Games: Chess

Ireland's very own former Soviet grandmaster Alexander Baburin has been making high scores in open tournaments on both sides of the Irish Sea and further afield. He has the excellent technique that all Russians seem to have ingrained in them at an early age, together with a well-practised opening repertoire

(he is one of the world's few grandmasters who still seems able to get away with playing Alekhine's Defence as his main reply to 1.e4), but also brings considerable verve and imagination to his games.

I particularly enjoyed the following win from the recent tournament at Mermaid beach, Bermuda. When Black played the positionally dubious idea of 16...e4?! and 17...g5?! he clearly expected the tactics to work in his favour, but Baburin found just the right way to prove that Black was creating too many weaknesses in his K-side.

White's 21.Ng3 is a marvellously confident and imaginative idea, giving up the exchange to establish the knight on f5. After 23.Nf5, Black has almost run out of moves. The threat is 24.d5 Rg6 25.Ne7+.

Lesiege could find nothing better than giving up his queen for two rooks, but his weaknesses remained. At the end the threat is 30.Qe7, and 29...Nf8 30.Qe5 Nh7 31.c5 is not even worth contemplating.

White: A Baburin

Black: A Lesiege

Nimzo-Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 16 Rac1 e4

2 c4 e6 17 fxe4 g5

3 Nc3 Bb4 18 Bg3 Nxe4

4 Qc2 0-0 19 Bxe4 Bxe4

5 a3 Bxc3+ 20 Bxd6 Bxg2

6 Qxc3 b6 21 Ng3 Bxf1

7 Bg5 Bb7 22 Rxf1 Re6

8 e3 d6 23 Nf5 Kh8

9 f3 Nbd7 24 d5+ Qf6

10 Bd3 h6 25 Nd4 Rxd6

11 Bh4 c5 26 Rxf6 Rxf6

12 Nge2 Rc8 27 Nf5 Kh7

13 b4 cxd4 28 Qc2 Kh8

14 exd4 Re8 29 Qe4 resigns

15 0-0 e5