England’s leading female player, Jovanka Houska, recently called for a memorial to the late Tony Miles. The timing is fitting. Miles won the British championship in 1982 and the centenary British Championship concludes this weekend in Torquay, the scene of Miles’s victory.
The year after he won the championship, Miles also triumphed in the BBC Mastergame series, defeating the then world champion Karpov in the final. Mastergame is usually regarded as the gold standard for presentation of chess on television. Sadly, however, due to a BBC technicians’ strike, the 1983 series featuring this superb win by Miles was screened in Germany, but not in the UK. Here, then, is Miles’s win against Karpov, which never saw the light of UK television screens.
Karpov-Miles: TV Cup Final, Bath 1983; Caro-Kann Defence
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 The Caro-Kann has a peaceful reputation, but Black’s last move can spice things up. 5 Nxf6+ gxf6 6 Nf3 Bf5 7 Bf4 Nd7 8 c3 Qb6 9 b4 e5 As usually recommended, an advance on the flank is met by a counter-strike in the centre. 10 Bg3 0-0-0 11 Be2 h5 12 0-0 Be4 Perhaps this was not the best move, but Miles did not want to face 12 … Bg4 13 Bh4 Bxf3 14 Bxf3 exd4 when the pawn-grabbing could prove dangerous. 13 Nd2 On 13 Bh4 Black could have played 13 … Rg8 intending to infiltrate on g4. 13 … Bd5 14 Bxh5 exd4 15 c4 Be6 16 a3 White has a generally more compact pawn structure, but Black has counterplay in the centre with his passed d-pawn. 16 … Ne5 17 Re1 d3 Freeing d4 for the queen. 18 c5 Qb5 19 Rb1 Bh6 20 a4 Qa6 21 f4 Nc4 22 b5 cxb5 23 Rxb5 This move took Miles by surprise.
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