Chess: Something out of the ordinary
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Your support makes all the difference.THE BATTLE of the two world champions at Linares was a well-played game, lifted out of the ordinary mainly by a remarkable double oversight.
It is hard to believe that 12. Ne5 was not part of Kasparov's opening preparation, yet the knight move is a serious error. After 12. Ne5 cxd4 13. cxd4, Black can simply win a pawn with 13 . . . Bxa3] when 14. Rxa3 allows Qxc1+ while 14. bxa3 loses to Qc3+.
Kasparov saw it, but Karpov missed it and played 13 . . . a4. Kasparov clearly felt that it would be pushing his luck to retreat the bishop to a2 - Karpov would surely have seen Bxa3 if given a second chance - so the bishop had to sidle back to c2, where it had little influence on the centre.
Over the next few moves, Karpov gained the advantage and 26 . . . b4 gave Kasparov real problems to solve. After 27. axb4 Bxb4, Black would develop great pressure against b2 and d4, so Kasparov chose the less obvious 27. Ra1] which resulted in the loss of a pawn, but led quickly to the haven of a tenable endgame.
In the eighth round, Karpov extended his lead by beating Boris Gelfand, while Kasparov was held to a draw by Alexei Shirov. Latest scores: Karpov 7 1/2 , Kasparov 6, Kamsky and Shirov 5, Anand and Kramnik 4 1/2 , Lautier and Topalov 4, Gelfand 3 1/2 , Bareyev 3 (plus one adjourned), Polgar 2 1/2 , Ivanchuk and Illescas 2, Belyavsky 1 1/2 (plus one adjourned).
White: Kasparov
Black: Karpov
1 e4 c6 22 Bd2 Ke7
2 d4 d5 23 Rc1 Qc4
3 Nd2 dxe4 24 Ke2 Rhb8
4 Nxe4 Nd7 25 g3 Qxd3+
5 Bc4 Ngf6 26 Bxd3 b4
6 Ng5 e6 27 Ra1 bxa3
7 Qe2 Nb6 28 bxa3 Rb3
8 Bb3 h6 29 Bc2 Rxa3
9 N5f3 a5 30 Rxa3 Bxa3
10 c3 c5 31 Ra1 Bb2
11 a3 Qc7 32 Rxa4 Rxa4
12 Ne5 cxd4 33 Bxa4 Bxd4
13 cxd4 a4 34 f4 Kd6
14 Bc2 Bd7 35 Kf3 f5
15 Nd7 Nbd7 36 h4 Bb2
16 Qd1 Bd6 37 g4 fxg4+
17 Ne2 Nd5 38 Kxg4 Nf6
18 Bd2 b5 39 Kf3 Nd5
19 Nc3 Nxc3 40 Bc2 Bf6
20 Bxc3 Nf6 41 h5
21 Qd3 Nd5 Draw agreed
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