USChess Online ® Presents:

FIDE World Championship - Game 18





White: Gata Kamsky



Black: Anatoly Karpov







Played 10 July 96 in Elista, Kalmykia

Annotation by GM Arthur Bisguier
assisted by NM Eric Johnson and Brian Bugbee
Special Post-Game Analysis by GM Gabriel Schwartzman

Coverage provided by the United States Chess Federation
in cooperation with FIDE
Special Thanks to GM Bachar Kouatly and Christophe Bouton of FIDE.
Technical services provided by Websong Publishing

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17. Nd2xc4
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Grandmaster Bisguier's Commentary

Gata takes a great amount of time here.

The position contains some attractive blunders:

17. Rxe7?! looks good on 17. ... Qxe7? 18. Nxf6+ gxf6 19. Qg4+ Kh8 20. Qf5 and White wins (21. ... Nd7 22. Bxb7, or 21. ... Kg7 22. Qg5+!).

But a deeper look reveals that Black is on top after 17. ... Qxd4! 18. Nxf6+ Qxf6! 19. Rxb7 Nxb7 20. Bxb7 Rad8! and the pin wins back a piece and stays an exchange ahead because of threats of ... Rxd2 and ... c4-c3.

This error (17. Rxe7?!) isn't mentioned in some popular books on the Queen's Indian Defense, but it should be!

Gata avoids all this with 17. Nxc4. The move has been played before - White has a small advantage, but Black has every reason to expect to hold the balance. (1:21)