Chess

THE NINTH annual World Senior Championships took place from 7 to 20 November at the Haus des Gastes in Gladenbach in Germany, with 192 men and 19 women in the two sections.

While the erstwhile Russian, or rather, Soviet domination of world chess has somewhat diminished in contemporary play, it's not surprising that it still persists among older players and both groups were dominated by ex-Soviets.

In the men's tournament, which included nine grandmasters and six IMs, Janis Klovans from Latvia, victorious two years ago, repeated his feat with a powerful 9/11, ahead of Vladimir Bagirov (also from Latvia), Anatoly Lein (US) and Mark Taimanov (Russia) on 8.5 and a group of seven on 7.5. The English representative, John Littlewood, started splendidly with 5.5/7 but tailed off; he ended 15th equal on 7/11.

Meanwhile Tamar Khmiadashvili from Georgia won the Women's tournament with 9/11, ahead of Tatiana Zatulovskaya (Russia) with 8.5.

This crisp if fairly simple little game was played in round seven. Black lost much too much time in the opening but the "pseudo-sacrifice" starting 13 Nd5! is still pleasing. Not 13 ...Qa7 14 Qxc6 hxg5 15 Qxc8+! Rxc8 16 Rxc8 mate but Black could have had a reasonable game with 18 ...Qb5!

White: Werner Reichenbach

Black: Hartmut Badenstein

The Four Nations Chess League 4NCL held its second session at the weekend. After four matches, Slough lead with 8/8 match points and 24 game points, ahead of Wood Green 7 (21.5) and IKHH 7 (18.5) - more news tomorrow.

1 e4 c5

2 Nf3 Nc6

3 Bb5 d6

4 0-0 e5

5 c3 a6

6 Bxc6+ bxc6

7 d4 cxd4

8 cxd4 Qc7

9 Nc3 Rb8

10 Qa4 Nf6

11 Bg5 Nd7

12 Rac1 h6

13 Nd5! Qb7

14 Rxc6 hxg5

15 Rfc1 Be7

16 Rc7 Qxb2

17 Rxc8+ Bd8

18 R8c2 Qb7?

19 dxe5 g4

20 Nd4 dxe5

21 Nc6 Rc8

22 Nxd8 Rxc2

23 Qxc2 Kxd8

24 Rb1 Qc8

25 Qd2 Rh6

26 Qg5+ 1-0