Chess: Quarter-finals in miniature

THE second round of the PCA/Intel World Championship quarter-finals saw both English players in entertaining miniatures.

Starting with the bad news: Nigel Short lost to Boris Gulko. His troubles began with 15 . . . Nc5. He may have intended to meet 16. Nxe5] with Nb3, then changed his mind over the assessment of 17. Nxa4 Nxa1 18. Nxb6 cxb6 19. Qxa1. As the game went, White's rook on d8 created a most unpleasant bind.

Short's f6, Kf7 and Ke7 was a three-move plan with a blunder at the end. After spending all that time just to play Nc4 without allowing Bd5+, he met with 24. R8d5] After 24 . . . Rxd5 25. Nxd5+ White wins the knight. Note that 24 . . . Nd7 would also have lost a knight to R1xd7+.

----------------------------------------------------------------- White: Gulko ----------------------------------------------------------------- Black: Short ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1 c4 e5 13 Nd2 a4 2 Nc3 Nf6 14 e3 Ne6 3 Nf3 Nc6 15 Nf3 Nc5 4 g3 d5 16 Nxe5 Rxe5 5 cxd5 Nxd5 17 d4 Rg5 6 Bg2 Nb6 18 dxc5 Qxd1 7 0-0 Be7 19 Raxd1 Rxc5 8 a3 0-0 20 Rd8 f6 9 b4 Re8 21 Rfd1 Kf7 10 d3 Bf8 22 R1d4 Ke7 11 Bb2 a5 23 h4 Nc4 12 b5 Nd4 24 R8d5 1-0 -----------------------------------------------------------------

Then came the good news, as Michael Adams took only one move more to score his second win against Sergei Tiviakov. The Russian's 9 . . . b5 looked fishy, although it has been played before. Adams greeted it with a brave and well-prepared piece sacrifice.

With Black's bishop unable to return to d7, he had no alternative but to castle into the storm of White's pawns. 12. b4] was the key move of Adams' preparation, getting on with the job of opening lines. As Black struggled to develop his K-side pieces, White pushed on.

The end was neat. After 24. Qb5, White threatens Qa6+ followed by Rab1+. Black's Rde8 is in desperation, to let the king escape to d8, but even that square is taken away by Adams' reply. After 25 . . . Nxb6 26. axb6 Qb8 27. Qa6+ or 25 . . . Qe7 26. Qa6+ Kb8 27. Rab1, it is all over.

/ET

White: Adams

Black: Tiviakov

1 e4 c5 14 Qa4 c4

2 Nf3 d6 15 d5 Nf6

3 Bb5+ Nc6 16 Be3 Nfd7

4 0-0 Bg4 17 Bc6 e6

5 h3 Bh5 18 b5 exd5

6 c3 Qb6 19 exd5 Nb6

7 Na3 a6 20 Qb4 Be7

8 Ba4 Qc7 21 a4 Bf6

9 d4 b5 22 a5 Nxc6

10 Nxb5 axb5 23 bxc6 Nxd5

11 Bxb5 0-0-0 24 Qb5 Rde8

12 b4 Bxf3 25 Bb6 1-0

13 gxf3 Nb8

/ET

In the third round, Short equalised in fine style against Gulko, while Adams lost, to have his lead cut to 2-1.