Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Anatoly Karpov against Boris Spassky in 1974.
The Karpov Spassky Candidate semifinal.
This is round nine.
E four.
From Karpov we see a Sicilian defense from Spassky.
Nine f3 e6 d4 64 1960 49569c3d6.
Saving England.
We have Bishop e2.
It's not been tempted with a carrot attack on this occasion, which would have been g four.
This is a very interesting move.
G4 but we see Bishop E to Bishop e seven both sides now.
Castle we see F4 96.
Bishop E three, Bishop D seven might be free A five.
So wanting to chase the knight, we have a four which fixes the B five square Knights four.
We have Bishop F3, so Black has what seems to be an aggressive act of Knight.
Bishop C six and we have 90 4g6 and black offers up the lion square Bishop.
That isn't taken at the moment.
We see Rook f2 e5 and now White takes on C six, B takes.
So it seems.
That black has, in a theoretical sense, weakened light squares with the absence of the bishop.
What has these bishops?
They don't seem to be that great at the moment.
This free bishop doesn't seem that great at the moment.
We have F takes E five, which emphasizes structural damage a bit more because it isolates more.
This pawn, this pawns isolated.
So why has the better structure we have Queen f one queen and now h free.
So this is a kind of preventive move already preventing Knight G for 97 and now Bishop G for Black's
intention here potentially is to get rid of White's better bishop with Bishop C five.
So this actually stops that because now after H five we have Bishop 67.
If the bishop went back to free Bishop C five and why it might have a small advantage, but Black's
doing well to exchange off that worse bishop for White's banner.
Bishop So Bishop takes these seven reinforces control over C five in effect Queen takes these seven,
Queen C four.
So once given up that light square bishop but there's pressure points on F seven in any case and control
of C five we have Bishop H four Rook RD two the Tempo Queen E seven Rook F one.
Here.
It does seem a bit tempting to play Bishop C five but there's a weakness of the last move.
It's not protecting D two Black could play Queen G five counterattacking against the D two rook.
So this possession d a it is still an advantage for white, but white needs to be very careful here.
This is an active possession and things can go badly wrong if once calculations are not correct, White
can play.
Bishop takes before and very accurately play queen.
Take C six.
So for example Rook rd two seems very scary, but just in time, White would have resources here to
make the king of Queenie Heck Rook takes F seven, Queen H six to show you how white could go badly
wrong here if Queen takes before Rook D two Queen B h King G seven.
And Black's doing very well here.
How does one actually defend this position?
It's a disaster.
I mean, that's just an example of a disaster.
But also if we took on for Queen Takes DD two, this isn't great, but it's got loads of activity.
It's even so Rook F one is chosen, not Bishop C five We have rook datebook 58 rather.
And now here's a key moment of the game.
So it looks as though Black's got aggressive pieces.
There are two pieces on the fifth rank and there's a very classic Carpathian move here, an iconic Carpathian
move, and it is also the top engine move.
Anyway, there's the most accurate move in the position and we we do in chess seem to have a forward
bias that we have to move forward all the time, like attacking chess as a bias to move forward all
the time.
But sometimes you can actually take two steps back to go free steps or force that's forward in chess
or one step back to go two steps forward.
Och yeah, you get the idea.
Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards, paradoxically.
And here we can see that actually as well as the opponent having two aggressive pieces, this piece
is a bit tame.
Black's pawn on C6 is restrictive of this knight, so it's not really doing much.
It's kind of locked in by the pawn on a four and a four as well.
This knight's not really doing much, and it's also restraining this pawn as well.
And funny enough, so it's a kind of self blockade.
If we had a pawn and C free, we could evict this knight back.
So guess what?
Karpov's move is here.
For 500 points.
Positional move.
So it's not a tactical combination, brilliant tactical combination move, but it's a positional move.
Might be one.
So going one step back for two steps forward.
So we've got to see through.
We've got the queen is protecting cc2 black was threatening if we don't do anything, you know, black's
going to take on D2 and then take on C two and take on C two and then have D four to play with.
So, you know, black is threatening rook takes and knight takes.
So Knight B one is really cool.
So we're going to try and improve our knights and kick out the opponents.
Knight If Rook takes D just to show this position as well, what's going on here?
Well, this might be a way of playing it, believe it or not, with 92, this is a very tactically dependent
on Queen of seven coming up.
So say Rook takes DD two here.
It's going to crash through with a strong attack like this.
But say black's more sensible with Bishop Geoffrey.
We get small edge here, but it's not ideal.
So the way it's played is Knight B one much better.
Queen B seven And now if we try and absorb all the opponents threats like Bishop Geoffrey assume they
have it on the move, they might be tempted for Bishop Geoffrey extinguish that.
And it kind of strengthens our position in a very precise way.
A precise kind of strengthening is based on concrete threats of the opponents or maybe active operations
we might want to play or yeah, what the opponent might ideally play in the future.
So it's extinguishing Bishop Geoffrey King, G7, and now this eviction notice.
Eviction notice for the knights and Knights, much worse placed on a six and now avoiding an exchange
of rooks because there's potential to later double maybe on the foe if this bishop was evicted.
So keeping the rooks here looks nice because we've got that focal point in F seven.
So if we have a double on the floor, that'd be great.
We have Rook F eight and now D two and this knights got career prospects.
It's got free to chase out this guy back.
So Bishop, the volunteers back already not afraid of the Knights really doing a lot more than on their
free than it was on C free.
Look at this.
This is a gorgeous knight and it actually provokes potentially fatal weakness.
Now f six on the light squares.
Now you could say, well, why it hasn't got the Lions Square bishop so big deal.
Well, Wayne's got the queen as an invader on line squares so Essex has been given a nice it's a nice
opportunity here if Queen D seven instead.
Let's have a look at this position, because there is a kind of trap set on this diagonal, you know,
things like bishops, E7, So let's say rook dd two rook disks, though we could actually get an advantage
here in a different manner like this.
So that's interesting.
But f six is worse than Black's possession for a fact which really didn't exist sometimes because of
the pin.
So we have Rook D two now.
Yeah.
If we play nine takes, if find Bishop C seven and this is a bad news bad news Bears and sure, yeah.
If the opponent played a bad move then we might have a strong attack here.
But Black doesn't have to do that.
Yeah, we don't want to gamble.
Right?
Not playing the best move.
Yeah, just Bishop C seven there.
So Rook d to Bishop E seven and I'm going in on E six Rook 88 pair of Brooks.
Now come off.
So black tapes with the bishop if rook takes the problem is here Knight takes E5 with a vengeance.
This is very different actually.
Say Queen C seven.
Because if F takes those rook have seven check and we're just crashing through with strong possibilities.
Or Bishop dd six we have Queen size F six take out pawns, come with the Queen back to protect E5 and
protected E5 even more with a crushing attack.
So Bishop takes the eight is played safety points, so not allowing Knight takes E5 off takes those
only takes five too strong there so Bishop takes.
But now we have rook d one with a strong rook dd seven France.
Grandmasters at the time were analyzing 1965, which is fascinating in its own right.
Because we're not computers, we make analytical mistakes.
And karpov's is much cleaner, more simple, less prone to any holes in analysis.
And sure note 65 might be great.
For example, Quincy seven This might be great, but you know, we're not computers, basically.
So we have this little combination here which could be very dangerous for blacks.
KING Could be winning in its own right.
So with Rook seven, White has a big advantage there.
There's a maze of variations in its own right after 1965.
Just to show you the maze a little bit more, let's have a look here.
F takes.
So we said disposition.
You know, we have to say one F instead of 97, one F, Bishop E seven, as example, we play Queen
F seven Shaw relying on a Penn Queen D six check.
And it looks as though this should be absolutely convincing, right?
Because the king's being brought down the board.
It's more a case that we have to have very accurate calculations.
As one example with H four check King takes rook takes.
This looks as though hold on.
Isn't this just amazing combination?
But we have a hole in our analysis.
You know, we're on the verge of seemingly absolutely non-controversial in mating the opponent.
What if at the tail end of this analysis we missed Queen G five because we're not computers, Right?
And the thing is g free.
You know, the king's got G four there, you know, G for King G four.
So black would actually be winning.
What what a complete waste of a game because we've entered this maze of variations and Karpov doesn't
like to play with mazes of random variations.
He likes the logic of chess.
The logic of chess, you know, is easier to express from a human perspective.
Assuming, you know, we do have problems with analysis, just this simple threat and.
Black.
The Black Knight is a terrible piece now just defending seven and now with tempo.
Bishop C five Cop Off has seen something here a natural undermining resource for undermining a pawn
chain in Black's possession at bass.
Can you see what the tactic is?
Which is absolutely completely crushing, which ends the game Move 45 and there's no maze of tactical
variations.
This is simple positional chess based on things like undermining a pawn chain, exposing the king,
not maze of random variations.
Very simple move.
Now, what would you play to end the game for?
100 points.
You know, Rook thinks dance ends the game.
If Rook takes the Bishop e seven, we're undermining the whole black king position.
If rook fight, we're taking on a fight.
Then take on a6e5 drops that undermining the pawn chain.
If rook even easier in a queen stakes have six Shaq, Queen F seven, Shaq.
We're going to be mating like this if King H six, we can go with that knight.
Which remember the knight was on C three.
Look how amazing that knight is here for delivering a checkmate sequence.
So this would be absolutely crushing or winning the queen and then mating soon after.
But yeah, within the maze of variations.
By the way, let's go back to the major variations.
There was actually a way of not incurring a disadvantage.
So yeah, if you were, like, absolutely perfect in calculations, there was a way which was instead
of Rookie Eights play Queen F2, which has the idea of H four and Queen G free mates to demonstrate
that 90 3h4 and Queen G4 is checkmate.
So let's imagine.
OC Black plays Queen D free to address address that idea.
That there's no queen.
Free from white.
White can play Rook 87.
But this is crazy stuff.
This is getting, like, really tricky.
What are we doing here?
And there are tactics which, you know, it is favoring white tactically, but it's much more intricate.
Why would we want to do this?
So say Knight takes E four, which is one of the better moves.
Yeah, sure.
We could get an advantage here, but it's much murkier than the game.
I just wanted to show you that.
That.
Okay, there might be a way with Knight takes E five, but this comes back to compas quotation.
You know, if he has a choice.
Well, in a nutshell, is a quotation between something potentially unclear or something potentially
clear, but with a tiny microscopic advantage, he'd go with a microscopic advantage any day.
He likes the ruthless logic of chess, not some gambling casino of a maze of variation.
So this is very, very instructive.
This avoid the sacrifice play positionally.
So the utmost extent.
Think about things about positional play like undermining pawn chains.
And we see that yeah, we can undermine basically the pawn chain with Rook taints the eight.
Beautiful stuff.
It really is absolutely beautiful.
Simple positional chess, driving back aggressive pieces, getting onto infiltrating into weak squares
and breaking up pawn chains.
That's what we want to do.
No fuss.
Simple positional chess with minimal risk.
The simplicity is that we're not really gambling in a maze of variations.
I remember a British championship.
I focused on simple chess, and that helped my results rather than the maze variations which can occur,
especially the longer the time.
The minute you have more time to think about trivia.
And amazing men's universes of variations, it seems.
Galaxies are variations.
But no, no.
Keep things simple.
Quite often it's the most effective.
Okay.
I hope you enjoyed it so much.