4NCL - The Four Nations League - www.4ncl.co.uk/pre2010

Daily Telegraph

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This article is used on the 4NCL web site with permission.

Vishy Anand has won one of the strongest blitz tournaments of all time held after the Tal Memorial at Moscow. Anand scored 23/34 ahead of Levon Aronian on 21/34. The tournament was an eighteen player double round all play all. Anand did not lose a single double round match making a minimum of 1/2 against all his opponents but only scoring 2/2 against the back marker Baadur Jobava.

Anatoly Karpov took part and intriguingly scored 17.5/34, the same number of points as the prodigy Magnus Carlsen. Garry Kasparov, who has retired, declined his invitation and Vladimir Kramnik is preparing for his match against Deep Fritz which begins next week. Eleven of the world’s top 20 competed and the lowest rated player was Baadur ranked 55th.

Peter Svidler and Teimour Radjabov finished equal third.

Unfortunately the organisers did not employ the new technology that was developed in Israel for the World Blitz Championship and so we may never see most of the games, a few were captured on video and hopefully will appear soon.

Instead another clean finish from Tal who overpowers his opponent after conjuring tactics from a seemingly level position.

M Tal – A Bannik
30th USSR Ch Yerevan 1962
Ruy Lopez

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 d6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.d4 exd4 9.Qxd4 0–0 10.Nc3 c5 11.Qd3 Bb7 12.Bf4 Nh5 13.Be3 Bf6 14.Nd5! (Tal sacrifices a pawn to exploit the loose position of the Nh5 and by harrying the bishop on f6 he manages to create lots of tactical opportunities) 14...Bxb2 15.Rab1 Bxd5 16.exd5 Rb8 17.c3! (Qxa6 was possible but this is much better) 17...Qf6 (Trying to extricate the bishop but Tal uncorks a fabulous combination that wins by force if 17...Rb6 18.Re2 Ba3 19.Rb3 forces 19...c4 20.Qxc4 Bc5 21.Rxb6 Bxb6 22.Qxa6 with a big advantage) 18.Qe2!! Bxc3 (18...Qxc3 19.Bc1! Bxc1 20.Rxb8 Rxb8 21.Qe8+ Rxe8 22.Rxe8 mate) 19.Rxb8 Rxb8 20.Bg5! Bxe1 (20...Qg6 21.Qe8+ Rxe8 22.Rxe8 mate) 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Qxe1 Nxd5 23.g3 (Frees the queen from back rank duties) 23...h6 24.Qe4 Nf6 25.Qc6 Rb1+ 26.Kg2 Rb2 27.Qxc7 Rxa2? 28.Qb8+ 1-0 in view of 28.Qb8+ Kh7 29.Qb1+

Bannik

board

Tal

Position after 28.Qb8+ and now Kh7 29.Qb1+ wins the rook.

Stephen Gordon fine form continued in the 4NCL we have already seen his victory with Black over Stuart Conquest. In the fourth round he won convincingly with white over an old rival from junior chess days Thomas Rendle.

S Gordon – T Rendle
4NCL Div1 Coventry (4.2)
Slough Sh.1 – 3Cs 1
Classical Dutch

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.0–0 d6 7.b4 Ne4 8.Qc2 Nd7 9.Bb2 a5?! 10.b5 a4 11.a3 Qe8 12.Nc3 Nxc3 13.Bxc3 Qh5 14.Bb4 Nf6 15.Rfd1 g5 16.Nd2! Rf7 17.Nf1 f4 18.c5 d5 (18...Nd5 19.b6!?) 19.c6 Bd8 (19...b6 20.Bxe7 Rxe7 21.Rab1) 20.Bf3 Qh3 (20...g4 21.Bh1) 21.Rac1 bxc6 22.Qxc6 Rb8 23.b6! cxb6 (23...Rxb6 24.Qa8 e5 25.dxe5 Ra6 26.Qb8 Rb6 27.Qa7 c5 28.Qxa4 cxb4 29.exf6 Bxf6 30.axb4 with advantage but not 25.g4 e4! 26.Qxc8 exf3 27.Qxd8+ Kg7 28.exf3 Qxf3 29.Nd2 Qh3! 30.f3 Nxg4!) 24.Qd6! Nd7 25.Qxb8! Nxb8 26.Rxc8 Nc6 27.Rxc6 1–0