Annotated chess game: world chamionship qualifying match Moscow 1974

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ANNOTATED GAME

world chamionship qualifying match Moscow 1974
A.Karpov vs. V.Korchnoi
Annotated by: matsany (1887)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B75), dragon, Yugoslav attack

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1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. h4 Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. O-O-O	12.h5 is all so playable here .
	2 comments richard1234567 (1803) on 27-Jul-12: Why do GMs prefer to play h4 first instead of g4? matsany (1887) on 27-Jul-12: some GMs playing h4 and some of them playing g4 , both of them are good moves the only difference is that playing g4 followed with h4 on the next move , and h4 giving white option to play h5 without g4 and play g4 after h4, its matter of taste .


12... Nc4 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. h5 Nxh5 15. g4 Nf6 16. Nde2	good move , Karpov keeps the strong position of the knight on c3 more powerful and making himself option of maneuvering the knight from d2 to the king side in the future
	2 comments cdeburca (1840) on 24-Jul-12: It clearly doesn't lead to mate. But pieces on the kingside can lead to an attack on the king. This is particularly important when the sides have castled on opposite wings, as here, and when white has an open h-file. The more pieces pointing at the opponent's king, the more pressure he's under, and the more likelihood of him being forced to make a weakening move, allowing you to open up the king still more. matsany (1887) on 24-Jul-12: its not lead to mate ,however in positions that the kings castling on opposite flanges , it seems that going to be very aggressive game , i mean each side going to attack the opponent king , and the question is who is faster and going to mate the enemies king , therefore it is good idea to join more pieces to the attack .


16... Qa5 17. Bh6	for develop whites pieces to succsessfull attack on the black king ,white must exchange the DSB's first . maybe it was better for black play 16...Rfc8 first to avoid the exchange .
	2 comments cdeburca (1840) on 24-Jul-12: Because this leads to the queen and rook doubling up on the h-file, which is very strong. damalfi (1200) on 29-Jul-12: I admire Korchnoi for winning 3 of four games, being just at a loss to defeat, against Karpov. But I have to say that this move proves to be "the" losing one, since it was the wrong bet: white's attack comes first, and the sacrifice of the h pawn (probably it should have been rejected or prevented somehow) makes the exchange of bishops a very dangerous threat, and Korchnoi seems not to have correctly evaluated its power. The only way to protect h7 after a queen's incursion in h6 (incursion that will be possible even if black doesn't start the exchange, due to the R on the h column) is with the Nf6. The only thing that prevents white to mate -if this knight is removed- is that exf6 opens a hole for the black king to escape after Qh8+. And the Nf6 is far from save, since it can be attacked by 2 pawns AND a white knight. Even without a deep analysis, it is easy to fear the loss of the Nf6 and some pawn as the minimal loss. No good. The only hope black has is to be extremely sure about a sac in c3... and Karpov blocks it with Rd3. Was Korchnoi thinking that white would have overlooked it? With time, I will have a look at 19. g5, assuming that Korchnoi is confident in RxN, NxN, RxN, and then...


17... Bxh6 18. Qxh6 Rfc8 19. Rd3	good move , white brings the rook to the game ,while the rook defends the knight on c3 and avoids blacks any attempts to scarifies quality c3 to expose the white king . and in future maneuver the rook (d) to h3 and double it on H file. another strong move was 19.Rd5! black cant capture the rook on d5 because of mate threat Qxh7+ for example :19.Rd5!-Nxd5??.20.Qxh7+-Kf8.21.Qh8# however , after 19...Qd8-.20.g5-Nh5.21.Ng3-Qf8!.22.Qxf8+-Rxf8!.23.Nxh5-gxh5.24.Rxh5-f5! with little bit better position for black



19... Rc4c5 20. g5	the white knight on c3 and the black knight on f6 defends there own kings there for the retreat of the black knight from f6 gives white allmost immidiatly take overing the d5 square .
	1 comment ragozin (1965) on 24-Jul-12: He means that White will win control of the d5-square.


20... Rxg5 21. Rd5	not 21.Nd5?-Rxd5 .22.exd5-Qxa2.23.Nc3-Qa1+.24.Nb1 and black get good game for the quality and the important defender which is black knight stays a live . the idea of 21.Rd5! is to controll the d5 square by exchanging the rooks on d5,the white knight will find very strong position on d5 wihle the othere knight will cover the king from c3 . ofcours not 21...Nxd5 because of 22.Qxh7+-Kf8.23.Qh8# or 22...Rfc5?.23.Qxg5 with winning a rook and the game .
	2 comments cdeburca (1840) on 24-Jul-12: You thought wrong. matsany (1887) on 24-Jul-12: absolutely not , winning a rook its enough to win , professional players don't continue the game after they lose a piece , its not right to play without a piece and hope for blunders . well this is what i think and what i do .


21... Rxd5 22. Nxd5	now is too late fore 22...Qd8?? because of , 23.Nef4-Qf8.24.Nxf6+exf6.25.Qxh7#
	1 comment matsany (1887) on 25-Jul-12: what you talking about ??, 23.Nxe7+?-Qxe7 and black win a free piece . analysis more deeply and see why after 22...Qd8?.23.Nef4 is wining move .


22... Re8 23. Nef4	there is no danger form the black on C file for a while, so Karpov brings the other knight to the attack on the king side .



23... Bc6	black must act soon as possible , Korchnoi must to fight on d5 square or else will come very unpleasant 24.Nxf6+-exf6.25.Nd5 and the black king in real danger. but only 23...Bc6 because of if 23... Be6.24.Nxe6-fxe6.25.Nxf6+-exf6.26.Qxh7+-Kf8.27.Qxb7-Qg5+.27.Kb1-Re7.29.Qb8+-Re8.30.Qxa7 with much mor better position for white . however if 30.Rh8+??-Kg7! and black is going to wi the game because of the threat Qg1#



24. e5	brilliant , maybe the move that win the game for white ,this 3rd pawn scarifies cut off the black queen from getting help to the king side , not 24.Nxf6+-exf6.25.Nh5-Qg5+!(that's is why 24.e5 was so effective).26.Qxg5-fxg5.27.Nf6+Kg7.28.Nxe8+-Cxe8 with unclear position .
	1 comment matsany (1887) on 25-Jul-12: you are wrong , after 24....dxe5 ??.25.Nxf6+exf6.26.Nh5-gxf5.27.Rg1+Kh8.28.Qg7#!!!!


24... Bxd5	not 24..exd.25.Nxf6+-exf6.26.Nh5 and there is no way to black saving his king .



25. exf6 exf6 26. Qxh7+ Kf8 27. Qh8+	and black resigns ,after 27... Ke7.28.Nxd5+Qxd5.29.Re1+ and black in lost position . thank you and i hope you enjoyed the game .
	1 comment matsany (1887) on 25-Jul-12: black cannot win this position or even pull a draw . 1) Karpov capturing the rook with check . 2) after 28.Nxd5-Qxd5 , Qxa2+ is not available because of Kxa2. 3) if 28.Re1+-Kd7.29.Rxe8-Qxa2+.30.Kd2 how black is going to pull a draw ? the LSB and the black Queen is surely not enough to threat the king . so black simply lost here .