White: Gata Kamsky        0


Black: Anatoly Karpov     1





Played 12 June 96 in Elista, Kalmykia

1. e4

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it!" Kamsky's first move worked just fine in the second game of this match, so Kamsky sees no reason to change it. I am sure he was rather curious to see if Karpov switches openings or not.

1. ...   c6

And he doesn't! There are many ways of explaining why Karpov chose to play the Caro Kann again. First of all, Caro Kann has been his favorite defense lately, and his experience in this particular opening is probably without equal in the world. Secondly, I am sure that Karpov and his seconds spent enough time after the second game searching for an improvement, and the fact that he played 1...c6 means they probably found it. Finally, there is also an important psychological reason. Karpov has been very unsure of himself in the last two games, and abandoning the Caro Kann would mean boosting Kamsky's self confidence even more by admitting that he's afraid to play it again. So, as I said in my second game analysis, we will see the Caro Kann again!

2. d4   d5





3. ed5   cd5





4. c4   Nf6





5. Nc3   e6





6. Nf3   Bb4





7. cd5   Nd5





8. Bd2   Nc6





9. Bd3   0-0





10. 0-0   Be7





11. Qe2   Nf6





12. Ne4

All of the moves above should seem very familiar to you, since they have also been played in the second game of this match. For commentaries please refer to the second game special analysis.

12. ...   Qb6!

So this is what Karpov's team prepared in the past three days! In the second game Karpov played 12... Bd7 and got an inferior position, which after an addditional error transformed itself into a nightmare. This time, Karpov decides to develop his queen immediately attacking simultaneously the pawns on b2 and d4.

Playing immediately 12...Nd4 would not have been good because after 13.Nd4 Qd4 14.Bc3 Qd8 (other moves allow the shattering of the black royal defense after the trades on f6) 15.Nf6 Bf6 16.Rad1 Qe7 17.Qe4 g6, white has the nice move 18.Bb4 which wins an exchange in a winning position.

In another game played in Germany in 1994 between GM Kveynis and GM Hellsten, black tried 12...Ne4 but after 13.Qe4 f5 14.Qe3 Bf6 15.Bc3, white retained an advantage because of the black weakness on e6 and the very strong square on e5.

As opposed to the move played by Karpov in the second game, 12...Qb6 poses white an immediate problem: the defense of the pawn on b2. Even though we often tend to regard that pawn as the standard poisonous pawn, in this position black can actually take it without any risk...

13. a3!

One of the sad things in chess is that we can only move one move at a time. Which means that the more things one move can solve, the better it is! Kamsky's move does at least two important things: it prevents the knight on c6 from jumping to b4, and also indirectly defends the pawn on b2, since after 13...Qb2 14.Rfb1, the queen would once again have to leave the board in shame, something that Karpov doesn't want to see happening...

 





13. ...   Bd7





14. Rfd1

Now you can see the full meaning of Karov's novelty on move 12. Because of the black queen and it's threat on b2, white has to abandon the standard setup with the a1 rook to d1 and the f1 rook on e1, and leave instead the rook on a1 to keep an eye on the black queen.

14. ...   Rad8

If you compare this position with the one from the second game, you will see several important differences, mostly in black's favor. The first observation should be that black's pieces are much better coordinated than in the previous game, with a special target on the white isolated pawn on d4. White, on the other hand, had to worsen his piece arrangement, which means that black has practically obtained the equality.

15. Nf6?!

Kamsky's move is standard in this type of positions: by eliminating the knight on f6, white can place his queen in front of the d3 bishop and force black to weaken his king's side pawn structure. Then white has to try to exploit this weakness and mount an attack. Unfortunately 15.Nf6, by trading the knight, also gives black more breathing space and installs his dark squared bishop on a great diagonal, also pointing towards the d4 pawn. Once this happens, white will be tied up with the defense of his weaknesses and will hardly find time for any attack. Kamsky should have tried to keep the status quo a little longer, either by defending the d4 pawn with Bc3, or by pushing the b pawn to b4, with the idea Ne4-c5 or b4-b5. In either case, white seems to retain the initiative, which after the move made in the game practically slipped out of Kamsky's hands.

15. ...   Bf6





16. Qe4   g6





17. Be3   Ne7!

Karpov has reached the kind of position he likes! With very little real attacking chances, white is stuck with a weak isolated pawn on d4, and Karpov has just started one of his piece rearrangements he is so famous for. The knight is heading either to f5 or d5, while the bishop on d7 is getting ready to gain control of the h1-a8 diagonal. Black isn't scared by the immediate d4-d5 because of the strong Qb2.

18. Ne5   Nf5!

Karpov characteristically chooses the right place for the knight. Many of you might have been tempted to put it on d5, because of the blockade idea standard for positions with isolated pawns. Karpov refuses to block the white pawn right away, because he has already reserved that spot for one of his other pieces. Also, please note how well the knight on f5 is defending the black king. There is basically no way white can get past it, unless he is ready to launch a full attack, including g2-g4, which would be very risky with an open center.

19. Nc4?!

Kamsky has become so annoyed with the queen on b6, that he would do anything just to make her go away. Unfortunately, by leaving the e5 square, white gave away the little control he had over the c6 square, which is the perfect entry point for the bishop on d7.

19. ...   Qa6

Beautiful move made by Karpov, which I don't know how many other players would have made. Seemingly a grave error because of the bishop on d3, Qa6 is actually the move that takes over the entire game. Black is not afraid of any "discover" moves of the white knight, because he has prepared Bd7-b5. Trading light squared bishops is extremely advantageous for black, because it would give him full control of the d5 square, perfect for a rook. The pressure he would be able to mount on the d4 pawn then, would be too much to fight against. Which is why Kamsky had to take the b5 square under control:

20. a4   Bc6





21. Qf4

White can not play 21.Qg4 because of the simple 21...Nd4.

21. ...   Bd5!

Of course 21...Nd4 doesn't work because of 22.Qf6, and 21...Bd4 isn't much better either, because after 22.Bf5 Be3 23.Ne3 ef5 24.Nf5! Rd1 25.Rd1 gf5 26.Qg5 white can get at least a draw by perpetual check.

After 21...Bd5, Karpov has achieved all he could have dreamed of. His pieces are placed on the best possible squares, white has several important weaknesses on d4, a4, and b2, and the white pieces lack any kind of coordination.

22. Ne5   Qb6





23. Bf5

This must have been a very difficult moment for Kamsky. Giving the only good bishop for the black knight, and leaving Karpov with the bishop pair, and quite a powerful one, immediately makes black's position much better. On the other hand, that's the only way of getting rid of the black knight, since the simple 23.g4 doesn't work because of 23...g5!, winning the queen.

23. ...   ef5





24. Rd2   Bg7

Karpov feels like a fish in water. This is the exact kind of position he is the best player in the world at, and as usual, he takes his time. His idea now is to take over the 'c' file. In order to do that he wants to move the rook to c8. But this releases control of the d7 square, thus allowing white to fork the queen, rook, and bishop on that square. So, watch Karpov as he calmly removes the rook and bishop out of their forking position in preparation of Rc8. Once again, very simple but effective moves.

25. h4

The idea behind 25.h4 is to create an opening for the king, and also to put an obstacle in the way of the black pawn avalanche that could start rolling after a short preparation. But again, this move also creates an important weakness: the g4 square! Of course, black has no knight to install there, but guess which piece would love to check this place out: the rook! As you will see very soon, Kamsky had to suffer throughout the rest of the game from this one weakness.

Another big disadvantage for Kamsky is the position of his queen. He originally played Qe4 with the intention of weakening black, but instead he trapped his own queen among all the pawns and pieces around her. Which is why white has to be so concerned about the black pawns not starting to move towards her.

25. ...   Rfe8





26. Qg3

The weak square on g4 already becomes important. White can't move his knight, because of 26...Re4 and 27...Rg4. That is why Kamsky moves his queen first, so that Re4 and Rg4 don't happen with tempo.

26. ...   Rc8





27. Nd7

Karpov has managed to tie up white's pieces so well, that Kamsky is almost without move. 27.Nd7 doesn't do much, but at least it poses a threat, which white has not done in a while...

27. ...   Qc6





28. Nc5   b6





29. Nd3   Qd7





30. a5

Kamsky is aware of the importance of the 'c' file, and he desperately tries to close it. By pushing a5, he is trying to make black move the pawn from b6, so that the knight can jump back to c5 and rest there for a while. It is true that if possible, the knight on c5 would clearly improve white's position, but playing against Karpov you have to know it is not going to happen...

30. ...   Re4!





31. Nf4   b5

If talking were allowed during the game, Karpov would probably have smiled and told Kamsky "All right, you asked me to move my b6 pawn, and I did. But where is your knight?" Well, the knight has much more important matters to attend to, such as not allowing Rg4 with an immediate win. Meanwhile black has obtained another nice square on c4, the white pawns are weaker than ever, and the queen still can't get out.

32. Rdd1  Bc4





33. Rac1   h6

Taking on d4 with the bishop would be a mistake, because white has the tricky 34.b3, based on the fact that the black queen has to do two jobs at the same time: defend the rook on c8 and the bishop on d4. So after 34...Bb3, white wins a piece with 35.Rc8 Qc8 36.Rd4.

The text move insures an opening for the king, which is always good to have, but especially when you are entering time pressure.

34. Rc3?!   b4!

Karpov makes sure that white's queenside pawns don't ever see each other again. Of course you might say that the black pawn on b4 is also a liability, and it is true, but Karpov is confident that moving the bishop to f8 will take care of that. White meanwhile, can hardly defend any of his weaknesses.

35. Rc2   Rc6





36. Rdc1   Bb5





37. Kh2?   Kh7

Typical moves for time pressure, they have benefited black much more than white. Black's king really stays better on h7, while the white king has an awful new position: it is on the same diagonal with the queen and knight, which already smells like trouble, and it is also on the same file with the h pawn, so if the black rook ever captures it, it will be with check!

38. Rc6   Bc6





39. Rc4

38. ...  Bf8!








40. Nd3?

Removing the knight from f4 is the one thing white should not do under any circumstances. The knight is the only barrier in the way of the black rook, and once that's gone, the white king is at the mercy of the black forces which happen to include a rook, two bishops and a queen... The reason Kamsky chose this move, was the tricky trap that comes with it: if black plays the tempting (especially with only seconds left) 40...Rg4, white has the nice fork 41.Ne5 and after 41...Rg3 42.Nd7 Rg2 43.Kh1 white is still surviving, since 43...Bd7 is bad because of 44.Kg2

I suspect that in time pressure Kamsky didn't have time to ask the other question associated with traps "what happens if he doesn't fall into it?" so that would explain why he overlooked black's best move in the following position.

40. ...   Qe6?

Better than the 40...Rg4 shown above, Qe6 is still bad in comparison with 40...Qd5! After Qd5 white can not hold his fortress together anymore. 41.Ne5 fails because of 41...Re5 and 42...Qc4; 41.Rc1 is not any better because of 41...Rh4 42.Kg1 (the queen can't budge because of Qg2 mate) 42...Rg4 43.Nf4 Qe4 with overwhelming attack; and other moves end up in similar tragic positions. Obviously Karpov has an excuse for not making this move: time trouble...

41. d5!

Only move! After 41.Ne5 black can still play 41...Re5, and against 41.Rc2 black now has the powerful 41...Rg4: 42.Nf4 Qf6! with winning attack.

41. ...   Bd5





42. Re4   Be4





43. Ba7?!

White's position is already much worse: he's a pawn down, he still has many weaknesses, and black's bishop pair is as strong as it can be. 43.Ba7 doesn't help at all. White should have tried to trade at least one of the bishops and enter an endgame with very little survival chances, but at least some...

43. ...   Bd6





44. Nf4

44.f4 isn't much better because of the very nice 44...Qd7!, attacking the bishop on a7. Against any bishop move except Bd4, black will simply play 45...Bd3 46.Qd3 Bf4 winning the queen (that king should really not be on h2). Against 45.Bd4 black has 45...Bd3 45.Qd3 Bf4+ 46.g3 Be5 also winning the bishop. And 45.Bc5 runs into the simple 45...Bd3 46.Bd6 (46.Qd3 Bf4+) 46...Qd6 retaining the piece...

   


44. ...Qe5!





45. Nh3?

A final blunder that ends the game immediately. Required was 45.Be3, but after 45...Qb2, white has a hopeless position, since his pieces can barely move, and he won't be able to stop black's b4 pawn without a major sacrifice.

45. ...   Qe7!

And Kamsky resigned because he can not defend his queen and bishop at the same time...

A nice game by Karpov, but a surprisingly weak performance by the young American challenger. It almost seems like from the moment Karpov made his prepared novelty on move 12, Kamsky wasn't able to get back into the rhythm. He consumed a lot of time, didn't find the best moves, and his position slowly went down. I would even argue that his decision to play the exact same moves as in the second game was a little risky. After all, he knew Karpov and his seconds must have studied that position for hours and found something if Karpov had the courage to repeat it. It might have been a little safer for Kamsky to prepare an earlier deviation in the Caro Kann, instead of going straight into a position that by now should have become very familiar for his opponent.

In any case, it was another captivating game, and also a possible turning point of the match. Karpov managed to win with the black pieces, and on Friday he will again have white, a dangerous weapon in his hands. Please come join us on Friday, starting at 8 AM (EST) to see if Kamsky can re-ignite the fight and equalize the match!

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].