CHESS
Fire and ice
Raymond Keene
he Kasparov-Karpov world chess championship match, their fifth, starts in New York on Monday. Any Spectator reader in New York who wants to visit it should contact Macklowe Hotel on 44th Street, near Times Square. The match is being played in the Hudson Theatre of the Macklowe.
Kasparov is generally regarded as the favourite, but in such matches Karpov should never be underestimated. Although Kasparov has a tangible plus score in their individual encounters (plus two, expanding dramatically to plus seven if one only includes results from the past four and a half years), the champion, in spite of his fiery genius, sometimes finds himself im- paled with surprising lack of resistance on the sharp peaks of the Karpovian iceberg.
I give two samples of play to illustrate their respective strengths and weaknesses, Karpov plays too passively in the first extract and is grimly hunted down with some brilliant tactics. The second extract gives evidence of Kasparov's occasional ability to select, prepare and then actually play opening variations which lose by force. He will have to avoid this in New York if he wants to retain his title.
Kasparov — Karpov: Game 22, World Cham- pionship Match, London/ Leningrad 1986; Queen's Gambit Declined.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bx16 Bx16 7 e3 0-0 8 Rd l c6 9 11(13 Nd7 10 0-0 dxc4 11 Bxc4 e5 12 h3 exd4 13 exd4 Nb6 14 Bb3 Bf5 15 Rel a5 16 a3 Re8 17 Rxe8+ Qxe8 18 Qd2 Nd7 19 Qf4 Bg6 20 h4 Qd8 21 Na4 h5 22 Rel b5
23 Nc3 Qb8 24 Qe3 b4 25 Ne4 bxa3 26 Nirf6+ Nief6 27 bxa3 Nd5 28 Bxd5 cxd5 29 Ne5 Qd8 30 QI3 Ra6 31 Rd l Kh7 32 Qh3 Rb6 33 Rc8 Qd6 34 Qg3 a4 35 Ra8 Qe6 Black is forced to yield a pawn due to White's active position. 36 Rxa4 Qf5 37 Ra7 Rb1+ 38 ICh2 Rd l 39 Rb7 Rc2 4013
Position after 40. . . Rd2 Rd2 (Diagram) There now follows a brilliant forcing continuation from White which termin- ates Black's resistance. 41 Nd7 Rxd4 42 Nf8+ KM After this the black king is boxed in, but if 42 . . . Kg8 43 Rb8 wins. 43 Rb4! The decisive coup. If now 43 . . . Rxb4 44 axb4 d4 45 b5 d3 46 b6 d2 47 b7 dl/Q 48 b8/Q Qd2 49 Nxg6 Qxg6 50 Qh8+ Qh7 51 Q3xg7 mate. 43. . . Rc4 43 . . Rd3 was a more stubborn defence, but White still wins with 44 Rb8 Bh7 45 Re8 Rd4 46 Qg5+ Qxg5 47 hxg5 + Kxg5 48 Nxh7+. 44 Rxc4 dxc4 45 Qd6 c3 46 Qd4 Black resigns.
Karpov — Kasparov: Game 5, World Cham- pionship Match, London/Leningrad 1986; Grun- feld Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 Evidence of Kasparov's ability to achieve lost positions from the opening also comes from two other Grunfeld games in this match: Game 17 saw 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nr3 Bg7 5 Qb3 dxc4 6 Qxc4 0-07 e4 Bg4 8 Be3 Nfd7 9 Rdl Nc6 10 Be2 Nb6 11 Qc5 Qd6 12 e5 Qxc5 13 dxc5 Nc8 14 h3 Bxf3 15 Bxf3 Bxe5 16 Bxc6 bxc6 17 Bd4 Bf4 18 0-0 a5 19 Rfel and White soon won: Game 19 went 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Qb3 dxc4 6 Qxc4 0-07 e4 Na6 8 Be2 c5 9 d5 e6 100-0 exd5 11 ex415 Bf5 12 Bf4 Re8 13 Radl Ne4 14 Nb5 Qf6 15 Bd3 Nb4 16 Nc7 Nxd3 17 Nxe8 Rxe8 18 Qxd3 Qxb2 19 Rdel Qb4 20 Nd2 Qa4 21 Qc4 Qxc4 22 Nxc4 with a winning endgame. 4 B14 Bg7 5 e3 c5 6 dxc5 Qa5 7 Rd l NM 8 cxd5 Nxc3 9 Qd2 Qxa2 10 bxc3 Qxd2+ 11 Kxd2 Nd7 12 Bb5 0-0 13 Bxd7 Bxd7 14 e4 f5 15 e5 e6 A new move, but based on a faulty concept. 16 c4 Rfc8 17 c6 bxc6 18 d6 c5?
Position after 18. . c5?
(Diagram) This is a bad mistake. The correct route was taken in Timman — Popovic, Bel- grade 1989 when after 18 . . g5! 19 Bxg5 Bxe5 20 c5 Bg7 21 f4 Rcb8 22 NO h623 Bh4 Rb2+ 24 Rc2 Rb4 led to a draw. 19 h4 Played to discourage . . g5 ideas from Black. 19. . . h6 20 Nh3 a5 2113 a4 22 Rhel Methodical play from White, protecting the e5 pawn. 22. . . a3 23 Nf2 a2 24 Nd3 Ra3 25 Ral g5 26 hxg5 lag5 27 Bxg5 Kf7 28 Bf4 Rb8 29 Reel Bc6 30 Rc3 Ra5 31 Rc2 Rba8 32 Ncl Black resigns.
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