Karjakin -- Carlsen Match

Judit Polgar's commentary during the World Chess Championship, currently taking place in New York City, has been terrific! During game three, she assured her viewers that the game was likely to end in a draw, then later was quite certain that Magnus Carlsen would win, and then again that Sergey Karjakin could hold the draw. She seemed a little skeptical of her own predictive skill during game four. Through it all, her commentary offers clear explanations of general principles and stellar concrete analysis of the position on the board. It is also entertaining.

All four games so far have been draws, but they have been hard fought. In game three, it seemed that Carlsen had a clear advantage, but Karjakin defended well.

White to move

Carlsen played 72.Rb7, which Yasser Seirawan asserts in his annotations for ChessBase was the blunder that let Karjakin save the game. Ironically, most beginners would play the correct move without thinking, but Carlsen's move looks very good to experienced players. When White's b-pawn starts rolling, Black has difficulties. However, Black's rook is able to threaten the knight and pawn on the queenside, while also threatening to assist the h-pawn's run to promotion. As Seirawan points out, there is also a checkmate threat if the White king becomes greedy.

The manner in which Carlsen let Karjakin off the hook in game four is even more instructive.

Black to move

Carlsen played 45...f4. Karjakin was quite clear in the post-game interview in the hallway after the game that this move produced the draw. However, a supported passed pawn on one side of the board and serious pawn weaknesses for the opponent on the other are two factors that are nearly always decisive. Carlsen thought they would be, but after the game described his thinking as "sloppy".

45...Be6 increases the pressure on White's position. The defender wants simplifications. When attacking, it is often best to present as many problems to your opponent as possible. Of course, most players would make Carlsen's move in a heartbeat. How many would be able to defend as accuirately as Karjakin from the White side?

Dorian Rogozenco's annotations for ChessBase are worth a look.

This game was drawn on move 94, well short of the record for longest WCC game, Korchnoi -- Karpov 1978, game 5 (124 moves).

During the game three commentary, Polgar informed viewers that Cartlsen explained his match strategy to her: he will punch Karjakin until he finds the blow that knocks him down. If Karjakin keeps making the errors that give Carlsen a clear advantage, this decisive punch will come soon.

Breaking the Berlin Wall

Judit Polgar's defeat of Sergey Karjakin nearly one year ago from the drawish Berlin Wall excites me. I was a fan of Vladimir Kramnik's successful use of this defense in his title match with Garry Kasparov in 2000, when Kasparov failed four times to defeat it. I am a fan of games decided in the endgame, especially when grandmaster games are decided by a superior pawn endgame. In this case, especially, I am pleased to see Judit winning with a final move that disrupts the structure of Karjakin's pawns.

Black to move

White's king will gobble up all the black pawns, leaving White at least two pawns ahead. Judit's older sister, Susan, mentioned in Breaking Through: How the Polgar Sisters Changed the Game of Chess (2005) that "pawn wars" was part of the girls' early training. It seems reasonable to believe that Judit's early training, too, included mastery of key pawn endgames. Such training would have made clear her plan in this game to push her passed a-pawn down to draw the black king to the queenside, away from the decisive kingside pawn endgame.

After my initial enthusiasm for the endgame waned, I thought to investigate the opening through some database research. Given the drawing reputation of the Berlin Wall, how often has a player rated 2700 or higher lost since the World Championship match between Kasparov and Kramnik?

I have downloaded the latest updates for Chess Base Big Datatbase 2011, so my database is reasonably complete. A search reveals that when Black is 2700+, there have been 200 games in the years 2000-2011. 42 White wins, 37 Black wins, 121 draws. Black does quite well. All of the White wins are decided through endgame technique. Some of these games conclude with textbook examples that are worthy studies for the improving class player, such as Michael Adam's demonstration of how to create a Lucena Position.

Perpetual Check

I often hear it stated that one of the ways the rules of chess facilitate a draw, or result with no winner is perpetual check. In fact, there is nothing in the rules about this option. Rather, the rules of chess provide for a draw by repetition.

9.2 The game is drawn upon a correct claim by the player having the move, when the same position, for at least the third time (not necessarily by a repetition of moves):
a. is about to appear, if he first writes his move on his scoresheet and declares to the arbiter his intention to make this move, or
b. has just appeared, and the player claiming the draw has the move.
FIDE Handbook, http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.htm

US Chess Federation Rules, under which I play, are similar.

Perpetual check is not a rule, but a means to draw by repetition. When a player is unable to avoid endless checks, he or she has no way to avoid draw by repetition.

In one of the variations given in Judit Polgar's annotations to her brilliant win against Levan Pantsulaia in the eighth round of the European Individual Championship, she offered this position after an oversight by Black. See yesterday's "King Safety" for the game.

In the game, Polgar played 31...e3. This position arises after the alternative 31...Qa4+ 32.Nb3, and then instead of the necessary 32...e3, the blunder 32...cxb3.

White to move

White can endlessly check the Black king from f5 and c8. A beautiful attack ran aground because the Black king, too, was vulnerable.

King Safety

A nice win by Judit Polgar in last year's European Individual Championship highlights the importance of king safety. The game Pantsulaia -- Polgar,J, Aix-les-Bains 2011 was published as Chess Informant 111/3 and was voted the best game of that edition of Informant. It scored a remarkable three first place and three second place votes from the seven judges. The lone skeptic, Zoltán Ribli scored it in tenth place. The tournament bulletin also published an annotated version of the game.

Pantsulaia,L (2595) - Polgar,Ju (2686) [A13]
Aix-les-Bains 111/3, 2011

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Qc2 c5 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 e5 7.Nb3 Nc6 8.Bg2 Nb4 9.Qd1 dxc4 10.N3d2 Bf5 11.Na3 b5 12.Bxa8 Qxa8 13.Nf3 

Black to move

13...Nd3+ 14.exd3 Bxd3

Polgar sacrificed a knight to trap the White king in the center. But she was already down an exchange, and so, as the tournament bulletin notes, "Judit is a rook down at this moment!"

15.Nxb5 Bb4+ 16.Nc3 0–0 17.Rg1 

In Polgar's Informant annotations, this move is given a box (only move). She offers a line where White castles, but with a king far less secure than in the game. Black gets a bishop on f3 and a queen on c8 with intent to move c8-h3-g2.

17...Ne4 18.Bd2 Rd8 19.Rc1 Nxc3 20.bxc3 Ba3

White to move

Still down a rook, here Polgar wins back the exchange.

21.Be3 Bxc1 22.Bxc1 Rb8 23.Nd2 Qd5 24.Qa4 a5 25.Qd1 h6 

White to move

Polgar gives White's next move a question mark, but it is no easy matter to suggest something useful here. The White rook is neither helping defend the vulnerable king, nor contributing anything to a counterattack. Although down material, Black is ahead where it matters: the field of battle.

26.Qf3 Rb1 27.Kd1 e4 28.Qf4 Ra1 29.Qb8+ Kh7 30.g4 Qd7 31.Qe5 e3 

See tomorrow's post for a comment of the importance of this move, or see the tournament bulletin.

White to move

32.fxe3 Qa4+ 33.Ke1 Rxc1+ 34.Kf2 Rxg1 0–1


Training

For many years, I have started my work where a Grandmaster game ends. Grandmaster resignations and Grandmaster annotations reveal their perceptions of a clear and decisive advantage in a position where I might yet falter. One such position in this game occurs in Polgar's annotations. Instead of 27.Kd1, as in the game, White might have returned the queen to d1.

Judit Polgar gives 27.Qd1 Ra1 28.a3 e4-+.

White to move

6k1/5pp1/7p/p2q4/2p1p3/P1Pb2P1/3N1P1P/r1BQK1R1 w - -

I played from this position with Black against Rybka 4. After more than an hour, and several take-backs, I saw the welcome words on the screen that the Silicon Monster gave up.

My best line, stripped of all the dead ends and detours:

Rybka 4 x64 - Stripes,James
Blitz 25m Spokane, 08.03.2012

29.Nf1 Ra2 30.Ne3 Qe5 31.Bd2 Qb5 32.Bc1 Qb1 33.a4 Ra1 34.Kd2 Ra2+ 35.Ke1 Be2 36.Qxe2 Qxc1+ 37.Qd1 Qb2 38.Qc2 Qa1+ 39.Qd1 Qxc3+ 40.Kf1 Ra1 41.Kg2 Rxd1 42.Rxd1 Qb3 43.h4 Qxa4 44.Rd4 Qb3 45.Nxc4 f5 46.Nd2 Qc3 47.Rd8+ Kh7 48.Nf1 a4 49.Ne3 a3 0–1

Perhaps you could do better.

Two Pigs

Judit Polgar's defeat of Garry Kasparov nine years ago offers a nice illustration of the power of pigs. As near as I can tell, this was Kasparov's only game on the Black side of the Berlin Wall. This defense was a key weapon for Vladimir Kramnik when he captured the World Championship title from Kasparov. In the WCC match, Kramnik employed the Berlin four times, earning four draws. There were three more Kasparov -- Kramnik battles in the opening in 2001, with White's single win coming in June at Astana. In September 2002, Kasparov played the Black side against the youngest and strongest of the Polgar sisters.

Polgar,Judit (2681) -- Kasparov,Garry (2838) [C67]
RUS-The World, Moscow 2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 h6 10.Rd1+ Ke8 11.h3 Be7 12.Ne2 Nh4 13.Nxh4 Bxh4 14.Be3 Bf5 15.Nd4 Bh7 16.g4 Be7 17.Kg2 h5 18.Nf5 Bf8 19.Kf3 Bg6 20.Rd2 hxg4+ 21.hxg4 Rh3+ 22.Kg2 Rh7 23.Kg3 f6 24.Bf4 Bxf5 25.gxf5 fxe5 26.Re1 Bd6 27.Bxe5 Kd7 28.c4 c5 29.Bxd6 cxd6 30.Re6 Rah8 31.Rexd6+ Kc8 32.R2d5 Rh3+ 33.Kg2 Rh2+ 34.Kf3 

Black to move


Black attempts to harass White's king.

34...R2h3+ 35.Ke4 b6 36.Rc6+ Kb8 37.Rd7 

The first pig is born.

Black to move


37...Rh2 38.Ke3 Rf8 39.Rcc7 

Two pigs!

Black to move


39...Rxf5 40.Rb7+ Kc8 41.Rdc7+ Kd8 42.Rxg7

Black to move


42...Kc8 1–0



There is no reason to play on. 43.Rxa7 Kb8 44.Rae7 Rf8 45.Rgf7 leaves Black in a hopeless position.

Bobby Fischer 1943-2008

Robert J. "Bobby" Fischer was a singularly historic chess player. He remains an icon of unsurpassed chess skill and of the social awkwardness that often afflicts anyone with a single-minded pursuit of a single objective. He died yesterday in Iceland.

When he became a Grandmaster at age 15 in 1958, he was the youngest to achieve that title—a record that stood until 1991 when Judit Polgar achieved the title slightly more than one month younger than Fischer had been. The age of achievement of becoming the youngest Grandmaster ever has fallen frequently in recent years as noted at ChessBase News.

Fischer's battle with Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship became a minor skirmish in the four-decade long Cold War—a lone American individualist taking on the chess machine of the Soviet Union and winning, winning despite an abysmal start that included a forfeited game due to squabbles about noise and lighting.

After becoming World Champion, Fischer stopped playing tournaments. In 1975, negotiations broke down regarding terms for his title defense and he was stripped of his title, thus facilitating his claim, and that of many of his fans, that he remained the champion. In 1992 he played a rematch with Spassky, winning decisively. His political difficulties with the United States government grew worse because this match violated U.S. economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, where the match was played.

I became serious about chess while the negotiations for Fischer’s title defense against Anatoly Karpov were falling apart. Living outside a small town in the eastern New Mexico desert, and lacking a solid internet connection in 1975, the news came in bits and pieces. Nevertheless, even on the Llano Estacado we knew about some of Fischer’s demands—enough that I would have cringed then, as I did this morning, to read that he refused to defend his title. Fischer demanded a match of potentially unlimited duration, played until one player won ten games. The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) offered a compromise limiting the match to thirty-six games. Then, in March 1975, FIDE accepted Fischer’s demand, but was unwilling to concede his related demand that the challenger had to win by two games—a nine to nine tie would result in victory for the champion. Fischer refused to budge, so in April 1975 FIDE declared Anatoly Karpov the new champion.

As a budding chess player in 1975, I challenged a friend to a long match to see who might prevail. Thinking we understood Fischer’s argument, we decided to play the best of twenty-one games (of course, at our level of play draws were rare, so that part of the issue was obscure to us). We were evenly matched at the beginning, but I started reading chess books and learning a little bit about tactics. By the twenty-first game, I was well ahead. This success generated an enthusiasm for chess that continues to grow. Fischer’s notoriety contributed to my interest, but his legacy would change.

Fischer played 1.e4 almost exclusively with the White pieces, and I recall hearing him say, “There is only one first move for White” (the statement might be apocryphal). When this hubris combined with my horror to learn of some of his political and cultural views, I decided to play 1.d4 or anything else that Fischer didn’t play. Eventually, such anti-Fischer attitudes harmed the quality of my play. In time, I learned to appreciate his chess while remaining distant from his politics.

In recognition of Fischer’s achievement, I offer two positions from his games.

Position from Fischer—Euwe 1960, White to move

Position from Fischer—Benko 1963, White to move

Edit: MSNBC might continue editing their story on Fischer throughout the day, but it still erroneously claims "Fischer lost his world title in 1975 after refusing to defend it against Anatoly Karpov," although the article is much expanded over what I read several hours ago.