Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will be contesting their World Championship match in London in November. As I mentioned last week, there is no better guide to the entire history of the World Championship than the extraordinary series by Garry Kasparov. He catalogues the best games of every champion, demonstrating how each one represents the intellectual ethos of his day. This week’s game is the magnificent clash which led to Kasparov himself becoming the youngest ever world chess champion.
Karpov-Kasparov: World Championship, Moscow (Game 24) 1985; Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 e6 7 0-0 Be7 8 f4 0-0 9 Kh1 Qc7 10 a4 Nc6 11 Be3 Re8 12 Bf3 Rb8 13 Qd2 Bd7 14 Nb3 b6 15 g4 This move signals the start of an assault. Right from the opening Karpov begins a direct attack on the king. 14 … Bc8 16 g5 Nd7 17 Qf2 Bf8 18 Bg2 Bb7 19 Rad1 White completes his development and takes aim at the d6-pawn. 19 … g6 20 Bc1 An interesting idea. The bishop retreat clears the third rank for the rook on d1 to switch to the kingside, which significantly strengthens White’s attacking potential. 20 … Rbc8 21 Rd3 Nb4 22 Rh3 Bg7 (see diagram 1) Black should have decided on 22 … f5. After 23 gxf6 Nxf6 24 f5 exf5 25 exf5 Bg7 the position would have remained very complicated and unclear. 23 Be3 White targets the weak b6-pawn and creates the unpleasant threat of Bd4. However, 23 f5 was very strong. After the forced 23 … exf5 24 exf5 Black would have had to find a defence simultaneously against two threats: 25 Qh4, with a double attack, and 25 fxg6. 23 … Re7 Hurrying to defend f7.
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