Oct-27-03
 | | Honza Cervenka: This is an interesting game documenting Karpov's skill in tactics. Black could have played better 26...Rad8, but after 27.h4 Rd3 28.Qg4 Bd7 (pin of white f-Pawn) 29.Rc2 Qa1 30.Kh2 white's attack seems to be decisive too. For example, 30...Rxc3 31.Qg5 Rxc2 32.Bxc2 Be8 33.h5 Qc3 34.Qh6 (threatening 35.hxg6 with an unavoidable mate) 34...gxf5 [after 34...g5 or 34...gxh5 white can play 35.Rc6 threatening f6: 34...g5 35.Rc6 Qd2 36.f6 Qf4+ 37.Kg1 Qe3+ 38.Kf1 Qf4+ 39.Ke2 Qg4+ 40.Kd3 Qd7+ (40...Qg3+ 41.Kc4  ) 41.Ke3 Qa7+ 42.Ke2 ; 34...gxh5 35.Rc6 Qe1 36.Rc3!! ] 35.Rxf5 f6 36.Rf3 Qxc2 37.Rg3+ Kf7 38.Qg7+ Ke6 39.Qxf8 Bc6 40.Rf3 with a decisive advantage of white. |
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| Oct-28-03 | | Cyphelium: <Honza Cervenka> After 26.-Rad8 27.h4 Rd3 28.Qg4 Bd7 29.Rc2 Qa1 30.Kh2 Rxc3 31.Qg5 Rxc2 32.Bxc2 Be8 33.h5 black can play 33. -Qa3, when 34. Qh6 won't threaten anything. Even better might be to play 32.- Qa3 instead of the passive 32.- Be8. 33. h5 Kg7, when white probably has to take the draw with 34. hxg6 fxg6 35. Rxg6 hxg6 36. Qxg6+ etc. |
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Oct-29-03
| | Honza Cervenka: <Cyphelium> 32...Qa3 33.h5 Kg7 fails for 34.h6+ Kh8 (34...Kg8 35.fxg6 ) 35.fxg6 hxg6 (35...fxg6 37.Rxf8+ Qxf8 39.Qe5+ Kg8 40.Bb3+ with mate.) 36.Qxe5 Kh7 37.Rxg6! Kxg6 38.Qg7+ Kh5 39.Bd1+ Bg4 40.Bxg4+ Kh4 41.Bd1 and the mate is unavoidable. If 32...Be8 33.h5 Qa3, then 34.Qh6 contains a threat 35.Bb3 pinning black f-Pawn with a decisive effect, for example 34...a5 35.Bb3 Qxb3 36.hxg6 fxg6 37.fxg6 etc. Nevertheless after 34...gxf5 I don't see any winning continuation for white. But white has other move than 34.Qh6. 34.h6 looks very unpleasant for black. For example 34.h6 a5 35.fxg6 fxg6 (35...hxg6 36.Qxe5 ) 36.Re6 Qc5 37.Bb3 or 34.h6 Qb4 35.fxg6 fxg6 36.Re6 Qb5 37.Bb3 Qxb3 [37...Kh8 38.Qe7 Rf7 39.Qxe8+ ; 37...Rf7 38.Qf6 Rxf6 39.Rxe8#] 38.Qe7 |
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| Oct-29-03 | | Cyphelium: <Honza Cervenka> I agree that the h6-idea looks very unpleasant after 32.- Be8 33. h5 Qa3. As for 32.- Qa3, I just missed that bishop check on b3. |
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| Dec-04-05 | | sucaba: Karpov gave some annotations in german Schach-Report 1/1991 where he
critisized 14. _ g6 as too early and called it the probably only mistake of black in this game.
But black could play 24. _ Bh4! 25. Qxe5 Rfe8, e.g. 26. Qd4 Rad8 or 26. Qc5 Be7 with equal chances. On 26. _ Rad8, white would win in the "wundervolle" (Karpov) manner
27. fxg6 Rxd1 28. Nxd1 Qxd1 29. Rf1 Bxf1 30. gxf7+ Kh8 31. Qxe5 Bxg2+ 32. Kxg2 Qg4+ 33. Kf2 Qg7 34. h4! or 27. _ hxg6 28. h3 Rd3 29. Qxg6 fxg6 30. Rxf8+ Kh7 31. R2f7+ Kh6 32. Rh8+ Kg5 33. h4# (lines by Karpov). On 26. _ Rad8 27. h4, which has been discussed above, black has 27. _ Rxd1+ 28. Nxd1 Rd8! unclear. On 28. _ Rxc3, Karpov shows the nice lines 28. _ Rxc3 29. gxf7+ Kh8 30. Qxe5 Qxd1+ 31. Rf1#, or 30. _ Re3 31. Qxa1! Re1+ 32. Rf1#. On 29. _ Rfd8, Karpov mentiones 30. Qxe5 Rxd6 31. Qxd6 Rxc3 32. Qd4 Ra3 33. Rc8+ Kh7 34. Rh8#. But here black has the tricky 32. _ Bd3! 33. Rxc3 Qxd1+ 34. Qg1 Qxg1+ 35. Kxg1 Bxe4 and I'm not sure whether white can win. I have used Fritz 4 for this.
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| Sep-05-06 | | euripides: Another masterpiece at the Snogfest. |
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Dec-10-07
| | Honza Cervenka: <sucaba> Yes, 27.fxg6! is much better move after 26...Rad8. |
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| Nov-14-08 | | Woody Wood Pusher: I just scored 6 points in the guess the move for this game (22 below par) I usually make par, this game is mind blowing! |
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| Jan-25-09 | | M.D. Wilson: What a brilliant game. Rc2 is obvious after first glance, but is very beautiful. Huebner never had a hope against Karpov, despite decades of games. |
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Dec-09-11
 | | HeMateMe: Very tactical Karpov attack. A busted Sicilian, for Huebner. Karpov beat Huebner 7-0, with 20 draws. No wins for the three time participant in the Candidates matches. |
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| Dec-09-11 | | M.D. Wilson: Karpov could play open positions like this in his sleep. He often chose more quiet, but still beautiful alternatives mainly because of the requirement to win tournaments. The greatest tournament player in history. Only Kasparov can claim superiority, and only just. |
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| Dec-10-11 | | tonsillolith: I see why White's e-pawn is off-limits on moves 13 and 14, but why can't Black just capture it on move 18? |
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| Dec-10-11 | | King Death: <tonsillolith: I see why White's e-pawn is off-limits on moves 13 and 14, but why can't Black just capture it on move 18?> Because after 19.Ne4 B(Ne4) 20.Be4 Qe4 21.f6 Bd8 22.Qg5 Qc2 23.Rd6 gives White a strong attack. |
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| Nov-14-12 | | LoveThatJoker: GOTD: Bad Bromance
LTJ
PS. I think this is a pretty terrible pun; but after having gone through other ideas, I settled on this one as at least it got me laughing! It's a play on words on the venue of this game and the Lady Gaga song "Bad Romance". |
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| Aug-14-18 | | NoraNora: 17... e5? is probably blacks' crucial mistake in this game. 17... a5!?
click for larger view 18. e5 dxe5 19. Qxe5 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Qb8! 21. Nd5! exd5 22. Qxe7 Ra6 
click for larger view |
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| Jan-07-21 | | Ulhumbrus: Leonard Barden called the move 21 Rd3 <an inspired manoeuvre> If 21...Qxc2 allows White to discover a defence on his queen's knight with tempo by 22 Bd1 one alternative is 21...Bb5 removing one of the potential targets on the 6th rank so that after eg 22 Nxb5 axb5 23 Bxf6 Bxf6 24 Rxd6 will attack only one black bishop allowing 24...Be7 |
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| Jan-07-21 | | SChesshevsky: <...Barden called the move 21. Rd3 an inspired manoeuvre...> Game seems a tale of two positions. After 21...Qxc2, Huebner goes for taking significant material. Either accepting or ignoring a terrible position. Three hanging pieces, queen away from any king side defence with limited mobility, and one hanging B overloaded on defense. Yeah, he does have the outside passed pawn which could be big in an endgame. But can he get there from such a lousy place? Then Karpov's position after 22. Bd1. Has everything just about covered with pressure on the king. And can ignore a potential problem on the a6-f1 diagonal thanks to the tempo gained. I especially like how Rd3 and the queen hold what could be an awkward N and B together. Making a maybe uncoordinated structure harmonious and powerful. I'm never happier than when I can get pieces working together such as this. Outcome probably not surprising given the positional disparities. |
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| Jan-07-21 | | RookFile: If you guys say so. Play is way over my head, for example. On the face of it, it seems that black played as you usually do on the queenside, with forceful counterplay. You see moves like Bd1 from white, and somehow that's winning. |
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| Jan-07-21 | | Damenlaeuferbauer: This is one of the first Karpov games I saw over 40 years ago. It shows how unbelievable strong Karpov was in this years. He just outplayed or slaughtered my compatriot, the 3-times world champion candidate Robert Hübner like many other world-class GMs from the 1970s to the 1990s. Just image, that Kasparov's father could not have played chess, it is possible, that Karpov would have been world champion 10 or 12 years longer. With the exception of Viktor the Terrible, the only other guy in the world, who could have beat him in a match, sat in Pasadena, California and played with his little Bobby instead with the 32 chess pieces. |
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Feb-16-21
 | | cSete: I was cruising along, thinking of a slightly above average Guess The Move score. Back to the drawing board. (17 of 32) Couldn't BUY a point in that endgame... |
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Feb-16-21
| | cSete: To my COVID tournament, stalled, not quite CM mind it seemed like Huebner was going astray when he started picking up material. My Guess The Move game was planning the victory parade. Bled points like a stuck pig. An excellent game for me to study. Still SMH.... |
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| Feb-16-21 | | W Westerlund: I too remember this game. There were so many games in which Karpov utterly destroyed his opponents - among them the very strongest grandmasters in the world at the time. Karpov dominated this era completely, until Kasparov arrived, who needed many lessons in order to beat Karpov. My admiration for Karpov will never wane: this was not Stein, or Spassky or Petrosian or Korchnoi or Geller, he was stronger than any of them. I could say more but I do not want to awake Harry. |
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Kibitzing
