CHESS BY VICTOR STRUGO

In this month’s FIDE list of the top 100 players in the world, the USA leads Russia 13-10, followed by Ukraine, China and India (8 each), Azerbaijan (6), France, Uzbekistan and Spain (4 each). So … has Uncle Sam won the Chess Cold War? Not as such! A further 10 Russians are now playing under the FIDE flag in protest against their country’s ongoing aggression. Last week’s mention of the World Junior Championship brought to mind the two best performances by South African players. In 1992, George Michelakis did his country proud, finishing tied 3rd-8th in a Swiss, behind home-boy winner Zarnicki (Argentina) and Milov (Israel), both of whom soon became GMs while George qualified as an IM. George beat Peter Heine Nielsen (Denmark) who has long been part of Magnus Carlsen’s team of seconds. An awesome result, though Nigel Bloch’s 6th place in the 1973 edition is possibly a tad better, as the old tournaments were more gruelling, consisting of preliminary groups before reaching the Final Group A round-robin alongside future GMs Belyavsky, Miles, Marjanovic, Christiansen and Stean whom he beat with the white pieces, bemusing the Englishman by opening 1 a3!

Nielsen – Michelakis (Buenos Aires 1992): 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 a4 e6 7 Be2 Qc7 8 O-O b6 9 Bg5 Nbd7 10 f4 Be7 11 Kh1 Bb7 12 Bd3 h6 13 Bxf6 Bxf6 14 Nde2 g5 15 f5 Be5 16 Ng1 O-O-O 17 Qh5 Bxc3 18 bxc3 Nc5 19 fxe6 fxe6 20 Rf6 Bxe4 21 Rf7 Rd7 22 Rxd7 Qxd7 23 Bxe4 Nxe4 24 Rf1 Qxa4 25 Qg6 Qc4 26 Rf3 Kb8 27 Qg7 Rc8 28 Rf7 Rc7 29 Rf8+ Rc8 30 Rf7 Qc6 31 Qxh6 e5 32 Qe6 Nc5 33 Qe7 Qc7 34 Qf6 Qd8 35

Qg7 Rc7 36 Rxc7 Qxc7 37 Qxg5 a5 38 h4 a4 39 h5 a3? (39 … Qh7! wins more easily) 40 h6 Qf7 41 Qg7 Qh5+ 42 Nh3 a2 43 Qg8+ Kc7 44 Qxa2 Qxh6 45 Qf7+ Kc6 46 Kh2 Qd2 47 Qe8+ Kb7 48 Qf7+ Ka6 49 Qc4+ b5 50 Qa2+ Kb6 51 c4 e4 52 cxb5 d5 53 Kg3? (53 Qa1! e3 54 Qf6+ Kxb5 55 Nf4 e2 56 Qb2+ would have drawn) … e3 54 Nf4 Qf2+ 55 Kg4 e2 56 Nxe2 Qxe2+ 57 Kh3 Qh5+ 58 Kg3 Ne4+ It’s mate in

4 so White resigned.

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Here Black had just moved … Rb6-g6, hoping to stall the attack enough to deliver mate with his e-Pawn, but ….