Viktor Korchnoi vs Anatoly Karpov (1978)

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Viktor Korchnoi vs Anatoly Karpov
Karpov - Korchnoi World Championship Match (1978), City of Baguio PHI, rd 21, Sep-12
Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack. Main Line Old Main Line (D37) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 13 times; par: 95 [what's this?]

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Jul-25-03		drukenknight: Two more endgames from the 1978 world champ. This was game 21, that enabled Korchnoi to catch up with his second win, score became 4-2. Keene thought that messed up move was 24...Qe5 and black is unable to defend the q side. I dunno, maybe 31..Rxb2 is the mistake, perhaps 31...a4? The passed pawn on the b file looks fatal after this pt. A major problem is that the K is unable to blockade the passed pawn another problem is that the e pawn eventually kicks out the B. KOrch. apparently missed a stronger continuation in 39 Rc7 since if BxR pxR Rc1 the N will go 41 Nc5 Rxp and N forks K/R. 39 Rc7 was Oscar Panno's suggestion, he was now helping the Korchnoi team since he had slipped into Bagiuo thinly disguised with the title: "journalist." The sealed move was 43 f5 thought to be the only way to make progress. The messed up move according to Keene was 46...h5, they had studied 46...Rb5 and felt that they were beating the Russians (Tal et al) at the end game analysis. Korchnoi said at the press conference: "Lord forgive them. They know not what they do." PResumably a reference to the Russian mistaken end game analysis.

Jul-25-03		drukenknight: The opening contains a novelty 10...Re8 the pt. being 12...Nd4 and it looks tricky having to move that queen back to b1. It looks to be a very tricky opening that karpov has pulled off but when he exchanges on the 15th move this lets all the steam out of it. I wonder if 12...Ng5 would be better looking to sack the B on e3 and create a fork. There is a similar B sack in the sicilian for white. Also on this, the finish has a nice tactical pt. w/ 59...Nd3 since at this pt. if the B falls it is all over. I think this is why the thought h5 was the losing move, that breaking up the k side pawns would allow whites e pawn to hit hit the B. It makes you think, that maybe it would have been better for Karpov to sack the exchange R for N in order to maybe hold off the pawns on the k side with the B vs R?

Jul-25-03		Sylvester: Which was the game where Korchnoi missed a forced checkmate? Was it a really long one?

Jul-25-03		drukenknight: Look it up as the Nimzo Indian that goes 124 moves and is 1/2 1/2. It has comments from us previous. that was game 5 of the match when the match was 0-0.

Dec-03-04		offramp: I truly think that this is one of the best games ever from a World Championship. There were some erors but Kortschnoi showed his super class!

Feb-03-07		Fast Gun: Karpov's 30th move a5?! Would it have been better to exchange on b5 with axb instead of a5? A possible line could be 31. Rxb5 Rxb5 32. Nxb5 Alright so Korchnoi still has a passed pawn on the b-file, but would Karpov have fared better with this line? It is curious that emergence of the pawn on the b-file survives from 30 until move 60 when Karpov resigns !! Quite an achievement to hold onto this straggly pawn that seemed to be doomed:

Apr-09-08		Knight13: Haha Korchnoi must've been like "You pushed me too far!" Like 11...e5 and then ...Nd4 is really stretching it.

Oct-21-12		chezzy: why not 11.b4

Oct-21-12		Shams: <chezzy> 11.b4 Nxb4 12.axb4 Bxb4 13.Rc1 Ne4 14.Be5 f6 looks good enough.

Feb-06-13		vinidivici: <I truly think that this is one of the best games ever from a World Championship. There were some erors but Kortschnoi showed his super class!> Yes, Korchnoi doing good in this game but that just merely an unusual opening from Karpov. He dug too much to get himself in the complex and sharp opening that very unusual to him I think we could blame this loss to the blacks opening. Its so not Karpov style. Just examples: 10...Re8 is a dubious move. The main line is 10...Be7. And i want to know is it any game in this database BEFORE this that put 10...Re8 on the line?....i dont think so. This is dubious novelty After 13...Bf5...black position already vulnerable...the next black move MUST the attack moves (the actual game:e4,Nxc2+), this is forced because the threat of white's b4. And theres another attacking line from black 14...Bxd3 15.Qxd3 Ne4 but after 16.Ncxe4 dxe 17.Qxe4 Nb3 18.Qc2 Nxd2...black would be down a pawn. After 24.Rd1, black just gotten into awry position, and for this kind position theres no such thing about the "good defense", so the best choice is the "least risky" defense. 24...Qe5 (the actual game) , just what we have seen, not also a super-defense. 24...Be7 25.Rd4! Rxd4 26.exd Bf6?? 27.Nxe4 Qd5 28.Nf6+ (1-0) Bf8 lines: 24...Bf8 (according to Korchnoi himself this is the best defense) 25.Rd4 Rxd4 26.exd Qg5 27.Kf1! (not 27.Nxe4 Qd5 Qd3 Qa2...blacks better) Qh6 28.Nxe4 Qxh2 29.g3 (white now slightly better). 25.Rd8 g6 26.Qd2 Kg7(26...Qe5 27.Ra8 Kg7 28.Rxa7...white a pawn up) 27.Rd4 Qc8 28.Rxe4 Bxa3 29.Rxc4 Qxc4 30.bxa...whites better. This just a bit of the variations that shows black weak game over the match because the dubious opening. And that made black so hard to seek the initiative coming the mid-game. This is a good win from white but not in the picturesque style.

Jun-30-14		Howard: This game is analyzed in the new book Korchnoi: Move by Move.

Dec-29-15		zanzibar: <Howard> Did Korchnoi mention the story told here? You mentioned that Keene mentioned it, but I wonder about the K-man himself? Kibitzer's Café (kibitz #167400) Kibitzer's Café (kibitz #167411)

Oct-01-17		Howard: Trying to remember...I think NIC mentioned in its write-up on Korchnoi when he died, that there were a couple of errors near the very end--one by Karpov, and one by Korchnoi. Remind me to dig up that issue.

Oct-07-17		Trammy Cotch: 15 ♗ f1!

Oct-07-17		mcgee: Yes, 15 Bf1 looks like a killer. This game is in Korchnoi's My Best Games With White: I'll have a look and see what (if anything) he wrote about that. Still a great effort by Korchnoi to win this one though.

May-29-18		Toribio3: Korchnoi played like Capablanca. The game is very instructive.

Nov-25-18		Ibisha Biscotto: totally sweet

Apr-29-20		joddon: crazy game!craziest game ever!no doubt!

May-09-21		tbontb: In the middlegame 22.f4 Qf6 23.Ne4 Qg6 24.Nf6+ Qxf6 25.Qxf5 seems stronger than Kortschnoj's 22.Nxf5. The ending looks very promising for White once the pawn gets to b7 but it is not easy to make further progress. As played, after 55....g4 56.e5 White wins by a series of precise moves, culminating in the problem-like 59.Nd3. Instead, a defence such as 55....Rf1+ 56.Kxg5 Rg1+ 57.Kh4 Rb1 58.Kg4 Rg1+ 59.Kf3 Rb1 60.Rd8 Bh2 61.Kg4 Kg6 62.Rg8+ Kh7 63.Re8 Bd6 64.e5 also proves insufficient.

Jun-30-22		cormier: depth=43 \| Komodo 2901.00 +1.93 15. Bf1 Ng4 16. Qc1 h6 17. b4 Qxa3 18. bxc5 hxg5 19. h3 Nf6 20. exd4 Qb4 21. Be2 e3 22. O-O exd2 23. Rxd2 dxc4 24. Rb2 Qa5 25. Bxc4 Ne4 26. Rxb7 Qxc3 27. Bxf7+ Kh7 28. Bxe8 Rxe8 29. Rd1 Qa5 30. f3 Bc8 31. Rb1 Nc3 32. Qc2+ g6 33. Re1 Rxe1+ 34. Rxe1 Nd5 35. Re5 Qa1+ 36. Kh2 Qxd4 37. Qe4 Qxe4 38. fxe4 Nb4 39. Re8 Ba6 40. Re7+ Kh6

Jun-30-22		cormier: depth=37 \| Komodo 2901.00 +0.36 14... Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Ne4 16. cxd5 Nxc3 17. bxc3 Nb5 18. O-O Nd6 19. Nc4 Nxc4 20. Qxc4 Rac8 21. Bh4 Bd6 22. Qg4 Kh8 23. Rb1 Rc7 24. c4 b6 25. Rb3 Qa4 26. Rc3 Qa5 27. c5 Rxc5 28. Qd7 Rg8 29. Rxc5 Qxc5 30. Qxf7 Qxa3 31. Bg3 Qc5 32. Qxa7 Qxd5

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