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Viktor Korchnoi vs Zoltan Ribli
"Ribli's Believe it or Not" (game of the day Oct-09-2015)
Reggio Emilia (1987/88), Reggio Emilia ITA, rd 6, Jan-01
Semi-Slav Defense: General (D43)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Apr-26-05  Saph: A connected, well-organised army against scattered forces. If Korchnoi couldn't make it work, I certainly can't.
Apr-26-05  BlazingArrow56: Zoltan, what a sweet name.
Apr-26-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  cu8sfan: Lol! What a great pun! Although I hate that TV show. I've never been able to watch it. I'd rather watch the 48-hour Waltons marathon than one half hour of Ripley's.
Apr-26-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  mahmoudkubba: If this Zoltan is a bad boy or a teenage boy then this game is rubbish. It is just to tell this Zoltan that he is powerful while he is not! white was wining till a special move wasn't he?? apart from the fact that rebel mean revenge sometimes as far as my knowledge tells me..
Apr-26-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  mahmoudkubba: Also the name might refers to our grandfather Jodem he was a zoltan (Sultan) in some way or another if bad or good he was???? (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Apr-26-05  caballos2: I don't think white had a straight win, mahmoud. If so, what "special move" do you mean? And what does Jodem mean?
Apr-26-05  Everett: Why not 23.Rca1?
Apr-26-05  Castle In The Sky: What is a "CBM"-is it a blind match-so Korchnoi played this blindfolded?
Apr-26-05  WMD: To my mind, it means Chessbase Magazine.
Apr-26-05  Shokwave: What would 23Rca1 accomplish? Yes, you doubled the rooks...but to what end? There doesn't seem to be any way to use the doubled rooks, and black gains a tempi for free. After Qxd4 you can't play Rxb5, or after the exchanges the simple Ne5 gives black nice play. 23.Re1 threatens a rook lift that freezes the black N in place protecting e5....I would have played Rd1, but then an immediate Nf6 or Rfd8 with threats of Nf6 or an eventual Ne5 if the pawn advances all look iffy. Actually, I don't know how white can respond to the impending Rfd8 anyway.

Standard disclaimer: I am a total patzer.

Apr-26-05  kevin86: The great Russian player couldn't squirm out of this one.The two central pawns will have him for lunch.
Apr-26-05  Rama: Joltin' Zoltan!

I don't like 47. Kc4. Why not 47. b5 followed by 48. Be8. This would allow the Bishop to cover the b-pawn and maybe assist the King in holding the black pawns, from the square c6.

Admittedly it looks hopeless in the long run but there is always the chance of a mistake. For the Knight to cover the (dark) queening square c8, it will have to land on a white square which maybe the Bishop can cover. That leaves the Kings to duke it out on the other side and the Bishop would have to do double-duty, maybe get overworked...a very tough game to play and lose.

Apr-26-05  Shams: <Rama> 47.b5 Kc5 48.Be8 Nc7 and black wins the pawn straight off.
Apr-26-05  Ezzy: <Rama- Shams> If 47 b5?? then 47..Nf4+ and it's goodbye to the Bishop!! - I think 17 Nd6+ was not so good, leaving whites pawn at the mercy of blacks pieces. 42 Bc4 is bad because white needed that square for his king, to stop black infiltrating with his king!
Apr-26-05  Shams: <Ezzy> heh-- yeah, there's that too.
Apr-26-05  patzer2: After White's 9. e4?!, Black's technique in turning White's hanging pawns into a pair of weak isolated pawns is IMHO the main factor in turning this game in Black's favor.
Apr-26-05  Bishops r power: Korchnoi sucks!
Apr-26-05  patzer2: Korchnoi was one of the few players to give Karpov a run for his money in his prime, and is by far the strongest player his age still playing. By one account he scared the old Soviet Union enough that they actually tried to make threats against his family to influence a match against Karpov. If you think Korchnoi in his prime was weak, then there are not many other stronger players left to admire.
Apr-26-05  patzer2: Black could have put White away quicker with 42... e5+! 43. Kd3 Nd5 44. g3 Kc5 45.Bb3 f5 , but his advantage was so overpowering he could afford to take time for subtle maneuvers and still win anyway.
Apr-26-05  curiosity: Korchnoi would have been world champ if not for politics.
Apr-27-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: <mamoudkubba> the "pun' they (Chessgames -not us - the kibitzers!!) use refers to a famous book called "Ripley's Believe it or Not" [Hence:"Ribli's Believe it or Not"] (its a good/fun book with all sorts of "facts" -"amazing facts" in it - although some of the "facts" are not too accurate) [here is one I recall - 'A hot water pipe freezes more quickly than a cold water pipe' -lol] but Ribli was a strong GM -no one thinks badly of him - the pun is just for humour... its what we call "playing with words" - no "bad" or "hurtful" intention is meant.

White wasn't winning teh game always - it was about even - then Ribli slowly gained the advantge on the Quenside (and broke up Korchnoi's pawns in the centre) - all he had to do was to (but that doesn't mean that it's easy to do) block White's Q-side (after he had used his own Q-side pawn phalanx) and then use his k-side majority -but that isnt always a win he also had some space advantage and was a pawn up - still it wasn't so easy..he showed great ability.

Ribli was from Hungary I think.

Apr-27-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  cu8sfan: <a famous book called "Ripley's Believe it or Not"> I only remember a TV show called by that name. It was terrible as it always involved people doing gross things that involved either slimey insects, body openings, things that grow, sharp and pointed objects or a combination of them. Disgusting, really.
Apr-27-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  cu8sfan: <Bishops r power: Korchnoi sucks!> He used to be number one or two in the world and at his age he's still going strong. And unless you're a strong GM he'd beat you any time today or ten years from now and probably even when he's dead a long time from now.
Apr-27-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: < Ripley's is a book also> there are a whole series of Ripleys Believe it or Nots ( well..I assume there are as - new "facts" are gathered all the time I suppose) so to speak - I know I am a bookseller (well from the one I saw and priced I assumed there are a series of them -lol) - of rare and quality used books etc - but the book is great to read if you want some triva which I do now and then - I recall though that the expression for the higest number expressed by three digits was expressed wrongly - it is 9 to to the power of 9 all to the power of 9 (something like that -it's in Peter Wells's book on numbers) - who wrote some Chess books and is/was a strong Chess player) but the way it was written in Ripleys (the indicial notation) was wrong but finding it wrong (or thinking I had found it wrong! (as expresed in one of the Ripleys) ) was fun -great fun they are the Ripleys....believe it or not!
Apr-27-05  BlazingArrow56: <RT>Hot water really does freeze faster than cold!
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