Chess: Adams' fine ploy places him back in contention
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Your support makes all the difference.MICHAEL ADAMS, England's highest-ranked grandmaster since Nigel Short parted company with FIDE, came back into contention in the Interzonal tournament with good wins in the fifth and sixth rounds.
The second of these was against the American grandmaster Dmitri Gurevich, who must not be confused with the former world junior champion, Ilya Gurevich, also of the United States, or with Mikhail Gurevich, of Belgium. All three Gurevichs are currently playing in the Interzonal, which must set some sort of a record.
Dmitri's error against Adams was to fall into an automatic mode of thinking when playing what appeared to be a forcing move. Adams played the opening in typically aggressive style (he has won all three of his games with the black pieces so far in this tournament) with 5 . . . Nc6 and 6 . . . Rb8]? a clumsy-looking but effective way to give White problems regaining his pawn. The conventional Qa4 can always be met by b5]
When Gurevich continued with Bg5, e3 and Nfd2, his whole play was based on the apparently reasonable assumption that after 11. d5, the attacked knight would have to go away. Instead, Adams's 11 . . . e4]] refuted the whole set-up.
After 12. dxc6 Bxb2 Black would win a rook for the sacrificed knight, and 12. Nxc4 b5] repeated the idea. When Black's rook came bounding down the file to snatch the b-pawn, it made his 6 . . . Rb8 look a very fine idea indeed.
The best White could do was reach a position in which Black's bishop pair and passed c-pawn constituted a winning advantage. Adams rounded it off neatly, giving up queen for rook to force his pawn through to queen.
White: D Gurevich
Black: M Adams
1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6
3 g3 d5
4 Bg2 dxc4
5 Nf3 Nc6
6 0-0 Rb8
7 Bg5 Be7
8 e3 0-0
9 Nfd2 e5
10 Bxf6 Bxf6
11 d5 e4
12 Nxc4 b5
13 Nc3 bxc4
14 dxc6 Rxb2
15 Qc1 Rb8
16 Bxe4 Qe7
17 Bg2 Qe5
18 Rb1 Rxb1
19 Nxb1 Be6
20 Nd2 c3
21 Ne4 Bf5
22 f4 Qa5
23 Rd1 Rb8
24 h4 Qa4
25 Nc5 Qxd1+
26 Qxd1 c2
27 Qd2 Rb1+
White resigns
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