for the tournament.
Otherwise everything was fine and I am sure that all participants
enjoyed their stay in Copenhagen - a city with many attractions. And
congratulations to Stefan Schneider from Sweden and Karl Mah from
England, who both earned IM-norms at the Politiken Cup

The tournament saw a very dramatic fight. Two players - US
Champion Nick de Firmian and Danish Champion Sune Berg Hansen
- were leading the field most of the time and entered the final round,
with a half-point lead. It looked as if two GMs had played better than
their rivals and that they would celebrate a fully deserved victory.
Yet, both of them suffered a defeat at the finish and let their
respective opponents overtake them. When I think of that, a particular
phrase, quoted in one of the bulletins and attributed to Capablanca,
comes to my mind: "It's better to be lucky than to be good!" I cannot
say for sure whether Tiger Hillarp-Persson was very lucky in
Copenhagen, but that was clearly the case with me. For example, in
round 1 I won an endgame four pawns downs and later was also lucky
on a few other occasions. The culmination of my bad play came in
round 8, when I lost with White in 15 moves... I almost gave up on
the idea to do well at the tournament then, but fortunately I played
reasonably well in some significant games; here is the most important
one:

Nick de Firmian (2598) - Alexander Baburin (2593) [B04]
Politiken Cup Copenhagen (11), 14.07.1999

1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 c6
This line was popularized by GM Tony Miles and as surprise weapon
it often works well for Black. Yet, I did not expect to surprise Nick
(is it possible to surprise a chess pro in the computer age?!), as one of
the most important games for this line was played between Miles and
de Firmian himself! That game went: 5 Be2 dxe5 6 Nxe5 Nd7 7 c4
Nc7 8 Nf3 g6 9 0-0 Bg7 10 Nc3 0-0 11 Re1 c5 12 d5 b5! 13 cxb5
Nb6 14 Be3 Nbxd5 15 Nxd5 Nxd5 16 Bxc5 Bxb2 17 Bc4 Bb7 18
Rb1 Bf6 (de Firmian-Miles, Chicago 1994).
5 c4 Nc7 6 exd6 exd6 7 Nc3 Be7 8 Bd3 Bg4
Black must bring this bishop out, as otherwise after h2-h3 it may lack
good squares.
9 h3 Bh5 10 0-0 Nd7 11 Re1 0-0
Black can be happy with the results of the opening phase: his
development is satisfactory and his pawn formation is very elastic.
12 g4 Bg6 13 Bf4 Re8 14 Bg3 a6 15 a4
Better was 15 Bxg6 hxg6 16 d5.
15...a5 16 Qd2 Bxd3 17 Qxd3 Na6 18 Re3 Nb4 19 Qd2 Bf8
Otherwise the pressure along the e-file might become very
unpleasant.
20 Rxe8 Qxe8 21 Re1
Here Nick offered a draw and although Black is not any better here,
I declined the offer, as my tournament standing dictated 'all or
nothing' tactics.
21...Qd8 22 d5?! (See Diagram)

I don't like this move - it gives the d7-knight an excellent square on
c5, after which the a4-pawn may become weak. Besides of this, in the
long run the somewhat exposed position of White's king could be a
problem for him. Much safer was 22 b3.
22...Nc5 23 Re3 Qd7! 24 dxc6 bxc6 25 Ne4 Nxe4 26 Rxe4 d5 27
Re1 Re8 28 Ne5 Qd8 29 cxd5 cxd5
This position is already better for Black, as his d-pawn may become
very powerful, while White's pawn majority on the queenside is quite
useless.
30 Kh2 Bd6 31 Re3?
At this point White was already in a serious time trouble, which made
his defense more difficult. Better was 31 Nf3.
31...d4! 32 Re4 d3
Played in accordance with a well-known rule that passed pawns must
advance! Now it's hard to suggest a decent plan for White.
33 Kg1 h6!
This is one of those 'quiet' moves, which are so unpleasant for an
opponent who is short of time! In many lines it's important for Black
not to worry about the back-rank weakness.
34 Re3 Bxe5 35 Rxe5 Rxe5 36 Bxe5 Qd5 37 Bc3 Nc6!-+
The knight has nothing to do on the queenside and should be
relocated towards the opposite wing.
38 Qe3?! Ne5! (See Diagram)

39 f4 d2 40 Bxd2 0-1
Here White's flag (if an electronic clock has one!) fell, so his last
move did not count and he lost on time. Yet, White is hopeless after
40...Nf3+ and 41...Nxd2. 

The following game may have some theoretical importance:

Luke McShane (2467) - Sune Berg Hansen (2558) [B70]
Politiken Cup Copenhagen (9), 12.07.1999

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Bc4 Bg7 7 0-0
0-0 8 Re1 Nc6 9 h3 Bd7 10 Bg5? Nxd4 11 Qxd4 h6 12 Bd2 Ng4 13
Qd3 Ne5 14 Qe2 Bxh3!! (See Diagram)

If I remember correctly, Black played this move quickly, which
suggest that he worked out this tactical idea at home. This sacrifice
refutes White's play. Previously in this position Black has tried
14...Nxc4 15 Qxc4 Re8, but after 16 Qd3 Rc8 17 Nd5 Bxb2 18 Rab1
Bg7 19 Rxb7 e6 20 Ne3 Bc6 21 Rxa7, he eventually lost in the game
Emms-David, Cappelle la Grande 1997.
15 gxh3 Qc8 16 Bb3 Qxh3 17 f4 Qg3+ 18 Kf1 Ng4! 19 Qg2 Nh2+
20 Kg1 Nf3+ 21 Kf1 Qxg2+ 22 Kxg2 Nxd2
Black has emerged from tactical complications with two extra pawns
and went on to win:
23 Bd5 e6 24 Rad1 exd5 25 Rxd2 Bxc3 26 bxc3 Rac8 27 Rxd5
Rxc3 28 Rxd6 Rxc2+ 29 Kg3 Rfc8 30 f5 R8c6 31 Rd7 Rxa2 32
Rxb7 Kg7 33 Rd1 g5 34 Rd3 Rc1 35 Kf3 Rf1+ 36 Ke3 g4 37 Kd4
Ra4+ 38 Kd5 h5 39 Rc3 Ra5+ 40 Kd4 Rf4 41 Rc8 Ra4+ 42 Kd5
Raxe4 43 Rcc7 Rd4+ 0-1

Finally, I would like to show one tactical example from the Politiken
Cup'99:

Adamski,J (2418) - B„cklund,A (2265) [A35]
Politiken Cup Copenhagen (7), 10.07.1999
 
1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 Nc6 3 Nc3 g6 4 e3 Bg7 5 d4 d6 6 Be2 Nf6 7 0-0 0-0
8 d5 Nb8 9 e4 a6 10 Bf4 b5 11 cxb5 axb5 12 Bxb5 Ba6 13 a4 Nfd7
14 Qe2 Qa5 15 e5 Qb4 16 Bg3 dxe5 17 Nxe5 Bxb5 18 axb5 Rxa1
19 Rxa1 Nxe5 20 Bxe5 Bxe5 21 Qxe5 Qxb2 22 Rb1 Qc2 23 h3 Re8
24 d6 Nd7 (See Diagram)

It looks like Black may be able to put up a tough defense here, but
Polish IM Adamski destroys such an illusion with a nice sacrifice: 25
Qxe7!! Rxe7 26 dxe7 In this position Black's queen is surprisingly
helpless... 26...Nf6 27 b6 Qxc3 28 b7 Qe5 29 b8Q+ 1-0