Chess: How does White win?

THE Island of Curaao in the Dutch Antillies was, in 1962, the venue for one of the great tournaments of all time: the Candidates tournament won by Tigran Petrosian, who then successfully challenged Mikhail Botvinnik to become world champion in 1963.

It was held at the height of the Cold War, and with Bobby Fischer as one of the eight among a field that included five leading Soviet players – Petrosian, Tal, Keres, Korchnoi and Geller – it saw the tranquil little island rising from obscurity to be put firmly on the world map.

Curaao 1962 inspired a gala 40th anniversary tournament in 2002, in which one of the original participants, Viktor Korchnoi, not only played but won jointly with Israeli GM Yona Kosashvili, the middle Polgar sister Sofia's husband. That anniversary tournament proved such a great success that it spawned a series of Curaao Festival Opens, the latest of which, the 11th edition, was won late last month by the former six-time Dutch champion and top seed GM Loek Van Wely with a perfect score of 9/9 amongst a much weaker field of opposition.

However as defending champion he won't have it so easy in next year's 50th gala anniversary tournament, where he'll find himself facing a much stronger opposition, that again will include 1962 Curaao original – and now octogenarian – Korchnoi.

L Van Wely - A Kats

11th Curacao Open, (7)

Slav Defence

1 c4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 a6 5 a4 e6 6 g3 Nbd7 7 Bg2 Bd6 8 0–0 0–0 9 Qc2 dxc4 10 Nd2 e5 11 Nxc4 Bc7 12 Rd1 Qe7 13 b3 exd4 14 Rxd4 c5 15 Ba3 Rb8 16 a5 Re8 17 Rad1 Nf8 18 Nd5 Nxd5 19 Rxd5 Qxe2 20 Qxe2 Rxe2 21 Rxc5 Ne6 22 Rxc7! Nxc7 23 Bd6 Bg4 24 h3 Bh5 25 Bxc7 Re7 26 Bxb8 Bxd1 27 b4 Ba4 28 Bd6 Re1+ 29 Kh2 Bb5 30 Nb6 Re6 31 Nc8 Bc6 32 Ne7+ Kf8 33 Nf5+ Kg8 34 Bxc6 bxc6 35 Bc5 g5 36 g4 h6 37 Kg3 Kh8 38 Nd4 Rg6 39 Be7 Kg8 40 Kf3 f6 41 Bc5 Kf7 42 Nxc6 Rg8 43 Ke4 Ke6 44 Nd4+ Kf7 45 Kd5 h5 46 b5 axb5 47 a6 1–0