Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov - Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match 1987.12.18

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Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov
Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match Seville ESP round 24 1987.12.18
English Opening: Agincourt Defense 1-0

[Event "Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match"]
[Site "Seville ESP"]
[Date "1987.12.18"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "24"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Garry Kasparov"]
[Black "Anatoly Karpov"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "126"]

1.c4 {I can look back at my chess career and pick out more
than a few crisis points, but only one Mount Everest. I would
like to share the tale to investigate the means I used in
winning the most important game of my life. ... After a tough,
prolonged defense I suffered one of the worst hallucinations
of my career and blundered to a loss in game 23. Suddenly,
Karpov was up by a point and was only a draw away from taking
back the crown he had lost to me two years earlier. The very
next day after this catastrophe, I had to take the white
pieces into a must-win game 24. Caissa, the goddess of chess,
had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my
nature. I would not be allowed to hold on to my title without
winning a game in the second half of the match. Only once
before in chess history had the champion won a final game to
retain his title. With his back against the wall, Emanuel
Lasker beat Carl Schlechter in the last game of their match in
1910. The win allowed Lasker to draw the match and keep his
title for a further eleven years. The Austrian Schlechter had,
like Karpov, a reputation as a defensive wizard. In fact, his
uncharacteristically aggressive play in the final game against
Lasker has led some historians to believe that the rules of
that particular match required him to win by two points. When
preparing for my turn on the other side of this situation, I
recalled that critical encounter. What strategy should I
employ with the white pieces in this must-win final game?
There was more to think about than game 23 and game 24, of
course. These were also games 119 and 120 between us, an
extraordinary number of top-level encounters between the same
two players, all played in a span of thirty-nine months. It
felt like one long match, with this final game in December,
1987, the climax of what we had started in September 1984. My
plan for the final game had to consider not only what I would
like best but what my opponent would like least. And what
could be more annoying for Karpov than my turning the tables
and playing like Karpov?" -- Garry Kasparov, excerpt from "How
Life Imitates Chess", 2007, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, ISBN:
1596913878. } e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.b3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O b6
7.Bb2 Bb7 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Ne4 10.Ne2 a5 11.d3 Bf6 12.Qc2 Bxb2
13.Qxb2 Nd6 14.cxd5 Bxd5 15.d4 c5 16.Rfd1 Rc8 17.Nf4 Bxf3
18.Bxf3 Qe7 19.Rac1 Rfd8 20.dxc5 Nxc5 21.b4 axb4 22.Qxb4 Qa7
23.a3 Nf5 24.Rb1 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Qc7 26.Nd3 h6 27.Rc1 Ne7 28.Qb5
Nf5 29.a4 Nd6 30.Qb1 Qa7 31.Ne5 {Seeing a chance to play for
an attack, I moved my knight to the central e5 square,
offering a pawn. Karpov took the bait and grabbed the pawn, a
temptation that could have led to disaster. And he had to play
quickly now, as it was still a long way to move 40, when, by
the rules then in force, the game would be adjourned and more
time added before continuation the next day. -- Kasparov, "How
Life Imitates Chess"} Nxa4 32.Rxc8+ {I exchanged rooks,
leaving me with queen, knight, and bishop against his queen
and two knights. He had an extra pawn, but I had seen a
tactical possibility that would give me a powerful attack. His
pieces were dangerously uncoordinated, and his king was
vulnerable. If I could penetrate into his position with my
queen, I could exploit both of these factors at the same
time. The question was where to move my queen on move
33. Karpov could only wait, knowing he would have to reply
almost immediately or he wouldn't have enough time to make the
next eight moves without losing on time. -- Kasparov, "How
Life Imitates Chess"} Nxc8 33.Qd1 {Lost in thought, I was
startled by a tap on my shoulder. The Dutch arbiter leaned
over and said, "Mr. Kasparov, you have to write the moves." I
had become so wrapped up in the game that I had forgotten to
make note of the last two moves on my score sheet as required
by the rules. The arbiter was of course correct to remind me
of the regulations, but what a moment to be strict!
Distracted, I played my queen to the wrong square. I missed a
subtlety and failed to see why a different move with the same
idea would have been stronger. My move gave Karpov a clever
defense, and suddenly he was one move from reclaiming his
title. But under pressure from the clock, he missed the best
move (though our exchange of errors would not be discovered
until well after the game), and the momentum was still with
me. -- Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} Ne7 34.Qd8+ Kh7
35.Nxf7 Ng6 36.Qe8 Qe7 37.Qxa4 Qxf7 38.Be4 Kg8 39.Qb5 Nf8
40.Qxb6 {Karpov's best opportunity to defend had passed, and
my forces surrounded the black king. I regained my sacrificed
pawn with interest, and by the time we reached move 40, ending
the time scramble, my position was clearly superior. The game
was adjourned until the next day with the title still up in
the air. It was going to be a long night. Getting a good
night's sleep before the game had been wise, but now there was
work to do. Thirteen pieces were still on the board, including
queens, too much material for definitive endgame analysis. I
had an extra pawn, but with such limited material, Karpov had
definite chances of a draw. A lot of chess was still ahead. --
Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} Qf6 41.Qb5 Qe7 42.Kg2
{The best news was that I could play this position forever,
maneuvering around to provoke a mistake by my opponent. Black
would be tied down on defense the entire time, and Karpov knew
it. The prospect of such prolonged torture took its toll; I
could see it in his eyes when he walked on the stage a few
minutes after I did. His fatalistic expression told me that he
had already lost the game psychologically, which boosted my
confidence. -- Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} g6 {The
maneuvering began. I remember being surprised when early on
Karpov made a pawn push that my team and I had established as
bad for black's defensive chances. Apparently Karpov and his
team disagreed with our analysis, or perhaps it was a
psychological error. Sometimes the hardest thing to do in a
pressure situation is to allow the tension to persist. The
temptation is to make a decision, any decision, even if it is
an inferior choice. And Karpov's move made the position more
concrete, reducing the level of uncertainty. But in my favor,
his structure was now fixed, presenting me with clearer
targets. Convinced of the quality of our analysis, I took
Karpov's significant deviation from it as a mistake, not a
potential improvement, further increasing my confidence. --
Kasparov, "How Life Imitates Chess"} 43.Qa5 Qg7 44.Qc5 Qf7
45.h4 h5 46.Qc6 Qe7 47.Bd3 Qf7 48.Qd6 Kg7 49.e4 Kg8 50.Bc4 Kg7
51.Qe5+ Kg8 52.Qd6 Kg7 53.Bb5 Kg8 54.Bc6 Qa7 55.Qb4 Qc7 56.Qb7
Qd8 57.e5 Qa5 58.Be8 Qc5 59.Qf7+ Kh8 60.Ba4 Qd5+ 61.Kh2 Qc5
62.Bb3 Qc8 63.Bd1 Qc5 64.Kg2 {After another ten moves of
steady squeezing, I began to feel the win was in the
bag. Karpov's pieces were pinned up against the wall, and a
little more maneuvering would lead to decisive material
gain. Later I heard that FIDE President Florencio Campomanes
was busy calling a special meeting in another room to decide
how to handle the closing ceremony, which was scheduled to be
held on the same day. But it still looked as if this game
could last forever; what was to be done? Two crises were
averted at once when someone ran into the meeting room to
announce, "Karpov resigned!" It was without question the
loudest and longest standing ovation I had ever received
outside my native country. The theater thundered as Spanish
television cut from futbol to broadcast the conclusion of the
match. I had done what Karpov had failed to do in 1985: won
the final game and drawn the match to retain my title. This
time I would have a good, long time to enjoy it. -- Garry
Kasparov, excerpt from "How Life Imitates Chess", 2007,
Bloomsbury Publishing USA, ISBN: 1596913878. } 1-0

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Updated: 31 January, 2022
Created: 31 January, 2022