Chess: Sicilian leads to deadly crushing

AN INNOVATION at this year's British Championship in Dundee, is the daily Raymond Mays Best Game Prize, pounds 150 for the best tie in each round. In the fourth round, Michael Hennigan won it for beating Chris Ward with a space-gaining strategy crowned by a nice tactical combination, writes William Hartston.

By a subtle order of moves in the opening, Hennigan arrived at a good version of the closed Sicilian. After 6. c3, Black has a difficult choice. 6 . . . d5 7. exd5 exd5 8. Re1+ Nge7 9. d4 gives White a slight edge, but as the game went, Black was always going to suffer from cramp.

As usual when a player has more space in a generally blocked position, the plan is simply to increase it until the opponent is crushed to death. White's 17. Kh2 is part of a grand squeezing plan: the bishop will be re-deployed from g2 on to the b1-h7 diagonal, g4 will force Black backwards, then h5 will begin to tear his game apart. The point of Kh2 is to be able to play Kh3 to protect h4, and the point of playing it at this stage is to emphasise the massiveness of White's conception and engender a feeling of helplessness.

All the same, Black's game was not too bad until he allowed 21. Nxd5]] With 21 . . . Nxd5 losing to 22. Qxb4 Nxb4 23. Rxd7, Ward played 21 . . . Qxd2, but White still regained his piece with interest. Black hoped to surround the pawn on e7, but never had the chance to take it. For example, after 29 . . . Nxe7 30. Rd7, the threats of Rxb7 and Rf4+ win easily.

After five rounds, Hennigan held the sole lead with 5 out of 5, a point ahead of McNab, Emms, Hodgson, Webster and Ward.

----------------------------------------------------------------- White: Hennigan ----------------------------------------------------------------- Black: Ward ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Nf3 c5 18 Bf1 Qb4 2 g3 g6 19 Bd3 h5 3 Bg2 Bg7 20 Bb1 Nce7 4 0-0 Nc6 21 Nxd5 Qxd2 5 e4 e6 22 Nf6+ Bxf6 6 c3 Nge7 23 Rxd2 Bc6 7 d4 cxd4 24 exf6 Bxf3 8 cxd4 d5 25 fxe7 Rfe8 9 e5 f6 26 Bg5 Kg7 10 Re1 fxe5 27 Be4 Bxe4 11 dxe5 0-0 28 Rxe4 Kf7 12 Bf4 h6 29 Kg2 Rc5 13 h4 Bd7 30 Rd7 Rb5 14 Qd2 Nf5 31 b3 e5 15 Nc3 Qe7 32 Rc4 Nd4 16 Rad1 Kh7 33 Rcc7 Ra5 17 Kh2 Rac8 34 Rd8 1-0 -----------------------------------------------------------------