BARDEN’S CHESS PROBLEMS

“It looks impossible to lose such a position,” wrote a commentator about this diagram from Boris Gelfand v Evgeny Sveshnikov, European Team Cup, 1995.

Gelfand later challenged for the world title and is regarded as one of the most solid and reliable grandmasters on the international circuit. Here, he has level material and a promising passed pawn, so on his last turn, he decided to push it by c4-c5. This natural advance turned out to be a decisive mistake. Queen-rook positions on an open board are like the late stages of a soccer match where the home team overpresses for a winning goal and leaves itself vulnerable at the back. How did Black (to play) score quickly with an imaginative counter?

(Answer on page 64)