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Zoltan Ribli vs Anatoly Karpov
"The Talented Mr. Ribli" (game of the day Mar-27-2007)
Amsterdam IBM (1980), Amsterdam NED, rd 6, Jul-03
Catalan Opening: Closed Variation (E06)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Oct-05-05  Runemaster: A big victory by Ribli against Karpov at his absolute best. And in Karpov's own style.
Mar-27-07  nimzo knight: what a zugzwang!
Mar-27-07  thathwamasi: pls could someone explain the pun..
Mar-27-07  Manic: The pun refers to the movie (and book?) "The Talented Mr. Ripley"
Mar-27-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  JointheArmy: <thathwamasi> "The Talented Mr. Ripley" was a movie with Matt Damon and Jude Law. I loved the scene where they showed the opera in some sort of Russian death in the snow.
Mar-27-07  BipolarChessorder: hahaha! That was a good pun, chessgames!
Mar-27-07  teak poker: <thathwamasi> A few years back, there was a Matt Damon movie named "The Talented Mr. Ripley". Never saw it...
Mar-27-07  Oxford: "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is also a book by Patricia Highsmith.
Mar-27-07  unluckythirtyfive: Does anyone else think that that was an interesting endgame? Did anatoly have drawing chances?
Mar-27-07  outplayer: The movie with Matt Damon is the second version. The first version was filmed in the 1960 and starred Alain Delon as Ripley.
Mar-27-07  aktajha: Beautiful, another win with the Catalan.

Chessgames.com and Grandmasters...would you please stop playing the Catalan?? Next to Ruy Lopez this is my opening of choice (yes, I've something going with those Hispanians) with white and overpopularizing it, isn't really good for me. Two years ago, no-one knew of it and now everybody plays it.

Mar-27-07  Sibahi: With a name like "Zoltan" I would've expected a pun like "1980: A Chess Odyssey" ..
Mar-27-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Mateo: The final position is a nice example of zugswang. 55…g5 (only move) 56.fxg5 Kxg5 57.e7 Re8 58.Rd8, White wins.
Mar-27-07  aragorn69: Nice pun!
Mar-27-07  kevin86: Location is a big part of thegame of chess. Move the ewo white pawns one file to the right (at move 48) and you would have an almost certain draw.

The ewnding is not zugzwang,but is a winner in post haste:If the black rook moves,♖f7 is mate;If the king moves,♖f7+ would force the exchange of rooks and create a super passed pawn;while a pawn advance would be followed by an exchange and ♖f7-cutting of the black king from any future interference.

Strange,the winning move in all three cases is ♖f7!!!

Mar-27-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Mateo: <kevin 86> <The ewnding is not zugzwang> Yes it is, because whatever Black plays he loses, but if it is White to play, Black does not lose immediately.
Mar-27-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  fm avari viraf: This is one of the best games of Ribli winning against the former World Champion Karpov. Ribli superbly conducted the middle game as well as the end game where even Karpov could not survive.
Mar-27-07  twin phoenix: wow. it took me a while to understand 40. K-e4. think i see why black dare not take the pawn offered. a subtle move...
Mar-27-07  YouRang: When Karpov played 42...Rh2, he might have assumed white would just exchange pawns, 43. Rxa4 Rxh4, with decent drawing chances for Black. But Ribli found the clever <43. Ra6!> (diagram:black to move):


click for larger view

If <43...Rxh4?>, then 44. Ne5! threatening the pinned bishop.

If black tries to save the bishop with 44...Ke6, then 45. Nc4 wins it anyway, since the bishop is still pinned.

If black tries to save AND unpin the bishop with 44...Ke7, then 45. Nxg6+ forks and wins the rook.

Karpov saw these hazards, and played <43...Kf7>, but after the ensuing knight-for-bishop exchange, white emerged with a stronger king & rook position than he'd have had he just swapped pawns.

Mar-27-07  Timex: Good endgame technique
Mar-28-07  ALEXIN: <wow. it took me a while to understand 40. K-e4. think i see why black dare not take the pawn offered. a subtle move...> Thanks for explanation ! So 40.Rxf2 is probably prohibed because 41.Knd8 threating mate.
Mar-28-07  twin phoenix: Alexin, yep you got it!
Mar-31-07  gambitfan: Endgame: ♖+♙♙♙ // ♖+♙♙
May-26-08  whiteshark: The final e-♙ advantage looks like a guided tour.
May-26-08  whiteshark: * advance
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