The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 65

CHESS LEONARD BARDEN THE SPORTS PAGE Jumblium jumble 27 Qb.5. A piece up, Polgar quickly snuffs out Black's feeble counter play. Qxh5 28 gxh5 a5 29 a3 Bf3 30 Rd3 Bxh5 31 Rg3 b4 32 axb4 axb4 33 Ne4 Bg6 34 Rxg6! Resigns. Problem No 2199 Black (4 men) JUDIT POLGAR'S victory at age 15 in the Hungarian, championship set new landmarks for female chess and for Polgar's credibility as a future contender for Gary Kasparov's crown. Polgar broke Bobby Fischer's 1958 record as the youngest ever grandmaster by a month, and was the first female to win a national adult title against men.

Previously, she had been the youngest to achieve an international master result or to defeat a grandmaster (Lev Gutman) in regular tournament play, both at 11; the youngest international master and youngest chess Olympic gold medallist, both at 12; and the youngest to achieve a grandmaster norm, at 13. Earlier, she had beaten a GM (Damjanovic) in a blitz game at eight, and won a section of the prodigious New York Open at 10. Polgar has the highest ever women's Fide rating, at 2,550, and has been ranked No.l in the Fide female list since January 1989 She is still as far as ever from becoming the official women's world champion or of playing a match for that title. Guests at the recent Fide congress in Berlin included Kasparov and the official woman champion Xie Jun. Asked when she would be meeting Polgar, the 21-year-old Chinese replied that till now there had been no challenge, but that she would not try to escape it.

Then she added, "However, I am the official title-holder of Fide, and a single family cannot challenge me just like that." So far Fide has offered Polgar only a place in the women's candidates tournament, which she declined, and not a direct match based on Judit's rating supremacy. Chess suffers and will continue to lose out from this impasse. Full results from Budapest con firm that victory there was Pol-gar's best achievement yet. All the other nine competitors, including her older sister Zsuzsa, held the male GM title, while three had been men's world championship candidates. Judit surpassed the grandmaster score by half a point, was unbeaten and won against GMs Groszpeter, Sax and Tolnai, the latter in the final round when she needed only a draw.

Scores were J. Polgar 6, Sax and Adorjan 5'A, Z. Polgar and Horvath 5, Por-tisch 4'i, Lukaos 4, Tolnai and Groszpeter 3'A, Farago 3. This game is like many of Judit's wins which have a verve and freshness similar to these of the young Tal and Fischer 35 years ago. Judit Polgar Attila Groszpeter Sicilian, Richter Attack (Hungarian championship 1991) 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bg5 Bd7 byway from the normal e6.

7 Qd2 Rc8 8 f4 Nxd4 9 Qxd4 Qa5 10 eS dxe5 11 fxe5 e6 12 0-0-0 Bc6 13 Bc4. Here 13 exffi? Qxg5 favours Black. In earlier games White tried 13 Bb5, 13 Nb5 or 13 Bxf6 with unclear results. With a nice touch of symbolism, Polgar places her bishop on Fischer's favourite square for this piece. Nd7 14 Rhel h6 15 Bd2 Qc5 16 Qf4 A risky way to win the e5 pawn.

17 Bb3 also gives White many open lines, but 16 Be7! 17 h4 0-0 looks a better defence as the e5 weakie hinders White's attacking regroups. 17 Qfl Bg7 18 b.4! NxeS 19 Bb3 0-0 20 hxg5 hxg5 21 Qe2 Ng6 22 Qh5 Qf5 23 g4 Qf6 24 Bxg5. Nemesis strikes along the file as it did to many Tal and Fischer opponents. If Qf3 25 Rhl Rfe8 26 Qh7 Kf8 27 Rhfl and Qxg6 wins. Nf4 25 Qh4 Qg6 26 Bxf4 b5 you double the temperature.

So if you took a litre of mercury in a beaker and heated it from 20C to 40C you'd have 2x2x2 8 litres by the tune you'd finished." Comment. The winners of a Bedlam Cube are: Richard Acton, Budleigh Salterton, Devon; Hannah Gabriel, Edgware, Middlesex; Sarah Knapp, Cranleigh, Surrey; Rev Peter Russell, Wolverhampton; E.J. Gaudion, St.Peter Port, Guernsey; Anne Carslaw, Glasgow; Susan Meek, Dundee; Andrew Scott, Peterborough; R.E. Thomas, Llanfairpwll, G-wynedd, and Oenise Holme, Tunbridge Wells. NAMELESS LIVES AUBREY ANON A SACRED and secular violinist and an expert dancer in the rustic style, he graduated to the study of Greek and Gothic architecture though he may subsequently have regretted the fashion of "restoring" mediaeval dvurchec.

He eventually created his not-quite mythical region of England, but the founder of Macmillans rejected his first book: satirical and socialist as "too NEWSAGRAMS: NEIL SOMERVILLE OR BE BID? (businessman) ALL THE REP! stage director) WIDE FARM HABITAT (sportswoman) Solutions on page 42 PYRGIC PUZZLES CHRISTOPHER MASLANKA 1. Jumblium is a curious metal: it shrinks when heated and expands on cooling, whereas most metals do the opposite. Rufus T. Apfelsaft knew this much; so that when Cryogenes asked him to heat an iron washer and cool a jumblium washer he already had a good idea ILLUSTRATION: IAN ANDERSON of what would happen to the size of the holes in the process. What does happen to them? 2.

Name a metal which contains all five vowels and a Y. 3. Which metal melts in the hand? 4. Which metal will melt at even lower temperatures? 5. The product of which three consecutive whole numbers equals TARTAR (T, A are different digits.) 6.

"The mercury thread in the remarked Apfelsaft, "is about 2in long at 20C and 4in long at 40C. It doubles its length when QUICK CROSSWORD 5 a I White (2 men) Semen Furman Jan Smejkal, Tallinn 1971. White (to play) is two pawns down, with his knight facing an unequal struggle against Black's bishop and far-flung pawns. Furman tried 1 Ne4 Kf3 2 Nxc5 a2 3 Nb3 Ke4 4 Kg2 Kd5 and then resigned, since the black king soon chases the knight away from the a2 pawn. As the grandmasters settled down for their post-mortem, ex-world champion Mikhail Tal asked Smejkal: "What would you have done after 1 Nb3?" "Why, a3-a2, of course." "Then you would only have drawn." Smejkal couldn't understand what Tal meant.

Can you explain? No 2198: WK at fl, at hi, at el, Ps at c2, f3, f4 and g5. BK at h3, Ps at c3, c7, g6 and h2. Mate in four. 1 Bh4 (threat 2 Kf3, 3 Bg3 and 4 Rxh2) c5 2 Bel (2 Kf3? c4 3 Bg3 stalemate) c4 3 Kf2 Kh4 4 Rxh2 mate. and consider what will happen if either North or South competes with two clubs.

The answer is, of course, that you have sufficient values to compete in the other major but only if you have had the foresight to bid the higher-ranking spade suit first, so that to introduce two hearts on the next round will enable partner to choose between your two suits at the two level. Problem 4 Dealer West: game all: IMPS West 464 VJ754 AK108 AJ7 Awards: one club 10; one diamond one heart 5. Much as I like the strong no-trump, it has to be admitted that it leaves the opener with a slight difficulty on certain fairly balanced hands which fall into a lower point-count range. This is a case in point. Although I am all in favour of bidding four-card major suits, unlike certain other members of the European Community, I do not fancy opening one heart on J-x-x-x: the danger of being given preference to hearts on an unsuitable holding is too great, and I certainly do not want a heart lead if North eventually plays the hand.

One diamond is a possible opening, and there is a lot to be said for starting with your strongest suit if it is at all possible. However, to open one diamond will leave you awkwardly placed over a response of two clubs, for you will then have to raise to three clubs, suggesting greater length than 4-3 in the minor suits. The only opening bid which leaves you well placed over any response is one club, for you can raise one diamond or one heart to two or rebid one no-trump over a response of one spade. Next week: Problems 5-8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ZZ.ZZ E.ZZZZ 9 To" 111 12" 13" 114 15 16 118 19" -j 21 No 6,786 6 Plain medicinal herb! (6).

11 Close shave (4, 5). 13 Spinster in card game (3, 4). 14 Radio pioneer (7). 15 Part of ship (4-3). 16 It's mad (anag) (6).

18 Tusks (5). Solution No. 6,785 MlElATAlNlDlTW0VEGl mIaIrikIsiohjitidIf "tIeIni BRIDGE RIXI MARKUS THE Christmas competition solutions in detail: basic system was Acol with an opening INT showing 12-14 points not vulnerable, 16-18 points vulnerable. Take-out doubles over pre-emptive opening bids. Problem 1 Dealer East: love all: IMPS West jJ VJ9542 IS No AK7654 3 Awards: two diamonds 10; two hearts one no-trump 1.

The point at issue here is whether you should bid diamonds, hearts or both red suits. My view is that it is correct to bid your longer and better diamonds, and I would certainly not plan to make a reverse bid of three hearts on the next round. To respond two diamonds initially does not necessarily mean that the heart suit will be lost, for East will rebid two hearts if he has, say, five spades and four hearts. All you lose by bidding two diamonds is a possible 5-3 heart fit, but there is no particular reason to suppose that partner has more than two hearts. Furthermore, it may not prove to be a disaster if you do lose a 5-3 heart fit, for four hearts will be a tricky contract to handle if either red suit breaks badly.

This will be true even if East has a good three-card heart suit, such as K-Q-x or A-Q-x, and East will actually raise two hearts to three with a far worse trump holding than that. Problem 2 Dealer West: game all: IMPS West K7 VA543 1C No 1H No 4 6 AKQ874 Awards: four clubs 10; four diamonds four hearts four no-trumps 2. This hand was a good one when it started, and it has become even more powerful now that partner has responded in your four-card heart suit. You certainly intend to play in game, and a slam in either hearts or clubs is a distinct possibility if partner has suitable controls. The best way of announcing your slam interest is by jumping to four clubs, showing a good club suit plus four-card heart support.

It is to be hoped that East will be able to cooperate by cue-bidding either four diamonds or four spades; once he knows that there is a powerful club suit opposite to which he can look for tricks, he will look favourably at good cards in the heart suit and at good controls in either or both of the two unbid suits. Problem 3 Dealer North: love all: pairs West Q754 A 1083 1C Dble No 102 754 Awards: one spade 10; one heart 7. It is normal for the responder to bid his four-card suits in ascending order, and this is true no matter whether he is responding to an opening bid or to a take-out double. However, this is only the case if he intends to bid just one of his suits; if he intends to bid both, he will often find it more economical to introduce the higher-ranking suit first. This particular problem brings out the above point well.

A response of one heart will work out perfectly adequately if partner has primary support for the suit or if the opponents maintain a respectful silence from this point onwards. In real life, however, they are extremely unlikely to allow you to play peacefully in one heart, particularly at pairs scoring, and it will pay you to look ahead a little Across 1 Powerful alkali (6). 4 Decomposing soil matter (5). 7 Short-sightedness (6). 8 Seaside grass (6).

9 Go away! (4). 10 Descending approach from air (8). 12 Whatever happens (4, 4, 3). 17 Pitch darkness (8). 19 Uncooked or uncommon (4).

20 Fabulous monster (6). 21 Line on weather map (6). 22 Toy bear (5). 23 Selfishness (6). Down 1 Spiritualistic medium (7).

2 Where beer is served from the cask (3-4). 3 Good-for-nothing (9). 4 Treasure up (5). 5 Sicilian wine (7). 44 WEEKEND GUARDIAN SATURDAY-SUNDAY JANUARY 25-26 1992.