Chess

The most cheerful event this month has been the "Polka" Veterans vs Women tournament in Prague. This annual event pits the world's top women against giants of the past. This time the women's side, with Xie Jun, Nana Joseliani, Pia Cramling and Judit and Zsuzsa Polgar, could hardly have been stronger, and they scored a convincing 20-15 victory, over a men's team of Boris Spassky, Vassily Smyslov, Viktor Korchnoi, Lajos Portisch and Vlastimil Hort.

One of the best games of the event, however, was won by a 74-year-old who's still full original ideas:

White: Smyslov Black: Joseliani

Scotch Game

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.0-0 Qg6 9.Nd2 Ne5 10.Nf5!

A clever idea. 10...Bxe3?? loses the queen to Nxe7+, while 10...Nxc4 11.Bxc5 also sheds material.

10...Nxf5 11.exf5 Qc6 12.Bxc5 Qxc5 13.Bb3 d5 14.Re1 Nd7 15.Qf3 Nf6 16.g4 Bd7 17.Bc2

White's 16.g4! showed the true strategic idea behind his 10.Nf5 - the pawn on f5 is to form the basis of a K-side attack. Now the threat of g5 (which could have been met by a promising Ne4 pawn sacrifice last move) forces serious concessions.

17...g5 18.h4 h6 19.hxg5 hxg5 20.Qg3 Qd6

Otherwise Nf3 is hard to meet, but now the pawns become weak.

21.Qxd6 cxd6 22.f3 a5 23.Nb3 b5 24.Nd4 b4 25.cxb4 axb4 26.Bd3 Rfc8 27.Kf2 Rc5 28.b3 Bc8 29.Nc2 Rb8 30.Re2 Rc3 31.Rd1 Kg7 32.Nd4 Nd7 33.Re8 Ra8 34.Rd2 Ne5 35.Be2 Nc6 36.Nb5 d4 37.Nxd6 Bb7 38.Rxa8 Bxa8 39.Nb5 Rc1 40.Nxd4 Ne5 41.Rc2 Ra1 42.Rc5 Kf6 43.Ra5 Bb7 44.Ra4 Bd5 45.Ra6+ Ke7 46.Nc2 Rh1 47.Nxb4 Rh2+ 48.Ke3 resigns.