Final coup showed Kasparov's ingenuity
Gary Kasparov's creativity and flair for combinative play enabled him to wrest the world championship from fellow Soviet Anatoly Karpov. These areas came to the fore several times in the match, including today's featured final game which he won to take the title by a 13-11 score. Kasparov, 22, thus became the youngest-ever world champion while ending Karpov's 10-year reign.
The quality of play in this match was, in my opinion, the finest since Fischer. Karpov went down a fighting champion. It is doubtful he would have lost today's featured finale under normal play, but Kasparov needed only a draw; the champion, a win. Sicilian Defense Karpov Kasparov Karpov Kasparov
1. P-K4 P-QB4
2. N-KB3 P-Q3 (a)
3. P-Q4 PxP
4. NxP N-KB3
5. N-QB3 P-QR3
6. B-K2 P-K3 (b)
7. O-O B-K2
8. P-B4 O-O
9. K-R1 Q-B2 10. P-QR4 N-B3 11. B-K3 R-K1 12. B-B3 R-N1 13. Q-Q2 B-Q2 14. N-N3 P-QN3 (c) 15. P-N4 B-QB1 (d) 16. P-N5 N-Q2 17. Q-B2 B-B1 18. B-N2 B-N2 19. QR-Q1 P-N3 20. B-B1 (e) QR-B1 21. R-Q3 N-N5 22. R-R3 B-N2 (f) 23. B-K3 R-K2 24. K-N1 QR-K1 25. R-Q1 P-B4 (g) 26. PxP e.p. NxKBP 27. R-N3 (h) R-B2 (i) 28. BxP Q-N1 29. B-K3 N-R4 30. R-N4 N-KB3 31. R-R4 (j) P-N4 (k) 32. PxP N-N5 33. Q-Q2 NxB 34. QxN NxP 35. Q-N6 (l) B-QR1 36. RxQP (m) R-N2 37. QxP RxN 38. RxKP RxP 39. Q-B4 K-R1 40. P-K5 Q-R2 ch 41. K-R1 BxB ch 42. KxB N-Q5 ch 43. Resigns (n)
A. Kasparov shows that he has more than one string to his bow, varying from the gambit of 2. . . . P-K3; 3. P-Q4, PxP; 4. NxP, N-QB3; 5. N-N5, P-Q3; 6. P-QB4, N-B3; 7. N/1-B3, P-QR3; 8. N-R3, P-Q4, which he had played so successfully earlier in the match.
B. The Najdorf continuation of 6. . . . P-K4 results in positions well suited to Karpov's positional maneuvering, so Kasparov transposes into the elastic main line Scheveningen.
C. Or White plays 15. P-R5 with a lock on his QN6.
D. A two-pronged move. Black prepares to redeploy his bishop at QN2, where it eyes the White king and makes Q2 square available for the KN.
E. White clears the third rank as an avenue for his rook.
F. Black's moves are well timed. Now that 23. Q-R4 can be adequately met by 23. . . . N-B1, Karpov returns to positional maneuvering.
G. True to his mercurial style, Kasparov indulges in this slight weakening in a finely calculated bid for counterplay via a deep pawn sacrifice.
H. Karpov prevents 27. . . . N-N5. Here, 27. BxP, Q-N1 would likely transpose into the game.
I. Continuing the plan initiated by his 25th move.
J. Had this game not been a ``must'' win for Karpov, it is likely he would have acquiesced to the draw by repetition with 31. R-N3, N-R4, etc.
K. This bomb was the raison d'^etre for his previous pawn sacrifice. The Black pieces now explode into the White position.
L. Or 35. Q-Q2, Q-R2 ch; 36. K-R1, R-B7; 37. Q-B1 (if 37. QxP, then 37. . . . N-K6; 38. R-KN1, NxB; 39. RxN, R-B8ch mates); 37. . . . N-K6, and White's chances of salvaging the position are very slight.
M. Since Black would recapture the sacrificed material after 36. QxQ, RxQ with the winning chances all on his side, Karpov gambles on the text, which sacrifices a piece for a few pawns. Both players were in severe time pressure at this point.
N. The smoke has cleared. After 43. K moves, . . . NxR, Black has an extra rook and bishop. A superb climax to a thrilling match.
International Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier is a former US champion and has won or shared the US Open title five times.
