Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Anatoly Karpov playing against Branko Vukovic in 1968.
So the Sochi tournament's around freight.
So E four from Karpov we see D six default.
g69c396 and now H three.
This looks like a logical move to avoid nine G for harassment.
If Bishop e free nine G for sure won't play Bishop G five though, and Queen D two.
But even so, it seems annoying to have to play like this.
So why not just h three as Karpov played it?
Just stop this 9g4 We have Bishop G seven, Bishop E three in peace without nine, G four So Black Castles,
Queen D to C six and now G four.
We have E five white consoles, Queenside, Queen E, seven and now D five.
We have black length C five, which gives white a free hand on the kingside.
Basically, if black plays C tanks D five white should really, it seems, play E takes defined with
a slight edge.
So this is a pleasant enough position.
There are interesting possibilities we can consider.
For example, 92 g free later four g fi without 95 and press on with a kingside attack if g five Here
this seems to be slightly optimistic.
There is one move for black which should give black a decent enough position.
Can you see what that is for?
100 points?
If black were to play here.
Night takes E for it seems okay for black if it takes EA for D takes queen, takes RD sex queen ain't
this is going to be maybe even a small edge for black And if we go back here.
If Black instead plays 9 to 5, white just gets a big night on D five with tempo.
That's just huge for white.
If default, this is not going to help matters.
G tanks.
F six.
dc3.
F two.
E seven.
This position is bound for black after rook takes dd six.
If black plays rook 87 there's d h picking out k But yeah, because black has that one resource, we
need to factor that in.
That's basically g five here.
There is no it e four.
And if.
Instead of 1965.
Queen 65.
Black has 9/10 g five here.
So this is also interesting for black to take out G five in this circumstance.
In fact, even stronger than 9/10 G five is just nine.
Take three.
Just damage White's pawns over here and this is better for black.
This is actually clearly better for black.
Black actually starts to get pawn mobility in the center of the defined blacks getting a big advantage.
So yes, Queen takes five is nothing really for black to fair hair.
Okay, so moving on.
This didn't happen.
So why it's got a kind of free hand on the king side.
It's like not going to be harassed so much.
This is a theme of this game from the early, you know, avoiding harassment here.
If one goes for a King style attack.
Yeah, where is the counterplay?
So we see Knight G two knights a six Knight G 97 King B one Knights f2e8 Bishop two Rook B eight Rook
DG one And you might think, what is going on here?
How is White not opening up lines on the file?
This is a much better approach.
What we're about to see b5h4b4 91 night, B five and H five.
And here Black gets a little bit desperate.
There is something really great coming up.
Black plays what seems to be kind of a logical line opening -- sack See four But Cop Off dares the
take, and we see actually this kind of characteristic in the games of Michael Adams as well, that
taking a -- sometimes on the queenside kind of helps nullifying the opponent's attack.
And then you can get on with things after we've even less issues.
This is a if bishop take C4 there's bishop takes G for that weakness of the last move that the bishop
kind of neglected.
G4 And even though Bishop takes B5 though, this position should still be very nice for why after 93
there's a very important attacking theme and we see it in this variation with Knight G five.
This attacking theme is just really, really dangerous.
For example, G takes Knight takes five, Bishop takes Bishop f6.
That almighty pin on the G file is actually crushing.
Queen H 698 Rook takes G seven check and a mating.
So anyway, so that is actually a move, even though it's got a weakness of the last move.
It turns out it's not that bad.
But anyway, Queen takes b4 is also a move like EC seven Queen drops back.
If Queen take C four then that's a problem.
A free chick picks up the queen.
So Queen RD two we have Bishop D seven and now C free a five King a one.
It looks as though Black hasn't got enough compensation for the pawn.
A four We have now nine of five in this possession.
So it is kind of attacking and positional in terms of the pen, immobilizing, potential pinning of
the bishop.
It's a very interesting move and a thematic move in all sorts of positions.
So 95 here, that's why opening up the H file wasn't as significant as trying for a kind of strategic
pin.
That's a kind of attacking positional theme.
Here we have Bishop takes a five.
It's just too dangerous.
To do G takes.
And, you know, this position is far too dangerous.
For example, here.
In this position, one can consider a move like F six.
Or even Brooksbank's g seven first to make it even more forcing for f six check.
And if Queen takes F six.
Bishop G five.
Ouch.
Where's the Queen going?
And we've got B to cover with the knight that we're finding on on our king safety aspect.
So, yeah, very, very interesting stuff.
So there are dangers of that g file and black just plays.
Bishop takes her five we have G takes and now a free if G takes F five here, Bishop H six this position,
Bishop takes G seven, nine takes H six.
And actually we're going to take with the pawn hair and then Queen H six and that's going to be all
over.
So a three is played, H takes g6a takes B to check Knight takes P two, F takes G six for G six.
And now yeah, we have Rook eight and Caldwell takes out the C four pawn just to hold a two.
Yeah.
So basically there's not anything concrete going on here.
It's all pretty supported rook a free and now White's attack is first Bishop h6fh takes g six Rook takes
G six is pretty hopeless here.
Rook four If rook have seven, Bishop takes g7g7 quid six with the idea of Queen H six check in Queen's
G seven.
What is Black actually doing in this position?
It's pretty hopeless.
And also, if Rook takes, we can actually play Queen H eight there and rook seven.
The pawn is holding the E six square.
So this is a total disaster for black.
So yeah, this is scooping up everything as example.
So anyway, we have Rook at four and now rook dg Sorry rook hg1 and Black resigns here.
There's no real defense on black on the G file.
If 98 we can actually just take on B five.
Yeah, there's a weakness of the last move here on this side of the board.
If Rook have seven, we're just taking on G seven and the strong move Queen H six Again, that idea
is really cool.
We don't even have to try and win the Queen.
This is what is Black doing.
We just wait for black to disintegrate 98 and then take on B five.
Yeah, it's absolutely crushing.
So yeah, very, very interesting game.
It's kind of an attacking positional game, but it shows this tendency that positional players will
try and extinguish their opponents attack, make them prove the compensation if they're attacked.
So there are certain interesting aspects of this game in general trying to get the opponent to prove
compensation, sacking pawns.
And yeah, we see that in in the games of Michael Adams quite a lot in the Sicilian defense variations
where he's taking pawns on the queenside whereas King lives.
If there's no adequate compensation, this idea of wishy washy compensation is dispelled.
And in fact here White's attack breaks through soon after.
So an interesting attacking positional game.
I hope you enjoyed this very much.