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Garry Kasparov vs Anatoli Karpov
"Special K" (game of the day Nov-26-07)
Karpov-Kasparov World Championship Match 1990  ·  Spanish Game: Closed Variations. Flohr System (C92)  ·  1-0


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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 7 OF 7 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Nov-26-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  playground player: Why can't there be democracy in Russia? You can say the same for about 2/3 of the world's nations. Power elites, once established, don't give up easily. This is human nature. And there's also an element of fear involved. As Solon observed, tyranny is a lovely perch, but there's no safe way down from it.
Nov-26-07   Riverbeast: <tyranny is a lovely perch, but there's no safe way down from it.>

Yes, and unfortunately for Kasparov the game the tyrants play is not played on a board....nor, more often than not, above it

Nov-26-07   homersheineken: Can someone explain (or point in the right direction) on why black doesn't take teh e pawn on move 5?
Nov-26-07   Jim Bartle: Black can take the pawn, that's a different variation, I believe favored by Korchnoi (?). Look up the Ruy Lopez (Open) page.
Nov-26-07   DarthStapler: I know I must be missing something obvious, but after 34. Nf7+, why not Kh7?
Nov-26-07   stukkenjager: brilliant game indeed.
the defence <RV> suggested doesn't work. eg: 28.Qg4 a5 29.Qh4+!! Rh6 (29... Kg8 30.Kh2 Rg6 31.Rxg6 Qxg6 32.Ng5) 30.Nxh6 gxh6 31.Nxd6 Qxe1+ 32.Kh2 Qxb1 33.Nf7+ Kh7 34.Qd4 with mate to follow. I realy miss Kasparov.

Nov-26-07   stukkenjager: <DarthStapler>: I know I must be missing something obvious, but after 34. Nf7+, why not Kh7? What about 35.Qxf6!!
Nov-26-07   Fourpointo: Why not 34. Rxg6 followed by 35. Rg3#??? I can see a bunch of ways to stall it but none to block it.
Nov-26-07   theodor: what about 24-Ng5?
Nov-26-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  tatarch: [DarthStapler: I know I must be missing something obvious, but after 34. Nf7+, why not Kh7?] At first glance, it looks like 35.Ne6+ followed by Qh5+ would lead to mate.
Nov-26-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: <RandomVisitor 25...Qe8± 1.19/19 <25...Nd3 26.Bxd3 cxd3 27.Qd2 Qe7 28.f3 Rc8 29.Bd4 Qh4 30.Rb1 Nb6 31.Qxd3 d5 32.Qb3 -0.28> >>

That's really the best defence with <25...Nd3 26.Bxd3 cxd3 27.Qd2 Qe7>


click for larger view

but differing from your line there is also <28.Nxh6 Rxe4 29.Rxe4 Qxe4 30.Bxg7+ Bxg7 31.Nf7+ Kg8 32.Qb2>


click for larger view

which seems to be <=>

Nov-26-07   soberknight: It's a strange game that I'll never fully understand, but I at least understood why White chose not to take the c4-pawn on move 22.
Nov-26-07   xrt999: Geller vs Karpov, 1976

Geller queen sac against Karpov

Feb-11-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  musicmanTRIBALx: looks like kasparov missed mate:

after 33. ...Bf5 then
34. Nf7+ (...Kh7 35. Qxf6 Nxf8 36. Bxf5#) ...Qxf7 35. Qxh6+ (Qh7 36. Qxf8+ Qg8 37. Qxg8#) ...Bh7 36. Rxa8 Nf6 37. Rxf8+ Ng8 38. Rgxg8+ Qxg8 39. Qxh7# (Qf6#).

Mar-13-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  positionalgenius: One of the greatest attacks of all time. This ranks as one of the best WCC games ever.
Oct-11-08   MarvinTsai: Ruy Lopez closed variation seems to be very bad choice for black, according to database. The main practitioner as black is Karpov, playing 66 games of it, scoring 15W/11L. Not bad, but when he played this openning against Kasparov, he lost all of the games! Why did he keep playing closed variation in the world championship matches?
Nov-09-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eyal: It's worthwhile to watch the two Ks discussing this game in http://video.google.com/videoplay?d... (at about 1:15:30 - 1:34:15).

Kasparov mentions the possibility of 24.Qh5 with the nice line 24...Nxe3 25.Qxh6+ Kg8 26.Ng5! gxh6 27.Bh7#, but says he rejected it because of 24...Re5 which stops the attack. Both players agree that 25...Qe8 was Black's decisive mistake and that Nd3 was necessary instead. Kasparov gives several lines to demonstrate how White would conduct the attack in case of 26...Rxh6 27.Nxd6!


click for larger view

27...Qd7 28.Qg4! Qxg4 (28...Rxd6 29.Qh5+ or 28...Qxd6 29.Bxg7+ lead to a quick mate) 29.Nf7+ Kg8 30.Nxh6+ gxh6 31.Rxg4+ Kf7 32.Bg6+ Kg8 33.Bf5+ Kf7 34.Be6+ Ke8 35.Bxd5+ Kd7 36.Bxb7 and White ends a rook up.

27...Qxe1+ 28.Qxe1 Rxd6 29.Qe4 Nd3 30.Qh4+ Kg8 31.Bxg7! Bxg7 32.Qg4 and Black cannot defend g7.

[Another possibility, which Kasparov doesn't mention, is 29...Rh6 30.Bc1 Rh5 31.Rg5! Rh6 32.Rf5]

27...Qh5 28.Rg5! Qxd1 29.Nf7+ Kg8 30.Nxh6+ Kh8 31.Rxd1 c3 32.Nf7+ Kg8 33.Bg6! cxb2 34.Rh5 and Black cannot prevent mate on h8.

[Black can avoid this mate by 33...Nf4 or Ne7, but then White is winning after 34.Bxc3 Nxg6 35.Bxb4 Kxf7 (or 35...Bxb4 36.Rxg6 Kxf7 37.Rb6) 36.Rd7+ Kf6 37.Rxg6+ Kxg6 38.Bxf8 Rxf8 39.Rxb7]

Nov-09-08   slomarko: absolutely fantastic video
Jan-18-09   MartinII: 28.Nxh6!! is one of the most difficult moves to find in chess and this position is even included in the nolot positions.

Nolot is a tough test position for chess engines. The best move, 28.Nxh6!! could only be considered by engines maybe after 2 months of analysis

Feb-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  KingG: I don't know if it's already been pointed out, but a nice coincidence is that 31.Kh2 was also played in this other great sacrifical Ruy Lopez between the two: Kasparov vs Karpov, 1986.
Feb-09-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  KingG: Kasparov vs Karpov, 1986


click for larger view

31.Kh2

Kasparov vs Karpov, 1990


click for larger view

31.Kh2

Mar-16-09   WhiteRook48: they're different positions you know!
Jul-01-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: <WhiteRook48: they're different positions you know!> The point is that it's somewhat similar for White's position.
Sep-24-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: <MarvinTsai: Ruy Lopez closed variation seems to be very bad choice for black, according to database. The main practitioner as black is Karpov, playing 66 games of it, scoring 15W/11L. Not bad, but when he played this openning against Kasparov, he lost all of the games! Why did he keep playing closed variation in the world championship matches?>

He did well - there is no reson to abandon it - Karpov improved on this line and after the match in the same var the the game was a draw. In fact earlier in the game Kasparov had some big problems to solve. Karpov's Kh8 wasted time. And at one point (just before Ng4) Qd7 or some other move meant the position was only= Kasparov missed the quickest win also.

This was a clever game by Kasparov but in the match Karpov also played some great games. Karpov had been World Champion and was past his peak (but still very very strong) - Kasparov was younger. Actually he learnt form playing Karpov and his he was described as The World Champion of Preparation. THAT is what won him the matches.

Karpov in 1974 was easily capable of beating Fischer.

Sep-24-09   AuN1: <<MarvinTsai: Ruy Lopez closed variation seems to be very bad choice for black, according to database. The main practitioner as black is Karpov, playing 66 games of it, scoring 15W/11L. Not bad, but when he played this openning against Kasparov, he lost all of the games! Why did he keep playing closed variation in the world championship matches?>

He did well - there is no reson to abandon it - Karpov improved on this line and after the match in the same var the the game was a draw. In fact earlier in the game Kasparov had some big problems to solve. Karpov's Kh8 wasted time. And at one point (just before Ng4) Qd7 or some other move meant the position was only= Kasparov missed the quickest win also.

This was a clever game by Kasparov but in the match Karpov also played some great games. Karpov had been World Champion and was past his peak (but still very very strong) - Kasparov was younger. Actually he learnt form playing Karpov and his he was described as The World Champion of Preparation. THAT is what won him the matches.

Karpov in 1974 was easily capable of beating Fischer.>

i think the biggest detriment against karpov's game was that he did not have as many players to challenge him and keep him sharp the way that kasparov did when he was on the rise. during his ascent to the throne, karpov only had to deal with the aging soviet gm's, i.e. spassky, petrosian, tal, korchnoi, smyslov, etc. where his game could have been greatly improved were he to have had to face fischer. by the time kasparov came onto the scene, chess was undergoing a transformation which led to much stronger opposition, and training techniques which was part of why garry was able to defeat anatoly every time.

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