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Ortvin Sarapu vs Viktor Korchnoi
Sousse Interzonal (1967), Sousse TUN, rd 23, Nov-15
Four Knights Game: Nimzowitsch (Paulsen) (C49)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-26-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: Gutsy play by Sarapu (not that one can really blame him).
Nov-19-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: LOL! Bit of a fizzer - but such is chess!
Oct-18-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: This game was played in the last round. The draw gave Korchnoi a tie for second place and, more importantly, qualified him for the Candidates matches. Sarapu, who lost 14 of his 21 games in this event, was doubtless happy to get a quick draw against so formidable an opponent and to avoid last place by the narrowest possible margin.
Oct-18-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: One of the curiosities of this line is that in this DB, White has not booked a single win from the position where the peace treaty was signed, as against two losses:

Games Like O Sarapu vs Korchnoi, 1967

Oct-18-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <FSR>, that line was a favourite of Joseph L Shipman, though in the two or three instances I saw him enter that ending in the mid 1980s, he was ground down by strong (2350+) players. Not every game was like the smash vs Weber.
Oct-18-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: I'm not surprised. White is blatantly playing for a draw in this line. When one plays with that mindset, one is unlikely to win. I haven't checked, but I expect that the White players were also lower rated than their opponents.

A similar line, also in the Four Knights, occurs after 4...Nd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.dxc3. Opening Explorer shows that if Black tries to keep the game alive with 8...Bc5 or 8...c6 (rather than the irenic 8...Qe5+), he is about thrice as likely to win as White is. Some of Black's wins: R B Estera vs Marshall, 1913 M Marchand vs Kostic, 1919 A Palmi vs Kashdan, 1934 B de Jonghe vs Nunn, 1972 S Zagrebelny vs Onischuk, 1998 A Rizouk vs Shirov, 2001 Short vs Kramnik, 2011.

Oct-18-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: <perfidious> Weber essayed the very dangerous pawn grab 7...cxd2+ and got smashed. J Shipman vs Weber, 1985. In retrospect, that was foolhardy. Black has to play for a win more slowly.
Oct-18-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <FSR>, that game was annotated in NIC. My copy is somewhere amidst the mothballs.
Oct-18-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: <perfidious> It's funny. Joe comes out of that game looking like a tactical god, but no doubt he began the game simply intending to grovel a quick draw.

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