The appearance of powerful computers and top-flight chess software has made cheating a growing problem. Even at the world championship match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov, allegations of untoward conduct were traded. Everywhere else these days, suspicions are rife.

In Moscow, for example, at the Aeroflot Open–the strongest traditional open tournament of the year, accusations were flying about. Evgeny Aleseev of St. Petersburg and the recent victor in the Russian championship won the event; he is a new member of the world chess elite. But to get to the top spot in the Aeroflot event, he had to face Stanislav Novikov in the seventh round, who was at that point at the head of the pack.

Novikov was a surprising leader. His rating was lower than several grandmasters he had readily dispatched, fueling suspicions that he was somehow being fed moves from a computer. The tournament organizers acted to take precautions. Novikov’s games, for example, were no longer reported live on the Internet, with the aim of making communication with a possible remote collaborator more difficult to accomplish. Was it that measure that caused Novikov to lose against Alekseev, or the fact that he was angered by baseless accusations, or was it simply a poor choice of opening variations? The answer is unclear, but Novikov lost the game and rapidly dropped from first place and finished poorly in the event.

ALEKSEEV VS. NOVIKOV

(white) (black)

Pirc Defense

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4.h3 d5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6.e5 Ne4 7. Nxe4 dxe4 8. Ng5 c5 9. Bc4! This is more promising for white than 9. dxc5 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qxc5 11. Bc3 Nc6! (worse is 11…Bxe5 12. Bxe5 Qxe5 13. Qd8+! Kxd8 14. Nxf7+ Kc7 15. Nxe5 with a better endgame for white) 12. Nxe4 Qb6 13. Bc4 Bxe5 with an equal game, as happened in Dvoretzky-Zilberstein 1973. 9… 0-0 10.c3! This variation achieved a degree of popularity after black’s sensational victory in Spassky-Zeshkovsky 1974, where 10.e6 f6 11. Nxe4 b5! 12. Be2 cxd4 13. Bf3 Nc6 led to good game for black. Later it was found that the move played in the present game is better. 10… cxd4 11. cxd4 Nc6 12. Be3 b5?! With the next two overly serene moves black permits white to start a dangerous attack. Better was 12…Qa5+!? 13. Kf1 (It is probably preferable for white to move into an endgame – 13. Qd2 Qxd2+ 14. Kxd2 Na5) 13…h6 14. Nxe4 Rd8 with reasonable compensation for the pawn. 13. Bb3 Bb7? Here it was already necessary to play 13…Qa5+! 14.h4! Qa5+ Now black hardly can extinguish white’s attack. In case of 14…Na5 15.h5 Nxb3 16. hxg6! hxg6 17. axb3 white has a deadly threat Qd1-g4-h4. Of no help was 17…Qd7 18.e6! fxe6 19. Qg4. 15. Kf1! h5 Until this game black had only tried here 15…Rad8 but after 16.h5! Nxd4 (no better is 16…Nxe5 17. Nxh7!) 17. Bxd4 Qb4 18. hxg6 hxg6 19. Qg4 and white obtained a decisive attack. Black tries to alter the evaluation of a variation deemed dubious for black by stopping h4-h5; Too late for black here is 15…h6 16.h5! hxg5 17. hxg6 with a mating attack against black king. 16.g4! Rad8 Black is defenseless in case of 16…hxg4 17.h5! gxh5 18. Rxh5. 17. gxh5 Nxe5 18. hxg6 Nf3 Stopping the threat 19. Qh5. 19. Nxf7 Rxf7 Black preserved more resources with 19…Rd5!? 20. Bxd5 (it is stronger to continue the assault by means of 20.h5! ) 20…Bxd5. 20. Bxf7+ Kf8 21.h5! b4 22.h6 Ba6+ 23. Kg2 Bf6 24.h7 Kg7 25.d5?! White had a more resolute path to victory – 25. Bh6+! Kh8 26. Bg8 Rxg8 (There is no other defense against 27.g7+ Bxg7 28. Bxg7 Kxg7 29.h8Q) 27. hxg8Q+ Kxg8 28. Qb3+ and mate follows in 3 moves. 25… Qc7?!

(See Diagram)

Now white unleashes an 11-movedeep combination, transforming the game into a winning endgame. Black could have continued the struggle by playing 25…Kh8! 26.h8Q+! Rxh8 27. Rxh8 Kxh8 28. Qh1+ Nh4+ 29. Qxh4+! Bxh4 30. Bd4+ Bf6 31. Bxf6+ exf6 32. Rh1+ Kg7 33. Rh7+ Kf8 34.g7+ Black resigned because after 34…Kxf7 35.g8Q+ Kxg8 36. Rxc7 winning is a piece of cake.. 1-0