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Anatoly Karpov vs Curt Hansen
"Take it a Pawn Yourself" (game of the day May-31-2006)
Biel (1992), Biel SUI, rd 11
Pirc Defense: Classical Variation. Quiet System Czech Defense (B08)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-29-06  alphastrike20: aye caramba! worlds biggest pawn storm!!
May-31-06  kevin86: Amazing pawn attack by Karpov? Anybody notice that he ended up with tripled pawns?-a terrible weakness,lol
May-31-06  s4life: Unbeliavable game!
May-31-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Is the pirc as effective against e4 as it is against d4? I noticed this game began as d4 but e4 followed.

Now, can one really play the pirc against d4?

May-31-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: Black can't play 33...axb5 because after 34. a6 Ne6 35. Bb6 cuts him off at the pass.
May-31-06  Madman99X: 1. d4 d6 2. e4 transposes into the pirc. However white need not play 2. e4 if he doesn't care to play the pirc.
May-31-06  VargPOD: <WannaBe>, sure, but it's not called Pirc. Here Karpov transposes it to Pirc. Finnish players Jouni Yrjölä and Jussi Tella have written a book of opening system based on black moving 1...d6 regardless of what white does ("Explosive opening repertoire for black" or something like that). The main lines against d4 are 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 and 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4.
May-31-06  itz2000: wow!! great SAC!
amazing one!

does black have a chance if he declines the sac and doing Ng5 to take the f pawn?

May-31-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: That is a big surprise - a double piece sacrifice in an ending.
May-31-06  prinsallan: I agree with the rest... Totally amazing game!
May-31-06  AlfieNoakes: I wonder if someone could tell me - What would be the continuation after 41...Kb8 ?
May-31-06  borisbadenoff: <AlfieNoakes: I wonder if someone could tell me - What would be the continuation after 41...Kb8 ?>

Hmm what about
42. dxe6 and a unstoppable white king which will walk up the king side and finish off everything. The Bishop can't stop him and the black king is blocked by the two pawns on a6-b7. Because neither is he able to go away nor to capture them.

Just a quick continuation:

42. .. Bc5 43. exf7 Bd6 44. Kf1 Bc5 45. Ke2 Bd6 46. Kd3 Bf8 47. c4 Bd6 48. Ke4 Kc7 49. Kd5 Bf8 50. c5 e4 51. fxe4 h4 52. e5 *

And I hope you see where this leads

May-31-06  dakgootje: < al wazir: Black can't play 33...axb5 because after 34. a6 Ne6 35. Bb6 cuts him off at the pass.> Ah yes, thanks for that as i was already wondering why black didnt play it.

Quite astonishing that they ended up with equal material, in this case all the minors and both 7 pawns, after exchanging queens, and black still lost even though its king was far more active. Then again, the sac of the knight and the offer of the bishop was quite unexpected, but very good to see once, as i didnt earlier think about such posibilities before in my games, but now i might sometimes consider them.

May-31-06  ganstaman: I've played 1.d4 d6 in order to reach a KID without having to face the Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5). It can transpose into the Pirc if the player with the white pieces wants. Now, I enjoy playing the black side of the Tromp, so I don't play 1.d4 d6 anymore. But like VargPOD said,it can be used to get into other positions. You can check out Janos Balogh 's page to see some discussion on it (by the way, it's amazing for me to see how much I've changed just by using this site for a few months -- I hardly recognize my posts on that page).
May-31-06  Kings Indian: Amazing sac, but it's not that hard to see. If black plays 33... hxb5 then white would probably respond with 34. c4. black is forced to take and the two connected passed pawns cannot be stopped, I think...
May-31-06  patzer2: Karpov's 32. Nxd5!! initiates a winning passed pawn combination, and does nothing to diminish his reputation as possibly the greatest ever endgame player.

May-31-06  thatsmate: I think Hansen was entirely outclassed in this game. Very impressive.
Mar-14-09  WhiteRook48: Curt was so tied up!
Mar-11-15  carpovius: extraterrestrial game by Karpov!
Dec-16-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: Nice passed pawn creation

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