The Miles Report

by Tony Miles
Dinner Lines
After the slight lack of chess content in my first column, this month I
would like to share with you a particularly beautiful game. Actually,
offhand I cannot remember who won it, or where it was played... I will
have to consult my database. I do remember who lost it though, GM
Ognjen Cvitan.
So, what is it about this game that is significant to me?? Well actually it
is the fact that the score of the game was lying in my car for two years
before it was played! More GM corruption and game fixing??
No, not at all...
The story starts some years ago in a small restaurant in Andorra where
Kevin Spraggett and I were having dinner and exchanging stories and
ideas over a few drinks. At some point Kevin showed me an absolutely
beautiful piece of opening analysis by a Portuguese player - whose
identity I have also forgotten. The lines were so nice that I wrote them
on the back of a business card of the restaurant lest I forget them in an
alcoholic haze.
It was never terribly likely that I would be able to use the idea myself as
the variation was an open Sicilian which is not part of my repertoire, so
the line lay unused in my car. A couple of times I showed it to friends in
need of an idea, but none of them believed that the prospective victim
would really be so accommodating...
Finally in Groningen two years ago Aleks Wohl was paired with white
against Cvitan, who virtually always plays the line in question. Since I
had given Aleks a lift to Groningen it seemed a particularly
appropriate moment to fish the old scoresheet out.
We looked at the line for a while, but eventually Aleks concluded, like
others before him, that Cvitan would never fall into the line. Hence he
tried another idea and beat him anyway. I subsequently
discovered that his assessment was accurate. Cvitan wouldn't have fallen
into it for the very valid reason that he already had two months before!!
So, for your entertainment, the game and analysis...
White: S. Movsesian Black: O. Cvitan
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 Nc6 7.g5 Nd7 8.
Be3 Be7 (See Diagram)
9.h4 ...
For historical completeness I should include the game Wohl-Cvitan,
Groningen 97, which continued 9.Rg1 O-O 10.Qh5 g6 11.Qh4 Nde5
12.Be2 Nd4 13.Bd4 f6 14.f4 fg 15.fg Qa5 16.O-O-O Bd7 17.Qg3 Rad8
18.h4 Nc6 19.Be3 Ne5 20.h5 b5 21.hg hg 22.Rh1 b4 23.Qh4 Kf7 24.Bf4
Ke8 25.Nd5 (See Diagram)
(Always!) 25...ed 26.Rd5 Qa2 27.Be5 de 28.Qh6 Qa1 29.Kd2 Bg5
30.Qg5 Qh1 31.Qg6 Rf7 32.Qg8 Ke7 33.Qg5 Rf6 34.Qg7 Rf7 35.Qe5
Kf8 36.Qd6 Kg8 37.Rg5 Rg7 38.Rg7 Kg7 39.Qe7 Kh6 40. Qd8 Qh3 and
1-0
9...O-O 10.Qh5 a6 11.O-O-O Nd4 12.Bd4 b5 13.Bd3 Ne5 14.f4 Nd3
15.Rd3 Bb7
Up to here everything had been played quite a few times. It would seem
that 15... b4 was the older, and probably better choice, as played, in,
inter alia, Movsesian-Orsag, Czechoslovakia 96. 15...Bb7 was apparently
an improvement (?!) recommended by Hellers (or was it Hector?? I
really must get a new memory...) (See Diagram)
16.Rg1!
The start of the refutation. Previously the timid 16.Re1 had been seen in
Degerman-Cvitan, Vienna 91, and Hector-Vogt, Taastrup 90. 16.Rg1
takes aim at the apparently secure g7 point.
16...b4 17.Nd5!! (See Diagram)
The lovely point. White sacrifices a piece for a tempo.
17...ed 18.Rdg3!!! (See Diagram)
To double on a closed file!! A unique idea. The key is that the g-file will
be blown open by either the crude g6, or the more elegant Qh6. Black is
totally defenceless. Incidentally, the immediate 18.Qh6 fails to 18...gh
19.gh Bg5. But with another rook on the g-file, there is no way out. The
lines are not difficult anymore. My restaurant card notes give 18...g6
19.Qh6 f6 20.gf Rf6 21.Rg6 hg 22.Rg6 Kf7 23.Rg7 as the longest
variation. After that there is a soup stain... It is only the concept of
white's last couple of moves that is so striking. I wonder if the top
computer programmes could find it?? Cvitan now sank into a huge think,
but there is no escape...
18...Qc7 19.Qh6 Qc2
The only way to make space for his king.
20.Kc2 Rfc8 21.Kd2 gh 22.gh Bg5 23.Rg5 Kf8 24.ed Ke7 25.Rf5 Rc4
26.Kd3 Rac8 27.Rg7 1-0
Copyright 1999 Tony Miles. All Rights Reserved.