Dutch Treat
by Hans Ree

BODYGUARDS

The taxi driver who brought me from the Rotterdam central
railway station to the football stadium - for years I have wanted to
begin a report this classic way - this taxi driver then, had asked
before I had said a word if I wanted to go to the chess event, and I
thought that he was a chess lover who maybe had seen my photo in
a newspaper once, but this turned out not to be the case.

He told me that two hours earlier he had had Timman in his car. He
had driven Timman from his hotel to the stadium, where the Dutch
chess championship was held. "And that I also was going to the
chess tournament, did you conclude this by looking at my face?" I
asked, still expecting the driver to say that he had recognized me.
The driver looked at my face again and said: "Yes, in fact I did.
When I saw you walking to the taxi line, I thought you were the
kind of person who would go to a chess competition. Funny, isn't
it?"

That he was not an insider to the chess world became obvious
soon, when he said: "I was inside that hotel for a few moments, but
you couldn't get near to these chessplaying guys." I asked him why
not. "They were down in the lobby, but they were surrounded by
security guards."

Security guards? True, Kasparov has bodyguards when in Moscow, 
which may be wise, because Moscow is a dangerous city 
where rich people often are kidnaped. But when he goes to 
play in the West he leaves them at home. And at the Dutch
championship...No.

"Security agents are not often seen in the chess world yet," I said,
but he did not give up. "Oh yes, they were there. Not that people
would want to assassinate that Timman or these other boys,
probably, but of course there are many fans that could be a
nuisance and have to be kept at a distance, I suppose." I said that
still I didn't believe that there had been security guards.

At a distance we saw the stadium already. "Is it difficult to get in?"
asked the taxi driver. Ah, it used to be easy for me, but not
anymore. I started to tell about qualification tournaments and about
the rating list that exempted certain players from playing in these
qualifiers, but what he meant was if it was difficult to get in as a
spectator. "Oh no, there will be only a few hundred at most," I said.
This surprised him. Apparently chess was a sport for the elite.
"How much does it cost then, let's say a passe-partout for the whole
event?" I said that entrance was free.

After this the taxi driver kept silent and I realized what I had done,
with my cursed pedantry. Here was a man who knew nothing of
chess, but had taken a certain interest, because chess had come his
way by accident. He had imagined that the cream of the Dutch
chess players had to be protected by bodyguards against hordes of
frantic admirers. That rich chess lovers fought to get hold of one of
the immensely expensive entree tickets. And I had disenchanted
him and robbed the chess world of it's magic by telling the banal
truth.

We had come to the stadium. It was big. At least a size too big for
chess players, I realized now. I stepped out of the car. "Well, have
a nice day then," said the taxi driver.

White: Nijboer Black: Nikolic, Fourth round 1. e2-e4 e7-e6 2.
d2-d4 d7-d5 3. Nb1-c3 Bf8-b4 4. e4-e5 c7-c5 5. a2- a3 Bb4xc3+ 6.
b2xc3 Qd8-a5 7. Bc1-d2 Qa5-a4 Nikolic plays this
Nimzowitsch-variation of the French often and in many different
ways. After the sharp 8. Qg4 he probably would have played
8...Kf8. 8. Qd1-b1 c5-c4 9. h2-h4 Nb8-c6 10. h4-h5 h7-h6 11.
Ng1-e2 Ng8-e7 12. Qb1-c1 Bc8- d7 13. g2-g3 0-0-0 14. Bf1-h3
Kc8-b8 15. Bd2-e3 Kb8-a8 16. Qc1-d2 Rd8- c8 17. g3-g4 Nc6-b8
18. Ne2-g3 Rc8-c6 19. 0-0 Rc6-b6 20. f2-f4 g7-g6 21. Kg1-h2
a7-a6 22. Rf1-f2 Nb8-c6 (See Diagram)

Maybe white can strengthen his position in a quiet way, but it is
not easy to see how. What if he would have done absolutely
nothing? Then I will do nothing also and it will be a draw, said
Nikolic afterwards. Doing nothing is something that a human chess
player cannot easily reconcile himself to and so white played the
logical advance: 23. f4-f5 e6xf5 24. g4xf5 Bd7xf5 25. Bh3xf5
Ne7xf5 26. Ng3xf5 g6xf5 27. Rf1xf5 Nc6-d8 28. Be3-f2 He wants
to put the bishop on h4, but the position is more dangerous for
white than he realizes and his last move is wrong. Stronger was 28.
Qg2, with a sharp position with chances for both. 28...Qa4-d7 29.
Qd2-f4 Nd8-e6 Only now white saw that 30. Rxf7 would not be
good for him after 30...Qe8 31. Qf5 (or 31. Qf6 Ng5 32. Qxb6
Qxf7) Ng5 followed by 32...Qxh5+ 30. Qf4-g4 Qd7-a4 31. Qg4-d1
Ne6-g5 The consequence of his unfortunate 28. Bf2: black's knight
gains the wonderful square e4. 32. Bf2-e3 Ng5-e4 33. Rf5xf7
Rb6-b2 34. Ra1-c1 Ne4xc3 35. Qd1-f3 Ka8-a7 36. e5-e6 In severe
time trouble white burns all his bridges behind him, but a passive
defence with 36. Qg2 would also be very unattractive. 36...Rh8-e8
37. Rf7-f8 Re8xe6 38. Qf3-g3 Re6-e8 39. Be3xh6 Rb2xc2+ 40.
Rc1xc2 Qa4xc2+ White resigned.

White: Timman Black: Van der Wiel, Fourth round 1. d2-d4
Ng8-f6 2. c2-c4 e7-e6 3. Ng1-f3 b7-b6 4. g2-g3 Bc8-a6 5. Nb1-d2
Ba6-b7 6. Bf1-g2 c7-c5 7. e2-e4 c5xd4  7...Nxe4 8. Ne5 has been
known to be bad for black since a long time. 8. Nf3xd4 Bf8-c5 9.
Nd4-b3 Bc5-e7 10. 0-0 Qd8-c7 11. Nb3-d4 Nb8-c6 Usually black
opts for a set up with a6, d6 en Nbd7, and indeed that seems much
more flexible. 12. Nd4-b5 Qc7-b8 13. b2-b3 a7-a6 14. Nb5-c3 0-0
15. Bc1- b2 d7-d6 16. Rf1-e1 Ra8-a7 17. Nd2-f1 Bb7-a8 18. a2-a4
Nf6-d7 19. Nf1- e3 Be7-f6 20. Ra1-b1 Rf8-c8 21. Re1-e2 Nd7-c5
22. Re2-d2 Ra7-d7 23. Ne3-g4 Bf6-e7 24. h2-h4 h7-h5 This is a
serious weakening, but allowing white to march on with his
h-pawn would be dangerous too. 25. Ng4-e3 Be7-f6 26. Bb2-a1
Nc6-a7 26...g6 would not be pleasant for black either, but now that
black has put most of his forces in a corner far away from his king,
white can strike hard. 27. Qd1xh5 Bf6xc3 28. Ba1xc3 Nc5xe4 
(See Diagram)
29. Bc3xg7 Kg8xg7 30. Qh5-g4+ Kg7-h8 31. Qg4-h5+ Kh8-g7
32. Qh5-g4+ Kg7-h8 33. Bg2xe4 f7-f5 34. Ne3xf5 Rc8-g8 Also
34...exf5 35. Bxf5 would be good for white. 35. Qg4-f4 Ba8xe4
36. Qf4-h6+ Rd7-h7 37. Qh6-f6+ Rh7-g7 38. Qf6-h6+ Rg7-h7 39.
Qh6-f6+ Rh7-g7 40. Nf5xg7 Rg8xg7 41. Rb1-e1 Be4-f5 42.
Re1xe6 Bf5xe6 43. Qf6-h6+ Kh8-g8 44. Qh6xe6+ Kg8-h7 45.
Rd2xd6 Qb8-c7 46. Rd6xb6 Rg8xg3+ Desperation. Black cannot
realistically hope for a perpetual, but with his unorganized position
and without pawns black had nothing to hope for anyway. 47. f2xg3
Qc7xg3+ 48. Kg1-f1 Qg3-f3+ 49. Kf1-e1 Qf3- c3+ 50. Ke1-e2
Qc3-c2+ 51. Ke2-f3 Qc2-d1+ 52. Kf3-f4 Qd1-f1+ 53. Kf4-e5
Qf1-e1+ 54. Ke5-d6 Black resigned.

In the end Jan Timman and Predrag Nikolic shared first place in
this championship. They will play a four-game match in October to
decide who will be champion of the Netherlands.

This column first appeared in the Dutch newspaper
"NRC-Handelsblad" June 26, 1997. Copyright 1997 Hans Ree, All
Rights Reserved. 