| Dec-23-09 | | Jack Kerouac: I always thought Viktor played very 'brave' chess. He simply would not let you play a safe game. His style of play was almost beligerant. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | Jim Bartle: Right, and he seems like the kind of guy who bangs the clock, though I really have no idea. Looks like Spassky got away with "castling by hand." I'm surprised he could survive with his king so alone in the center. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | Astardis: <Looks like Spassky got away with "castling by hand." > Speaking of it, I feel Korchnoi has a very unsound tendency to avoid castling when it's like the most normal move to play. I can't name a specific game but I seem to remember having had that very thought on many of his games. I wonder if he'll learn to castle, just like all the patzers do, before he turns 90... |
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| Dec-23-09 | | aragorn69: Kamikaze attack by Viktor K. He's always been like that, but with age obviously his flukes are becoming more frequent. Three cheers anyway for the die-hard 64-squares fighter! |
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| Dec-23-09 | | raychandler: This game made no sense. Korchnoi seemed to be playing for a loss. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | chillowack: <raychandler: This game made no sense. Korchnoi seemed to be playing for a loss.> I agree!
I suppose Korchnoi played 13.Nxe5? because he didn't fancy the look of 13.Ng1 Nd4 14.Qb2 (or 14.Qb1), when Black has 14...Nb3 (among others); but sacrificing an entire piece on move 13 with no follow-up attack is not the mark of a legendary grandmaster! One wonders how Viktor could have played into a situation where a howler like 13.Nxe5 would seem the "lesser evil". |
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| Dec-23-09 | | Ulhumbrus: An alternative to 11 e4 is 11 Ng1 transferring the N to e2 and g3 as in the Taimanov variation of the Sicilian defence. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | Skakalec: Korchnois line of thoughts: They played Sicilian, Kan with the oposite colours, which means, white was playing an opening good for black with 1 tempo more, by not castling he has 2 tempi (I hope this is pl.) more which in some situations will justify sacrifice but in this game it might be premature. After Spaski's 7...a6 (which is the same as if white played a3 in Sicilian) I would proceed with "normal" Sicilian plans i.e. 8.Nd5 Qd5 9.b4 or 8.b4 or even d3, Be2, 0-0 etc with good prospects in sight to move e4 or d4 sooner then in normal sicilian played as black. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | Petrosianic: <I'm surprised he could survive with his king so alone in the center.> White could never bring his wood to bear. The Rooks never got connected, there were no open lines in the center, where the King was stuck. You have to be properly developed to take advantage of the kind of weakness Spassky had, otherwise it isn't a weakness. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | weisyschwarz: Korchnoi payed for not developing his d-pawn. It suffocated a lot of play. |
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| Dec-23-09 | | talisman: Lowell Pass called to say "Now you chunking in there Boris." |
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| Dec-23-09 | | mojonera: spassky will win the match. |
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| Dec-24-09 | | kellmano: <Jim Bartle: Right, and he seems like the kind of guy who bangs the clock, though I really have no idea.> This is how he loses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9k5...
Go spaasky! |
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| Dec-24-09 | | Petrosianic: Trying to figure out exactly where White goes wrong here. I think the real villain is 9. Bd3. Maybe Be2 and d3 would have been better, though White has already handed the initiative over to Black. After Spassky's Qd7 and f5, Korchnoi almost has to sac a piece for two pawns. His attempts to avoid it with e4 only made things worse. In the end, he had to sac the piece anyway, to avoid undeveloping his Knight back to g1. He played the attack about as well as you could expect, but he just didn't have enough for the piece. As ugly as it is, maybe he should have just hunkered down with 13. Ng1, and tried to weather the storm. |
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| Dec-25-09 | | Ulhumbrus: On 13 Ng1 one variation is 13...Nd4 14 Qd1 Qc6 15 Bf1 Bxf5 16 Ra2 0-0-0 |
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Jan-24-10
 | | Breunor: Soltis talks about this game in his chess column. He said the breakthrough move was Spassky's 9 Qd7; this sets up the threat of f5 and then e4; so after Korchnoi plays 11 e4, Spassky plays g5. Soltis implies that white is already in trouble here, and that the sacrifice was indeed as Chillowack said, to avoid g4 12 Nd1 Nd4. |
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| Mar-12-12 | | Everett: Korchnoi tries his patented reverse Sicilian, but I feel he has more success with a Dragon set-up. I give Spassky credit for the free-thinking 9..Qd7 with the follow-up plan of k-side pawn pushes. |
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Kibitzing
