CHESS
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Your support makes all the difference.MR BOBBY Fischer has recently lamented the modern tendency to study "opening theory". Learning openings, he wisely points out, may damage the eyesight, as is evidenced by the number of promising young players who wear thick glasses. Fischer's proposed remedy is to randomise the order of the men on the back rank in order to render all theory obsolete at a stroke. Today's game is another powerful argument against too much theory.
White: F Ramos Suria
Black: J Amil
Spanish team Championship 1996
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 b5
If studying theory causes myopia, this Polugayevsky variation must be an optician's delight. It appeals to the "Blue Peter" school of players who, far from revelling in the joy of creative thought during the opening, like to present opponents with ones they made earlier.
8.e5 dxe5 9.fxe5 Qc7! 10.exf6 Qe5+
This is the point of the Polugayevsky. Black regains his pieces, yet with only his queen in play, the whole thing is clearly a most hazardous undertaking.
11.Be2 Qxg5 12.0-0 Qe5 13.Kh1 Ra7
The none-too-subtle threat of Rd7 now forces White's hand, yet I cannot help feeling that 13...gxf6 must be better.
14.fxg7 Bxg7 15.Nf3 Qc7 16.Ne4 0-0
Black has castled, supposedly out of trouble, yet his problems are only just beginning.
17.Nfg5! f5 (see diagram) 18.Bd3!
Clearing the path for the heavy artillery. Getting the queen to h5 is more important than saving the life of the cavalry on e4.
18...h6 19.Qh5! hxg5
After 19...fxe4, White had prepared 20.Qg6! hxg5 21.Bxe4 with an irresistible threat of mate on h7.
20.Nxg5 Rd8?
A better chance of resistance was offered by 20...Rf6 21.Qe8+ Bf8.
21.Qh7+ Kf8 22.Bxf5!
With this, the last barricades of Black's defences are broken down.
22...exf5 23.Rxf5+! Bxf5 24.Qxf5+ Ke8
24...Kg8 25.Qh7+ Kf8 26.Rf1+ Ke8 27.Qg6+ would have been no better.
25.Re1+ Qe7 26.Qf7+! resigns.
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