The Miles Report

by Tony Miles
BS?
For many years now the Botvinnik System of the Semi-Slav (1 d4
Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 c6 5 Bg5 dc 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 Bh4 g5
9 Nxg5, etc.) Has enjoyed popularity, having the reputation of
being an excellent way to fight for the full point with Black.
It almost developed a cult-following with small groups of very
strong Russians disappearing for intimate weekends exploring its
latest intricacies. Remarkably, despite more than half a century of
analysis, its secrets were still being discovered.
Lately though, under the intense scrutiny of Kasparov, Kramnik
and their teams of analysts and computers, White has started to get
the upper hand, as tends to happen with the sharpest black opening
choices.
Consequently, a few years ago, players of the black pieces began to
experiment with 5...h6. Ancient wisdom had it that after 6 Bxf6
Qxf6 the loss of time suffered by the black Queen was more
significant than the bishop pair. However, gradually practice began
to suggest that the opposite was true as experienced black
practitioners repeatedly fended off the temporary white initiative
and began to exploit the prelate pair.
This in turn brought attention to 6 Bh4, an old line adopted several
times by Boris Spassky a third of a century ago. Then, though, it
was considered to be unsound, with its success only attributed to
Spassky's tactical talent in many positions. Even Kasparov's
adoption of it (v. Tal at the Moscow Interzonal in 1982) failed to
change its public image.
But suddenly in the last year or so, so much attention has been
focused on it that it has virtually become the main line.
Regular readers of this column will be aware that I do not generally
claim great theoretical erudition, but when games like the
following Belyavsky-Sveshnikov encounter (it's odd how the
letters B and S seem to recur in this variation) happen to land on
the board next to me, it is difficult not to pick something up.
White: A. Belyavsky Black: E. Sveshnikov, Nova Gorica 2000
(Round 9)
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Nf3 e6 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bh4
Big Al called his best games collection "Uncompromising Chess"
and true to character, he heads straight into the latest theoretical
melee. The danger inherent in this approach is that one can be a
sitting target for a big TN.
I well remember the game Miles-Belyavsky from Tilburg 1985,
probably because it is the last time I did any decent opening
preparation - when a huge novelty sank him without trace.
6...dc 7 e4 g5 8 Bg3 b5 9 Be2 Nh5! (See Diagram)
An unusual choice. Being a diligent researcher, I consulted my
database to discover that it had been used once before and with
success in quite an interesting game (more on that later). I duly
asked the database who had played the game. It insisted that there
had been no such game! I repeated the process several times with
the same result. Clearly highly classified information.
Normally Black attends to the queenside first, with ...Bb7, ...Nbd7
and ...a6, but Sveshnikov has something quite different in mind.
10 Be5
Clearly White does not want to give up the Bishop cheaply.
10...Rg8
11 Probably this is the critical position. Belyavsky goes for the
materialistic option, but it doesn't feel right. Future games may
well diverge here!
11 Bxb8 Rxb8 12 Ne5 Nf4 13 Nxc6 Qb6 14 Nxb8 Nxg2+ 15 Kf1
Nf4 (See Diagram)
The N on b8 is dead and Black has excellent piece activity for the
Exchange. It is worth noting that White's greed has succeeded in
trading his two most active minor pieces for Black's two least
useful pieces. Also the clock times were now roughly White: 1.15;
Black 0.15.
16 a4
An understandable reaction, trying to open the queenside.
16...b4
But where can the Knight go?
17 Bxc4 bc 18 Bb5+ Ke7 19 Nc6+ Kf6 (See Diagram)
By now Belyavsky was in time trouble. His opponent was still in
his opening preparation. The curious thing, though, is that the
mystery game in my database also reached this position! Belyavsky
thought for a fair bit of his remaining time and chose...
20 bc a6
...and Black won two pieces for a rook, and in due course, the
game. Unfortunately, this was played in the last round, and, not
uncommonly, the last round bulletin did not appear. Sadly I was
distracted by my own game and do not recall the finish.
However, I do have the finish of the mystery game:
White decided to hang on to the Exchange with 20 Ne5 cb 21 Rb1
ab 22 Bc4 Ba3 23 h4 Rd8
...but the pressure against d4 was decisive. He wriggled a bit, but to
no avail...
24 hg hg 25 Bd5 Kg7
Not 25...ed 26 Rh6+.
26 Nc4 Qb4 27 Qg4 Rxd5 28 Nxa3 Qxa3 29 Qg3 Qa1 0-1
Research reveals that this game was Oll v. Liiva from the 1998
Estonian Team Championship. Given the strength of the player of
the white pieces, it is curious that the game was not more widely
known.