CHESS

W.J. Baird (1859-1924) was the most prolific chess composer among women, not only in her native England but in the world. She created more than 2,000 problems in her lifetime. Her work "700 Chess Problems," published in 1902, took her 14 years to complete. In one of the problems (White: Kb2,Qf3,Nb3,Nd3; Black: Kc4,Nf6,P:b5,d6), white mates in two moves. (Solution next week.)

In Capablanca's Footsteps

Can Hikaru Nakamura become the world chess champion in the next 10 years? Looking back into history, the answer is: Why not? Only twice in a span of a century has a chess player crossed the Atlantic Ocean, arrived in the Basque city of San Sebastian and won his first major round-robin tournament. In 1911, the 22-year-old Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba finished first in a field of the world's best players. Only the world champion Emanuel Lasker was missing. In 1921 Capablanca defeated Lasker in the world championship match in his native Havana. The U.S. champion Nakamura, 21, won the elite San Sebastian tournament last week. It is up to him to match Capablanca's feat in the next decade.
The San Sebastian tales of Capablanca and Nakamura are full of other remarkable coincidences. Both were the last players invited to the event. (In 1911, Capablanca was admitted over the objection of several players led by Osip Bernstein of Russia. The Cuban redeemed himself early, defeating Bernstein in a sparkling first-round game that was awarded the Rothschild Prize for the tournament's most brilliant game.)
Both Capablanca and Nakamura had a fast start, scoring five points in the first six games. Both ended with only 50 percent in the last week of play. Capablanca was slowed by a high fever, but edged Akiba Rubinstein and Milan Vidmar by half a point in the end. Nakamura was caught in the last round by Ruslan Ponomariov, the winner of the 2001-02 FIDE knockout world championship. They each scored 6½ points in nine games, but Nakamura won the title, smashing the Ukrainian grandmaster, 2-0, in the playoff. Several of the world's top players were missing in this year's tournament, but the event was not easy. For example, the legendary world champion Anatoly Karpov finished last. He did not win a single game, managing only three draws and losing six games. It must be the worst result of his marvelous career.

Ongoing Enigma

Peter Svidler, the five-time champion of Russia, finished third in San Sebastian with 5½ points. His victory against the young French grandmaster Maxime Vachier Lagrave, 19, presents a new challenge in a fashionable line of the Marshall Attack in the Spanish opening. Ever since Frank James Marshall used it against Capablanca in New York in 1918, the Marshall Attack has baffled the best chess minds. The fact that it still survives 90 years later shows the perplexing nature of the variation. Even the most able players were not able to solve the Marshall Attack riddle. The sharp, complex variation ¿ its tactical nuances and fine strategical points ¿ was subject of many books. The latest is a useful repertory work, "Fighting the Ruy Lopez" by Milos Pavlovic, a Serbian grandmaster and former champion of Yugoslavia. It was recently published by Everyman Chess. Although Pavlovic plays the Marshall Attack with his heart, he tries to be objective in his writing. The result is a wonderful book, inspiring many discussions.

Vachier Lagrave-Svidler

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 (The Marshall Attack, one of the few correct gambits.) 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Re4 (The old rook shuffle, first played more than 60 years ago, has been revitalized mainly by Vishy Anand. White threatens 16.Rh4.) 15...g5!? 16.Qf1 (16.Bxg5? Qf5 hits two white pieces at the same time.) 16...Qh5 (Svidler refrains from 16...Qxf1+, a queen exchange that led him to a fighting draw against Anand in San Luis in 1975. Pavlovic believes that black should play 16...Qh6!?, creating a lively play either after 17.Re1 Kh8 18.h4 Nf4! 19.hxg5 Nh3+ 20.Kg2 Qg6 21.f4 h6 22.gxh6 Rg8! with powerful pressure; or after 17.f3 f5! 18.Re2 f4 19.g4 Bxg4! 20.fxg4 f3 21.Rf2 Rae8 with a fierce attack for the piece.) 17.Nd2 f5 (In the game Vachier Lagrave-Kosteniuk, Paris 2008, black tried 17...Bf5 and after 18.f3! Kh8 19.Re1 Nf4 20.Ne4 Bh3 the spectacular queen sacrifice 21.Bxf4 Bxf1 22.Bxd6 was successful after 22...Bc4 23.Be5+ f6 24.Nxf6 Rxf6 25.Bxf6+ Kg8 26.Re5. But black should have played 22...Qxf3! 23.Rxf1 Qxe4 24.Be5+ Kg8 25.Rae1 Qd3! with equal chances.)
18.Re1?! (Vacher Lagrave chooses an inferior move. It remains a mystery what Svidler prepared against Motylev's 18.Bd1!, considered to give black some trouble.) 18...f4 19.Bd1 (One move too late. In the game Sambuev-Khruschiov, Moscow 2006, white tried 19.Ne4, but was overwhelmed by 19...Bh3! 20.Qd3 Rae8 21.Bd2 Bf5 22.c4 Ne3 23.c5+? Kg7 24.Bxe3 Bxe4 25.Bd1 fxg3 26.fxg3 Qh3 and black won.) 19...f3 (An unpleasant thorn in white's position.) 20.Ne4? (Going in the wrong direction. After 20.Nxf3 Rxf3 21.Bxf3 Qxf3 22.Bxg5 Qh5 23.h4 Bg4 white has plenty of pawns, but black dominates the light squares.) 20...Bh3 21.Qd3 Rae8! (Bringing the last piece into action.)
22.Bd2? (A losing move, giving Svidler the opportunity to finish the game with a beautiful two-move combination. Giving up a bishop with 22.Bxg5 was the only way to continue, although after 22...Qxg5 23.Bxf3 Qf5! black is clearly better.) 22...Rxe4!! (Eliminating a useful defender.) 23.Qxe4 (After 23.Rxe4 Bxg3! 24.hxg3 Bg2 black wins.) 23...Bxg3! (Breaking through.) 24.Bxf3 (After 24.fxg3 f2+ 25.Kh1 f1Q+ 26.Rxf1 Rxf1 mates, and after 24.hxg3 Bg2 black wins.) 24...Bxh2+! 25.Kxh2 (It does not help to play 25.Kh1, since after 25¿Rxf3 26.Qe8+ Qxe8 27.Rxe8+ Kf7 28.Rae1 Rxf2 black should win.) 25...Bg4+ 26.Kg1 Bxf3 (Threatening 27...Qh1 mate.) 27.Qe6+ Kg7 28.Qe5+ Rf6 29.Qh2 (After 29.Qxg5+ Rg6 black mates soon.) 29...Rh6 (After 30.Qe5+ Nf6 31.Qe7+ Qf7 white gets mated.) White resigned.