chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing
Anatoly Karpov vs Tony Miles
"The Incorrect Opening" (game of the day Jun-04-2014)
European Team Championship (1980), Skara SWE, rd 1, Jan-20
St. George Defense: General (B00)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Click Here to play Guess-the-Move
Given 49 times; par: 80 [what's this?]

Annotations by Stockfish (Computer).      [35437 more games annotated by Stockfish]

explore this opening
find similar games 28 more Karpov/Miles games
PGN: download | view | print Help: general | java-troubleshooting

TIP: Premium members can see a list of all games that they have seen recently at their Game History Page.

PGN Viewer:  What is this?
For help with this chess viewer, please see the Olga Chess Viewer Quickstart Guide.
PREMIUM MEMBERS CAN REQUEST COMPUTER ANALYSIS [more info]

THIS IS A COMPUTER ANNOTATED SCORE.   [CLICK HERE] FOR ORIGINAL.

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 7 OF 9 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Nov-29-12  jancotianno: I just faced this opening two days ago :P i didn't blow my opponent away but managed to win fairly comfortably.
Jan-30-13  x1134x: @AW1988: If you played: 1. e4 a6 2. d4 b5 3. c4 Bb7 4. Nc3 d6 then you made the first mistake missing 4. .. b4! Black wins the e pawn! (If Nd5, e6 boots it and lets the bishop defend b4) and then the Bishop at b7 gets the white e pawn for free. Its a classic St George trap, comes up in many of its configurations.
Mar-22-13  engmaged: a6 is pure psychological move. It is main purpose to distract the opponent's mind and makes him wonder "Is he taking me easy? How disrespectful of him! what if i lost with such an opening with white? to me it is not pure fair play!
Nov-05-13  capafischer1: let us not forget karpov's lifetime score against miles was 13 wins versus only 2 losses.
Apr-04-14  epicchess: Indeed, Miles played this to unnerve Karpov. Due to Karpov's seniority, he "needed" to win, and the move a6 was a spit in his face. Miles was not a good man, nor a particularly good chess player, for that matter.
Apr-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <epicchess: Due to Karpov's seniority, he "needed" to win....>

'Seniority' being that Karpov was older by four years, or the world champion?

<Miles was not a good man, nor a particularly good chess player, for that matter.>

Miles had his failings, same as anyone else, but as a player who proclaims himself 2500 level, you should be well aware that to refer to him as not being 'a particularly good player' is bollocks. The man would have mopped the floor with you, no matter what a piece of shyte you consider him.

Apr-04-14  Petrosianic: <keypusher>: <Typical jingo fanatic. If you scroll down the page, you will learn that Miles regularly "threw opening preparation out the window" with Black against Karpov, and regularly got crushed doing it.>

I see what you mean. +2-12=14 against Karpov for Miles. But there may have been method to the madness. In his book on the 1978 Match, Keene mentioned offbeat openings as a possible weakness of Karpov's, and showed some example where he played very shakily against the Center Game, and only drew against a very weak opponent. That may have been Miles' thinking, although it only granted very limited success. Still, people remember the one time it worked.

Did Karpov himself complain that the opening was incorrect, or is that just Travis being Travis again?

Apr-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Miles had no failings; his brain did.
Apr-04-14  epicchess: perfidous. I am reffering to his world champion title. And, he probably wouldn't have mopped the floor with me. With a opening like that, anyone who is a player in practice over 2500 would crush him. So I would. Also, when I said not a particularly good player, i meant for his level, not for you.
Jun-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: After this inspirational game hit the airways, there was one fellow I knew who, not quite as assertive as Miles, started opening with 1...a6 and 2...b6.

Naturally, I argued this should be called the "Boy George".

Jun-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: Karpov probably joked about the move being "incorrect". Karpov was well liked and still is by most chess players in the world whereas Fischer was definitely not after he went on radio and everywhere he could with his anti-Semitism and other madness.

It is still doubtful Fischer would have won against Karpov in 1974. Fischer also played some very had games e.g. his bad loss to Petrosian who was playing the French as Black as well as another loss to him as White against the Caro Kan.

I remember when this was played and the result was sensational as indeed Karpov hardly ever lost a game in those days.

Jun-04-14  Robespierre: Wow! Kudos to Tony Miles for providing the original commentary & to the estimable Ray Keene for his astute editing skills. Grazie, grazie, gents!!
Jun-04-14  kereru: Of course Karpov got a fine position out of the opening, but he chickened out of the excellent 19.Bxh7+! and just lost his way after that. Maybe Miles's incredibly cheeky choice of opening was playing with his head.
Jun-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: There is nothing organically wrong with 1....a6. It has its own reasons. Black wants to prevent white's ♙c2-c4 by playing ...♙b7-b5, but he can't play b5 straight away owing to Bxb5.

There is no way any player can "knock over" 1...a6 in 15 moves without some subsequent black error. This opening is not a Damiano's.

Jun-04-14  morfishine: Miles plays like Karpov, which is what it takes to beat Karpov
Jun-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <Petrosianic:...Did Karpov himself complain that the opening was incorrect, or is that just Travis being Travis again?>

All I remember about Travis is that he took his name from that British Disc Jockey Mr Dave Lee Travis.

He was very popular on the BBC until a few years ago, then he seems to have fallen off the map.

Jun-04-14  pedro99: I think it would have been close between Karpov and Fischer then. Three or so years later Fischer would have been mashed. Karpov was still winning vs Kasparov when their marathon was abandoned. He was streets ahead of his rivals until K2 came along (or should that be K3?)
Jun-04-14  kevin86: A weird one! Black virtually gives up his first two moves to Karpov and beats him! It also looks like Karpov gave up a bit early. I think white can hold out with the BOOC.
Jun-04-14  john barleycorn: <kevin86: A weird one!> What do expect from a british especially when his name is Miles? :-). Love that guy.
Jun-04-14  RookFile: Botvinnik said once that when black does weird stuff, you focus on establishing a strong pawn center. If allowed, white should have played 2. c4, 3. d4, 4. f4 before bringing out the pieces.
Jun-04-14  Tomlinsky: <Miles was not a good man, nor a particularly good chess player, for that matter.>

Well, in 1984 Tony broke Pillsbury's blindfold simultaneous record that had stood for over 80 years and was a pleasant and helpful chap whenever he dropped by his old club I am informed.

Jun-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: Tony was a nice guy, and a great and original player. He even drew with me once (!).

His typically witty notes on the opening (of course 1...a6 is perfectly playable, despite some of the stupid comments made about it) demonstrate one key difference between the 1980s and the present. Today, we can look up databases and find games in any line - but Tony wrote about having access to particular game scores in print.

Jun-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Check It Out: <Domdaniel: Tony was a nice guy, and a great and original player. He even drew with me once (!).>

That's one way to put it. Was that a simul or a rated game?

Jun-04-14  Dezaxa: Karpov calls this "incorrect opening" in his book Learn from your Defeats.

I believe this game was the first time a British player beat a reigning world champion.

Jun-04-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: Hi Dezaxa,

I'm thinking this may be the first time a Brit has beaten a current world champion.

J Penrose vs Tal, 1960

And a technical point.

Vera Menchik was beaten by a few Brits when she was the Women's World Chess Champion.

Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 9)
search thread:   
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 7 OF 9 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific game only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

This game is type: CLASSICAL. Please report incorrect or missing information by submitting a correction slip to help us improve the quality of our content.

<This page contains Editor Notes. Click here to read them.>

Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC