Today is a good day to look at a chess game. The post of Tuesday, March 1st featured a Dragon Sicilian between Jeremy Silman and John Fedorowicz and here is another Dragon Sililian. This one was played between Karpov and Korchnoi in the Final Candidates match in Moscow in 1974.
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In that match Anatoly Karpov defeated Viktor Korchnoi by a score of +3 -2 =19 and thereby became Bobby Fischer's challenger for the World Championship.
However, as we all know, Fischer chickened out of playing the match against Karpov and on April 3, 1975, FIDE President Max Euwe declared that Fischer had forfeited his title and Karpov was the new World Champion. Karpov later attempted to set up match with Fischer, but the negotiations fell through.
I don't think Fischer would have beaten Karpov and both Karpov and Garry Kaspatov agree with me. Boris Spassky thought Fischer would have won, but that Karpov would have qualified again and beaten Fischer in 1978.
By the time the Karpov-Kaspaov match rolled around in 1984, Fischer was so out of touch that he believed the games were fabricated using computers. Actually, at that time chess computers were good, they were starting to beat masters, but they were nowhere near world championship level and they had weaknesses that experienced correspondence players were able to take advantage of.
And, when Fischer's farcical "World Championship" rematch with Spassky rolled around in 1994, neither Fischer nor Spassky were among the FIDE's top one hundred rated players. On the July 1994 list the bottom six players were Larry Christiansen, Alexander Huzman, Alexander Ivanov Zdenko Kozul, Henrique Mecking, Gilberto Milos and Alexander Morozevich, all rated at 2575. By comparison Kasparov (#1) was rated 2815 and Karpov (#2) 2780.
In 1974, Karpov qualified by defeating Spassky and Korchnoi by defeating Petrosian in the Candidates Semifinal. This match was, in effect, for the World Championship. Karpov jumped to what seemed to be an insurmountable three-point lead after 17 games, but then faded and barely managed to win by a single point.
Anatoly Karpov–Viktor Korchnoi1–0B77Candidates Final, Moscow2Moscow URS18.09.1974Stockfish 14.1
Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack 1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 g6 Korchnoi was probably the strongest player of the day who still played
the Dragon. He used it against the best players in the world. 6.e3 g7 7.f3 c6 8.d2 0-0 9.c4 In Karpov's younger days he employed a more attacking
style than the safety first style he became famous for. So, that he played
this instead of 9.O-O-O came as something of a surprise. d7 10.h4 For some
reason in How To Reassess Your Chess author Jeremy Silman gives white's move
as 10.O-O-O, but the moves transpose into the game after 12.Nc4. The move
order given here is at it appeared in the November 1974 issue of Chess Life
and Review. c8 Beginning immediate counterplay on the c-file. 11.b3 11.g4 attacking at once is a losing move! xd4 and the B on c4 is lost, so... 12.xf7+ xf7 13.xd4 and white has lost a whole piece. 11...e5 12.0-0-0 c4 13.xc4 xc4 14.h5 The Rs need open files so Karpov sacrifices a
P to open the h-file. xh5 15.g4 15.xh5 is unsound. gxh5 16.d3 c8 17.h1 a5 18.b1 xc3 19.bxc3 c8 20.d2 and while white is only a P down,
he has what should be a lost position. 15...f6 This position was reached
in the fourth game of the 1971 Candidates Quarterfinal Geller-Korchnoi match. 16.de2 The retreat of the N from the center is explained thus: The square
c3 is very important for white's pieces, but is is becoming the focus of
black's attention and typical exchange sacrifices on c3 often take place.
Therefore, the point is to strengthen the N on c3. Also, the N on e2 can
easily be transferred to the attack on the K-side. 16.h6 This is too
hasty, but Black still needs to play vigorously and sac the exchange to gain a
good position. xe4 17.e3 xc3 18.bxc3 f6 19.xg7 xg7 20.h2 a5 21.b3 xa2 22.xe7 a3+ 23.b1 e8 24.xd6 xd6 25.xd6 h6 26.d4 e5 27.b2 b5 28.d2 c4 29.d1 d5 30.a1 b6 31.d8 a6 32.b3 e3 33.a5 e1 34.c5 e7 35.d6 e1 36.c7 c4+ 37.b2 a4+ 38.a3 b5 39.xc4 a1+ 40.b4 bxc4 41.a6 h5 42.gxh5 b1+ 43.xa4 Black resigned. Efim Geller-Viktor
Korchnoi/Moscow 1971 16...a5 This seems to be black's best move, but
white still has the more promising attack. 17.h6 This is a typical
maneuver. The B on g7 must be exchanged in order for white to develop his
attack. Black's B is the only defender of the dark squares surrounding the K
and its long reach on the diagonal makes it effective in black's Q-side attack.
xh6 17...h8 Sacrificing the exchange was a thematic move of Soviet
master Vladimir Simagin. It is interesting. 18.xf8 xf8 19.e3 c6 20.b1 c5 21.xc5 xc5 22.f4 bur here also white has the better game. 18.xh6 fc8 Clearly white is attacking on the h-file and black on the c-file. 19.d3 Up until this point both players had been blitzing out their moves. Now,
after this move which was home preparation, Korchnoi sank into deep thought.
The move defends against the possibility of black trying a double exchange
sacrifice on c3. At the same time it fewws the N on e2 for the attack in some
lines. 19.d5 This is also good. c7 20.d3 a5 21.b1 e6 22.a3 c5 23.g3 f2 24.ge2 b5 25.g5 h5 26.f4 xc3 27.bxc3 c5 28.xh5 gxh5 29.xh5 e5 30.f4 h8 31.f6+ exf6 32.gxf6 1-0 Paehtz,E (2489) -Gaponenko, I
(2415)/Mamaia 2016 19.g5 This immediate attempt to break through runs into
h5 and white's attack has come to a standstill. For example... 20.d5 b6 21.g3 xc3 22.bxc3 e3+ 23.b1 xc3 24.xh5 gxh5 25.xh5 xc2+ 26.a1 c3+ 27.b1 g7 with the advantage. 19...4c5 After 36 minutes of
thought, Korchnoi concludes, as did Karpov in his home preparation, that it
was necessary to defend against the gradually threatening P-storm e4-e5
followed by g4-g5. Black's position is difficult, but the necessity of playing
this seems to be the wrong conclusion. 19...b5 20.g5 h5 21.g3 xc3 22.xc3 xc3 23.xh5 gxh5 24.xh5 xc2+ 25.xc2 a4+ and black lost quickly
in Lengyel,B (2302)-Nazarenus,O (2115)/ Budapest 2005 19...e6 This is
probably best, but it, too, is not quite sufficient. 20.g5 h5 21.f4 e5 22.xh5 gxh5 23.xh5 g7 24.f4 d5 Black is better off than in other lines,
but his position is still precarious and in Brikov,I (2401) -Kurilin,A (2294)/
Tula 2014 white managed to secure the win. 20.g5+- Played after 18
minutes thought. Karpov begins an all out attack on f6. Additionally, the move
disrupts any attempts by black to defend himself along the 5th rank. It is
amazing that black only has six more moves before he is forced to resign! xg5 The removal of one of the Rs off the c-file means white is able to move the N
on c3. 20...h5 21.f4! xc3 22.bxc3+- 21.d5 "Of course, not 21.
Nd5 Rxd5!, and Black's main defender, the knight, still lives." Without 20.
g5!!, this move would have no threats, but now the queen and rook are under
attack, and the rook must be captured. 21.d5 would lose after xd5 22.exd5 xa2 23.a3 xd5 Black wins because his main defender, the N on f6, is
still on the board. A sample line... 24.g3 f5 Rendering Ne4 unplayable. 25.xf5 xf5 26.h2 b5 27.e3 e5 28.b3 a5 29.d2 a4 30.xb5 xf3
An black' horde of Ps will prove victorious. 21...xd5 22.xd5 White
intends, when the time is right, to eliminate black's N which is the main
defender of his K. e8 23.ef4 Even with a won game (Stockfish puts white's
advantage at 5.5 Ps) it is necessary to remain vigilant! 23.xf6+ is too
hasty because black's K would be quite safe in the center. In fact, black
would actually be better after exf6 24.xh7+ f8 25.h6+ e7 26.c3 g5+ 27.xg5 fxg5 28.d5+ d8 29.f6 f8 30.g1 c6 31.xg5 h8 However, it's
doubtful that black's advantage is enough to win. Five Shootouts were drawn. 23...c6 24.e5 This prevents black's Q from coming to the defense of the K. 24.xf6+ is premature. After exf6 25.h5 g5+ and black has equalized. 24...xd5 24...dxe5 25.xf6+ exf6 26.h5 d2+ 27.xd2 d8+ 28.e3 d3+ 29.cxd3 gxh5 30.g1+ h8 31.xf6# 25.exf6 exf6 26.xh7+ Black's K has nowhere to hide. f8 27.h8+ 27.h8+ e7 28.xd5+ xd5 29.e1+ wraps it up. 1–0
I follow your blog with interest, but I do not agree with your views about Fischer, the reason is very clear. You describe the rematch between Fischer and Spassky as "nonsense". You should not forget that Fischer's theories and the differences he brought to chess cannot be ignored in the world championships of karpov and kasparov.
ReplyDeleteI don't know who would have won a 1975 match between Fisher and Karpov, assuming that Fischer's mental health was still OK. But the consensus among top GMs at the time was that Karpov would have been a big underdog. Karpov's collapse against Korchnoi just confirmed that in the eyes of many to players. Aside from their relative chess abilities at the time (Fischer was quite a bit higher rated) Most felt that Karpov would fade facing Fischer's unremitting pressure.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that Karpov would have been the favorite is more or less revisionist history, promoted enthusiastically by Gary Kasparov. While Kasparov's "My Great Predecessors" series has great value, the main purpose of the series is to "prove" that Gary Kasparov is the greatest player that ever lived--which might be true! There is far less glory in having beaten Karpov is Fischer would have beaten him too. Hence the birth of the "Karpov would have beaten Fischer" meme.
It's a tough call, but I think Karpov would have won. There is an interesting article on the subject here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.chess.com/article/view/what-if-fischer-had-played-karpov-in-1975