By Karel van der Weide

Curaçao ... Mentioning this island will bring chess players memories of the famous interzonal which took place in 1962. Some time ago, Jan Timman published a book about this tournament. The pictures indicate Fischer, Petrosian, Geller, Keres, Tal, Filip, Benkö and Korchnoi having the time of their lives; sun, sea and coconut-trees. But it was also the event where Tal was hospitalized and rumors of the drawing pact between Petrosian, Geller, and Keres buzzed.

So this was the place where I was going to participate in an open tournament some fifty years later. In the mean time, the situation on the island, a former Dutch colony, had changed. Shell had sucked out all the oil in the surroundings, leaving the population in poverty. They now depended on tourism and drug-traffic. This didn't make me very keen to travel to Curaçao. Moreover, I had met this girl that I wanted to spent all my time with. But the agreement with the organization had already been made, and all I could hope for was a miracle: a coupe against the local government, the bankruptcy of the air-companies, something like that.

It didn't happen, and so I found myself a prisoner in my own hotel. The local inhabitants just hate the Dutch and they are an obvious target for robbery. You travel from one safe haven to another, quickly passing the no-go areas. But staying in the notorious Van der Valk hotel wasn't a picknick either -- the furniture was gathered on lumbermarkets, the bath only suitable for midgets, the toilet flooded constantly and the beds gave you a hernia. The hotel, whose concrete was crumbling away, was deteriorating before our very eyes. Besides, it was the only hotel in the world insured against collision with a tank steamer...(!!??).

Anyway, I tried to make the best of it and prepared for my opponents as well as I could. It was a challenge to play Alexander Shabalov in the third round.

Shabalov-van der Weide
Willemstad 2003
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 Bd7

The most popular alternative to the normal Rauzer, which starts with 6...e6.

7.Qd2 Rc8

8.f4!?

Shaba's choice wasn't a surprise as it is the sharpest approach against the system with 6...Bd7. In a lot of games 8.0-0-0 is seen, but this seems to promise Black sufficient counterplay: 8...Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Qa5 10.f4 Rxc3! (Here, 10...e6 11.e5 would transpose to a line considered in our main game.) 11.bxc3 (11.Qxc3 Qxc3 12.bxc3 Nxe4 13.Bh4 g6 14.Be1 Bg7 with compensation.) 11...e5

Now White has two continuations, neither of which seems to promise much:

12.Qb4 Qxb4 13.cxb4 Nxe4 White managed to exchange Queens, but it has cost him the important center pawn on e4. The main line goes 14.Bh4 g5 15.fxg5 (15.Bd3 Nc3 16.Bxg5 Nxd1 17.Rxd1 Be7 18.Bh6 Rg8 19.g3 f5 20.Be2 Be6 21.fxe5 dxe5 22.Bh5+ Bf7 23.Bxf7+ Kxf7 24.Rd7 Rg4 25.Rxb7 Rxb4 26.Rxa7 Ke6 27.Ra6+ Kd5 28.Ra5+ Ke6 29.Ra6+ Kd5 30.c3 Re4 31.Kd2 f4 32.gxf4 exf4 33.Kd3 Re3+ 34.Kd2 Re4 35.Kd3 Re3+, 1/2-1/2, Langheinrich-Baklan, Germany 2001.) 15...Be7 16.Re1 Nxg5. Black has enough compensation for the Exchange. One good example is Berelovich-Baklan, Alushta 1999: 17.Bc4 f5 18.Rhf1 Kd8 19.Bd5 Kc7 20.Re3 Rf8 21.Rc3+ Kb8 22.Rd1 h6 23.Kb2 f4 24.Kb3 Bd8 25.Rcd3 Bb6 26.Bxg5 hxg5 27.Be4 Be6+ 28.Kb2 Bg4 29.Rxd6 Bxd1 30.Rxd1 g4 31.Rd3 and a draw was agreed.

Trading Queens didn't help White's cause, but leaving them on the board can be very dangerous, as was proven in Andersen-Van der Weide, Oslo 2003: 12.Qe3 Ng4 13.Qg3 Qa3+ 14.Kd2 Qc5 15.Bh4 exf4 16.Qxf4 g5! 17.Bxg5 Rg8 18.h4 f6 19.Rb1 fxg5 20.Qf3 gxh4 21.Rxb7 Bh6+ 22.Ke1 Rf8 23.Rb8+ Bc8 24.Bb5+ Ke7 25.Rxc8 Qxc8 26.Qh3 Bg5 27.Rf1 Ne5 28.Rxf8 Qxf8 29.Be2 Qf4 30.c4 Qd2+ 31.Kf1 Qxc2 32.Qb3 Qxe4, 0-1. This game can also be seen in the best game selection on my website (www.karelvanderweide.nl). Of course this sounds arrogant, but every average coffeehouse player has a website nowadays (and a best game selection!), so why not me?

Now, back to my game with Shaba:

8...Nxd4

Black has an important alternative in the sober 8...h6 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.0-0-0 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Qa5 12.Kb1 Qc5.

9.Qxd4 Qa5 10.e5

A direct hit, which caused Black some problems in the main line which goes 10...dxe5 11.fxe5 e6 12.0-0-0 Bc6 13.Nb5! Bxb5 14.exf6. Most of the big guys go down playing 14...Bc6 here. I think it was Peter Wells, who wrote an excellent book on the Rauzer, that advocated 14...Ba4. It is possible that Black is OK after that move, but I had my own ideas.

10...Rxc3? 11.bxc3 Nd5 12.exd6 f6

13.Bc4!!

A magnificent reply, that my computer and I had missed. White just sacks the piece in order to get a lethal attack. In my preparations Black had excellent compensation for the Exchange after 13.Bh4 e5 14.fxe5 Nxc3 15.Qd2 Qxe5+, etc.

13...Nxc3

Playing 13...e6 did not help either. After 14.Bxd5 exd5 White has a choice between 15.Bxf6 and 15.Rb1.

14.0-0 fxg5 15.Rae1! Qb6 16.Qxb6 axb6 17.Rf3 Ne4 18.Rxe4 Bc6 19.Bb5 Bxb5 20.dxe7,1-0.

It was one of these games where the preparation lasted longer then the actual game. I am positive that, if I hadn't prepared, I would have seen Bc4 over the board. Because the machine didn't indicate it, I was caught by surprise. Here, it seems appropriate to quote GM Normunds Miezis: "Preparation is useless."

After the game Shaba politely asked if we should analyze the game. The only way for me to show at least some understanding of chess was to decline this offer. We both knew there was nothing to look at.