Chess

Two queens are normally better than one, but as today's game shows, on a busy board they can get in each other's way. Played in the first round of the Cannes Open tournament a couple of weeks ago, it provides a fine example of the art of playing positions where the tactics are incalculable.

The trick, as Matthew Sadler shows, is to trust your intuition and keep setting your opponent problems until something turns up. What turned up on this occasion was mate with a pawn.

The opening was an old line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted, with Black playing 3...a6 instead of the usual Nf6. The main idea is not so much to hang on to the gambit pawn with b5 as to cut out the options of 4.Qa4+ or 4.Nc3 which can be tricky against 3...Nf6. With 4.e4 instead of the more cautious 4.e3, White challenges the validity of the concept.

7.Bxc4! is a piece sacrifice first played by Alekhine. After 7...bxc3 8.Qb3 Qc8 9.Bxf7+ Black is in deep trouble. Sadler declined the piece and insisted on keeping his extra pawn. Pedersen gave up another pawn to push the black pieces around further, but Sadler changed the complexion of the game with 19...Rxa6! and 20...Bb5 trapping White's king in the centre.

White had relied on 27.Bd4 to save himself, but even with an extra queen, he could find no way to hold his game together. After the remarkably cool 30...c6! White began to crack the the second quiet move, 31...Bf8, seemed too much for him. Just as White developed threats of his own he was mated. A crazy game.

White: S. Pedersen

Black: M. Sadler

1 d4 d5 19 Bf2 Rxa6

2 c4 dxc4 20 Nxa6 Bb5

3 Nf3 a6 21 Nc5 0-0

4 e4 b5 22 a6 Qg5

5 a4 Bb7 23 a7 Ra8

6 Nc3 b4 24 Ra5 Ne3

7 Bxc4 e6 25 Qe4 Nxg2+

8 Qb3 Nc6 26 Kd1 Rd8+

9 a5 Nxd4 27 Bd4 Bxd4

10 Nxd4 Qxd4 28 a8(Q) Bxc5+

11 Be3 Qd7 29 Kc2 Qd2+

12 f3 Bd6 30 Kb3 c6

13 Na4 Qe7 31 Rha1 Bf8

14 e5 Bxe5 32 Qxd8 Qxd8

15 Nc5 Bc8 33 Ra8 Qd2

16 Qa4+ Bd7 34 Rb8 Nf4

17 Qc2 Nf6 35 Raa8 Qd1+

18 Bxa6 Nd5 36 Ka2 b3 mate

William Hartston