Chess: Kasparov missing Karpov
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Your support makes all the difference.WITHIN the next few weeks, the chess world will have two champions and it is looking increasingly likely that they will be Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.
Just as we thought the great Karpov-Kasparov feud had been consigned to history, it is set to return like yet another sequel to a popular movie. But in their respective matches against Nigel Short and Jan Timman, it is clear that they are missing each other. Neither Kasparov nor Karpov has been able to lift his play to the level they were forced to attain in direct confrontation.
When Kasparov took a huge lead early in the match, as much through Short's nervous errors as his own excellence, he seemed to lose concentration, making uncharacteristic oversights in some of the later games. Meanwhile, Karpov has been considerably less convincing against Timman than his 8 1/2 -5 1/2 lead would suggest.
At the end of Monday's game, Timman was said to have left the theatre with tears in his eyes after spoiling another good position. If he had won all his winning positions, he would be a point or two ahead instead of three behind.
The latest game was typical of the play. Karpov unleashed a prepared innovation at move 11 (in earlier games, he had played 11. Qd4), but was so surprised by Timman's response that he thought for 50 minutes on move 13; then he spent an hour on move 15. Playing at the rate of 40 moves in 2 1/2 hours, this left him with 25 moves to make in 20 minutes.
Timman's 17th move was a bad mistake, however, giving Karpov time to rescue his knight from the corner and turn a bad game into a winning ending. Karpov displayed excellent technique to nurse his advantage to victory, but Timman will put this down as another unnecessary loss.
White: Karpov
Black: Timman
1 d4 Nf6 28 h4 Rc7
2 c4 e6 29 Rb4 Bc4
3 Nf3 d5 30 Raa4 Be6
4 Nc3 dxc4 31 Rb6 h6
5 e4 Bb4 32 a3 g5
6 Bg5 c5 33 Rab4 a5
7 Bxc4 cxd4 34 Ra4 gxh4
8 Nxd4 Bxc3+ 35 Rxf4 h3
9 bxc3 Qa5 36 gxh3 Bxh3
10 Nb5 Nxe4 37 Ra4 Rc3
11 Bf4 0-0 38 Rxb7 Rxf3
12 0-0 Nbd7 39 Rxa5 Be6
13 Nc7 e5 40 Rb1 h5
14 Nxa8 exf4 41 Rg5+ Kf8
15 Bd5 Ndf6 42 Ra1 h4
16 Bxe4 Nxe4 43 a4 f6
17 f3 Nxc3 44 Rg2 Bd5
18 Qd6 Nd5 45 Rd2 Be4
19 Rc1 Be6 46 a5 Rh3
20 Nc7 Nxc7 47 Ra4 Bc6
21 Qxc7 Qxc7 48 Rc4 Rh1+
22 Rxc7 Bd5 49 Kf2 Bb5
23 Rc5 Be6 50 Rc7 Ke8
24 Rc7 Bd5 51 Rd5 Rb1
25 Rc5 Be6 52 Rh5 Kd8
26 Ra5 a6 53 Ra7 1-0
27 Rb1 Rc8
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