Chess
Title prospects
David Goodman
After the last round of the Phillips and Drew/GLC Tournament, I spoke with Karpov about, among other things, his forthcoming world championship match with Kasparov, scheduled for September in Moscow. Karpov said that znart from his 11th round loss to Torre, given in last week's Spectator, he was pleased with his performance in the tournament. He stated that he and Kasparov were 'clearly the two best players in the world' and added that the match would be 'very interesting'. He cited Kasparov's fine tournament results in 1983, but said that Kasparov's play had been 'inferior' in the Candidates' matches against Korchnoi and Smyslov. `Kasparov is more of a tournament player than a match player'.
This kind of statement is an important part of the pre-match psyching-up process and there is clearly some truth in it. However, Kasparov mopped up very effi- ciently once he got going against Korchnoi, and part of being a good match player is the ability to make your opponents play badly, and in this respect Kasparov was quite suc- cessful. Most observers, including myself, think that the coming match will be very close. It is precisely because of the tension between the players, their contrasting styles and the possibility of the world champion being unseated that the contest is generating so much excitement.
Just before the London tournament, Karpov won a strong category 13 event in Oslo. He played very solidly, quickly draw- ing all his games with the Black pieces and only pressing for wins with White. England's Tony Miles led at the halfway stage, but was beaten by Karpov in their crucial round 6 encounter. Miles, who won the most games in the tournament, remain- ed in contention, but had to settle for second after losing in round 8 to Wedberg. Most notable was the impressive perfor- mance of 16-year-old Norwegian Interna- tional Master,' Agdestein, who came ahead of two 2600 plus players, Hort and Hubner.
Oslo Tournament, April 1984
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ttl 1 Karpov X 1 V2 1/2 1
V2 1 1/2 1/2 6 2 Miles 0 X 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 0 1 51/2 3 Makarichev 1/2 0 X
I
yi
1/2 1/2 1 1 51/2 4 de Firmian
1/2 1/2
0 X 1 1/2
1/2
V2 .•1 ,0 4% 5 Agdestein 0 0
1/2
0 X'/ 1/2 1 1 1 4'/ 6 Adorjan
1/2 1/2 1/2
1/2 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 4'/2 7 Hubner
1/2
0
1/2
1/2 1/2 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 1/2 4 8 Hon 0
1.6
1/2
0 1/2 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 3'/ 9 Wedberg
1/2
1 0 0 0
1/2
1/2 1/2 X 1/2 3'/2 10 Amason
1/2
0 0 1 0
1/2
1/2 1/2 1/2 X 3'/2
Karpov — Miles: Oslo, Round 6,- Caro-Kann Defence.
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Nxf6 + gxf6 6 c3 Bf5 7 Nf3 Nd7 8 Bf4 Qb6 9 Bd3 An im- portant new move. In the 1983 BBC Master Game final, Miles beat Karpov in the same open- The Spectator 26 MaY 1984 mg. In that game, Karpov tried 9 b4 but Black gained active counterplay after 9 . 0-0-0 11 Bet h5 (see Spectator, 19. e5 i
Novel
3r beg 1983). 9 . . . Bxd3 10 Qxd3 Qxb2 Accepting the challenge. 11 0-0 Qa3 To discourage c3-c4. I,: Rfbl Nb6 13 Bc7 Another possibility is 13 RhJ Qa6 14 Obi followed by a4-a5 and Bc7. 13 • •„; Bh6 To stop Nd2-c4. 14 Bxh6 axb6 15 Rxb6 Its; 16 Rabl 0-0 17 Rxb7 Qxa2 18 g3 e6 19 Kg2 RI° 20 Rd7 Be3 21 Rfl Bh6 22 Rel Karpov, serisia8 some hidden tactics in the position, rejects draw by repetition with 22 Rbl. 22 . . . Qb3n v
1
Black tries 22 . . . Qb2 then White has 23 Rxeli Rxc3 (23 • . fxe6 24 Qxh7 mate) 24 Qf5 Rxf3 41 Qxf3 fxe6 27 Qe4. For this reason Black shoula defend his 7th rank with 22 . . Ra7. 23 d5I exd5 If 23 . . cxd5 then 24 Rxe6 fxe6 25 Qxhrl iflatei After 23 . . Qxc3 24 Qxc3 Rxc3 25 dxe6 fxe6 Rxe6 White has a better ending. He controls the 7th rank, Black's 'c' pawn is weak and White, threatens Nh4-f5. 24 Qf5 Qxc3 25 Reel Qd; White was threatening 26 Ne5 and if • • • fxe then 27 Rxf7. 26 Qxf6 Qg6 27 Qxg6 hxg6 27 - fxg6 strips the 7th rank allowing 28 Ne5 followed by 29 Ng4. 28 Ne5 Bg5 29 Rxf7 Rxf7 30 Nxii_,B,.7 31 Nh6+ Kh8 32 Rd6 Bg7 33 Nf7 + Kg8 3411% Threatening Rd8 + and Ne6. 34 . ' . Ra8 35 11.s,.c,, d4 36 Rxg6 Kh8 37 Rd6 Re8 38 rsif3 Bol" resigns. The 'd' pawn drops off as 38 • • • 144 allows 39 Rd8+ and 40 Ng5 + .
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