To mark the 25t anniversary of their controversial first aborted match in Moscow — where Tolya led 5-0 only to allow Garik to recover and notch three wins — the two titans played four rapid and eight blitz games in Valencia, Spain on Sept. 21-24.
According to IM Malcolm Pein, who annotates our featured game this week, “Kasparov outclassed Karpov throughout the match. The match confirmed the recent impression that Karpov has ceased to work on the game and is no longer competitive. Kasparov seemed pretty sharp although it is hard to say with complete assurance how good he still is as the opposition was so poor. In particular Karpov was mishandling the clock very badly (lost game 4 of the blitz on time in a favorable position) and collapsing at the end of games when he had little or no time, even in level positions. It is to be hoped that Karpov can at least show some pride and do some work for the second match in France in December.”
Kasparov won the rapid 3-1 and the blitz 6-2 for a resounding 9-3 win. Exactly what their ratings predicted, reported ChessBase.
In a post-match interview, Kasparov said that as he and Karpov have noted, “it’s tragic that a Kasparov-Karpov match, 25 years after our first world championship, five years after I retired, and Karpov no longer a real force in the chess scene, that this is still the greatest show in the world of chess. It shows that something is wrong, and I think that is a very important message, for chess organizers, for FIDE, for chess fans, for grandmasters: I mean guys, something is dead wrong, if nobody cares about everything else and everybody pays attention to a match of, okay, two old guys…. I think it is wrong. I can only hope that things will somehow change. I don’t know how, because looking at the game of chess which is now being played in Elista, Nalchik, Sochi, Khanty-Mansiysk, sometimes Baku and Yerevan, it brings chess to obscurity. For 25 years since our first match chess was sliding toward obscurity, and now it is a game that is out of the mainstream. If the top leading players are happy with that there is nothing you can do about it. But I think chess deserves better. We tried to prove it during this match — whether we did it or not is hard to say.”
Game of the week. Here is Tolya’s only win in the rapid games. Garik, ever objective, calls it the “finest” in the match.
White: A. Karpov (2619)
Black: G. Kasparov (2812)
Neo-Gruenfeld
Rapid Match, Game 3
Sevilla 2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nb6 7.Ne2 c5 8.d5 e6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Nec3 (10.Nbc3 Na6 11.h3 Game1) 10…Na6 11.a4 exd5 12.exd5 Nb4 13.Be3 Bd4 14.a5 (14.Bxd4 cxd4 15.Qxd4 Nc2) 14…Bxe3 15.axb6 Bd4 16.bxa7 (16.Rxa7 Rb8! 17.Nd2 Qxb6) 16…Bf5 17.Na3 Rxa7 (17…Bd3!? 18.Nab5!?) 18.Ncb5 Rxa3 19.Rxa3 Bxb2 20.Re3 Qb6 21.Qe2 Bg7 22.Rd1 Bd7 23.Na3 Bd4 24.Re7 Ba4 (24…Qd8 25.d6) 25.Rc1 Qf6 26.Rxb7 Bb2?! (26…Qxf2+ 27.Qxf2 Bxf2+ 28.Kf1!; 26…Re8! was best) 27.Rxc5!! Bxa3 28.h4 (28.Ra5! Re8 29.Qc4 Re1+ 30.Bf1!) 28…Nd3 29.Ra5 Nc5 30.Rba7 Qd4 (30…Re8? 31.Ra8!; 30…Bb4 31.Rxa4 Nxa4 32.Rxa4 Bc5) 31.Qe3 Qxe3 32.fxe3 Bc1 (Kasparov is seduced by a mating possibility 32…Bb4 33.Rxa4 Nxa4 34.Rxa4 Bc5 should hold) 33.Kf2 Nd3+ 34.Ke2 Bc2 35.d6! Re8 36.Ra8! and 1-0 16.d7?? Rxe3+ 37.Kf1 Re1# would have been most unfortunate.
Puzzler.
White — Ka4, Ba6, Nb8, Nc6, Qc1, pawns on e3 and h4
Black — Kd5, Nd6, Rf7, Bh7, Rh3, pawns on b3, c4, c7, d4, e6 and f3
White to play and mate in four.
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