WEBVTT 00:00.870 --> 00:01.550 Hi there. 00:01.560 --> 00:06.540 In this lecture, we see what has been nicknamed cop offs immortal. 00:06.540 --> 00:10.380 So karpov's immortal game and it really is absolutely amazing. 00:10.380 --> 00:13.350 So this is Anatoly Karpov against Veselin Topalov. 00:13.890 --> 00:16.890 This is in the 1994 Linares tournament, round four. 00:16.890 --> 00:23.490 So Karpov had one of his most amazing Tillmans ever in this last edition. 00:23.940 --> 00:30.330 So we see and just, just also to emphasize that Kasparov indicated that the winner of such a tournament 00:30.330 --> 00:34.320 should be kind of names or nicknames of the tournament World Champion. 00:34.320 --> 00:44.400 So we see D4 from Karpov, we see Knight F6 from Western Top Love C four, C five Knight F three. 00:44.400 --> 00:46.800 C takes the Fall Knight takes the fall. 00:47.490 --> 00:48.810 We have E six. 00:49.380 --> 00:52.890 And now White wants to control the D five square more So great. 00:52.890 --> 00:55.980 So this starts to look as though it could have come from an English opening. 00:57.570 --> 01:00.180 We see Knight C six, Bishop G two. 01:00.180 --> 01:01.500 Bishop C five. 01:01.500 --> 01:02.970 The knight goes to be free. 01:03.000 --> 01:04.110 Bishop E seven. 01:04.530 --> 01:11.040 Knight C Free and black is content, it seems in this game to set up a hedgehog pawn structure. 01:11.040 --> 01:16.350 So I think names like a hedgehog because it's like a prickly pawn structure on the spine. 01:16.350 --> 01:18.660 So we have Bishop F4. 01:18.900 --> 01:22.680 It is a seemingly very good looking position for white already. 01:22.680 --> 01:29.820 If we look at this, there's pressure points all over the place and this semi-open default makes that 01:29.820 --> 01:32.670 D6 more of a potential exploitable weakness. 01:32.670 --> 01:36.270 So 9 to 5 to kick this bishop away. 01:36.270 --> 01:41.850 But Karpov now reacts with a free this does open up and attacking ends the knight. 01:42.780 --> 01:46.620 If bishop is free, perhaps black could consider knight F six. 01:47.160 --> 01:47.950 And what is white going to do? 01:47.970 --> 01:53.790 White can play rook C one is a small edge still, but if he commits to having double pawns, you might 01:53.790 --> 01:59.130 think, wow, positional player is accepting double pawns and he's losing the bishop. 01:59.160 --> 02:00.690 Hare, What's going on here? 02:00.690 --> 02:03.270 But let's look concretely at this position. 02:03.630 --> 02:08.250 Concretely, White has semi-open, default and file pressure. 02:08.730 --> 02:10.560 These other pieces are pretty good. 02:10.560 --> 02:12.870 Where they are, there are opportunities. 02:12.870 --> 02:18.270 Even this guy does support the C five square or C five or 95 sometimes. 02:18.390 --> 02:24.090 So even that guy, which you might consider is like the worst piece in White's position isn't that bad. 02:25.110 --> 02:30.120 So Black's bishop isn't that active and can't really be here because Black's really under pressure. 02:30.120 --> 02:37.830 In the center we see Bishop DD seven, Queen DD two, and now Queen B eight is played if C eight, Rook 02:37.830 --> 02:41.580 51, let's say a five as an example. 02:41.580 --> 02:43.980 Rook b1h6. 02:44.400 --> 02:47.700 Here we can just really enjoy this position. 02:47.700 --> 02:53.220 So for example, Knightly two rookie eights would be a mistake already. 02:53.220 --> 02:57.480 This would be a mistake because White can actually improving this worst piece to attack. 02:57.480 --> 02:58.200 D six. 02:58.470 --> 03:00.240 What does Black do in this kind of position? 03:00.240 --> 03:06.750 You can see that the painful dangers of the same file in this variation where yeah, he gets really 03:06.750 --> 03:07.500 tricky. 03:07.650 --> 03:12.630 If Black has to resort here to something dynamic like D five, this might be the way to open up the 03:12.630 --> 03:16.680 bishop pair and it could be the best way for Black to minimize the damage. 03:16.680 --> 03:20.460 But even so, whites getting control here with an advantage. 03:21.000 --> 03:24.120 There's issues to solve, but it's still better for white. 03:24.120 --> 03:28.590 But in the game Queen by eight we have Rook for one. 03:30.030 --> 03:37.680 And the problem with Rook for one is actually White's threatening to dissolve the double pawns and weaken 03:37.680 --> 03:42.660 potentially Black's king if a pawn pawns taken away from the king's shield that's less king safety. 03:42.660 --> 03:47.040 Or if Bishop takes over, then 95, that's a tastier square D five. 03:47.040 --> 03:48.690 So G six is played. 03:48.690 --> 03:49.860 Let's put it on the board. 03:49.860 --> 03:52.650 If G6 wasn't play because this weakens the dark squares. 03:52.650 --> 03:56.880 But you could say, Well, hold on, King's Crusher Black has the dance going Bishop So it's not a big 03:56.880 --> 03:57.660 deal, right? 03:58.020 --> 03:58.950 That's true. 03:58.950 --> 03:59.850 That's true. 04:00.900 --> 04:07.830 Then see though if a six just to put this other idea on the board F five so you might wonder what's 04:07.830 --> 04:08.850 what's the big deal here. 04:08.850 --> 04:09.180 Why not. 04:09.180 --> 04:17.100 He takes can you see what white would play here if I give you 5 seconds to pause video So for ten points. 04:18.870 --> 04:19.320 Yeah. 04:19.350 --> 04:20.460 Bishop takes C six. 04:20.460 --> 04:21.810 Yeah, we're just winning the Bishop. 04:22.410 --> 04:22.620 Yeah. 04:22.620 --> 04:27.300 It's nice to have this thing counted, Bishop Because sometimes it can really damage dark square control 04:27.300 --> 04:28.380 by giving itself up. 04:28.380 --> 04:29.520 Just bear that in mind. 04:29.520 --> 04:30.000 So. 04:30.000 --> 04:40.350 G six, H four And now I think trying to get some play maybe with B five we have H five, B five is 04:40.350 --> 04:40.620 played. 04:40.620 --> 04:46.650 If G takes h51, it has to play carefully here. 04:47.730 --> 04:53.850 The better move to play is just f five again, just just use this five because Black's lost the prevention 04:53.850 --> 04:54.660 of F5. 04:54.660 --> 04:59.010 So again, we're in this circumstance where we take on C six and so on E seven. 05:00.270 --> 05:01.450 That's the best way. 05:01.480 --> 05:02.470 So what is black do? 05:02.500 --> 05:02.680 Yeah. 05:02.680 --> 05:04.090 The pawns are going to be dissolved. 05:04.120 --> 05:05.740 Black's king is a bit of a wreck. 05:06.610 --> 05:13.870 So, yes, if H for hair, Queen H six and we're threatening f six. 05:14.110 --> 05:15.850 So this would be untenable. 05:15.850 --> 05:17.830 This is totally untenable for black. 05:18.460 --> 05:19.990 Completely busted position. 05:20.350 --> 05:22.510 So be careful, though, Bishop free. 05:22.510 --> 05:23.380 There is a resource. 05:23.380 --> 05:25.840 That wouldn't be the point really because of H four. 05:25.840 --> 05:27.820 And that's an even position actually. 05:27.820 --> 05:30.550 Now the big point is this five. 05:31.660 --> 05:33.130 So b five is played. 05:33.130 --> 05:40.420 We have H takes g, H takes G, This slightly weakens plants kingside you could argue, well, White's 05:40.420 --> 05:41.500 kingside is weakened as well. 05:41.500 --> 05:47.890 But the thing Catto bishop already here there isn't over here 9c5 Now this great move exploiting the 05:47.890 --> 05:51.610 pin on the D six pawn and you might think hold on, hold on. 05:53.050 --> 05:53.280 Okay. 05:53.890 --> 05:57.880 This gets rid of a somewhat bad piece, but isn't that D six pawn? 05:57.880 --> 05:59.050 Wasn't it a target? 05:59.050 --> 06:04.990 So this seems in some respect counterintuitive to get rid of the target on the semi d file. 06:05.650 --> 06:08.800 What happens also on Bishop E here? 06:08.800 --> 06:13.990 Funny enough, one of the strongest moves with modern engines picked up is actually nine takes e six 06:13.990 --> 06:16.210 just to undermine Black's pawn chain. 06:16.300 --> 06:23.680 And White's rooks are in a position here to have these juicy targets on E seven and eight so white hair 06:23.680 --> 06:25.420 would be threatening again. 06:25.420 --> 06:29.170 Our friend Bishop take C six for rook takes e seven. 06:29.470 --> 06:36.550 So let's say rook a seven to support Bishop E 795 is strong and then just doubling the rooks C takes 06:36.550 --> 06:44.080 eight takes rookie six White has a big advantage King H to Queen C to looking at G six this position 06:44.090 --> 06:48.130 F5 there's a raging attack here building up this situation. 06:48.130 --> 06:54.970 For example, Rook takes G six, nine and four is absolutely raging attack so it is really very, very 06:54.970 --> 06:55.990 interesting stuff. 06:55.990 --> 06:57.580 On Bishop eight. 06:57.610 --> 07:00.100 This knight takes e six concepts. 07:00.100 --> 07:01.540 Let's look at that again. 07:01.540 --> 07:06.190 Just out of interest, if Bishop murphy, let's say Bishop fight here. 07:06.190 --> 07:14.560 Bishop D five check and hear the E files great and say Bishop D seven, C takes eight, takes 94. 07:14.560 --> 07:15.670 Black's attack. 07:15.670 --> 07:18.550 Sorry, Black Black's king is under attack. 07:18.910 --> 07:22.360 If the H file is used, we have g four for rook free. 07:22.360 --> 07:27.280 And you can see this is like nearly terminal now because we're controlling a lot of the escape squares 07:27.280 --> 07:28.900 and we're coming in with rook h free. 07:28.900 --> 07:31.210 So you see, this is diabolical black. 07:31.210 --> 07:35.350 So yes, the knight is taken and Queen takes these seven. 07:35.350 --> 07:40.360 Now this robs black of the bishop pair pressure on C six immediately. 07:42.430 --> 07:48.190 And yeah, the light squares are kind of compromised in Black's position. 07:48.190 --> 07:50.530 The light squared Bishop was adding solidity. 07:50.530 --> 07:54.580 We have Rook eight and now. 07:56.040 --> 07:57.630 It's an interesting position. 07:59.250 --> 08:01.410 Why is not tempted here for Bishop? 08:01.410 --> 08:01.680 Take. 08:01.710 --> 08:01.950 See? 08:01.950 --> 08:05.070 Six black has to tread very carefully here. 08:05.100 --> 08:07.170 What would be the movie you think black would play? 08:07.170 --> 08:08.110 Just that interest. 08:09.630 --> 08:09.790 Yeah. 08:09.900 --> 08:12.600 Black has to play Rook a seven if Rook see seven. 08:12.600 --> 08:17.250 Can you see what White would play in this case for five points or ten points? 08:17.790 --> 08:18.180 Yeah. 08:18.180 --> 08:20.910 White could get so much material Now with Queen. 08:20.910 --> 08:22.320 Take seven. 08:22.320 --> 08:23.310 Queen Taxi, seven. 08:23.310 --> 08:25.980 Bishop takes a That's a lot material for the queen. 08:25.980 --> 08:31.830 This is actually a winning position for white so we can't really say that comparable top love was intending 08:31.830 --> 08:38.340 that is a very strong player presumably he was intending rook a seven here this is a cipher eviction 08:38.340 --> 08:44.010 of the queen to take out C sex Why it should end up with a small edge though in these variations in 08:44.010 --> 08:51.020 this variation, what ends up with a small edge or also here if eight takes nine times b five and a 08:51.030 --> 08:55.440 four whites ending up with a small edge in these variations. 08:55.440 --> 08:58.530 But anyway, so Bishop takes C six. 08:58.530 --> 09:01.530 There is an answer for it and it's rook a seven. 09:01.530 --> 09:09.630 So in the game though, something very different was actually played in this position. 09:10.440 --> 09:12.690 Fundamentally, there is a downside on the light squares. 09:12.690 --> 09:15.690 They have been weakened and it's an iconic move. 09:15.690 --> 09:17.190 I wonder if you can guess it here. 09:17.190 --> 09:19.020 What is this iconic move? 09:24.980 --> 09:26.780 Rook takes IH six. 09:27.710 --> 09:28.760 Absolutely amazing. 09:28.770 --> 09:34.850 Now if F takes e six, you can see that actually white can play this check and then it's two pawns for 09:34.850 --> 09:35.660 the exchange. 09:35.660 --> 09:40.370 The upward trend of the position should be going up and up two points with exchange and compromise. 09:40.370 --> 09:47.660 KING So here, you know why it's definitely got a big advantage overall if Rook C seven, Queen D five. 09:48.470 --> 09:54.770 And again, it's going to end up when White's in exchange sacrifice in exchange for two pawns. 09:54.890 --> 09:59.780 So sacrificing a rook for a minor piece like Bishop is sacrificing the exchange, and it's for two pawns. 10:00.260 --> 10:03.470 So black inserts here, Rook a seven. 10:03.470 --> 10:04.610 But we still have. 10:04.850 --> 10:07.070 We still have now the exchange tacked on. 10:07.070 --> 10:07.730 But first. 10:07.730 --> 10:10.520 Now Rook takes G six check. 10:10.520 --> 10:11.360 Wow. 10:12.630 --> 10:18.840 It's winning a pawn here, at least getting the two points for the exchange situation. 10:20.070 --> 10:24.960 So, first of all, what if it's rejected with King for eight? 10:24.990 --> 10:26.970 What if Black doesn't take the rook? 10:27.480 --> 10:29.280 Can you see what white plays here? 10:31.720 --> 10:34.120 We still have a virtual bishop pair. 10:34.120 --> 10:38.590 We've got a light squared Bishop and the Queen can act as a dart square bishop for mating the opponents 10:38.590 --> 10:40.090 king with Queen H free. 10:40.090 --> 10:42.320 So let me show you how f takes. 10:42.340 --> 10:45.100 Queen h h covering dark squares. 10:45.100 --> 10:47.800 And we know the complimentary light square attack. 10:47.800 --> 10:49.420 And that's checkmate. 10:50.380 --> 10:52.300 And if King H seven instead. 10:52.300 --> 10:53.230 Queen H three. 10:53.230 --> 10:53.470 Check. 10:53.470 --> 10:54.610 This is a very strong attack. 10:54.610 --> 10:57.850 Bishop e four If King F six, Queen H six is checkmate. 10:58.750 --> 11:04.330 If F five, Queen six, F five, check Queen G six, check Bishop D five. 11:04.330 --> 11:06.820 And actually amazing that is woven here. 11:06.820 --> 11:13.030 This actually now threatens controlling threatens Queen eight May if Bishop e five This is desperate 11:13.030 --> 11:16.090 Queen H six check Queen E six. 11:16.840 --> 11:19.400 And here for example, Queen check. 11:19.540 --> 11:23.350 And and black's like collapsing, for example, like that. 11:23.350 --> 11:24.910 So it's quite vicious. 11:24.910 --> 11:28.150 If it's not accepted, the rook is accepted. 11:28.150 --> 11:29.800 We have Queen E six check. 11:29.800 --> 11:35.650 So we're back to this exchange sacrifice scenario for two pawns. 11:35.650 --> 11:39.850 So three, four, five, six and four pawns for black. 11:40.780 --> 11:42.760 Okay, so interesting. 11:42.760 --> 11:46.270 We have rook d eight If Queen bee six. 11:46.270 --> 11:47.710 There's a weakness of the last move. 11:47.710 --> 11:48.670 It's we can see eight. 11:48.670 --> 11:50.110 We just take on c eight there. 11:50.530 --> 11:55.660 If rook fe we're going to take on B five and that's three pawns for the exchange. 11:56.080 --> 11:58.780 So Ock rook the eight is tried. 11:58.780 --> 12:01.000 We have c takes it is free pawns for the exchange. 12:01.000 --> 12:07.510 Bishop f6 and now 94 so better then Queen takes F six check and Knight takes F six, Bishop D four. 12:08.200 --> 12:14.170 So if rook for another pawn would drop with nine, take C five and this is just horrible for black. 12:14.170 --> 12:17.050 And there's also a 97 kind of family come coming there. 12:17.050 --> 12:20.110 So Bishop dd four B takes a six. 12:20.110 --> 12:21.610 So how many pawns does White got now? 12:21.610 --> 12:23.620 Three, four, five, six. 12:23.620 --> 12:27.520 It's like four pawns for the exchange right now Queen B six is played. 12:27.520 --> 12:30.400 If rook takes a six, there's a weakness of the last move. 12:30.400 --> 12:32.320 E seven control is lost. 12:32.320 --> 12:39.100 We can tap into that Queen E seven check and 9g5 threatening to shortly make the King rook seven Queen 12:39.100 --> 12:44.500 E four This situation is pretty diabolical for black, for example. 12:44.500 --> 12:45.640 96 Jack. 12:45.640 --> 12:50.470 It's going to be winning material or horrible for the black king. 12:50.470 --> 12:52.960 So say this, this is just bad news. 12:52.960 --> 12:57.280 So Queen B six and now rook D one. 12:57.520 --> 13:02.650 So offering black a pawn with queen takes a six, which doesn't weaken E seven. 13:02.650 --> 13:03.460 But guess what? 13:03.460 --> 13:09.940 Now to improve White's position and prospects further to break into the dark squares, we need to take 13:09.940 --> 13:17.140 away the dark square guardian, which is the dark square Bishop So yes, you may have guessed for ten 13:17.140 --> 13:17.800 points. 13:18.400 --> 13:25.570 It's rook takes D for another exchange sac So double exchange sac game against who is known as now the 13:25.570 --> 13:31.150 master of exchange positional exchange that Topalov himself is great at positional exchange sacrifices, 13:31.150 --> 13:32.680 but he's the victim here. 13:33.220 --> 13:37.270 So if Knight takes C five, let's say we tried without an exchange. 13:37.270 --> 13:45.220 SAC Queen B six Rook takes DD for this position is also it's going to be very pleasant for white anyway. 13:46.780 --> 13:49.000 We're going to have to play off the Queen by six. 13:49.000 --> 13:50.410 Rook takes DD four here. 13:50.410 --> 13:52.210 That will be the best move basically. 13:52.210 --> 13:53.470 So Rook takes the four. 13:53.470 --> 13:55.300 Now Rook takes the four. 13:55.300 --> 13:55.990 Queen F six. 13:55.990 --> 13:57.190 Jack King G eight. 13:58.300 --> 14:00.610 If King h7g5. 14:00.610 --> 14:02.980 Check King H six. 14:02.980 --> 14:05.260 There's Queen H eight. 14:05.260 --> 14:06.610 And that is mating. 14:07.120 --> 14:11.080 So King G eight we have Queen text G six, check king of feint. 14:11.350 --> 14:12.580 If rook g seven. 14:12.580 --> 14:16.210 We have great coordination to checkmate here with the knight in queen. 14:16.210 --> 14:20.080 So king of fine Queen eight, check King G seven. 14:20.080 --> 14:22.420 And it's all with tempo, Queenie five check. 14:22.540 --> 14:26.890 King G and Karpov keeps it with tempo with 9f6 check. 14:26.920 --> 14:28.450 He's not messing around. 14:28.450 --> 14:35.530 And he's coordinating even more now because there's Bishop check or with the express train tempo gaining 14:35.530 --> 14:45.820 if King g79 37 discovered check interface with the rook and then Queen G five check six check. 14:45.820 --> 14:50.290 And it's going to be mating unless Black wants to give up the queen here, which is pointless. 14:50.290 --> 14:55.990 So King for eight we have now taking yet another pawn, Queen D six. 14:55.990 --> 15:01.390 We know we've checked Queen D six If King G seven, just Queen takes DD four, Queen six and then Queen 15:01.390 --> 15:02.590 takes a seven. 15:02.950 --> 15:03.520 Thanks very much. 15:03.520 --> 15:09.020 So Queen rd Sex Queen takes a seven queen to f six And there's so many pawns now. 15:09.160 --> 15:11.080 Five pawns for the exchange. 15:11.260 --> 15:13.450 So the bishop even controls RD one. 15:13.450 --> 15:17.500 So So we have B three, B two and our King G two. 15:17.500 --> 15:18.400 And this ends the game. 15:18.400 --> 15:19.690 Topalov actually resigns here. 15:19.690 --> 15:21.280 There's nothing much for him to do. 15:21.310 --> 15:22.450 Here is an example. 15:22.450 --> 15:23.170 Continuation. 15:23.170 --> 15:24.670 Say check Bishop, a free queen. 15:24.790 --> 15:30.100 Six White can just play like this to play the checks and just get rid of the. 15:30.180 --> 15:30.780 Queens. 15:30.780 --> 15:34.110 If nothing else, this is an entirely hopeless position. 15:34.920 --> 15:39.300 One can afford to give up a two because there's all of these past pawns over here. 15:39.390 --> 15:42.810 So you can see that progress is going to be made eventually. 15:42.810 --> 15:45.060 It's an absolute easy win from this position. 15:45.060 --> 15:50.070 So yeah, a fantastic game showing great control of the position. 15:50.070 --> 15:58.200 And I have to say this kind of English opening against the hedgehog, it's it's just a lot of pressure. 15:58.200 --> 16:04.920 The way Karpov played it not just gets the same of default, he gets the same E file and doesn't mind 16:04.920 --> 16:06.420 what we talk about. 16:06.420 --> 16:12.050 Stereotypically for aims of positional play, the stereotypical goals, a positional play like the Bishop 16:12.510 --> 16:16.200 or better structure, Karpov is accepting double pawns. 16:16.200 --> 16:20.010 He's accepting the opponent's got bishop here, He's investigating further. 16:20.010 --> 16:28.680 And even the worst, apparently worst pace in the position plays an important role here to weaken black 16:28.680 --> 16:30.120 on the light squares. 16:30.120 --> 16:34.320 So this is also a kind of dismantling on the light squares, about 95. 16:34.350 --> 16:39.090 It's a dismantling on the Light square campaign, which is evident here. 16:39.180 --> 16:45.240 So this great kind of pawn chain undermining move is going to get two pawns for the exchange. 16:45.240 --> 16:50.160 So Black played it in a way which was trying to minimize the damage. 16:50.160 --> 16:52.020 But there's still Rook Takes G6. 16:52.830 --> 16:54.060 Beautiful stuff. 16:54.090 --> 16:55.500 It's really beautiful stuff. 16:55.500 --> 17:01.860 So two points for the exchange and it starts to be really downhill for black lacking in counterplay. 17:02.100 --> 17:05.190 And White's playing another exchange sack later. 17:05.190 --> 17:10.280 It's absolutely brilliant stuff to gain access to a particular colors, color complexes, you know, 17:10.320 --> 17:14.010 sets of colors of a certain square with the double exchange sac. 17:14.010 --> 17:18.990 It does make this a really, truly beautiful, immortal game of Anatoly Karpov. 17:18.990 --> 17:22.860 So one of the most collected games on sites like chess games. 17:22.860 --> 17:25.890 It's really in so many people's collections for good reason. 17:26.340 --> 17:28.440 So, yes, wonderful stuff. 17:28.440 --> 17:28.950 I hope. 17:28.950 --> 17:29.340 Really. 17:29.340 --> 17:36.330 You've enjoyed this game as much as me and found many instructive points in it has so much.