Lubomir Kavalek

International Chess Grandmaster

Huffington Post, November 19, 2010

Chess: Remembering Larry Evans

Larry Melvyn Evans (1932-2010), one of the most prominent American grandmasters, prolific writer and commentator, died in Reno, Nevada, on November 15 at the age of 78.

Evans began playing chess in New York City. He quickly progressed and in 1951, at age 19, won his first U.S. championship ahead of Sammy Reshevsky. He would win four more U.S. titles as well as four U.S. Opens.

With steady play, Evans was a calm presence on the U.S. olympiad teams. In his first olympiad in Dubrovnik in 1950, Evans scored an impressive 9 points in 10 games. In 26 years, from 1950 to 1976, he played 100 games in eight olympiads and scored 64,5 points, winning gold, silver and bronze medals for his individual efforts. I had the privilege to play next to him at the 1976 olympiad in Haifa, when the U.S. team won the gold medals. He was an excellent positional player, a tough-minded counterpunching defender who didn't mind grabbing pawns and taking risks. He was hard to beat.

Evans wrote more than 20 books and his syndicated chess column was read in 50 newspapers. He made a large contribution to Bobby Fischer's classic "60 Memorable Games." He was a good friend of Fischer, helping him to prepare for his world championship drive in the early 1970s.

In the match USA vs. USSR in 1954, Evans was one of the Americans with a winning score, beating Mark Taimanov 2,5 to 1,5. The other one was Robert Byrne who smashed Yuri Averbakh 3-1. They showed that the mighty Soviets can fall. "The most thrilling game of my career featured an inspired defense after I walked headlong into a prepared variation against the Soviet champion Taimanov in our rubber game with the score tied 1,5-1,5. Tension rode high. At move 18 he had used only two minutes on his clock, while I consumed close to an hour," Evans wrote in the introduction to his memorable game.

Taimanov - Evans

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 (The Mar del Plata variation of the King's Indian defense.) 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 (The most precise move order 11.Bd2 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.c5! with a quick lineup along the c-file, came up later. In the game Najdorf-Gligoric, Mar del Plata 1953, white tried the slower 13.b4 and came quickly under furious attack 13...g5 14.c5 h5 15.Nf2 Ng6 16.Rc1 Rf7 17.cxd6 cxd6 18.a4 Bf8 19.a5 Rg7 20.h3 Nh8 21.Nb5 g4 22.fxg4 hxg4 23.hxg4 a6 24.Na3 Bd7 25.Nc4 Rc8 26.Nb6 Rxc1 27.Bxc1 Be8 28.Ba3 Nf7 29.Qc2 Nh6 30.g5 Rxg5 31.Rc1 Rg3 32.Bb2 Nfg4 33.Nxg4 Nxg4 34.Bxg4 Rxg4 35.Qf2 Bg6 36.Rc4 Qe7 37.Bc3 Qh7 38.Qe2 Rh4 39.Kf2 f3 40.Qe3 Rf4 41.gxf3 Qh2+ 42.Ke1 Qh1+ 43.Ke2 Bh5 44.Kd2 Rxf3 45.Qg5+ Bg7 46.Kc2 Rf2+ 47.Bd2 Qd1+ 48.Kc3 Qa1+ and white resigned.
The first encounter between Evans and Taimanov in New York 1954 did not go well for the American grandmaster: 11.exf5 gxf5 12.f4 e4 13.Nf2 Nf6 14.Be3 Kh8 15.Kh1 Rg8 16.Rg1 c5 17.h3 Ng6 18.g4? fxg4 19.hxg4

19...Nh5!! 20.gxh5? (20.Qd2!) 20...Qh4+ 21.Kg2 Nxf4+ 22.Kf1 Bh3+ 23.Nxh3 Qxh3+ 24.Kf2 Raf8 25.Bf3 Nd3+ 26.Ke2 Rxf3 27.Qd2 Rxe3+ 28.Qxe3 Qxh5+ 29.Kd2 Bh6 30.Rxg8+ Kxg8 31.Nxe4 Bxe3+ 32.Kxe3 Qh3+ 33.Kd2 Ne5 34.Rg1+ Kf8 35.Rg3 Qh5 and Evans resigned.) 11...f4 (Preventing Taimanov's favorite line 11...Nf6 12.Be3.)
12.Bd2 g5 13.Rc1 Rf6 (The idea of floating the rook along the sixth rank creating attacking chances along the h-file and defending the pawn on d6 at the same time, belongs to David Bronstein and it was also used by Boris Spassky. However, the Yugoslav grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric realized in Mar del Plata in 1953 that the rook belongs to f7 to cover the square c7 (see the above game Najdorf-Gligoric), making white's invasion more difficult. It led to his set-up 13...Nf6 14.c5 Ng6 15.cxd6 cxd6 16.Nb5 Rf7.)

14.c5!? (A positional pawn sacrifice. After 14.b4 h5 15.c5 Rg6 black has good kingside chances. - Evans.) 14...Nxc5 15.Nxc5 dxc5 16.Na4 b6 17.b4 cxb4 (Interestingly, when this position was reached this year at the European Women's championship in Rijeka, black played: 17...Rh6?! 18.Rf2 [After the cool 18.bxc5! Qe8 19.h3 Qh5 20.Bc4 Bxh3 21.gxh3 Qxh3 22.Kf2 the white king walks away.] 18...Qe8 19.h3 Bd7 20.Nb2 Ng6 21.bxc5 Nh4 22.Bf1 Rg6 23.Qb3 Kh8 24.Be1 h5 25.Rfc2 Bf6 26.c6 Bc8 27.d6 cxd6 28.Bxh4 gxh4 29.c7 Bxh3 30.Qd5 Rc8 31.Qxd6 Qg8 32.Nd3 Qg7 33.Kh2 Rg8 34.gxh3 Rg1 35.Qxf6 Qxf6 ½-½ Lomineishvili,M (2385)-Sandu,M (2277), Rijeka 2010.) 18.Bxb4

18...Bf8?! ("The text was considered a clever trap, but I must confess that White's reply took me completely by surprise," Evans admits. Commenting on the game, GM Igor Bondarevsky asked what compensation does white have for a pawn. He didn't like Evans's move and preferred 18...c5, trading the weak c-pawn, 19.dxc6 Qxd1 20.Rfxd1 [20.Bxd1 is met by 20...Nxc6 21.Bb3+ Kh8 22.Bd5 Bd7.] 20...Nxc6 21.Bd6 white is better developed, but he can't accomplish too much. For example, 21...Bb7 [Not 21...Nd4 22.Bc4+ Be6 23.Bxe5 with white's edge. After 21...Bd7 22.Bc4+ Kh8 23.Bb5 Rc8 24.Bxc6 Bxc6 25.Bxe5 Rff8 26.Bxg7+ Kxg7 27.Nc3 Rfd8 the chances are equal.] 22.Bb5 [After 22.Bc4+ Kh8 23.Bb5? Nd4! black wins.] 22...Rd8! 23.Bxc6 Bxc6 24.Rxc6 Bf8 is better for black. Of course, these variations don't exhaust all possibilities, but they help to get some sense of the position. With his knight on a4 out of play, white doesn't seem to have a compensation for the pawn." - Bondarevsky.
Today, after 18...c5 white would reshuffle the pieces, for example 19.Bc3 Ng6 20.Nb2 Bf8 21.a4 with pressure on the queenside.)

19.Rxc7? ("I literally broke out into a sweat! The eyes of over a thousand spectators, it seemed, were focused on our wallboard. It didn't take very long to calculate that the upstart rook could not be captured," Evans describes this critical moment of the game. Yet, it is a wrong combination. Taimanov overlooks Evans's splendid reply. Increasing the pressure with 19.Qb3! was better.)

19...Nf5!! (A beautiful counterpunch, leaving many white pieces hanging. The knight is headed for e3. Evans came up with this startling counter stroke while analyzing the line 19...Ng6 20.d6 Bxd6 21.Qd5+ Kh8 but here after 22.Rc6! Bb7 23.Rxd6 Bxd5 24.Rxd8+ Rxd8 25.Rd1 white still has the advantage.
Taimanov was counting on 19...Qxc7 20.d6 Rxd6 [Or 20...Qd7 21.dxe7 Bxe7 22.Bxe7 Qxe7? 23.Qd5+ wins.] 21.Bxd6 Qc6 22.Qb3+ Kg7 23.Bxe5+ Kh6 24.Bb5 with white's edge.) 20.Bxf8 (Taimanov decides to sacrifice two exchanges after discarding 20.d6 Ne3 21.Qd3!? [Or 21.Qa1 Bxd6! - not 21...Nxf1? 22.Qxe5! and white wins - 22.Bxd6 Qxd6 23.Rfc1 Bd7 24.Nb2 g4! with black's upper hand.] 21...Bxd6! 22.Rc6 Be7! with clear advantage to black.
After 20.exf5 Qxc7 21.d6 Qf7 black should win.) 20...Qxc7 21.Ba3 ("White prefers to sacrifice a second exchange rather than ruin his pawn structure by 21.exf5 Kxf8 " - Evans.) 21...Ne3 22.Qc1 Qg7! (Rather than winning more material, Evans attacks. After 22...Qd7 23.Qb2!? [23.Nb2? Nxf1 24.Bxf1 g4 is no good.] 23...Qxa4 24.Qxe5 Rf5 25.Qe7! Qd7 26.exf5 Qxe7 27.Bxe7 Nxf1 28.Kxf1 h6 29.f6 white is still kicking.) 23.Rf2 (After 23.Bb2 Rg6! wins.) 23...Bd7 ("An ideal developing move which gains time by the attack on white's misplaced knight." - Evans) 24.Nc3 g4! 25.Bb2 g3! (Breaking through.)

26.hxg3 Qxg3 (The direct attack 26...Rh6 also wins, for example 27.g4 Qg5 28.Bf1 Bxg4! 29.fxg4 Qh4 30.Rf3 Nxg4 31.Rh3 Qf2+ 32.Kh1 Rxh3+ 33.gxh3 Qh2 mate.) 27.Bf1 Rc8 (Again, 27...Rh6 28.Rc2 Rh2 threatening 29...Qh4, was quicker.) 28.Qe1 b5 (The straightforward 28...Rh6 29.Re2 Qh2+ 30.Kf2 Rg6 31.Rxe3 Bh3! gives black an unstoppable attack.) 29.Ne2 Qh4 30.g3 ("Desperation. Otherwise black mates with 30...Rh6." - Evans) 30...fxg3 31.Nxg3 Nxf1! (Simple, but it was possible to call white's bluff with 31...Qxg3+!? 32.Rg2 Nxf1 33.Kxf1 [33.Rxg3+ Nxg3 34.Bxe5 Rc1! wins.] 33...Qxg2+ 34.Kxg2 Rc2+ 35.Kh1 Rxf3 36.Bxe5 Bh3 and black wins.) 32.Nf5 (Black wins also after 32.Rg2 Rg6 33.Qxf1 Rxg3 34.Bxe5 Rg6!) 32...Rg6+ 33.Kxf1 Qh1+ 34.Ke2 Rc2+ 35.Kd1 Qxe1+ 36.Kxe1 Rg1+ (After 37.Rf1 Rxf1+ 38.Kxf1 Rxb2 black wins.) White resigned.

Solutions to the last Puzzles are here

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Lubomir Kavalek

International Chess Grandmaster

Huffington Post, November 15, 2010

Chess Puzzles: A Disappearing Act

The winner had no name. The 1978 Women's Singles Wimbledon final was reported as "Chris Evert lost 2-6, 6-4, 7-5," but nobody was fooled by the censors back in Czechoslovakia. The whole nation knew that Martina Navratilova won her first Wimbledon title.

In 1975 at the U.S. Open, Navratilova asked for political asylum and became persona non grata at home. Her name disappeared from the press. It was a game the communist establishment liked to play. The censors axed your name and the people learned how to read between the lines.

I met with similar fate after I left Czechoslovakia in 1968. Chess tournaments in which I participated were not reported or appeared without my name. The same year Martina left, a book of chess puzzles by two Czech grandmasters, Vlastimil Hort and Vlastimil Jansa, was published in Prague. The publisher Olympia printed 18,000 copies and when it was done, some censors discovered my name attached to one of the games. They did something unbelievable: they cut out the page with my name, printed a new one without my name and glued it back in the book. They did it page by page, book by book --18,000 times.

They erased our names, but at least we lived. During the Great Terror of the late 1930s many people were executed by the Soviet secret police just because they said something wrong. Talented chess composers such as Sergei Kaminer, Arvid Kubbel, Mikhail Platov, Petr Moussoury and Mikhail Barulin lost their lives. After Stalin's death, they were posthumously rehabilitated, but it was too late.

Today's puzzles, published in their memory, were composed when the families were still together and the sacrifices were made only at the chessboard.

Arvid Kubbel (1889-1938), an older brother of the well-known composer Leonid Kubbel, was sent to Soviet gulag for sending his compositions to foreign "bourgeois" newspapers. He died a year later. Leonid published the following stunning work in Sovremenoye Slovo in 1917.

Leonid Kubbel

White wins

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The Latvian-born Mikhail Platov (1883-1938) was the younger and lesser-known of the famous Platov brothers. He died in a forced labor camp, where he was sent for making a derogatory remark about Stalin. The brothers teamed up in a remarkable study, published in Sydsvenska Dagbladet Snallpost in 1911, in which some pieces disappear and others are born in a whirl of surprising moves.

Vassily and Mikhail Platovs

White wins

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Shaw's show
Puzzle books are getting more and more sophisticated. In his recent Quality Chess Puzzle Book, the Scottish grandmaster John Shaw reveals that one of his favorite books is The Best Move by Hort and Jansa. This is the English version of the above-mentioned Czech book, published by RHM Press in 1980. Not only was my name reinstated but the book was translated by my wife. It became an instant classic and its format was used by other authors.

The Czech grandmasters presented their puzzles on the right-hand side. Turn the page and you find the solution. Simple and easy. They also rewarded the readers with points for correct solutions. Igor Khmelnitsky, another writer influenced by The Best Move, went even further in his successful books Chess Exam and You vs. Bobby Fischer, adding ratings to the points.
This is a hard thing to do, but Khmelnitsky was often accurate.

Shaw does not use any points and presents only well-explained solutions to the 735 puzzles. He points out that the book is a collective work of Quality Chess team with a lot of work done by Jacob Aagaard. The material is fresh and 700 puzzles are taken from games not older then 10 years. A special tribute is paid to Vassily Ivanchuk and one of the 15 chapters is devoted to his mastery. Each chapter is introduced by wonderful game-fragments relevant to the theme. Missed opportunities, puzzles with two solutions and defense strategies are not often found in puzzle books, but they flourish in Shaw's extensive work. It is a rare and original contribution, chartering new territory. I would recommend it to tournament players.

Bauhaus-style piece set

Bauhaus-style piece set: Joseph Hartwig chess sets 1922-1924
http://books.google.com/books?id=VEmZRkK2aDoC&pg=PT147#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lubomir Kavalek

International Chess Grandmaster

Huffington Post, October 31, 2010

Chess World of Karpov and Kasparov

Standing next to each other, side by side, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov made a last minute effort to sway the FIDE elections their way. One day before the vote, during the press conference in the Siberian town of Khanty-Mansyisk, they were trying to explain how they will change the chess world. Karpov was running for the FIDE presidency and Kasparov supported him. They still had a small chance to win. In the last six month they criscrossed the world, talking about the wonderful game of chess and what could be done to make it more popular. The next day, Sept. 29, the FIDE delegates re-elected Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who promptly announced that he defeated two world champions. What happened?

In 1982, during the chess olympiad in the Swiss city of Lucerne, Florencio Campomanes bribed his way to the FIDE presidency and the World Chess Federation lost its innocence. The Icelandic grandmaster, Fridrik Olafsson, who was up for re-election could only say:"I haven't seen anything like it." Campomanes, a great manipulator known for his ornate speeches, turned the FIDE elections into farce. Money changed hands, threats were made and the delegates always voted his way. There is no doubt, he did many good things for chess, but he also ran FIDE slowly into bankruptcy.

In the past, Kasparov and Karpov were not standing on the sidelines and they usually took opposite sides during the FIDE presidential elections. There was a paradox: Kasparov fought Campomanes most of the time, but in 1994 in Moscow he helped to get him re-elected. Karpov, in turn, introduced Ilyumzhinov to FIDE a year later. Ilyumzhinov replaced Campomanes, but made him an honorary FIDE president. Last month, Karpov tried to defeat the man he initially brought in, but couldn't. Campo's legacy was too entrenched and the Kremlin leaders, noticing Kasparov on Karpov's side, threw their support behind Ilyumzhinov.

Watching Kasparov and Karpov fight together for a common goal was an unusual sight, not seen too often. Kasparov writes again about their rivalry in his book On Modern Chess, Part Four: Kasparov vs Karpov 1988-2009, recently published by Everyman Chess. During this period, the Grandmasters Association (GMA) was born and established itself with a high-level competition called the World Cup. Kasparov and his manager Andrew Page were interested in organizing it, but other grandmasters saw it as a conflict of interest and called me. I was appointed organizational director and later promoted to GMA's executive director. The World Cup, a series of six Grand Prix tournaments, was a very important competition and had to happen. "The first time in history that a tournament championship of leading chess players on the planet had been held," writes Kasparov. I signed contracts with six organizers within a few months and the World Cup was ready to go.

The centerpiece of Kasparov's absorbing book is his last world championship match against Karpov in 1990. Split into two cities, New York and Lyon in France, the match produced many dramatic moments. The highlight was the 16th game with 102 moves, the longest win in the history of the world championships. It lasted four days.

During this game I made a trip to Boris Spassky's house above Grenoble in the French Alps. When Boris picked me up at the Lyon airport, Kasparov just took a time-out. The adjourned position was tricky and even the best computers were unable to find a win for him. When we looked at it with Boris, we realized that the narrow path to victory lay in a mysterious square Kasparov's rook had to trace. The next day I flew to Barcelona and Boris showed the magical square to the spectators during the adjournment long before Kasparov could perform it on the chessboard.

Kasparov - Karpov Lyon, 1.- 4.12.1990

To win the game, Kasparov has to walk his king to the (red) square d8. He can only do it by having his rook moving around a magical square.

89.Ra7! (Drawing one side of the square.) 89...Bg4 90.Kd6 Bh3 91.Ra3! (The second side of the square is born. But why has the rook land on the square a3? It prevents the black knight from jumping to the square g3.) 91...Bg4 92.Re3! (The rook draws the third side of the square, preparing the white king's journey to d8.) 92...Bf5 93.Kc7 Kf7 94.Kd8 (The king's journey is over and white pushes the black king from the f-file.) 94...Bg4 95.Bb2! (Kasparov makes an important bishop move precisely in the moment when the black knight can't move. It opens the road for the rook to come back to the square e7.) 95...Be6 (After 95...Nf4 96.Re7+ Kf8 97.Ba3 black loses one of his pieces.) 96.Bc3! Bf5 (96...Nf4? is met by 97.Rf3 and white wins.) 97.Re7+ (Returning where it all began, the rook finishes the square journey.) 97...Kf8 98.Be5 (The domination is complete: the knight at the edge has no moves. White can easily force the black king to the corner.)

98...Bd3 99.Ra7 Be4 100.Rc7 (Kasparov is looking for a free square on the 8th rank for his rook. It was possible to play directly 100.Bd6+ Kg8 101.Ke7 Ng7 102.Be5 and white wins.) 100...Bb1 (After 100...Bf5 101.Bd6+ Kg8 102.Ke7 wins.) 101.Bd6+ Kg8 102.Ke7 (After 102...Ng7 103.Rc8+! Kh7 104.Be5 Nf5+ 105.Kf8 black has no defense against 106.Rc7+.) Karpov resigned.

Kasparov ends his book with the 2008 rapid and blitz match in the Spanish port of Valencia. It is a symbolic place where modern chess began: around the year 1485, the lazy, slow piece next to the king turned into a beautiful, fast-running, mad queen. And it was the place of the last duel between Karpov and Kasparov, their swan song.

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• World Cup 2010

Lubomir Kavalek

International Chess Grandmaster

Huffington Post, October 22, 2010

Chess Champion's Class Act

Vishy Anand is the most versatile world chess champion. After all, he won world championships in classical matches, knockouts, rapids and blitz and dominated the advanced chess in which players are able to consult the computers. In this respect, no other world champion comes even close. But the Indian superstar is also a class act and gives credit where credit is due. Twice this year, Anand turned a favorite defense of his former coach, Artur Yusupov, into gold.

"It was a pleasure to have Artur Yusupov working as my second, both personally and professionally," Anand writes in the preface to Yusupov's excellent book Boost your Chess 2, Beyond the Basics, published by Quality Chess. Yusupov was Anand's coach in the matches against Kasparov in New York in 1995 and against Karpov in Lausanne in 1998, but their cooperation seems to continue.

In his two-volume coaching masterpiece, Yusupov brings chess enthusiasts to a master level. He teaches them tactics, positional play, endgames and gives them a solid and sensible opening repertoire. The Lasker variation of the Queen's gambit is a solid defense that Yusupov mastered and is recommending to his students. It is also a defense Anand used in his victory of the crucial last game against Topalov at the world championship match this year in Sofia. But Anand was not done. In the Third Pearl Springs tournament in Nanjing, China, he beat Topalov again with the same defense.

Topalov - Anand
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4 ("The Lasker variation of the Queen's gambit is a solid and reliable weapon. Black's play is strategically simple and on sound positional foundations," writes Yusupov.) 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 (The exchange of the dark bishops give black pieces more room. The light bishop can be developed on the long diagonal a8-h1.) 9.cxd5 (White plays for a strong pawn center, but allows the bishop on c8 more choices. The most popular line is 9.Rc1, keeping the position closed. The above mentioned game Topalov - Anand, Sofia 2010, continued: 9...c6 10.Be2 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd7 13.0-0 b6 14.Bd3 c5 15.Be4 Rb8 16.Qc2 Nf6 17.dxc5 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 bxc5 19.Qc2 Bb7 20.Nd2 Rfd8 21.f3 Ba6 22.Rf2 Rd7 23.g3 Rbd8 24.Kg2 Bd3 25.Qc1 Ba6 26.Ra3 Bb7 27.Nb3 Rc7 28.Na5 Ba8 29.Nc4 e5 30.e4 f5 31.exf5 e4 32.fxe4 Qxe4+ 33.Kh3 Rd4 34.Ne3 Qe8 35.g4 h5 36.Kh4 g5+ 37.fxg6 Qxg6 38.Qf1 Rxg4+ 39.Kh3 Re7 40.Rf8+ Kg7 41.Nf5+ Kh7 42.Rg3 Rxg3+ 43.hxg3 Qg4+ 44.Kh2 Re2+ 45.Kg1 Rg2+ 46.Qxg2 Bxg2 47.Kxg2 Qe2+ 48.Kh3 c4 49.a4 a5 50.Rf6 Kg8 51.Nh6+ Kg7 52.Rb6 Qe4 53.Kh2 Kh7 54.Rd6 Qe5 55.Nf7 Qxb2+ 56.Kh3 Qg7 and white resigned.) 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 exd5 11.Qb3 Rd8 12.c4 Be6!? (As sharp as it can get in the variation. Anand sacrifices a pawn to get his pieces out quickly. The most common line is 12...dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nc6 and after 14.Qc3 Bg4 15.0-0 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Qf6 Yusupov believes that black can equalize, but the overall results tend to favor white.)

13.c5 (Topalov passes on the sharp variation 13.Qxb7. When this variation appeared in Argentina in the 1940s, the line 13...dxc4 14.Qxa8 Qa3 was the only choice, but the recent 13...Qa3!? is a better way to secure counterplay. For example, the game Jobava -Shengelia, Batumi 2002, continued: 14.Rb1 [After14.Qb3 Qa5+ 15.Nd2 c5! black is fine.] 14...Qxa2 [Or 14...Nd7 15.Qb2 Qxb2 16.Rxb2 dxc4 equalizes.] 15.cxd5 Bf5 16.Rc1 Qa3 17.Qxc7 Nc6 18.Rd1 [After18.Rxc6 Rac8 19.Qb7 Rxc6 20.dxc6 Qc1+ 21.Ke2 Qc4+ 22.Kd2 Qc2+ black has at least a draw.] 18...Rac8 19.Qf4 Bc2! 20.dxc6 Bxd1 21.Kxd1 Rxc6 22.Nd2 Qc1+ 23.Ke2 Rc2 24.Kf3 Qxd2 25.Kg3 Rc3 26.Kg4 Qd1+ 27.f3 Qd2 28.e4 Rxd4 29.Qe5 Rd6 30.Qe8+ Kh7 31.Qxf7 Qg5+ 32.Kh3 Rf6 33.Qd5 Rfxf3+ 34.g3 Rxg3+ and white resigned.) 13...b6 14.Rc1 (14.cxb6 is weaker, for example 14...axb6 15.Ne5 Qa3 16.Qc2 c5 17.Be2 Rc8 18.Qd2 c4 19.0-0 Na6 20.f4 Bf5 21.Bf3 Nb4 22.g4 c3 23.Qg2 c2 24.gxf5 c1Q 25.f6 Qaxe3+ 26.Kh1 g5 27.fxg5 hxg5 28.Bxd5 Qxa1 and black won in Girish -Javakhadze, Balaguer 2009.) 14...bxc5

15.Qa3?! (Ideally, white should take on c5 with a piece, but Topalov is making it more difficult. After 15.Rxc5!? Black can sacrifice a pawn 15...Nd7 16.Rxc7 Rab8 17.Qc2 Qa3! with counterplay.) 15...Nd7 16.Bb5 Bg4! (Anand's improvement, threatening to shatter white's kingside. It had to be well calculated because black pieces could be hanging in many variations. A duel between two girls, Purtseladze - Melia, Yerevan 2006, saw 16...Rab8 17.Bxd7 Bxd7 18.0-0 Bb5 19.Rfe1 Bc4 20.Ne5 Qd6 21.Nxc4 dxc4 22.dxc5 [White can still equalize with 22.Rxc4 cxd4 23.Qxd6 Rxd6 24.exd4.] 22...Qd2 23.Rf1 a5 24.Qa4 [After 24.Rxc4 Rb1! 25.Rcc1 Rxc1 26.Qxc1 Qxa2 black has the edge.] 24...c3 and black was better and won in 53 moves.) 17.Bxd7 Rxd7 18.Qxc5?! (Allowing Anand to pounce on the white king. The safer alternative would be 18.Rxc5 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Rb8 20.Ke2. After 18.Ne5 cxd4! 19.Qxe7 Rxe7 20.Nxg4 h5 black wins the knight back with dividends.)

18...Qe4! 19.Rg1 (Leaving his king in the center, but after 19.Ne5 Qxg2 20.Rf1 Re8! the white king is not comfortable, for example 21.Kd2 Rd6 22.Qxc7 Rf6; or 21.Nxd7? Rxe3+ 22.Kd2 Re2+ 23.Kc3 Qf3+ 24.Kb4 Rb2+ 25.Ka5 Rxa2+ 26.Kb5 Bxd7+ and black wins.) 19...Re8 (Anand keeps the pressure on. After 19...Bxf3 Topalov was looking for 20.gxf3 Qxf3 21.Qc6 Rb8 22.Qxh6 with chances to escape.) 20.Qb5 (After 20.Ne5 black's exchange sacrifice 20...Rxe5 21.dxe5 d4! is very dangerous.
For example 22.h3 dxe3!
a) 23.Qxe3 Qb4+ 24.Kf1 Qb5+ 25.Ke1 Rd3 26.Qe4 [Or 26.Qxd3 Qxd3 27.hxg4 Qd5 wins.] 26...Qb2 wins.
b) 23.hxg4 exf2+ 24.Kxf2 Qf4+ 25.Ke1 Rd4 26.Qxd4 Qxd4 27.Ke2 Qxg4+ 28.Ke3 Qe6 and black should win.
c) 23.fxe3 Rd3! 24.Kf2 Bxh3 25.gxh3 Rd2+ 26.Kg3 [Or 26.Ke1 Qd3! Wins.] 26...h5 27.Qe7 h4+ 28.Qxh4 Qxe3+ 29.Kg4 Rd4+ 30.Kf5 Qd3+ wins.) 20...Rdd8 21.Qe2 Rb8 22.h3 Bxf3 23.gxf3 [23.Qxf3 Qxd4-+] 23...Qf5 (With a double-threat 24...Rb1 and 24...Qxh3.) 24.f4?! (Without the light pieces white's position looks like Swiss cheese - full of holes. Anand concludes the game forcefully.)

24...Rb1! 25.Rxb1 (Or 25.Qd1 Reb8!) 25...Qxb1+ 26.Qd1 Rb8 27.Ke2 Qf5 (Black has the white king on the run.) 28.Rh1 Rb2+ 29.Kf3 h5! (White has no defense against the final assault.) 30.a4 (After 30.Rg1 Qxh3+ 31.Rg3 Qe6 32.Qd3 h4 33.Rg4 Rxf2+ 34.Kxf2 Qxg4 black should win; and after 30.Qf1 Qe4+ 31.Kg3 h4+ 32.Kxh4 Qf3!, threatening 33...Rb6, black wins.) 30...Qe4+ 31.Kg3 h4+ 32.Kxh4 Rxf2 33.Qg4 Rg2 (Black mates or wins material.) White resigned.

GM Artur Yusupov, a world championship candidate, was ranked as high as number three in the world in the period from 1986 to 1992. His book Boost Your Chess won the Boleslavsky Medal from FIDE as the best instructional chess book in the world, ahead of Garry Kasparov and Mark Dvoretsky. He lives in Germany, but grew up in Moscow where he was trained.

Quality Chess also published some of the Soviet classic chess books, recommended for tournament players. Isaac Lipnitsky's Questions of Modern Chess Theory was widely read by players of my generation, including Bobby Fischer. In the original version from 1956, the Ragozin variation of the Queen's gambit found its way into Fischer's repertoire. It is not included, but the book gives many great examples of dynamic opening play. Another valuable book is Soviet Chess Strategy by Alexey Suetin, one of the best Soviet theoreticians. He was a long-time coach of the world champion Tigran Petrosian, and guided Vasyl Ivanchuk at the beginning of his career. It is a beautiful treatise on modern strategy and tactics.

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Image by Yu Feng