MARK RUBERY CHESS
Today Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov turns 68. Born in Zlatoust, a small town in the Urals, his talent enabled him to enter Botvinnik’s chess school where he made rapid progress. Karpov became World Junior Champion in 1969 and qualified for his grandmaster title the following year. In 1974 he defeated Spassky on his way to a candidate’s final showdown with Korchnoi. After winning a closely contested match, he was then due to play Fischer for the World Championship, but was declared the 12th person to hold that title when the enigmatic American declined to defend his crown. Having a burning desire to prove to be the world that he was indeed a worthy champion, he then set out to compile the finest tournament record of any World Champion. For the next decade he reigned supreme; putting together a string of victories as well as shrugging off two title challenges from Korchnoi in 1978 and 1981. It was only after the emergence of Kasparov that his dominance came to an end, as when their epic and controversial 84/85 match was abandoned after five months play (Karpov was 5-0 up at one stage in the first to win six games) the challenger finally prevailed in the rematch. At the 1974 Olympiad in Nice the Soviet side was unstoppable (Karpov, Korchnoi, Spassky, Petrosian and Tal) and after Karpov defeated Unzicker the German board one declared ‘one is permitted to lose to Karpov with Black’. Karpov,Anatoly (2700) - Unzicker,Wolfgang (2535) [C98] Nice ol (Men) fin-A 1974
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.d5!
(An improvement on 13 dxc5 that was played earlier by Reshevky and Fischer) …Nd8 14.a4
Rb8 15.axb5 axb5 16.b4! (A typical modern procedure in such positions. White does not give up his offensive on the kingside, but by opening a second front, he wants to create more favourable condition for it-Kasparov) … Nb7 17.Nf1 Bd7 18.Be3 Ra8 19.Qd2 Rfc8?! (19…Rfb8 20 Bd3 Qc8 followed by the exchange of a a pair of rooks eases the pressure) 20.Bd3 g6 21.Ng3 Bf8 22.Ra2 c4 23.Bb1 Qd8 24.Ba7! (White temporarily blocks the a-file, concentrating his heavy pieces on it under cover of the bishop, and at a convenient moment, after retreating the bishop, he invades the opponent’s position-Kasparov) … Ne8 25.Bc2 Nc7 26.Rea1 Qe7 27.Bb1 Be8 28.Ne2 Nd8 29.Nh2 Bg7 30.f4 f6 31.f5 g5?! 32.Bc2 (Immediately eyeing the whitesquared weakness created by Black’s last move) …Bf7 33.Ng3 Nb7 34.Bd1 h6 35.Bh5 Qe8 36.Qd1 Nd8 37.Ra3 Kf8 38.R1a2 Kg8 39.Ng4 Kf8 40.Ne3 Kg8 41.Bxf7+ Nxf7 42.Qh5 Nd8 (42…Nh8 43 Ng4 Qxh5 44 Nxh5 Kf7 45 Bb6 Rxa3 46 Rxa3 Ra8 47 Rxa8 Nxa8 48 Bd8! With complete zugzwang!-Karpov) 43.Qg6 Kh8 44.Nh5 1–0 ‘When after the game Unzicker, in perfect Russian, suddenly cursed his position “With this idiotic black knight, which simply cannot leap out of its cage,” I nearly fell off my chair in surprise.’ (Karpov)