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Gedeon Barcza vs Anatoly Karpov
Caracas (1970), Caracas VEN, rd 2, Jun-21
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Botvinnik System Reversed (A37)  ·  0-1

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
0-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

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Given 33 times; par: 61 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Mar-07-02  bishop: Karpov first exchanges both of White's irritating knights, then creates a passed pawn and follows the maxim "passed pawns must be pushed", forcing his opponents resignation.
Mar-08-02
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sneaky: Why 33 ...e4? Why not Bb3 immediately?
Mar-09-02  bishop: 33...Bb3 34.Bc4 Bxc4 35.dxc4 e4 also wins.
Aug-06-04  Jesuitic Calvinist: Karpov made that look easy! Shame it isn't for most of us in our own games.
Sep-14-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Mateo: I remember Tal made some few comments about this game. He said that Karpov knew that Barcza prefered piece was the Knight. So he took every opportunity to exchange both Knights. Tal also said that this game illustrates the theme of the Queen Side passer, which occurs in many games of the young Karpov.
Sep-14-09  Starf1re: By move 5 black has seized the initiative, it seems..... 34) d4 is a blunder, although the situation was probably lost anyway.
Jan-18-22  jerseybob: <Starf1re: By move 5 black has seized the initiative...> I agree. Black is about to make a more flexible King Knight deployment with 6..Nge7, a possibility white has already foresworn with his first move. If it's gonna be an English opening, 1.c4 is the more flexible way to proceed, but since Barcza was a 1.Nf3 specialist(see his famous win vs. Smyslov), he was married to that move order. At this point, white's best might be 8.a3 instead of the time-wasting re-deployment via e1/c2. By the time the "big offensive" is launched with 11.b4, black is well-placed to handle it.
Dec-12-23  Mathematicar: 18...Bh3! Black wants to replace the light-squared Bishop on the e6 square without wasting time. Black will place his queen on d7 or d6 and (hopefully) exchange it without damaging the pawn structure in front of his King.

The position is objectively equal, but Black has a pragmatic advantage. Barcza's 22...cxb5 is a positional blunder that Karpov makes use of.

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