Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Anatoly Karpov playing against Vladimir Kramnik.
So this is a 1996 Vienna Millennium Millennium Tournament.
Round two.
So D four from Karpov we have D five and Kramnik
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We have e6e3 might be D seven.
Queen C two.
Bishop D six.
Bishop D Free.
Black castles, White Castles.
And now E five.
We have C takes D five.
C 65.
And here Karpov is keen to actually play E for himself to open up this bishop as a priority.
And there's a lot of central tension here.
This is a very interesting situation.
We have D takes E four, Knight takes E four, Knight takes E for Bishop, takes E four.
So immediately now H seven is attacked and nine of six would be inadequate because of D takes e five.
So black is forced to make a light square concession.
H six We have Bishop E three So out of the opening White does have a small edge here.
It seems we have e takes D four and now Bishop H seven check very precise.
If Bishop takes D four, there is nine of six and white doesn't get a chance for that.
Bishop H seven and here oc black can play queen C seven and C white simplifies like this.
This isn't such a big deal here.
It should be just about equal black Has the bishop here.
It's not such a big deal in the game with Bishop eight seven check king eight seven Bishop takes D four
we have 9f6.
But now bishop at five is possible to try and weaken black slightly ever so slightly on the light squares
exchange of strategically the light square bishops.
So we have Bishop takes our five queen 6f5 and now Quincy eight if rookie eights g free this position
with Queen D seven White could take and should have a small edge here.
It is symmetrical though in pawns.
It's going to be potentially difficult to win this, but White does have a small edge overall, slightly
better pieces.
So Quincy eight we have Queen B five, Knight H four was also an alternative.
If a knight ends up on white, has slightly better pieces and can damage the structure, there should
be a more significant edge.
In fact, now this is a clear, clear advantage.
So yeah, we have you know, that's that's a really interesting move.
Knight H four actually worth considering, but Queen B five we have a six, Queen B six, Queen C seven.
And now Karpov does go for structural damage.
Queen take C seven, Bishop takes C seven.
Black hasn't got the bishop here.
So Bishop takes F, six, G takes gives this juicy F five squared to play with.
And another aspect of this for endgames is that an aggressive king could come to H five because there's
no pawn on G six.
These subtle kind of nuances in the structure give opportunities which need to be understood really
kind of intuitively, perhaps that these are two potential outpost squares now, not just F five but
also h five.
We have we have rook fe1 rook eight rook 81 pair of rooks come off rook eight g Free rook d seven Rookie
to King G 794 Rook rd five We have rookie seven Rook C five So Black's operations here involve trying
to win the pawns basically rook d7b5, B four Roxie two And yeah, with this it does relinquish the
five square F five check.
We have King G six.
So very interesting.
Now Knight E three is played so here black take on a two just yet because of Rook take C seven so we
have a check King G two and the bishop safeguards itself and goes to a nice looking central square rook
a seven rook C 6.5 Bishop d6a3 king a five knight E Free check King G six King free Bishop e59d5 King
G seven White was France thing here 97 check.
So something has to be done about that.
So King G seven, we have E seven now.
So this is really interesting.
A very, very interesting move is offering a free a free pawn.
So a positional pawn sacrifice.
Now Kramnik accepts this rook free check.
King G.
Or and you'll notice that because of the double pawns.
In fact.
Yeah, this H five is an opportunity square for the white king to try and pile up the pressure.
So Rook takes a three.
We have F for Bishop C free, and now King H five.
So very interesting.
The Kings going on the attack and offering another pawn.
Even so, two pawns like positioning sacrificed.
Is this enough?
Is the possession strong enough?
Well, nine and five check.
Why it's going to be winning one pawn back soon.
So.
King Jake was very much needed if King Fate.
Then there's rook chat, mate.
If King H seven, then rook states have seven.
Check.
And here if a king G six and this is going to be big trouble off the knight.
Six, eight, six Black's going to be mated.
So yes, it's endgame strategy and also mating is part of that sometimes.
So we have King G eight rook, a seven, a seven, King G eight.
And now Knight takes H six check.
And this needed to be precisely calculated.
So King of eight if King G seven here, Rook takes F seven, check.
King eight.
We have King G six.
So that's mating again.
After Black tries to delay, it's just blacks getting mated.
So King of eight rook takes F seven, checking e eight.
And now, yeah.
King G six.
Bishop C Free knights are five white.
Doesn't mind this -- on F six because it has this asset.
And it'll be nice to block that bishop from viewing his.
We have B for now wrote B seven.
Now there is more danger than what it seems here.
Black plays.
We're okay too.
If black play's be free.
The rook.
Is not very active at this moment.
And White can actually play 96 check which is.
Really strong hair.
So say King D h.
Can you see what one would play in this position?
Yeah.
The very strongest is King F seven.
And the idea if B two, King E six.
And how does black actually stop rook D seven chap mating.
So B one queen wrote D seven is checkmate.
So.
King Sorry.
So Rook two is played we have now H four So it's also about now the h pawn
a5h5a4a6 rooks behind pawns.
But it's not helping here.
The Tashiro in rook and poor endings.
Rook should be either behind the opponent's pass pawns or your past pawns.
We have H seven, King D eight.
The thing is here, if b free the knight h four is nice and five has rook g seven to disconnect the
bishop from H eight.
So this will be absolutely winning once queening and it's going to be a win.
So.
King The eight was tried.
And now my H for f five heads try to open up the bishop to stop the -- queening.
It's a winning position.
Now plays.
Guess what?
Couple plays here for ten points.
Yeah.
Takes out blacks -- trying to deflect the bishop away from h he's rook free And now I'm wiping out
black's pawns.
Rook.
Takes a four rook.
Takes g free check King takes F five.
But now it's hopeless.
Kremlin coach, he resigns if rook hands free.
One simple way is just rook ajak and then queening so off the bishop takes rook takes The rook is holding
the knight nine pawn up absolutely winning So yes the game ended on King takes five.
So here in this end game very precisely played.
So the endgame is like for me the focal point of this particular game example.
It's interesting how we have coordination of the king in a very aggressive king reminds me much, very
much of Capablanca so willing to sacrifice, sometimes pawns for the position of the king.
So it is kind of end game positional play where you try and maximize your remaining pieces, especially
get your king active and aggressive and about the place.
But the double Pawns show there's actually two subtle weaknesses, these kind of potential entry points.
If there was a pawn on G6, you know, if the pawn was able to go to G six, then these wouldn't be
entry points.
But they are kind of entry points into Black's position.
And we see this magnificent concept basically of sacking a three with great faithful, a lot of calculations
to support it.
That White's doing very well here.
There's going to be king mating threats combined with past pawn potential.
So a fascinating game how these issues come together for black to make it kind of a case of overwhelming.
This black just can't handle both the idea of being mated and white's h pawn.
So wonderful stuff in this end game.
Very nice game by Anatoly Karpov.
So really lovely stuff.
So I'll take back to the the game and position.
So yes, dynamic strategy in endgames where people think sometimes our end games are done well, not
this 1 to 2 pawn sacrifice on the queenside for much better pieces, much more aggressive king.
The aggressive king creates not just past pawn potential, but main potential.
And we see these ideas of past pawns with making potential and also several Capablanca brilliant endgames,
so very inspirational.
How small advantages picked up from the opening.
We can cash out, so to speak, go into the end games and win the games still.
So we only need sometimes to accumulate small advantages from the middle game.
But it was kind of evidence.
Structural damage though if we go back to move 21 this evidence structural damage.
So this position, we should evaluate it not not just with the idea of winning pawns.
It's the the squares which the structure represents as not really being able to do much about if pieces
are on either F five or H five.
So it's fascinating stuff to understand.
Also, double pawns a little bit more the finances for Endgame Play.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed this as much as me and so much.