(aka Who's afraid of the Keres Attack?)

When Paul Keres whipped up 7.g2-g4!* in the Sicilian Scheveningen way back in the 1940s, this agressive idea of gaining space became the standard setup against the Scheveningen. It became immensely popular and was thus christened the "Keres Attack". In the 1984/85 World Championship Match, Karpov unleashed this move with such great effect in Game 1 so much so that Kasparov deigned to play the Scheveningen proper ever since, preferring to enter it via the Najdorf set-up. Indeed, as GM Joe Gallagher stated (in his '101 Attacking Ideas in Chess'), "Any attacking player worth his salt must include the Keres Attack in his repetoire".

(* For accuracy's sake, the first Keres Attack was played in a correspondence game between Bertino and Stinchi in 1900 (Source- Tim Harding's MegaCorr CD)

In OTB play, I prefer the hacking possibilities of the Sicilian Dragon to the comparatively positional Scheveningen, thus I seldom take more than a cursory glance at Scheveningen games. In 1997, SIM Wang showed me an exciting new magazine which he had just purchased, aka Chessmail. The cover featured the Swedish GM Ulf Andersson and one amazing Keres Attack game which he had overpowered the current CC World No 1 with Black! I was immediately hooked.

My personal experience on the Black side of the Keres Attack is pretty good. The line 7...h6 (as played by Andersson) seemed like Black's best chance to me as the White attack is stalled to a certain degree and the resulting pawn structures tend leave White with weak pawns on g5 or h4. Moreover, as White is presented a pawn lever to open the g or h file, he tends to work on storming the Kingside with 8.h4 or 8.Rg1 -9.h4. Black is therefore given a headstart in development and if he can generate counterplay in the centre swiftly, White will be in hot soup.

I have been using Ulf Andersson's plan in a few of my Keres Attack games and have worked out some general ideas.

1. Don't gobble up the h4 pawn (eg. Bxh4) unless you don't have anything better.

2.It is more imperative to concentrate on development than picking up / retaining material. Always remember that mate ends the game!

3. Don't trust computer assessments at all! Computers love the spatial advantage and material gain.

Finally, a note of warning...Despite Ulfie's brilliant win against Timmerman, he was almost scythed down in yet another Keres Attack by CC-GM Tune Hamarat in the recent Olympiad so you got to take everything I've said with a pinch of salt!

Anyway, back to the tournament proper...

Tay 1.5 IM-Elect Anilkumar 0

My games against India's first CC IM N.A Anilkumar was interrupted by a dispute. I had sent him a move and later noticed that he had skipped a move number previously. I re-sent the mail again, this time with the correct move number and offered him a draw. He replied with his move (apparently not having received the draw offer). In his reply, he spurned my piece sacrifice and returned my initial pawn gambit and thus gave me two great bishops to play with. I sent my reply quickly and happily. I was aghast to see him accepting my draw offer later! Upon checking with my team mate SIM Wang Mong Lin and captain Clive Mulden, I was advised to carry on playing (I felt likewise) and thus, Clive helped me lodge a protest as Anilkumar and his Team Captain M Samouri did not want the game to continue. Three weeks later, the TD came to a decision to let the game resume! The other game was a quiet game which was agreed drawn in an equal position.

OK...now for the boring Reversed Dragon

Junior Tay (2413) - Anilkumar,N (2471) [A20]
ICCF Interzonal, 2000

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0-0 Nb6 7.d3 Be7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.a3 a5 10.b3 Be6 11.Bb2 f6 12.Qc2 Rf7! 13.Rfd1 Bf8 14.e3 Rd7 15.d4 exd4 16.Bxd4 Qe8 17.Bb2

A quiet draw. Anilkumar's employment of Bareev's 12...Rf7! neutralised White's initial move edge. 1/2-1/2

And now for the all-important no hold barred, to the death (well, almost) Keres Attack game! Hang on tight!

Anilkumar,N (2471) - Tay Junior (2413) [B81]
ICCF Interzonal
[Junior Tay]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g4

The dreaded Keres Attack, which was the reason why Kasparov has given up the Scheveningen proper when Karpov almost knackered him in their 1980 World Championships Rd 1 game. This move came as a surprise to me as I thought Anilkumar is more of a positional player after going through his games...

The most popular counter...as Black stalls the Kingside pawn storm. It does, however, present a target if Black decideds to castle there.

[An ICCF-IM friend disclosed to me that the reason he gave up the Scheveningen was because of variations stemming from 7.g5 hxg5 8.Bxg5 which also occured in Andersson's close shave against Tunc Hamarat (Hamarat-Andersson XXII Olympiad Board 1). And nope, I won't show you what I have in mind for this variation!]

first played by German GM Stefan Kindermann [13.Qe2 -Informant 43/(282); 13.Qd2 0-0 14.Nf5 d4! is the famous Timmerman-Andersson game which is discussed in the notes to Illustrative game 2]

mentioned by Kindermann as a suggestion of GM Klaus Bishoff. The more I studied its intricacies, the more I fancied the line. So without remorse, I unleashed it on Anilkumar. It is rather suprising to castle into the attack, isn't it?

[and the following is Kindermann's win over Vogt (sorry, no diagrams- The analysis is from the Kindermann for Informant 58) 13...Qa5+ 14.c3 0-0-0 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Nb3 Qa6 17.0-0-0! h5?! (17...Qxa2? 18.Kc2 … Ra1±; 17...Rhf8! 18.Kb1 f5 19.g5 f4 20.Bc5 Bf5+ 21.Ka1 Bc2 22.Bxe7 Bxb3 23.a3=) 18.Qxf7 (18.gxh5? g6! 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.Rxg6 Rdf8 … Qa2, Bf5) 18...Qxa2? (18...Rde8) 19.Qxe7 Qxb3 20.Rd4± ‚ … Rb4 20...a5 21.Qc5 hxg4? (21...Qb5 22.Qxb5 cxb5 23.gxh5 Rxh5 24.Rxg7 … Bg5±) 22.Bf4 g5 23.hxg5 Rh7 24.Rb4!+- axb4 25.Qb6 Be8 26.Qb8+ Kd7 27.Qc7+ Ke6 28.Re1+ 1-0 Kindermann,S-Vogt,L/Baden_Baden 1993/Inf 58/[Kindermann,S] (28) (28.Re1+ Kf5 29.Qe5+ Kg6 30.Qf6+ Kh5 31.Rh1#) ]

First, to push g4-g5, White must give up his 2 Bishops.

The whole point of 13...0-0!. Black sacrifices a pawn to stall the White attack for some moves while he goes on a Queenside foray himself. Thank you! Mr Bischoff!

[Black also has good attacking potential after 17.Bd2 Qb6 18.Bc3 (18.Nb3 Bf5³) 18...Bb4 =+; or 17.c3 Rab8 18.b4? (18.g6 fxg6 19.Qxg6 Rf7 now White's wave of attack is over and he has to bear the brut of Black's counterplay...) 18...Bxb4! 19.cxb4 Qxb4+ 20.Kf1 c5 21.Nb3 Qc4+ (21...d4; 21...Bh3+) ]

[I analysed 17...Rb8 for a very long time, confident that White had no(!) good way to stem off the Black attack but finally decided on because 17...Rab8 A) 18.Kc1?? Rxb2!!

Crasssh... 19.Kxb2 (19.g6 fxg6 20.Qxg6 Rf7 21.Kxb2 Ba3+ 22.Kb1 Qc3 23.Bc1 Bf5 24.Qxf7+ Kxf7 25.Bxa3 Qxd4-+) 19...Ba3+ 20.Kb1 Qc3 21.Bc1 Rb8+ 22.Nb3 Bf5 23.Qd1 Rxb3+ 24.axb3 Qxb3+ 25.Bb2 Qxb2#; B) 18.Nb3 Qa4 intending Rb4 (xh4!); C) 18.f4!

just secures a draw easily. White just carries on his attack without looking back. Try getting your computer engines to find this move. I bet they can't! 18...Rxb2 19.f5 Qc3 20.g6 fxg6 21.fxg6

and now to stem off mate...Black must deflect the Queen with 21...Bg4+ 22.Qxg4 Qxe3 23.Re1 Qc3 24.Qe6+ Kh8 25.Qg4= just in the nick of time...sigh...]

withdrawing the Queen to allow the h pawn to proceed its roll but

I saw this immediately and sent off my move quickly! On my Pentium 266 Laptop, Fritz 5.32 took 18 seconds and Junior 6.0 couldn't even find it at all! A triumph of human intuition over computer brute calculation? Nope...I only saw only for about 4 moves deep and figured that it's a clean win On hindsight, maybe I should have used the engines to analyse instead of just for blunderchecking (leaving the engines on for a while to see that I don't get mated or the evaluation doesn't plunge drastically). Then, I would have avoided all the trouble which got Anilkumar, his captain M Samouri, my captain Clive Murden, team manager IA Ralph Marconi and the TD involved! But then again, I don't trust the engines very much in such positions. They keep claiming that I'm worse although I felt that Black has the upper hand since 13.Qf3.

Anilkumar thought for more than a week and played this move first and then accepted the draw(!) in a later email which I refused to acknowledge as he had already played his move! To think that I nearly spoilt my most brilliant CC game! Initially, I thought that White had just blundered with no compensation as I could now pick off the b3, h5 and f2 pawns (if offered).

Little did I realise how strong my 20. ..Bxc2 was! To Anilkumar's credit, he saw more than I did as he put a ! sign next to the move when he emailed his reply to me. (Shame on me!)

[21.Kxc2 Qc4+ 22.Kd1 Qd3+ 23.Kc1 (23.Nd2 Rxb2 24.Qe2 Qc2+ 25.Ke1 Bb4 26.a3 Bc3 27.Rd1 d4-+) 23...Rb4!

would you believe it...My analysis stopped here, concluding White is just busted here...I was wondering why Anilkumar took so long to reply when I noticed he had mistyped his move number. Looking at the game again, this time I saw 24.Rg4 which did not even cross my mind! I could only find a draw and even offered him one after telling him about the move number error. Talk about seeing ghosts!

24.Rg4 Rfb8!! The move I missed in offering the draw. Needless to say, when Anilkumar "accepted" my draw, I saw this move immediately! White has no way to prevent the 2nd rook from infiltrating across the 4th rank.

( 24...Rc4+ 25.Rxc4 Qxc4+ 26.Kd2 Bb4+ 27.Kd1 Qf1+= pepetual check...) ]

and from here onwards. you should not trust what your chess engines claims (especially with respect to pawn-grabbing),

[and I very nearly fell for 22...Bxb3?! 23.axb3 Qxh4?? 24.Ra4!!

A) 24...Qh2 25.Re1 Bd6 (25...Rfe8 26.Rxa7 Bd6 27.Rxe8+ Rxe8 28.Qf3

with mutual chances) 26.Qf3 followed by Rh1...; B) 24...Qxf2 25.Rh1 f6 (25...f5 26.Rah4 Kf7 27.g6+ Kxg6 28.R4h2 now Black must give up his Bishop to ward off the attack 28...Bf6 29.Rxf2 Bxc3 30.Bxc3+-; 25...Qf5 26.Rah4 f6 27.g6 Qxg6 28.Qe3 Kf7 29.Re1+-) 26.g6 Qf5 27.Qg3 with a mate in 4 after Rh8+, Qh2(or h4)+ combination]

This important bishop keeps the White King and Queen Rook tied up...No way amI'm giving it up just to earn an extra pawn. I did not even consider the other alternatives which probably pick up a pawn or two...

unleashing the dynamic diagonals of the two bishops..

[25.Bxc5 Bxc5 26.Nxc5 Rfc8 27.Nb3 Rxc3+ 28.Kd2 Rc2+ 29.Ke3 Rb4-+; 25.Nxc5 Rfc8 26.Na4 Rb4!!-+]

now, a5-a4 and c5-c4 loom ominously with Rb2 to follow, Anilkumar decided to give up the ghost.

He wrote:

Dear friend, Thank you very much for the kind reminder. However I would like to resign our game. I think this is an absolutely hopeless ending.You played the ending very well. Congratulations! Glad to see you are doing well in the event.So wishing you an excellent result in the Interzonal, possibly a GM norm.

Warm regards Anil 7/3/2001

With 5/7 and one game to go, I have clinched the ICCF IM title, having scored my 1st norm in EM/MN/021. I don't care what others say about the "inflated" value of the CC-IM title. It took me a lot of pespiration and late nights to overcome these opponents, some of whom have higher FIDE ratings than me. I did it at last!

And now, a couple of illustrative games to show how resilient the Scheveningen is...

 Illustrated game 1

My first ever Keres Attack game in CC play was against Alexander Vujanovic. Concentrating on development as opposed to material equality, I soon took over the initiative and won all my pawns back with more to boot.

Aleksandar Vujanovic - Junior Tay [B81]
IECC CL1-2000.06 IECC, 30.12.1999
[Junior Tay]

well, I was extremely inspired by Ulf Andersson's brilliant win over Gert Timmerman in 1996. This was also the reason why I picked up the Scheveningen in CC play. Black does have a chance counterattack early, which is not the case in the 8...h5 variation.

I think this variation is not promising for White as Black gets the two bishops and is only slightly behind in development.

[The scintillating Andersson game went 12.Be3 Be7 (most definitely not 12...Qxh4 13.Qe2 Be7 14.0-0-0 Kf8 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Qa6 Qf6 17.Qb7 Rd8 18.Nb3 Qe5 19.Qxa7 Kg8 20.Rde1 Bg5 21.Bxg5 Qxg5+ 22.Kb1 Qf4 23.Nc5 Bxg4 24.Nd3 Qf5 25.Qd4 h5 26.Re3 Kh7 27.f3 c5 28.Nxc5 Rhe8 29.Rxe8 Rxe8 30.fxg4 hxg4 31.a4 Re2 32.Rxg4 Rxc2 33.Qxg7# 1-0 Bologan,V-Dumitrescu,D/Linares ESP 1999 (33)) 13.Qd2 0-0 (13...Ne5 14.Qe2 Nc4 15.Bxc4 dxc4 16.0-0-0 c3 17.b3 Kf8 18.g5 hxg5 19.hxg5 Qa5 20.Kb1 Re8 21.Rh1 Rg8 22.Qd3 Bxg5 23.Bxg5 Qxg5 24.Nf3 1-0 Van der Weide,K-Wortel,M/Amsterdam NED 2000/The Week in Chess 302 (24)) 14.Nf5 d4!

This move deserves a diagram 15.Bxh6 Bb4!

and so does this one 16.c3 dxc3 17.bxc3 Ne5!

and this one! 18.Be2 Re8 19.Kf1 Bf8© Powerful stuff... Timmerman-Andersson 1996.]

[I won't want to chance 12...Qe7 13.Be3 Nxd4 14.Bxd7+ Kxd7 15.Bxd4 Qxe2+ 16.Kxe2 += and try to hold a dreary ending as in Judith Polgar-Salov, Dos Hermanas 1995]

and here, I came up with a new move

with this thrust, Black

1. clears the d5 square for the Queen
2. prepares to open lines on the Queenside to deter 0-0-0
3. extends the a1-h8 diagonal for his bishop. 4) in some lines, threatens Qb6 with threats on b5, a2 and f2

[The theoretical continuation was 15...Bf6 16.Be3 d4 17.0-0-0 Qa5?! (17...Qb6 18.cxd4 Nxd4 19.Bxd4 Bxd4 20.Kb1 Kg8 =) 18.Bxc6 Qxa2 (18...dxe3 19.Bd5 Rd8 20.Bb3±) 19.Bxd4 Bxd4 20.Qg4 Bf6 21.Qb4+ Kg8 22.Bd5 Qa1+ 23.Kc2 Qa6 24.Bxb7 Qe2+ 25.Rd2 Qe8 26.Bxa8 Qxa8 27.Qc4 Kh7 28.Qxf7 Qe4+ 29.Kc1 Rb8 30.Rg6 Qxh4 31.Rxf6 Qxf6 32.Qxf6 gxf6 33.Rd7+ Kg8 34.Rxa7 Rb5 35.b4 h5 36.Ra5 Rb8 37.Kd2 Kg7 38.Ke3 Kh6 39.Kf4 Rc8 40.Rc5 Rg8 41.Rc6 Rg4+ 42.Ke3 Kg5 43.Rc8 h4 44.f3 Rf4 45.b5 Rxf5 46.c4 Re5+ 47.Kd4 Kf4 48.b6 Re7 49.Rh8 1-0 Liberzon,V-Formanek,E/Beersheba 1978/MCD (49)]

Illogical. White gives up the 2 Bishops just to retain a material advantage which is not so important in such a sharp position. [16.Bd2 Qb6 (16...Qd5 17.0-0-0 Qxa2 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Qe5 Qa1+ 20.Kc2 Qa4+=) 17.0-0-0]

Development is of utmost importance in such positions. I don't understand this move as it allows Black to develop his pieces on their optimal squares with tempi, eg. Bf6 and Rc8. [17.Bd2!? Bf6 18.0-0-0 Qd5 19.Qa6! (19.cxd4 Qxa2 20.Bc3 Kg8) 19...Qxf5 20.cxd4 Bxd4 21.Qb7 Qc8 22.Qxc8+ Rxc8 23.Be3 =+ with good drawing chances.]

[21.Qe4 Attempting to prevent Kh7 is futile. A) 21...Kh7 22.f6+ g6 23.Qf4 Qxf6 24.Qxh6+ (24.Qxf6 Bxf6) 24...Kg8 25.Qd2 Rxh4-+; B) 21...Rc4 22.Ke2 Qc8-+]

Yes, White is a pawn up now but after...

Just compare the development. Now White definitely has to shed material to keep his King safe as Black commences his attack

now it's time to ingest those helpless pawns while White scrambles his king to safety [22.Kf1 Re8 23.Bg5 The only is try... 23...hxg5 24.hxg5 Kg8 25.g6 Qf6-+]

[24.f6!? Qxf6 25.Qxf6 Bxf6 26.Rd7-+]

[Not falling for 25...Qxa2?? 26.Rxg7+!

26...Kxg7 27.f6+ Kg6 28.Qg4+ Kxf6 29.Rd6+ Qe6+ 30.Rxe6+ fxe6 31.Qf3+ Kg5 32.Qg2+ Kf6 33.Qf3+ Kg6 34.Qe4+ Kg5 35.Qg2+ Kf5 36.Qf3+ Kg6 37.Qe4+ Kg5 38.Qg2+= Perpetual check!]

and now that Black has saited his appetite for pawns, it's time to effect the exchange of material

[32.Kg2 Bxe3 33.Qxc4 Rxc4 34.Rxe3 Rxe3 35.fxe3 g5-+]

Illustrative game 2

My opponent is a relative newcomer to CC though he sports a FIDE rating of 2344 and hails from the Republic of Kazakhstan. Both of us practically blitzed through the game without pausing, spending probably a few seconds to email over the moves.

Balabaev, Timur (2344) - Junior Tay (2413) [B81]
ICCF EM/MN/029, 14.02.2001
[Junior Tay]

as indicated in the previous game, this is a better try than 15.c3

[The current Lithuanian Champion was mauled in a ferocious Kingside attack after 16.Kf1 Bf6 17.Re1 Kg8 18.Bd2 Qb6 19.Bc3 A) 19...Nd4!? 20.Qd3 Nxb5 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.Qxb5 Kh7= (22...b6 23.Qxd5 Kh7=) ; B) 19...d4 20.Bd2 Kh7 21.Bc4 Ne5 22.Bb3 Qc6 23.Qh5 Qb5+ 24.Re2 Rhf8 25.Bg5!!

25...Qa6 26.f4 d3 27.cxd3 Nxd3 28.Bxh6!!

28...Kg8 29.Bxg7 Bxg7 30.Rxg7+ Kxg7 31.Rg2+ Qg6 32.Rxg6+ fxg6 33.Qxg6+ 1-0 Mickiewicz,P-Cmilyte,V/Koszalin POL 1999 (33) ]

Here. I could try to emulate Christian Koch below but I don't trust the ultra-sharp followup. I can't find or recall my analysis to that game but was sure that White definitely has improvements. Anyway, two years ago, during my game against Vujanovic, I have already found a simple drawing variation

žnd here, I introduced a long string of conditional moves up to move 21. Anyway, the moves and resulting liquidation are virtually forced.

[17...Bxh4 18.Be3 d4 19.Bf4 Bf6 20.Rde1 Rc8 21.Qc4 Kg8 22.Re6!!

22...Qd8! (22...fxe6 23.Qxe6+ Kh7 24.Qf7 Ne7 25.Rh1!

and the prosaic Rxh6 mate is unstoppable!) 23.Bxc6 Rxc6 24.Rxc6 bxc6 25.Qxc6 Kh7 26.Qb7 ½-½ Kharitonov,A-Koch,C/IECG 1998 (26)]

When I first worked this out, I was very pleased to see that the Rh8 has been mobilised without moving and the Kf8 being sensibly placed. This sort of justifies my predilection of not taking the h4 pawn with Queen or Bishop in the Keres attack. Too bad Black has no more than a draw after...

[Perhaps more testing is 22.a4 but 22...Rd8! keeps the balance anyway]

and now to ensure the opposite coloured bishops ending...

[only way to prevent that is 27.Bd3 but 27...Rd8 28.Rb5 Bf2=]

27...Rd8 28.Rxd8+

We took less than a week to finish this game!

I would like especially like to thank the following people for helping me to make ICCF-International Master

My wife, Candidate Master Yip Fong Ling, for putting up with my late nights and constant messing up of the bookshelves (especially the chess section!)

ICCF Senior International Master Wang Mong Lin, or coaxing me to play email-CC and for supplying me with Chessmail and Fernschach magazines for the past 2 years and sponsoring my entry fees for ICCF events.

FIDE International Master Dr. Hsu Li Yang, for donating his unwrapped Chessbase 7.0 and Informant CD-ROM as well as for doing free phone post-mortems of my games when he gets time off from his hospital duties.

ICCF IA Ralph Marconi, for giving me this opportunity to play in such a prestigious tournament even when there are many far more established players in the fold.

NAPZ Team Captain, Clive Murden, for giving me great advice and calming me down when the dispute occurred and for helping to resolve the matter amicably.

The CCN team (John!, Grayling!, Neil!, Volker!, Eugen!, Santhosh! and Chris!) for their moral support and making CC fun.

Thanks to all!