Games: Chess

There were some terrific scraps in the early rounds of the world championship, as the knock-out format forced players to play for wins at all cost. I particularly enjoyed the following game in which both players went for each other's throats for the entire game. Just as Black got within range, however, he lost his way and was garrotted himself.

White met his opponent's Dutch Defence in recommended fashion, taking a firm grip on the black squares, kicking the visiting knight out of e4 with f3, then pushing forward in the centre with e4. Meanwhile, however, Black's K-side attack was growing in force, and when the black rooks doubled on the g-file, White was in mortal danger.

After 31...Qh3, White's 32.Rxc7 looked almost desperate, but left Black a tricky choice. He can win the queen with 32...Rg2 33.Rc2 (33.Qe3 Rxh2+! or 33.Qf1 Rg1+ lead to mate) 33...Rxf2 34.Rxf2, but instead took the rook, planning to return to g7 later. He may have missed 33.Bg3! and 34.Bh4! giving White just the time needed for his counterattack.

41.Qd7! was a nice winning move: 41...Rxd7 42.Rg8 is mate.

White: Zurab Azmaiparashvili

Black: Mikhail Krasenkov

1 d4 d5 22 Bxf4 Qh5

2 c4 e6 23 Qf2 Ba5

3 Nf3 c6 24 Rab1 b6

4 Qc2 Nf6 25 cxd5 cxd5

5 e3 Ne4 26 Rfc1 bxc5

6 Nc3 f5 27 Bb5 Bxb5

7 Ne5 Nbd7 28 Rxb5 Bc7

8 Nd3 Bd6 29 Rb7 Rg7

9 Nf4 Ndf6 30 dxc5 Rag8

10 f3 Nxc3 31 Rxa7 Qh3d

11 bxc3 0-0 32 Rxc7 Rxc7

12 Bd3 Kh8 33 Bg3 Rcg7

13 0-0 Bd7 34 Bh4 Rg6

14 c5 Bc7 35 Bf6+ Rxf6

15 c4 g5 36 exf6 Qh6

16 Ne2 g4 37 Qb2 d4

17 Nf4 Rg8 38 f7 Rd8

18 Kh1 Qe8 39 Rg1 Qf6

19 e4 gxf3 40 Qb7 d3

20 gxf3 Nh5 41 Qd7 h6

21 e5 Nxf4 42 Qe8+ resigns