Viktor Korchnoi vs Ivan Sokolov (1993) Viktor Victorious

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Viktor Korchnoi vs Ivan Sokolov
"Viktor Victorious" (game of the day Mar-23-2013)
Hoogovens Open (1993), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 4, Jan-21
English Opening: King's English Variation. Kramnik-Shirov Counter (A21) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Mar-23-13		Travis Bickle: Victor makes it look so easy, great game!

Mar-23-13		vinidivici: Good game !

Mar-23-13		AylerKupp: Yes, but what was wrong with 11...Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 d6?

Mar-23-13		watwinc: <AylerKupp> Development - Black is really behind, loses Q-side pawns

Mar-23-13		sofouuk: <watwinc><AylerKupp>rybka has 11...Na6! and the most logical follow-up is probably 12...d6, 13.Bd7. the open e-file means white more-or-less has to castle queenside, so 12.O-O-O d6 13.Nc3 (rybka) Bd7 14.a3 Qb6 15.Bd3 c5 click for larger view 'a bit messy', but it's equal

Mar-23-13		sfm: A killer move in this game is 13.Qf4!! If White had lost we would all have talked about "losing time by moving pieces twice", "queen too early into play" etc. There is still an undeveloped king's wing, how about that? It even takes away the very nice square f4 from the knight. So, while we'd all have looked at 18.Bxh7+! and seen the Anastasia-mate issues that Black faces, I am afraid that I might not have even have thought about 13.Qf4, but instead might have played one of Kb1,Ng3,Nf4,h4, also "good moves". After 13.Qf4, the only way to prevent d5-d6 is for black to play 13.-,d7-d6. And that is not attractive either. After 14.dxc5 Black is two pawns down, and 14.-,dxc is a disaster, closing the c-file and giving White a nasty free pawn on d5. No prospects here for black, but probably a slower way to die. When White plays 14.d6 it is clear that Black needs a miracle to get anything going, while White owns the board. He can put everything he has into the attack on the lonely black king. Rooks can be mobilized on the 3rd row, the bishop can go to d3 or c4, and the White knight walks right in as it pleases. It's over, and Korchnoi wastes no time with the execution. Is 2.-,Bb4 really playable?

Mar-23-13		sfm: <sofouuk: rybka has 11...Na6! and the most logical follow-up is probably 12...d6, 13.-,Bd7> This suggests that 11.-,Qe7 and 12.-,c5 were the two mistakes that ended the game for black.

Mar-23-13		Abdel Irada: To me, the decisive positional blunder appears to have been 12. ...c5? I can only assume Sokolov underestimated 13. Qf4!, after which he may have planned 13. ...d6 before realizing that it failed to 14. dxc5, dxc5 15. d6, when White's passed pawn begins to loom. The text, however, is worse.

Mar-23-13		beatgiant: Does 13...b6 offer any hope for Black? At least to develop the bishop.

Mar-23-13		morfishine: To the Viktor go the spoils

Mar-23-13		HeMateMe: Well, that was fast and brutal. Neat pun.

Mar-23-13		BarcelonaFirenze: How is Viktor, by the way?

Mar-23-13		morfishine: Yes, Black could've played <11...Qxd2+> and avoided the catastrophe that occurred: <12.Kxd2 d6 13.Nc3 a6 14.Bd3 c6 15.dxc6 bxc6 16.Rhe1 Be6> Its not a great position, but its better than resignation on move 22

Mar-23-13		Tigranny: Nice game by Viktor my favorite player!

Mar-23-13		kevin86: After castling into the opening,Korchnoi proceeds to attack black's more protected king...and wins!

Mar-23-13		AylerKupp: If 13.Qf4 is the killer move then my idea of 11...Qxd2+ may have been on the right track. It certainly eliminates 13.Qf4! :-) Black might be somewhat worse off but is not in an immediate danger of losing. <sofouuk> To what depth did you run Rybka to have it come up with 12...Na6? I let Critter 1.6a analyze the position after 11...Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 and at d=27 it didn't find 12...Na6. The best it could come up with was 12...d6 13.Rc1 c6 14.Nf4 Bf5 15.Be2 Re8 (Black needs to do something about his q-side development so maybe 15...Rc8 to prepare ...Nd7 might be better) 16.Rhe1 Kf8 17.Bf3 Rxe1 18.Kxe1 Bd7 19.Kd2 a5 20.Ne2 g6 21.Nc3 Ra6 22.b3 Kg7 23.Be2 Rb6 24.Ke3 Bf5 25.g4 Bc8 26.dxc6 bxc6 [+0.46] click for larger view Critter suggests what I believe are some questionable moves towards the end (25...Bc8) but I don't think that White's advantage is all that significant, although 27.Ne4 might be troublesome.

Mar-23-13		diagonal: Viktor Korchnoi against Ivan Sokolov: here are some nice pics of these two fighters, with the typical atmosphere in an Open, you can feel the tension.. the pictorialed game, won by the iron lion (Viktor then aged 77 years), is not yet included in chessgames.com, maybe someone could add the notation, thanks in advance! http://www.chessclub.az/pic_view.ph... http://www.chessclub.az/pic_view.ph... http://chessclub.az/pic_view.php?id... from Baku, III International Chess Festival "President’s Cup" 2008 more pics of Viktor, and iron lady Petra, scroll at the bottom: http://www.chessclub.az/kubok3/phot...

Mar-23-13		Mendrys: Moves like 21. Qh6 are instructive. Fischer has been quoted as saying "Patzer sees check, Patzer gives check." and indeed in this position we may congratulate ourselves with a move like 21. Ne7+, having landed a knight so decisively and forcefully deep into the enemies camp, only then to realize that after 21....Kg7 click for larger view that we are still a piece down and that the win, if any, is a long way in sight as in this example: 22. Qd4+ Kh7 23. Ne7-d5 Qa5-a4 24. Qd4xc5 Qa4-c6 25. Qc5xc6 b7xc6 26. Nd5-c7 Ra8-b8 click for larger view Black is still a pawn down and is in terrible shape but there is plenty of room for white to go wrong. The text seals the deal, leaving no counter-play for black.

Aug-20-15		coolconundrum: Nice!

Feb-12-25		Jezreel55: A very instructive Game in the English Opening Early Bb4 Variation...Korchnoi's Main Openings are the English Opening🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 , French Defence🇫🇷 and the Queens Indian Defence🇮🇳... click for larger view

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