Chess: Vision beats blindfold
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Your support makes all the difference.TO ENTER into the spirit of today's game, you should dispense with a board when playing the moves. It was played in the Melody Amber tournament in Monaco, where blindfold games have been introduced to add spectator appeal.
Twelve leading grandmasters are contesting a double- round all-play-all. Using the Fischer clock, which allows each player's time to be increased by a fixed amount, they start with 25 minutes each, then have 10 seconds added after each move. The time increment is increased to 20 seconds but the second game is played blindfold (not, as one might expect, with an odd sock over the eyes, but with a cursor pointing to a computerised empty board).
This game shows the quality of play possible when rushed and unable to see the pieces. Polugayevsky's pawn sacrifice in the opening hopes for tricks on the long white diagonal and g-file, but Ivanchuk's 19. Nd5] turns the tables. His vision is seen with 27. Rc2] (Qxc2 met by Qxg8+ and Qb3) and 31. Rxc5] (31 . . . Nxc5 32. Qxd6+). After six rounds (three blindfold) Karpov led with 5 points, followed by Ivanchuk 41 2 , J Polgar 4, Ljubojevic 31 2 and Short 3.
----------------------------------------------------------------- White: Ivanchuk ----------------------------------------------------------------- Black: Polugayevsky 1 e4 c5 19 Nd5 exd5 2 Nf3 d6 20 Bxd5 Qc7 3 d4 cxd4 21 Bxf7 Bf6 4 Nxd4 Nf6 22 Rd1 Bxb2 5 Nc3 a6 23 c4 Ba3 6 Bc4 e6 24 cxb5 axb5 7 0-0 b5 25 Bxg8 Rxg8 8 Bb3 Be7 26 Qxh7 Qc8 9 Qf3 Qc7 27 Rc2 Qe8 10 Qg3 Nc6 28 Rd3 Rh8 11 Nxc6 Qxc6 29 Qg7 Rg8 12 Re1 Bb7 30 Q d4 Bc5 13 Qxg7 Rg8 31 Rxc5 dxc5 14 Qh6 0-0-0 32 Qxd7 Qxd7 15 Qh3 Kb8 33 Rxd7 c4 16 f3 Rg6 34 a3 Kc8 17 Be3 Rdg8 35 Rf7 1-0 18 Re2 Nd7 -----------------------------------------------------------------
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