Chess - Saturday 29 October

I KNOW a lot more about chess than about football, but still I have often observed the world’s best footballers suddenly spotting and executing on the field some stunning breakthrough which leaves the opposition dazed, and with a ball in the back of their net.

It’s actually not unlike a chessplayer detecting a weakness in the opponent’s camp, and then constructing some elegant and logical combination to exploit it. In games between really top-class players, the winning combination can seem to appear with little warning and then strike with devastating force, but it pays to study such events because in fact there will always be some earlier telling signs that alerted the victor to the possibility of putting together a decisive sequence.

A few days ago, a young student in my class at school told me that one of her uncles used to play football for Germany, and that he had scored a memorable goal against France. I would bet that he had studied numerous videos of previous matches to know and understand his opponents inside out. I don’t know precisely what preparation German no 1 chessplayer, super-GM Arkady Naiditsch, did before recently facing his French ‘opposite number’, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, but whatever he did, he certainly ‘had his opponent’s number’ in the game below. The finish is as beautiful as any football combination I have ever seen.

White: A Naiditsch; Black: M Vachier-Lagrave. Opening: Sicilian.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 f4 By choosing one of the most direct, aggressive systems against Black’s Taimanov Sicilian, Naiditsch is already showing that he really means business. 6...a6 7 Nxc6 Qxc6 8 Bd3 b5 9 Qe2 Bb7 10 Bd2 Bc5 11 0-0-0 Ne7 12 a3 Quite a clever and well-timed move. It certainly slows down any queenside pawn storm that Black may have hoped to launch after castling kingside, and so it probably influenced his decision to now castle on the queenside. But it turns out that his king is not as safe there as might appear at first... 12...0-0-0 13 Kb1 d5 14 Rhe1 Rd7?! Black’s position was already becoming awkward to play, but this definitely does not improve matters. I sympathise, though, because 14...dxe4 15 Nxe4 (threatening Nxc5 or Ng5) is unpleasant, as is 14...d4 15 Na2 with Nc1-b3 to follow. 15 exd5 Nxd5 16 f5! I’ve always been a fan of “f for forward!”, and here it hits Black hard when his forces are not fully developed or coordinated. 16...Re8 17 Nxd5 Qxd5 18 Ba5!! Spotting that Black’s back rank is vulnerable. Now 18...Qxg2 loses to 19 fxe6 fxe6 20 Qh5 or 19...Rxe6 20 Qh5 Qd5 21 Rxe6! fxe6 22 Qe8+. 18...Bd4 19 Qf1!! Bc6 19...Qxg2 20 fxe6 fxe6 21 Rxe6! works for White because of 21...Rxe6 22 Qf8+. 20 fxe6 fxe6 21 Be4 Qc5 22 Qf3! Crushing. 22...Bd5 23 Bxd5 Qxd5 23...Rxd5 24 Rxd4!! Qxd4 25 Qf7 or 24...Rxd4 25 Qa8+ Kd7 26 Qb7+ Kd6 27 c3 is “curtains” for Black. 24 Qxd5 Rxd5 25 Bb6!! Much stronger than 25 c3 Be5. 25...e5 Or 25...Be5 26 Rxd5 exd5 27 Bd4. 26 Rxd4 Black resigned.