CHESS
Arachnophobia
Raymond Keene
The chess style of Anatoly Karpov lacks the dynamism of Kasparov but his moves are for the connoisseur of gradual- ism. Karpov has been likened to a poison- ous spider, patiently spinning a barely perceptible yet ultimately lethal web. Last week I gave Nigel Short's win against Karpov as part of my preview of the match between the two in the world cham- pionship semi-final which starts today in Linares, Spain. This week I give two of Karpov's wins and the full record of the previous clashes between the two.
Previous results Venue Nigel's Opening Nigel's Colour result
London 1982 B French Draw Brussels 1987 B Queen's Gambit Declined Loss Amsterdam 1988 W Caro-Kann Draw Amsterdam 1988 B Queen's Indian Loss Belfort 1988 B Queen's Gambit Declined Draw Tilburg 1988 W Petroff Draw Tilburg 1988 B Catalan Draw Rotterdam 1989 B Queen's Gambit Declined Draw Linares 1989 W Ruy Lopez Win Lucerne 1989 B Queen's Gambit Declined Loss Skelleftea 1989 W Giuoco Piano Draw Amsterdam 1991 B Queen's Gambit Declined Draw Tilburg 1991 W Vienna Draw Tilburg 1991 B Ruy Lopez Draw Linares 1992 B Dutch Defence Loss
Total Karpov 9 Short 6
One of Nigel's problems will be how to defend against Karpov's habitual queen's pawn opening, 1 d4. In the past, Short has often resorted to the Dutch Defence. Nevertheless, this is of dubious soundness due to the 'tendency for Black to have to weaken his kingside in order to gain counterchances. I doubt, therefore, that this suspect variation will surface for the match, an observation reinforced by Nigel's use of it in the disastrous game against Karpov from the Linares tourna- ment. Patently, Nigel used the Dutch there to avoid giving away his true preparation for the match. Karpov — Short: Brussels 1987; Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 NI3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bxf6 Bxf6 7 e3 0-0 8 Rd l Karpov adopts what had become Kasparov's favourite method, which he used several times during the 1985 and 1986 world championship matches. 8. . . a6 9 a3 c6 10 Bd3 Nd7 11 0-0 b5 12 cxd5 cxd5 13 Ne2 Karpov tries to improve on the game Portisch — Short, Brussels 1986, where 13 Bbl Bb7 14 a4 bxa4 simply led to a speedy draw. 13. . . Bb7 14 Bbl Re8 15 Qd3 g6 16 Rfel Rc8 17 Rxc8 Qxc8 18 h4 e5 This accepts the liability of an isolated queen's pawn but Nigel has seen that he can liquidate it fairly quickly. 19 dxe5 Nxe5 20 Nxe5 Rxe5 21 Nf4 d4 22 Qxd4 Qc6 23 e4 Rc5 24 Qe3 Bxh4 25 Nd3 Rh5 26 Ba2 Bd8 27 Nf4 Rg5 28 Bd5 Qc8 29 Bxb7 Qxb7 30 Nd5 White enjoys a slight advantage of superior centralisation but this is the kind of position one has to be able to defend if one is to be successful in an extended match against Karpov. 30. . . Kh7 31 Qd4 Qc8 32 Rdl Position after 34. . . Kg8
Qe6 33 Rd3 h5 34 R13 Kg8 (Diagram) I was watching this game as it was played and here Karpov almost fell into a trap of his own making. He picked up his rook and started to move it towards 16. He knew that 35 Rf6 Bxf6 36 Nxf6+ would lead to a forced win for White but then he suddenly noticed that 35 Rf6 would be brutally punished by the intermezzo
35 . . . Rxd5. For an instant Karpov's hand hovered over the board holding the rook and then he quickly put this piece down on d3. 35 Rd3 Kh7 36 Rf3 Kg8 37 Kfl Re5 38 Re3 Qd6 39 14 Re8 40 e5 Qe6 41 Kgl Qg4 42 KW Bh4 43 RD Rc8 Nigel cracks under the constant pressure.
Position after 44 Ne3
43 . . . Rd8 is forced. 44 Ne3 (Diagram) Black resigns since 44 . . . Qe6 45 f5 wins a piece for White.
Karpov — Short: Linares 1992; Dutch Defence.
1 d4 15 2 g3 N16 3 Bg2 e6 4 Nh3 Be7 5 0-0 0-0 6 c4 d6 7 Nc3 Qe8 8 Nf4 g5 9 Nd3 Qg6 10 f4 h6 11 d5 Na6 12 b4 exd5 13 Nxd5 Nxd5 14 Bxd5+ Kh7 15 b5 Nc5 16 NxcS dxc5 17 Qc2 a6 18 a4 Rb8 19 fxg5 hxg5 20 Ra3 c6 21 Bg2 Bf6 22 Be3 Bd4 23 Bxd4
Position after 25. . . Be6 cxd4 24 e3 dxe3 25 Rxe3 Be6 (Diagram) 26 g4 Rbe8 27 bxc6 bxc6 28 c5 Qf6 29 Bxc6 Rb8 30 gxf5 BI7 31 Bg2 Rb2 32 Qc3 Qxc3 33 Rxc3 Rd8 34 c6 Rdd2 35 Be4 Re2 36 c7 Rxe4 37 c8Q 1-0.
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