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Alexander Beliavsky vs Anatoly Karpov
Tilburg Interpolis (1993), Tilburg NED, rd 6, Nov-29
Caro-Kann Defense: Karpov. Smyslov Variation Main Line (B17)  ·  0-1

8
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a
1
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e
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g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
0-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
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Kibitzer's Corner
Feb-26-12  Everett: An interesting dance to recover the c5 pawn in the opening, followed by some endgame magic beyond my grasp. Karpov's superior rook and mobilization of the k-side pawns prove to be too much for Beliavsky.
Feb-26-12  newton296: karpov classic, can't even figure out how he won this (boc) ending. seemed like a dead draw to me.
Feb-27-12  john2629: newton296 in my opinion 34...g5 was the turning point in this endgame,white should play h4 before that.after g5 the k-side pawns expansion was very hard to counter.
Dec-26-14  tessathedog: I think john2629 has grasped it. Karpov wins by grabbing space on the kingside with his pawns. But there's much more to this wonderful game than that. There are several highly instructive moves, both tactical and strategical. For example:

15...b6! Not castling just yet, because with the black pawn on h6, immediate castling invites 16 Be3 and 0-0-0 followed by a kingside pawn storm. Note how Karpov DOES castle kingside next move after White has committed his king to that side of the board.

22...Nf6! This seems to invite 23 Ne5, but that's refuted tactically with 23...Rd5! 24 Rfe1 Bxf2+!! (lovely move. The Queen can't take on f2 because she is overloaded protecting the Knight on e5, and taking with the King runs into ...Rxd5 and...Ng4 forking the King and Queen). Beliavsky must have seen this and so plays the otherwise hard to understand backwards move 23 Nd2 instead.)

It's one thing to gain space, and another thing to know how to use it. Karpov's mastery of how to use it is revealed in the variation 43 Rh1 (preparing the simplifying h3) Rxh4 44 Bb5 (the bishop has to move before h3 can be played, but this tempo is crucial) 44...f5! 45 h3 f4! 46 hxg4 f3 47 Kg1 Rxg4+ with advantage.

Finally, 48...g3! to clear the path for the "e" pawn. Clearly foreseen the move before when 47...e4 was selected.

All of these moves are of the type that separate a super GM from a regular one. One can understand and appreciate them once they are shown to you (Karpov's own notes revealed them to me), but it takes a special insight to find them over the board.

Dec-27-14  cunctatorg: Karpov's approach to chess and his handling of the game should be compared to a nightmare for many "Super Grandmasters". Karpov's "endgame technique" and his handling of the endgame is a nightmare also; see the position of this game after White's 30th move, equal number of pawns with a "minor" weakness (?!) regarding the backward c3 pawn (which is a part of White's pawn majority in the Queen's side) and -besides the rooks...- bishops of "different color" but a real Super-GM (Alexander Beliavsky was indeed such a GM) has to be in readiness for a ferocious ... Siege, from Black's part!!... Isn't this a real nightmare?!? Well, the handling of the game for all Great Players in the history of chess was something like a nightmare for the next levels of the world's strongest players... Chess is a cruel thing also...

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