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Anatoly Karpov vs Ulf Andersson
"Keep the Ulf from the Door" (game of the day Jun-19-2016)
Wch U20 fin-A (1969), Stockholm SWE, rd 3, Aug-20
Spanish Game: Closed Variations. Chigorin Defense (C97)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-06-13  Chickhen: the position after 57...Re8 is a puzzle on chesstempo. it's rated 1670 yet karpov didn't see the mate.
Dec-06-13  Everett: <Chickhen: the position after 57...Re8 is a puzzle on chesstempo. it's rated 1670 yet karpov didn't see the mate.>

He didn't need to see it, he built a position where nearly any sensible move wins, which is a lot more than a 1670 can do vs Andersson.

Oct-18-14  zanzibar: Finding that M7 on <ChessTempo> is a kind of Spanish Torture, the fun kind.

Really hard to see, some amazing coordination/maneuversing of the two knights and a double sacrifice in order to draw the king into the "corner" (plus a late entry of the queen for a x-ray finish):

(Pre-move: 57.Nf5xh6 Rb8-e8)


click for larger view

(Black to move and mate)

Oct-18-14  DWINS: <who> and <Brown>, chess programs have come a long way since 2005. I had Stockfish 5 look at the position after 51...Qxa4 which Fritz evaluated as even. Stockfish 5 evaluates it as totally winning for White after 51...Qxa4 52.Qf1 Kh7 53.Kh2 Nc2 54.Qd1 Rb2 55.Ne7 Re8 56.Qd3+ Kh8 57.Ne4 (3.91). I'm sure the evaluation will change again if we check with the latest chess engines in another decade.
Jan-19-15  Cedroke: The Road to Nowhere
Aug-18-15  TBozMac18: I haven't yet read all of the comments, so forgive me if this has been said, but is 39...Na2! not a good move that blows open the b-file possibilities and leaves white with some very tough decisions?
Jan-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Jonathan Sarfati: Karpov shows that the N outpost on b4 leaves it out of play. He put this principle to good use decades later in Karpov vs Korchnoi, 2006
Jun-19-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Take an inventory starting at 32...Na6 of the moves by the White Knight standing at f3 from 33.Nd2 to 46.Ng3. Amazing, in its quiet fashion.

People have suggested that 33...Rb4 would have given Black good play for the Exchange sacrifice, but I have a question--does Karpov have no choice but to accept? May he just let it sit there?

Jun-19-16  waustad: Playing through this it was obvious how important a knight at f5 would be. I'm yet again impressed how much better great players handle the obvious than players of my skill do.
Jun-19-16  Octal: Playing the Spanish Torture against Karpov Anderssen's first mistake.
Jun-19-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: I wonder if Ulf loses if he doesn't open up the f file? The dominoes seem to fall after he plays f5.
Jun-19-16  The Kings Domain: Slow, positional game by the two young masters. It tells on the skill of the combatants that after a generation from the time this game was played they were both on the top 10.
Jun-19-16  Jack Kerouac: Back again. Was Eraser Head.
Now the Chess Icon. Right.
Jun-19-16  thegoodanarchist: This is one of those real "grandmaster" type games where class players don't understand half of what goes on.
Jun-20-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: A great game by Karpov, the future champion!
Jun-20-16  Howard: Yes, I recall nominating this game for GOTD about a year ago.

According to that first volume on Karpov's games, which went up through 1985, this was probably his best game from the 1960's. Don't recall who penned that volume, but the second volume was called The Prime Years.

Jun-20-16  RookFile: Games like this show why today's players go for those defenses like the Ruy Lopez Berlin or Petrov where black gets ...Nxe4 in. It's just brutal to try to play a strong point defense like this and have white pound on you for 60 moves.
Jun-20-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  NM JRousselle: What a magnificent game! I could play over this game every day and never tire of it.
May-24-18  Saniyat24: Poor Ulf...!
May-13-20  gammarus: The game is also included in Jörg Hickl's "The power of pawns", in a chapter on rooks, under the title "The unimportant file":-).
May-13-20  gammarus: Between moves 37 and 43, White can execute his plan of exchanging the light-squared bishops (including five preparatory moves in a row to first switch the positions of his queen and bishop then move the knight to h2) without any interference by Black.
Nov-29-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  woldsmandriffield: At difficult game to assess but overall it seems to fall short of being a strategic masterpiece and arguably highlights one of Karpov's weaknesses.

The opening & early middlegame go well (the plan of 19 Nh2, 20 h4 & 21 h5 gaining space on the K-side). Andersson is obliged to allow an enemy Knight to establish itself on g6. He does retain though retain some trumps: control of the b-file, a weakness on a4 to aim at, & the possibility of a ..f5 pawn break. Andersson's darks-squared & Karpov's light-squared Bishop are both poor.


click for larger view

The most direct approach here is 34 Qe3 followed by f4 eg 34..Qe8 35 f4 exf4 36 Qxf4 augmenting the range of the Bc3 and preparing Bg4 exchanging the bad for the good light-squared Bishop. But Karpov preferred to go 34 Re3 when the question is whether Black can try 34..f5. It looks like the answer is no: 35 f4! exf4 36 Nxf4 keeps control. So delaying the breakthrough and manoeuvring further looks the right decision.


click for larger view

Compared to the last diagram, Black stands worse: Andersson has put his King on f7 and the Nh7 is loose. Hence 40 f4 or 40 Nf5 look correct - with 40 Nf5 exploiting the Nh7 (40..Bxf5 41 exf5 Qxf5? 42 Bxb4 Rxb4 43 Bd3 Qd7 44 Bxe7 & Bxh7). Karpov again decides to manoeuvre, laying to exchange light squared Bishops with 40 Nf1 since 40..f5? 41 Nxe7 Kxe7 42 exf5 followed by f4 is not possible.

But after 40 Nf1 Bd8 41 Nh2? Andersson had a chance to strike a blow for freedom with 41..f5!


click for larger view

Black is well-placed to mount this break whereas the Nh2 is misplaced. White probably has to sacrifice on e5 eg 42 Bxe5 dxe5 43 Nf3 - very un-Karpovian - when the position is unclear.

Andersson instead went 41..Kg8 but after 42 Bg4 the break 42..f5 was sill possible, whereas 42..Ng5 as played is losing.

In this game, Karpov went for a bit too much positionally but wasn't punished by his opponent.

Nov-29-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  woldsmandriffield: There is a photo of this game in progress after 27 a4 was played. Does anyone know how to upload images to games in chessgames.com?
Aug-08-21  tjipa: After move 59... Pretty cool to see an actual zugzwang when the board is still full of pieces.
Aug-08-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: <tjipa: After move 59... Pretty cool to see an actual zugzwang when the board is still full of pieces.>

Well, black is totally paralysed but I am not sure, whether this can be classified as actual zugzwang, as being white's turn in the same position, he can win quite easily, for example 1.Ng5+ Kh6 2.Re6 threatening with 3.Qe4 Kxg5 4.Qf5+ Kh4 5.Ng6+ Kg3 6.Qf3#.

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