Hi there.
In this lecture, Anatoly Karpov is playing against Boris Spassky in the 1980 plus tournament, fourth
edition of the tournament Round nine.
So E four from Karpov.
We have C five from Boris Spassky, nine we have three from Karpov.
DD four.
So after the d4c tanks, 1964 of 69c3, now E six.
So the shaving game variation, which does allow the carriers attack named after Paul Keres and Karpov
chooses G four Here we have h6h4 90 6g1.
So this is an interesting position.
We have de five from black here.
Bishop B five is plain, Bishop d7e taints d59 65 If E takes D five Queen E to check is going to be
more interesting for white here after Bishop e three.
This is actually a rather pleasant position even if simplification happens and you might think these
pawns awake.
It's actually rather nice for white say black castles.
Queenside bishop takes D seven check Rook takes these seven this position one has nothing to fear.
It's a nice blockade on the isolated Queen's pawn.
Overall advantage for white.
So we have Knight text five 965 E taints D five Bishop e three Bishop e seven.
Queen D two.
And here Boris Spassky does to take on H four.
There was actually in later years after this game.
And modern engine analysis also agrees that it seems in this particular position this would normally
be a crazy looking move to Castle right into a ready built attack, half built attack.
But it might be the way to go.
As in Timman, who was a correspondence world champion against of Anderson.
So this was in correspondence and it shows that actually Black was able to get a good game from this
position.
And yes, what does White actually play if Bishop takes C six, B takes, this should be even.
And you might think, well, surely why it has more violent continuation than Bishop.
Take C six.
Yeah.
G five.
But what happens after Knight takes D for the bishop's hit on B five.
So queenside is d4 this becomes a little bit risky piece down.
Yes we have got g takes h six.
But what if Bishop F six we have got rook takes g seven check.
Sure.
So that if Bishop takes G seven, we're going to mate.
But what if King H eight Queen A for this position with Bishop D four Black has resources Queen a five
check king of one bishop takes the four queen takes d4f6 queen D free threatening mates.
This is just an example.
And essentially.
White can use the queen on DD free to basically bail out from perpetual check.
So Bishop B five and white bells up perpetual check.
So first.
Here.
We can play four if we want to delay the perpetual check.
So Rook H seven, G seven and perpetual check.
So that's not very glamorous.
G five Basically, yeah.
There's an issue with B five here if need C six.
Yeah.
As mentioned.
Yeah.
This, this position is just going to be.
No, no, actually we haven't mentioned this position.
Let's just mention it.
So Bishop takes C6, Bishop takes six B takes.
Won't councils here, Let's say Bishop takes H four.
This is also funny enough, not that easy just because we've got a semi open g GFR.
It's not the end of the world for blank just yet.
Queen of 6g1.
Why has a small maybe small edge, but it could slip away.
You know this looks even engines assess this is about equal if we try and point a five.
Then actually Black has a key resource here, funnily enough.
D for.
If Bishop takes H six bishop before c3d takes breaks once King is attacked and off the Bishop.
I think this is just about even so, it's absolutely fascinating to analyse this.
It turns out actually, yeah.
Castling, believe it or not, might not be as bad as it seems.
So Bishop takes h4 is actually an inaccuracy.
White Castle's queenside and now Bishop f6 is played.
If Bishop G five we can play F4 here and in this position of the Bishop e 7.5, this is going to end
up being very nice for why, if Bishop f6 Bishop C five stopping the King from Castling white is a big
advantage there.
Otherwise, let's say castling.
Bishop takes C six, B takes Queen H to.
And this is a strong attack.
This is now a strong attack.
Why it can play rook tanks.
G seven check.
King G seven.
Bishop D four check.
King H seven.
H one Black has the resource.
Bishop G five.
But funny enough, White is crushing it here.
Can you see this technically amazing kind of preventative attacking move in this position for 200 points?
What would you play here?
It's quite an amazing move.
Bishop E5 If we played F6 immediately, which is really tempting, Black has Quincy seven.
And we don't really want the Queen's coming off of the you know, the Queen's coming off is not going
to be great.
And if Bishop e five, then Queen takes E five exploiting the pin, and that's a disaster.
So that would be a rook up there.
So Bishop e five, though, funnily enough, prevents all of that stuff if we go back.
So.
In that continuation.
Let's go back into that continuation.
So, Bishop D for check.
And here.
Yeah, that's.
Imagine this position again, Bishop if I put it black, do so this is crushing If f6f takes.
Yeah.
The Kings had it really, you know, like, for example, like that.
So yeah, it is fascinating.
But Bishop six was played, we have 9 to 5 if King B won here, this is also a decent move.
Actually in 1964 we insert Bishop takes these seven Czech Queen, 67 Bishop takes D for this position
with inserting a check here is going to be better for us.
So now it's five we have Bishop takes her five.
If Black Castle is here, different ball game nine takes H six check G takes.
There's actually a strong G five to open up that G file.
So say Bishop takes G five isn't played.
If Bishop E five we can take our time with Queen takes D five, Bishop e six, Queen E four.
So we're hitting the Queen.
And in this situation, Bishop D free threatens checkmate on H seven.
Let's say black is forced to play.
This Bishop takes P to check, King takes B2, Queen takes A to check King C one queen, a free check
King D to Queen B four check to defend against being mated, but white ends up being significantly better
here.
So yeah, fascinating stuff.
Aside from Bishop takes F five, if G six, there's Bishop C five to keep the king in the center.
So here Bishop takes her five.
This is just better for wait.
And if G takes her five, Queen takes the five with the king kept in the center.
This is bad news for black in this particular scenario.
After Bishop take six puncturing the Dart square control so we can play Queen D for looking at H eight.
And this is nasty with the king in the center.
Queen E free taking your time a bit.
Queen takes E six.
It's going to be crushing.
Can you see a crushing blow here?
What is won't play hair.
You know, we just disconnect the Queen from E seven for ten points.
Rook dd six.
So Queen takes queen twice.
Yeah, we're winning there.
So fun stuff.
So anyway, Bishop takes that five is played G tanks.
We have a six.
Bishop take C six check, B takes Bishop C five.
So the Kings kept in the center.
We have Rook B eight.
And now, funny enough, you might find this a little bit strange, but before you might think, Hang
on.
Isn't there a cozier move?
Sort of before?
The funny thing is about this position, if we play C free, this is this is a funny position for the
king.
Safety battles.
It's not that bad for Black, believe it or not.
Black has a key move for king safety, which you might give a give it a double exclamation mark if it
was the older informed to symbols for very strong move.
Can you see a very strong move for black hair.
Yeah black could play King seven if Bishop Yeah.
This means that we can never really make use of C four because of the B two issue, which explains somewhat
why cop Off chose b4 he wants to reserve the possibility of C4 without this rook glaring down at B two.
So if, if we only have this position Bishop D for Rook, it's black's got a small edge.
Funny enough, black's got the more solid pawn structure.
White is played like an attacking player with a weakened pawn structure here, but with B four it's
slightly different.
So now we can play C for.
So that's very interesting.
And here.
Tho plant goes wrong.
If b5 black still could play kingly seven and even with the RAF of C4 king.
c7c takes C techs.
Let's examine Queen D free Queen D seven Just that black off of that Queen C six check King.
See, this is even this position even.
I mean, White's king is getting potentially exposed as well.
If Rook.
B seven.
C four.
D four.
This is good for whites.
This is very different.
G three.
Exploiting that third rank, not Bishop 64.
This simplification would just help Black's king safety cause and black would be fine.
So the critical test would be Rook G free here h5 Rook free.
And yeah, I mean, black's in trouble here because the upcoming rook takes 86.
So this is just desperate.
And we could just take on E seven.
Take on a six.
So yeah.
Interesting.
But Rugby five is a mistake.
It provides a tempo.
Gaynor for C4.
Well, Black's intention is to sacrifice the exchange to try and make the most out of this bishop.
So it's an interesting idea.
Rook g one check.
Kingsley seven.
C four.
So, Boris Spassky's idea.
Sacrifice the exchange here.
Beat Saints, Bishop G five and four.
And now very interesting, Queen F six looking at a one.
So this is a crunch moment for how allowing counterplay could be fatal for us.
The difference between allowing counterplay or not Higgs or king is exposed and it looks as though,
well, hold on, we're just going to be a whole rook up if we take on G five.
Now, do you take on G five or do you do something else?
So for 100 points, what would you play here?
It looks as though visually, you know, this rook has even got out of bed yet.
How on earth could this rook help the queen if we take on G five?
Impossible, right?
You know, the alarm clock hasn't gone off this.
It's still lying there in bed after all this time.
But the thing is, sea tax is played.
It's less risk.
If F takes there is a risk.
And it's more than a risk.
Actually.
Queen a one check.
The thing is Queen saying A to Jack.
Now let's say we were playing for a win with King de There's Queen.
Take C for checking E for at this moment the rook gets straight out of bed with H text g five activate
straight out and as Queen E four if needed.
If zero case one.
This is not nice.
Queen G to H for all of a sudden it's under big attack.
You know, this position is getting rather embarrassing.
Ouch.
So yes, C takes the five is so much safer.
Don't activate the opponent's pieces.
So queen a one check.
King C two queen takes a two check.
King D free queen takes RD to check one else.
Now, there's some nuance here in a variation I'd like to show you if the Queen's didn't come off.
Queen B free check.
Queen C three, Queen B five Queen for.
And let's say Black played Bishop eight four.
Would you be in a rush to take the Queens off here, or would you do something else in this position
for ten points?
Because surely you could take the queens off and then move the rook, right?
It turns out here, Rook, one is so much stronger if we play Rook G one and then DD six we've got nice
pawns and look at the opponent's split pawns.
We've still got to think positioning about pawn structure.
The point is, if we took on B5, we're healing Black's pawn structure after moving a rook.
Here.
So this is setting a trap.
If Bishop takes, we have check and another check to win the rook.
Let's put that on the board.
Check.
So the king goes to the background.
We play a check, and we win the rook.
Right.
And that's going to be good for white.
But.
But after he takes the five yea blacks positional kind of exchange, sacrifice is a little bit more
justified.
White's advantage here is significantly smaller.
It's only a slight advantage.
So yes, I mean disposition.
Got to be careful with these pawns.
So yes, it's so much stronger just to play Rook G one here.
And in the case of sea, takes blacks dismantling the structure.
So we have options.
Then in this position, we can dismantle black structure.
The structural difference is the big deal.
So we want to be the exchange up under ideal conditions with good pawn structure as well.
So Queen takes DD to though was played.
That's all irrelevant because Queen takes DD to check, Rook takes Bishop takes F form.
We have now Rook a two.
And this is a big problem.
C to 65 rotates a six, H five.
We have King D for actual king.
Thanks.
D five.
There's not really enough compensation.
For the exchange down.
We have Rokeby eight and I'm breaking up black spawns of F six or providing a meaningful hook on E seven.
So G.
Thanks, Rook.
Thanks.
Bishop moves, Rook takes F seven, check King the eight and now the rook f h hack.
Boris Spassky resigned.
So why did he resign If King D seven we can play the neat C six check as one example rookie seven check
and we end up playing Rook takes B check.
Bishop takes eight ROKEBY seven picking up the bishop.
And you might ask instead of King D seven, King C seven.
We have just Checkmate Hare immediately.
Yes.
So end of game after Rook, a fake check.
So a fascinating game.
It's interesting to see these highly tactical sharp variations in karpov's hands.
So his expression about if there's a choice between a large advantage with a bit of controversy basically,
or the small advantage microscopic even, which is much clearer, not so murky, he'll pick the clearer
one.
But we see a vivid example here that we don't want to be tempted just because we're a rook up to allow
counterplay.
So there's very fascinating variation.
So he kept control to a large extent all the way through.
So very, very interesting game.
I hope you enjoyed this one.
So Boris Spassky was a bit of a major victim of Anatoly Karpov, know Boris Spassky more than ten times
in their match record and only lost like very, very occasionally.
Just one, I believe so, yeah.
So something like 13 one.
If you look at the records, we've got some draws, but yeah, quite, quite the customer.
Boris Spassky of Anatoly Karpov.
Och, I hope you enjoy this so much.