Blast from the Past - Sexy Chess at Corus

Using a Come-Hither Line To Seduce and Ruin a Foe By ROBERT BYRNE Published: February 18, 2001 An effective strategy, when it works, is to feign weakness and lure the opponent to his destruction. This requires that you resuscitate a line of play long thought to be incorrect. Your judgment must be right. You must be equally right that you have circumvented the bugs that everyone is sure it has. Many a project of this type fails when the opponent produces a new refutation. You are then usually dead. In a hurry. You must be skilled at creating complex tactics that give the impression you have forgotten the analysis and are floundering. The Russian grandmaster Aleksandr Morozevich met all the requirements in his game with the Dutch grandmaster Loek Van Wely in Round 3 of the Corus International Tournament in Wijk-aan-Zee, the Netherlands. A fine performance of this type. In the Slav Defense's main line, the early thrust in the center with 5 . . . c5 is rare. That's because it has an abominable reputation. Smyslov used it against Boleslavsky in Budapest 1950, but after 6 e4 cd 7 Qd4 Qd4 8 Nd4 e6 9 Ndb5 Na6 10 Bc4 Bc5 11 Bf4 Ke7 12 O-O Bd7 13 e5 Nh5 14 Be3, he had the worst of it. A Wulfson-Alatortsev game in Kuibyshev 1942 went badly for Black after 9 . . . Be4 10 Nc3 Qd1 11 Kd1 Bg6 12 Nd5 Nd5 13 Bd5 Nc6 14 Bc6 bc 15 Ne5 Be4 16 f3 f6 17 Nc4 Bd3 18 b3 O-O-O 19 Bd2 Be7 20 Nb2. Because of the weak doubled c pawns, Alatortsev lost the endgame. After 10 Qb3, Morozevich stoutly played 10 . . . Qd7, but then it might have been smarter for Van Wely to play 11 Bd2, when 11 . . . Ne4 12 Rd2 Bd6 would, however, present no way to refute the black defense. The hot-blooded Van Wely, as might be expected, could not resist the challenge he presented with 11 Nf6 gf. Van Wely had to use a tempo with 12 Bd2 to take care of the threat of 12 . . . Na5. Then, after 12 . . . Rg8, he did not want to play 13 O-O because of 13 . . . Be4 14 Ne1 Bg2 15 Ng2 Rg2 16 Kg2 Qg4 17 Kh1 Qf3 with a perpetual check draw. After his presumptious 13 Bc3, however, Morozevich hit the throttle with an adventurous gambit, 13 . . . O-O-O!? Van Wely, stubbornly out to prove a superiority for White, took him up on it with 14 Bf7. Perhaps Van Wely thought that 14 . . . Rg2! was unplayable, overlooking that 15 Nh4 was to be hit by 15 . . . Ne5!, the first point of which was that 16 Ng2 (16 Be5? is an invitation to mate following 16 . . . Qd2) would have been mauled by 16 . . . Nf3 17 Ke2 Bd3 18 Kf3 Qh3 19 Kf4 Bh6mate. After 16 . . . Nd3, Van Wely could have chosen defense by 17 Kd1, but 17 . . . Kb8! 18 Qe6 (18 Be6 Qc6 sets up winning threats of 19 . . . Nf2 or 19 . . . Qf3 or 19 . . . c4) Nf2 19 Ke1 Nh1 20 Qd7 Rd7 21 Be6 Rc7 would have won for Morozevich. Defense by 19 e4 is crushed by 19 . . . c4! 20 Qc4 Rf5 21 ef Qf5 22 Qh4 Bc5 23 Kg2 Nf4 24 Kf1 (or 24 Kg3 Rd3mate) Qd3 25 Ke1 Qe2mate. And 19 Ng3 is crushed by 19 . . . Qc6 20 e4 c4! 21 Qb5 Bc5 22 Qc6 bc 23 Bc4 Nf4 24 h4 (or 24 Bf1 Re2 25 Bd4 Bd4mate) Rb2 25 Kf1 Rf2 26 Kg1 Rc2 27 Kf1 Rc3 28 Ne2 Rf3 29 Ke1 Ng2mate. So Van Wely gave back the piece with 19 Qe6 Rf5. After 20 h4 Bd6 21 Rf1 Rg8!, Van Wely, staring at 22 Bg8 Qg7mate, gave up.