Chess

In this classic position, Jan Timman destroyed Nigel Short’s hopes for a piece of first place at Tilburg. White to move and win.

In a power-packed field at Tilburg in the Netherlands, young American star Gata Kamsky not only acquitted himself well but tied for first in one of the year’s most prestigious tournaments.

Kamsky led the field for most of the event but Yasser Seirawan held him to a 58-move draw in the final round of the double round-robin, allowing Soviets Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand to tie with Kamsky with eight points for overall honors. Yasser had a relatively indifferent tournament, finishing with 4.5 points.

Other stars were Nigel Short, England; Predrag Nikolic, Yugoslavia; Jan Timman, the Netherlands; and Ulf Anderssen, Sweden.

Kamsky, only 15, is seen by many as a world championship possibility for the future. Current champion Gary Kasparov disagrees with this assessment. He thinks his next challenger will be youn Gelfand of the Soviet Union. The two young paladins met in round one, and Kamsky lost no time in asserting his claim on the future.

Kamsky — Gelfand: 1.e4 c5, 2.Nf3 d6, 3.d4 cxd4, 4.Nxd4 Nf6, 5.Nc3 a6, 6.g3 e5, 7.Nde2 Be7, 8.Bg2 b5, 9.0-0 Nbd7, 10.h3 Bb7, 11.g4 b4, 12.Nd5 Nxd5, 13.exd5 a5, 14.Ng3 g6, 15.Bh6 Bg5, 16.Ne4 Bxh6, 17.Nxd6+ Kf8, 18.Nxb7 Qb6, 19.d6 Bf4, 20.c4 Rb8, 21.Qd5 Nf6, 22.Qf3 g5, 23.c5 Qa6, 24.Rfe1 h5, 25.gxh5 Rxh5, 26.Qe2 Qa7, 27.d7 e4, 28.Bxe4 Rxh3, 29.Bg2 Rh2, 30.d8Q+ Rxd8, 31.Qe7+ Kg7, 32.Nxd8 and Black resigned.

Kamsky — Nikolic: 1.e4 d6, 2.d4 Nf6, 3.Bd3 e5, 4.c3 Nc6, 5.Nf3 Be7, 6.0-0 0-0, 7.d5 Nb8, 8.c4 Bg4, 9.Nc3 Ne8, 10.a3 a5, 11.Rb1 Bxf3, 12.Qxf3 Bg5, 13.b4 Bxc1, 14.Rfxc1 Nd7, 15.Qe3 Nef6, 16.h3 Qe7, 17.Be2 g6, 18.Bd1 Rfc8, 19.Na4 axb4, 20.axb4 c5, 21.bxc5 Nxc5, 22.Nb6 Nfxe4, 23.Nxc8 Rxc8, 24.Bf3 Ng5, 25.Bd1 f5, 26.f4 Nf7, 27.Bc2 Qf6, 28.Re1 Rf8, 29.Rb6 exf4, 30.Qxc5 and Black resigned.

Solution: 1.Qc4+ Kh8, 2.Nf7+ Kg8, 3.Nh6+ Kh8, 4.Qg8+ Rxg8, 5.Nf7 mate.