White: Anatoly Karpov     0.5


Black: Gata Kamsky        0.5





Played 10 June 96 in Elista, Kalmykia

1. d4

1. ...   Nf6


2. c4    e6

A slight surprise! Kamsky has occasionally played the Nimzo - Queens Indian Duo, including two games in his candidates match against Salov, but it has not been one of his main openings. Further, Karpov is well known as playing them with black. Actually, this might have been the reason Kamsky chose this defense line - many players seem to feel awkward when playing against their own opening...

3. Nf3

Karpov doesn't feel like playing against the Nimzo-Indian. Since the entire idea of the Nimzo is to pin the knight on c3 with Bb4, not putting a knight on c3 helps avoiding the system...Which is one of the drawbacks if you are thinking about playing the Nimzo with black: you can not be sure you're actually going to play it - 3.Nf3 has always been a very popular move.

3. ...   b6

Signals the Queen's Indian Defense. An interesting alternative to b6, for those who really like their bishop on b4 regardless of the knight not being on c3, is the Bogo-Indian with 3...Bb4+.

4. g3

Since black has indicated his desire to gain control of the h1-a8 diagonale, white tries to cross swords by installing his own bishop on g2. Each opening has important squares, and in the Queen's Indian, e4 is pretty important. Right now black is in control of that square, but white will work hard to change that...

4. ...   Ba6

Might be a little surprising if you're not familiar with the opening. After all, h1-a8 is such a nice, open diagonale... Actually black is trying to attack the white pawn on c4, just because white has commited his bishop to the g2 square, and can't really use it to defend the pawn. Which means that no matter what way white chooses to defend his pawn, some piece will be awkardly placed as a result of it.

5. b3

White is trying to defend the pawn without disturbing any of his major pieces. Other possible alternatives are 5.Nbd2, 5.Qc2, 5.Qa4. 5.Qc2 was the move Karpov chose in another game against Kamsky played in Italy in 1991.

5. ...   Bb4


6. Bd2

Even if white wanted to enter the Nimzo-Indian, he couldn't: there is no pawn on b2 to defend the knight anymore!

6. ...   Be7

A very reasonable question here is 'why go back?' Of course black could have gone directly to e7, without making a stop at b4. But on the other hand, look at the white bishop: where did it intend to go? b2, of course. Well, now he has to get used to d2... And if the bishop isn't passive enough on d2, there is also the problem of taking the square away from the knight on b1, which might have liked it. So the maneuver Bb4-e7 is not a waste of tempo, on the contrary it will make white waste some time reshuffling his pieces.

7. Bg2    c6

Acting on the principle "if I can't have it, you won't have it either", black prepares the complete blocking of the h1-a8 diagonale, trying to make the bishop on g2 look like a fool, while the black bishop on a6 continues to attack the white pawn on c4.

8. Bc3   d5


9. Ne5

An active move that defends the c4 pawn, and at the same time attacks black's newly created weakness on c6, preventing the knight on b8 from developing.

9. ...   Nfd7

Which annoys black, so he tries to get rid of the knight...

10. Nd7   Nd7


11. Nd2

You might wonder why white did all these knight moves: Ne5 and Nd7 - it looks like he only helped black develop. As I said earlier, the square e4 is very important in this opening. By eliminating the knight from f6, and simultaneously opening the diagonale of the bishop on g2, white has immediately gained a better grip on the e4 square.

11. ...   0-0


12. 0-0   Rb8!?

The most popular move in this position is 12...Rc8, preparing 13...c5 against white's e2-e4. The idea of the move Kamsky played is a lot different. Black will try to use the b6-b5 push to force some sort of decision from white regarding his pawn on c4, so that maybe the bishop on a6 will get to see a little more action.

13. Re1   b5


14. c5

Karpov decided to try closing the game, based on the fact that white has more space, and black's pieces are a little cramped in. He also wants to make sure the pawn on c6 doesn't go anywhere... Unfortunately, the pawn on c5 also becomes a weakness, since its only defense is the pawn on d4. Not hard to guess that black will immediately start preparing e5, based on this inability of the white central pawn to perform its duties.

14. ...   e5

The novelty! In a game played last year in Russia between Gagarin and Batsanin, black first played 14...b4 and then, after 15.Bb2, pushed the e pawn. While this insures an increased activity for the the bishop on a6, it also means leaving the weakness on c6 behind. In the game mentioned above, white managed to win the pawn and eventually the entire game.

15. de5   Nc5


16. a3

Karpov immediately seizes the opportunity to build a small fence around the a6 bishop, by blocking the b5 pawn. 16.b4 directly would have been bad because of 16...Na4!

16. ...   Ne6

Kamsky knows he can not leave his pawn behind on c6, so the knight moves out of the pawn's way.

17. b4

And Karpov is aware that three black pawns on the 5th rank would be very threatening, so he tries to make at least a small hole in that wall...

17. ...   d4

Now you can see that even on c3 the white bishop hasn't found its place. Can you understand now how important the Bb4-e7 maneuver was in the opening?

18. Bb2   c5

Black has worked hard to solve the problem of the c pawn, so he is very happy right now. Please note how "weakness-aware" both players are. Even when they make a weakness, they will work overtime to get rid of it, or insure a very good defense. At the level they are playing, one weak pawn can represent the difference between an equal and a much superior position...

19. bc5

Letting the pawn advance to c4 would be a catastrophy!

19. ...   Bc5


20. Ne4   Be7


21. e3!

Very nice move that immediately gives white a slight advantage. White's pieces, and especially the bishops, are better placed than their black counterparts. As long as the game is closed, this remains a hidden advantage, but as soon as the center opens more, the white pieces will get into full motion.

21. ...   de3


22. Re3   Qd1


23. Rd1   Bb7

It took almost 20 moves for this bishop to occupy the square prepared with 3...b6, but "better later than never"...

24. Rd7   Be4

Trying to avoid trading the bishop for the knight could have unpleasant consequences, since the white knight is ready to jump to d6. As much as you hate giving up such a nice bishop for a knight, if the position requires it, you have to do it!

25. Re7!?

Preserving the bishop pair with 24.Re4 would have been an interesting alternative. The more obvious 24.Be4 runs into 24...Bc5 25.Rd3 b4, when 26.ab4 doesn't work because of the beautiful fork 26...Rb4.

Karpov's move is motivated by his desire to eliminate the black squared bishop on e7, because of the pressure it is mounting on white's queenside weakness. He is also hoping that the endgame with bishop against knight in an open position would be advantageous for white. He might have underestimated a little bit the power of the two black pawns on the queenside, which after the disparition of the white squared bishops become virtually untouchable.

25. ...   Bg2


26. Kg2   a5


27. Ra7?!

White is wasting precious time. Gaining control of the d file seems more important right now. The rook on the 7th rank is very active, and black might anyway have to try to trade it, so why help him?

27. ...   Ra8


28. Ra8   Ra8


29. Rb3   Rb8


30. Bc3

Karpov realizes that his bishop is presently very weak. The only way to become more active is to force the black pawns to change their formation, thus allowing the bishop to go thorough. Nonetheless, white can not claim an advantage anymore. The black knight is excellently posted on e6, blocking the e5 pawn and controlling the most important central squares. The black pawns have an excellent position too, and since white has only the dark squared bishop left, chances of winning one of the pawns are very slim.

30. ...   a4


31. Rb1   Rc8!


32. Ba5

White's bishop is trying to find another square, while leaving the b file open for the rook, so that it can continue attacking black's only weakness, the pawn on b5.

32. ...  Rc5


33. f4   f6!

This might look like a foolish move: Kamsky is ruining his perfect king's side pawn structure, for nothing. That is not true! By getting rid of the e5 pawn, black eliminates the stronghold on d6 (perfect for the bishop), and thus takes away white's last advantage. At the same time, Kamsky knows he can put his pawns on white squares (f5 and h7, or h5) which will make them pretty safe.

34. ef6   gf6


35. Rd1   Kf7


36. Rd7   Kg6


37. Kf3   Rc4


38. Ke3

As much as white might like to get rid of black's queen side pawns, he can not do it right away with the simple 38.f5, because of 38...Kf5 39.Rd5 Kg6 40.Rb5? Nd4!

38. ...   Nc5


39. Rd5   Kf7


40. Bb6

Karpov had to decide on a very important issue, and only with very little time left... He had the choice between 40.Bb6, 40.Bb4 and the interesting 40.f5. The idea behind both Bb6 and Bb4 is to make the knight leave, so that he can capture the pawn on b5. 40.f5!? on the other hand keeps the black king under lock, and also blocks the black pawn on a dark square, which significantly improves the chances of eventually capturing it.

40.Bb4 is not as good as it looks. After 40...Na6 41.Rb5 Nb4 42.ab4 (42.Rb4 would lose the game immediately after 42...Rb4 43.ab4 a3) a completely drawn rook endgame arises, even though white is a pawn up. Karpov opted for the safest move in time trouble, but with this his last winning chances also disappeared.

40. ...   Rc3


41. Kd4   Rc4


42. Ke3   Rc3


43. Ke2

I don't think Karpov really believed he still has winning chances in this position. It is just a way of saying "I will make a draw when I want to!"

43. ...   Ne4


44. Rb5   Ra3


45. Ra5   Kg6


46. Bd4   h5!

Just making sure that the white pawns can't move...

47. Be3   f5


48. Ra6   Kf7


49. Ra5   Kg6

And a draw was finally agreed, since neither side has real winning chances.

A fairly interesting game, in which Karpov held a small advantage for most of the time, but wasn't able to transform it into victory. A moral victory for Kamsky, which certainly strengthens his position for Wednesday's 4th game, when he will again have the white pieces. I expect Kamsky to once again start with 1.e4, so Karpov has to spend his rest day finding an improvement over the unfortunate Caro Kann played in the second game.

I would like to express my appreciation for the fighting desire of the two players, who so far have only provided us with very interesting battles. I invite you to come back to this site Wednesday starting at 8 AM (EST), for the live coverage of the fourth game.

GM Schwartzman has been playing chess since he was two years old, and started playing tournaments at the age of four. He received his first international invitation by the time he was eight. Since then Gabriel has been invited to events in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Canada, as well as the USA.

In 1988 he became vice-world champion of the Under 12 years section, and in 1990 he won the bronze medal at the Youth World championship in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Currently 19 years old, Gabriel is the top ranked junior (under the age of 21) player in the United States.

GM Schwartzman is multi-talented, speaking Romanian, English, German and French very well. He also gets by in Russian and Spanish. Gabriel is also an accomplished Internet publisher - his Internet Chess Academy can be found at http://www.yourmove.com

You can send email to Gabriel at [email protected].