CHESS

Impatience

Raymond Keene

Before the world championship match several commentators were predicting a heavy victory for Kasparov, in the order of a three to four point margin. I have avoided making a prediction about the eventual outcome, but when pressed I have tended to suggest that if anything the match will go to its full length, i.e. 24 games. Nothing that has happened with the match already one third over has contra- dicted this assessment. Kasparov started fiercely but looked ropy in game 4, and threw away a probable win by over-hasty play in game 6. In game 7 Karpov reached his best form and struck back to level the scores. Game 8 was a marathon ten-hour draw where both sides missed chances. In this game defence produced a higher level of play than attack.

Kasparov — Karpov: World Championship Fin- al, Game 4.

By superb play Karpov had reached a winning position and could now have crowned his conduct of the game with 39 . . d4! when White's counter-attack with 40 Bf5 fails to 40

. . Qc6+ ! 41 Be4 d3! and White has no good way to proceed. Instead came the terrible blunder 39 . . . Qf7?? 40 Ne7+ Kf8 41 Ng6+ with perpetual check.

For game 5 Karpov played in an apparently boring fashion, but in many respects his conduct of the opening could be regarded as a psycholo- gical masterstroke: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Bet e5 7 Be3 Na6 8 0-0 c6 9 dxe5 dxe5 10 QxdS Rxd8. This position is approx-

imately level and indeed it was drawn in 36 moves. Nevertheless, Black is involved in some tedious footwork to maintain the balance, which evidently was not congenial to Kasparov.

Kasparov — Karpov: Game 6.

Kasparov is a pawn down but clearly has all the pressure. Having made the time control at move 40 he could have looked at this position at his leisure and should probably have done so and sealed his 41st move in order to maximise Karpov's defensive task. Instead Kasparov stu- pidly played 41 Rc8 almost without thinking and after 41 . . . Bg7 42 Re8 (sealed after half an hour's thought) the game was agreed a draw without resumption. On move 41 Kasparov should have sealed 41 Qc8 when his queen and his rook are mobilised for action on both sides of the board. After 41 Rc8 Bg7 Kasparov had probably thought originally that 42 0b3 would win overlooking that 42 . . f5! 43 0f3+ Kh6 44 exf5 Qg 5 gives Black perfectly adequate counterch ances.

And so we come to game 7.

Karpov — Kasparov: Game 7; King's Indian Di defie Nncte6. 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7 Be3 Na6 8 0-0 Ng4 9 Bg5 16 10 Bel Kh8 11 h3 Nh6 12 dxe5 fxe5? Black has to play 12 . dxe5 in this position but Kasparov was possibly deterred by the memory of game 5, where, although he was in no danger, the position was boring to defend. 13 Be3 Nf7 14 Qd2 Nc5 15 Ng5 NxgS 16 BxgS Bf6 17 Be3 Ne6 18 Bg4 h5 The first sign of impatience. Perhaps 18 . . . Bg5 is best, playing to eliminate White's dangerous queen's bishop. 19 Bxe6 Bxe6 20 Nd5 Bh4 21 Racl An alarming idea here is 21 Bxa7 Rxa7 22 Qh6+ Kg8 23 Qxg6+ but this fails to 21 . . . Bxd5 when White can do no more than force a draw. It is interesting though that Kasparov im- mediately takes measures to eliminate such possibilities in the future. 21 . . . Kh7 22 Rc3 Rf7 23 b3 c6 I do not like this move at all since it gratuitously weakens Black's pawn structure in the centre. Black should simply tolerate the presence of the knight on d5 and seek to develop his remaining pieces. 24 Nb4 Rd7 This also looks suspect since Black weakens his presence in the 1' file. Surely 24 . . Bc7 is superior. 25 Reel A typically Karpovian move. He has no memory of previous positions, his earlier moves are like footprints in the sand which vanish and now he feels the rook is better placed on cl in the current position. I can think of no other player who, having played Rcl -c3 four moves earlier would patiently put the rook back to the square it had come from. 25 . . . Bf6 26 f4 exf4 27 Bxf4 Qa5?? This move is a blunder highly reminiscent of Spassky's in the catastrophic 8th game of his match against Bobby Fischer. Everyone now saw exactly what was coming, except perhaps Kasparov. 28 Nd5! Now 28 . . . Qxd2 fails to 29 Nxf6+ while 28 . . Cxd5 fails to 29 Qxa5. Meanwhile 28 . „ Qd8 would be disastrous after 29 Nxf6+ Oxf6 30 Bg5 Qe5 31 Bf6 Qxe4 32 Rcel. Black therefore has no choice. 28 . • • QcS+ 29 Khl This wins rather easily. 29 Be3 looks at first sight to be even more murderous but by a miracle Black hangs on after 29 . • Bg5!! 30 Nf6+ Kh6 31 Bxc5 Bxd2 and there is no way for White to get a decisive advantage. It is hard to tell whether Kasparov had missed 28 Nd5 completely or whether he had only seen this variation and completely underestimated 29 Khl. 29 . . . Bxd5 30 cxd5 Qd4 After this Black is completely lost in a simple technical fashion but if 30 . . . Qb5 31 a4 Qxb3 32 dxc6 bxc6 33 e5 Bg7 34 exd6 gives White an overwhelming position. 31 dxc6 bxc6 32 Rxc6 Also worth considering is 32 Qc2 but the text is quite good enough. 32 . . Re8 33 Rc4 Qxd2 34 Bxd2 Be5 35 Be3 Bg3 36 Rf3 h4 37 B12 Bxf2 38 Rxf2 Rde7 39 Rf4 g5 40 Rf6 Rxe4 41 Rxe4 Rxe4 42 Rxd6 Re7 43 Ra6 Kg7 White sealed Kgl and Black resigned.

Scores after eight games:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total Kasparov 1/2 1

1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2

0

1/2 4

Karpov

1/2

0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 4