WEBVTT 00:00.870 --> 00:01.670 Hi there. 00:01.680 --> 00:06.180 In this lecture, we see Anatoly Karpov against Boris Spassky in 1974. 00:06.210 --> 00:08.700 The Karpov Spassky Candidate semifinal. 00:08.970 --> 00:10.440 This is round nine. 00:11.760 --> 00:12.180 E four. 00:12.180 --> 00:14.910 From Karpov we see a Sicilian defense from Spassky. 00:14.910 --> 00:21.830 Nine f3 e6 d4 64 1960 49569c3d6. 00:21.990 --> 00:22.620 Saving England. 00:22.620 --> 00:24.090 We have Bishop e2. 00:24.840 --> 00:29.520 It's not been tempted with a carrot attack on this occasion, which would have been g four. 00:29.550 --> 00:30.630 This is a very interesting move. 00:30.630 --> 00:36.810 G4 but we see Bishop E to Bishop e seven both sides now. 00:36.810 --> 00:40.440 Castle we see F4 96. 00:40.440 --> 00:45.120 Bishop E three, Bishop D seven might be free A five. 00:45.900 --> 00:53.400 So wanting to chase the knight, we have a four which fixes the B five square Knights four. 00:53.730 --> 00:58.500 We have Bishop F3, so Black has what seems to be an aggressive act of Knight. 00:59.010 --> 01:05.730 Bishop C six and we have 90 4g6 and black offers up the lion square Bishop. 01:06.750 --> 01:08.130 That isn't taken at the moment. 01:08.130 --> 01:13.770 We see Rook f2 e5 and now White takes on C six, B takes. 01:14.100 --> 01:15.270 So it seems. 01:16.250 --> 01:22.430 That black has, in a theoretical sense, weakened light squares with the absence of the bishop. 01:22.520 --> 01:23.600 What has these bishops? 01:23.600 --> 01:24.950 They don't seem to be that great at the moment. 01:24.950 --> 01:27.860 This free bishop doesn't seem that great at the moment. 01:27.950 --> 01:32.250 We have F takes E five, which emphasizes structural damage a bit more because it isolates more. 01:32.270 --> 01:34.490 This pawn, this pawns isolated. 01:34.490 --> 01:40.580 So why has the better structure we have Queen f one queen and now h free. 01:40.940 --> 01:49.100 So this is a kind of preventive move already preventing Knight G for 97 and now Bishop G for Black's 01:49.100 --> 01:53.900 intention here potentially is to get rid of White's better bishop with Bishop C five. 01:53.900 --> 02:00.230 So this actually stops that because now after H five we have Bishop 67. 02:00.620 --> 02:06.890 If the bishop went back to free Bishop C five and why it might have a small advantage, but Black's 02:06.890 --> 02:11.060 doing well to exchange off that worse bishop for White's banner. 02:11.060 --> 02:20.120 Bishop So Bishop takes these seven reinforces control over C five in effect Queen takes these seven, 02:20.120 --> 02:21.290 Queen C four. 02:21.290 --> 02:29.270 So once given up that light square bishop but there's pressure points on F seven in any case and control 02:29.270 --> 02:36.470 of C five we have Bishop H four Rook RD two the Tempo Queen E seven Rook F one. 02:37.910 --> 02:38.720 Here. 02:38.720 --> 02:43.220 It does seem a bit tempting to play Bishop C five but there's a weakness of the last move. 02:43.220 --> 02:51.590 It's not protecting D two Black could play Queen G five counterattacking against the D two rook. 02:51.590 --> 03:00.350 So this possession d a it is still an advantage for white, but white needs to be very careful here. 03:00.980 --> 03:07.970 This is an active possession and things can go badly wrong if once calculations are not correct, White 03:07.970 --> 03:08.540 can play. 03:08.540 --> 03:11.900 Bishop takes before and very accurately play queen. 03:11.900 --> 03:13.130 Take C six. 03:13.940 --> 03:20.780 So for example Rook rd two seems very scary, but just in time, White would have resources here to 03:20.780 --> 03:27.350 make the king of Queenie Heck Rook takes F seven, Queen H six to show you how white could go badly 03:27.350 --> 03:34.640 wrong here if Queen takes before Rook D two Queen B h King G seven. 03:35.540 --> 03:38.480 And Black's doing very well here. 03:38.480 --> 03:40.790 How does one actually defend this position? 03:40.820 --> 03:41.990 It's a disaster. 03:41.990 --> 03:44.150 I mean, that's just an example of a disaster. 03:44.150 --> 03:50.360 But also if we took on for Queen Takes DD two, this isn't great, but it's got loads of activity. 03:50.360 --> 03:59.300 It's even so Rook F one is chosen, not Bishop C five We have rook datebook 58 rather. 03:59.750 --> 04:01.910 And now here's a key moment of the game. 04:01.910 --> 04:04.520 So it looks as though Black's got aggressive pieces. 04:04.520 --> 04:10.550 There are two pieces on the fifth rank and there's a very classic Carpathian move here, an iconic Carpathian 04:10.550 --> 04:13.220 move, and it is also the top engine move. 04:13.310 --> 04:19.760 Anyway, there's the most accurate move in the position and we we do in chess seem to have a forward 04:19.760 --> 04:23.930 bias that we have to move forward all the time, like attacking chess as a bias to move forward all 04:23.930 --> 04:24.590 the time. 04:24.860 --> 04:31.910 But sometimes you can actually take two steps back to go free steps or force that's forward in chess 04:31.910 --> 04:33.950 or one step back to go two steps forward. 04:34.130 --> 04:36.350 Och yeah, you get the idea. 04:36.350 --> 04:39.230 Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards, paradoxically. 04:39.650 --> 04:46.460 And here we can see that actually as well as the opponent having two aggressive pieces, this piece 04:46.460 --> 04:47.630 is a bit tame. 04:47.630 --> 04:53.570 Black's pawn on C6 is restrictive of this knight, so it's not really doing much. 04:53.610 --> 04:58.370 It's kind of locked in by the pawn on a four and a four as well. 04:58.370 --> 05:02.300 This knight's not really doing much, and it's also restraining this pawn as well. 05:02.300 --> 05:05.540 And funny enough, so it's a kind of self blockade. 05:05.540 --> 05:08.240 If we had a pawn and C free, we could evict this knight back. 05:08.660 --> 05:09.440 So guess what? 05:09.440 --> 05:11.090 Karpov's move is here. 05:13.050 --> 05:14.280 For 500 points. 05:15.900 --> 05:16.670 Positional move. 05:16.680 --> 05:19.950 So it's not a tactical combination, brilliant tactical combination move, but it's a positional move. 05:19.950 --> 05:20.760 Might be one. 05:21.000 --> 05:24.270 So going one step back for two steps forward. 05:24.870 --> 05:25.770 So we've got to see through. 05:25.780 --> 05:32.280 We've got the queen is protecting cc2 black was threatening if we don't do anything, you know, black's 05:32.280 --> 05:38.550 going to take on D2 and then take on C two and take on C two and then have D four to play with. 05:38.880 --> 05:42.780 So, you know, black is threatening rook takes and knight takes. 05:42.780 --> 05:45.180 So Knight B one is really cool. 05:46.410 --> 05:51.480 So we're going to try and improve our knights and kick out the opponents. 05:51.480 --> 05:57.720 Knight If Rook takes D just to show this position as well, what's going on here? 05:58.410 --> 06:03.570 Well, this might be a way of playing it, believe it or not, with 92, this is a very tactically dependent 06:03.570 --> 06:05.280 on Queen of seven coming up. 06:05.520 --> 06:07.710 So say Rook takes DD two here. 06:08.310 --> 06:11.940 It's going to crash through with a strong attack like this. 06:11.940 --> 06:14.670 But say black's more sensible with Bishop Geoffrey. 06:15.630 --> 06:17.910 We get small edge here, but it's not ideal. 06:17.910 --> 06:21.150 So the way it's played is Knight B one much better. 06:21.150 --> 06:29.010 Queen B seven And now if we try and absorb all the opponents threats like Bishop Geoffrey assume they 06:29.010 --> 06:32.100 have it on the move, they might be tempted for Bishop Geoffrey extinguish that. 06:32.100 --> 06:36.420 And it kind of strengthens our position in a very precise way. 06:36.420 --> 06:42.330 A precise kind of strengthening is based on concrete threats of the opponents or maybe active operations 06:42.330 --> 06:47.550 we might want to play or yeah, what the opponent might ideally play in the future. 06:47.550 --> 06:52.530 So it's extinguishing Bishop Geoffrey King, G7, and now this eviction notice. 06:52.770 --> 07:00.480 Eviction notice for the knights and Knights, much worse placed on a six and now avoiding an exchange 07:00.480 --> 07:05.550 of rooks because there's potential to later double maybe on the foe if this bishop was evicted. 07:05.550 --> 07:09.390 So keeping the rooks here looks nice because we've got that focal point in F seven. 07:09.390 --> 07:12.420 So if we have a double on the floor, that'd be great. 07:12.420 --> 07:16.230 We have Rook F eight and now D two and this knights got career prospects. 07:16.230 --> 07:19.770 It's got free to chase out this guy back. 07:20.400 --> 07:25.410 So Bishop, the volunteers back already not afraid of the Knights really doing a lot more than on their 07:25.410 --> 07:27.840 free than it was on C free. 07:27.840 --> 07:28.500 Look at this. 07:28.500 --> 07:32.700 This is a gorgeous knight and it actually provokes potentially fatal weakness. 07:32.700 --> 07:35.100 Now f six on the light squares. 07:36.150 --> 07:39.510 Now you could say, well, why it hasn't got the Lions Square bishop so big deal. 07:39.510 --> 07:45.930 Well, Wayne's got the queen as an invader on line squares so Essex has been given a nice it's a nice 07:45.930 --> 07:50.040 opportunity here if Queen D seven instead. 07:52.370 --> 07:56.720 Let's have a look at this position, because there is a kind of trap set on this diagonal, you know, 07:56.720 --> 08:03.080 things like bishops, E7, So let's say rook dd two rook disks, though we could actually get an advantage 08:03.080 --> 08:06.500 here in a different manner like this. 08:06.500 --> 08:07.310 So that's interesting. 08:07.310 --> 08:15.260 But f six is worse than Black's possession for a fact which really didn't exist sometimes because of 08:15.260 --> 08:16.190 the pin. 08:16.190 --> 08:21.020 So we have Rook D two now. 08:21.380 --> 08:21.770 Yeah. 08:21.770 --> 08:30.920 If we play nine takes, if find Bishop C seven and this is a bad news bad news Bears and sure, yeah. 08:30.920 --> 08:34.640 If the opponent played a bad move then we might have a strong attack here. 08:35.090 --> 08:36.710 But Black doesn't have to do that. 08:36.710 --> 08:38.810 Yeah, we don't want to gamble. 08:39.080 --> 08:39.350 Right? 08:39.350 --> 08:40.460 Not playing the best move. 08:40.460 --> 08:42.290 Yeah, just Bishop C seven there. 08:42.290 --> 08:50.060 So Rook d to Bishop E seven and I'm going in on E six Rook 88 pair of Brooks. 08:50.060 --> 08:50.870 Now come off. 08:50.870 --> 08:58.610 So black tapes with the bishop if rook takes the problem is here Knight takes E5 with a vengeance. 08:58.610 --> 09:00.560 This is very different actually. 09:00.560 --> 09:01.910 Say Queen C seven. 09:01.910 --> 09:09.500 Because if F takes those rook have seven check and we're just crashing through with strong possibilities. 09:09.500 --> 09:16.250 Or Bishop dd six we have Queen size F six take out pawns, come with the Queen back to protect E5 and 09:16.250 --> 09:18.620 protected E5 even more with a crushing attack. 09:18.620 --> 09:27.090 So Bishop takes the eight is played safety points, so not allowing Knight takes E5 off takes those 09:27.170 --> 09:30.620 only takes five too strong there so Bishop takes. 09:30.710 --> 09:35.360 But now we have rook d one with a strong rook dd seven France. 09:39.620 --> 09:43.970 Grandmasters at the time were analyzing 1965, which is fascinating in its own right. 09:44.130 --> 09:47.630 Because we're not computers, we make analytical mistakes. 09:47.630 --> 09:55.190 And karpov's is much cleaner, more simple, less prone to any holes in analysis. 09:55.190 --> 09:57.440 And sure note 65 might be great. 09:57.440 --> 10:02.810 For example, Quincy seven This might be great, but you know, we're not computers, basically. 10:02.810 --> 10:09.140 So we have this little combination here which could be very dangerous for blacks. 10:09.140 --> 10:11.450 KING Could be winning in its own right. 10:11.450 --> 10:14.240 So with Rook seven, White has a big advantage there. 10:14.240 --> 10:17.810 There's a maze of variations in its own right after 1965. 10:17.810 --> 10:21.590 Just to show you the maze a little bit more, let's have a look here. 10:21.590 --> 10:22.190 F takes. 10:22.190 --> 10:23.950 So we said disposition. 10:23.960 --> 10:30.560 You know, we have to say one F instead of 97, one F, Bishop E seven, as example, we play Queen 10:30.560 --> 10:34.220 F seven Shaw relying on a Penn Queen D six check. 10:34.220 --> 10:36.950 And it looks as though this should be absolutely convincing, right? 10:36.950 --> 10:38.810 Because the king's being brought down the board. 10:38.810 --> 10:43.850 It's more a case that we have to have very accurate calculations. 10:44.030 --> 10:48.500 As one example with H four check King takes rook takes. 10:48.500 --> 10:49.760 This looks as though hold on. 10:49.760 --> 10:51.740 Isn't this just amazing combination? 10:51.740 --> 10:54.380 But we have a hole in our analysis. 10:54.380 --> 10:58.220 You know, we're on the verge of seemingly absolutely non-controversial in mating the opponent. 10:58.250 --> 11:04.610 What if at the tail end of this analysis we missed Queen G five because we're not computers, Right? 11:05.420 --> 11:06.830 And the thing is g free. 11:06.830 --> 11:10.520 You know, the king's got G four there, you know, G for King G four. 11:10.520 --> 11:12.350 So black would actually be winning. 11:12.500 --> 11:20.180 What what a complete waste of a game because we've entered this maze of variations and Karpov doesn't 11:20.180 --> 11:22.700 like to play with mazes of random variations. 11:22.700 --> 11:24.260 He likes the logic of chess. 11:24.260 --> 11:29.360 The logic of chess, you know, is easier to express from a human perspective. 11:29.390 --> 11:34.370 Assuming, you know, we do have problems with analysis, just this simple threat and. 11:35.190 --> 11:35.880 Black. 11:36.030 --> 11:41.550 The Black Knight is a terrible piece now just defending seven and now with tempo. 11:41.550 --> 11:47.280 Bishop C five Cop Off has seen something here a natural undermining resource for undermining a pawn 11:47.280 --> 11:49.190 chain in Black's possession at bass. 11:49.200 --> 11:50.790 Can you see what the tactic is? 11:50.790 --> 11:56.610 Which is absolutely completely crushing, which ends the game Move 45 and there's no maze of tactical 11:56.610 --> 11:57.150 variations. 11:57.150 --> 12:03.750 This is simple positional chess based on things like undermining a pawn chain, exposing the king, 12:03.750 --> 12:06.000 not maze of random variations. 12:06.000 --> 12:08.220 Very simple move. 12:08.220 --> 12:10.890 Now, what would you play to end the game for? 12:10.890 --> 12:11.910 100 points. 12:16.430 --> 12:19.160 You know, Rook thinks dance ends the game. 12:19.160 --> 12:24.270 If Rook takes the Bishop e seven, we're undermining the whole black king position. 12:24.290 --> 12:27.860 If rook fight, we're taking on a fight. 12:27.920 --> 12:31.580 Then take on a6e5 drops that undermining the pawn chain. 12:32.510 --> 12:36.470 If rook even easier in a queen stakes have six Shaq, Queen F seven, Shaq. 12:36.470 --> 12:41.960 We're going to be mating like this if King H six, we can go with that knight. 12:41.960 --> 12:43.820 Which remember the knight was on C three. 12:43.850 --> 12:48.050 Look how amazing that knight is here for delivering a checkmate sequence. 12:48.050 --> 12:52.280 So this would be absolutely crushing or winning the queen and then mating soon after. 12:52.370 --> 12:54.830 But yeah, within the maze of variations. 12:54.830 --> 12:57.320 By the way, let's go back to the major variations. 12:58.160 --> 13:01.850 There was actually a way of not incurring a disadvantage. 13:01.850 --> 13:11.210 So yeah, if you were, like, absolutely perfect in calculations, there was a way which was instead 13:11.210 --> 13:19.250 of Rookie Eights play Queen F2, which has the idea of H four and Queen G free mates to demonstrate 13:19.250 --> 13:22.940 that 90 3h4 and Queen G4 is checkmate. 13:23.450 --> 13:24.980 So let's imagine. 13:26.190 --> 13:31.980 OC Black plays Queen D free to address address that idea. 13:33.190 --> 13:34.590 That there's no queen. 13:34.750 --> 13:35.950 Free from white. 13:36.340 --> 13:38.110 White can play Rook 87. 13:38.110 --> 13:39.850 But this is crazy stuff. 13:40.240 --> 13:42.080 This is getting, like, really tricky. 13:42.100 --> 13:43.420 What are we doing here? 13:44.290 --> 13:51.640 And there are tactics which, you know, it is favoring white tactically, but it's much more intricate. 13:51.670 --> 13:53.410 Why would we want to do this? 13:53.800 --> 13:57.580 So say Knight takes E four, which is one of the better moves. 13:57.580 --> 13:58.060 Yeah, sure. 13:58.060 --> 14:01.450 We could get an advantage here, but it's much murkier than the game. 14:01.450 --> 14:02.590 I just wanted to show you that. 14:02.590 --> 14:02.860 That. 14:02.920 --> 14:07.900 Okay, there might be a way with Knight takes E five, but this comes back to compas quotation. 14:07.900 --> 14:09.160 You know, if he has a choice. 14:09.160 --> 14:15.010 Well, in a nutshell, is a quotation between something potentially unclear or something potentially 14:15.010 --> 14:20.560 clear, but with a tiny microscopic advantage, he'd go with a microscopic advantage any day. 14:20.590 --> 14:26.050 He likes the ruthless logic of chess, not some gambling casino of a maze of variation. 14:26.050 --> 14:27.850 So this is very, very instructive. 14:28.510 --> 14:31.630 This avoid the sacrifice play positionally. 14:31.660 --> 14:33.100 So the utmost extent. 14:33.100 --> 14:36.760 Think about things about positional play like undermining pawn chains. 14:36.940 --> 14:43.060 And we see that yeah, we can undermine basically the pawn chain with Rook taints the eight. 14:45.240 --> 14:46.230 Beautiful stuff. 14:46.260 --> 14:48.660 It really is absolutely beautiful. 14:48.660 --> 14:54.420 Simple positional chess, driving back aggressive pieces, getting onto infiltrating into weak squares 14:54.420 --> 14:56.370 and breaking up pawn chains. 14:56.850 --> 14:58.160 That's what we want to do. 14:58.170 --> 14:58.980 No fuss. 14:58.980 --> 15:02.430 Simple positional chess with minimal risk. 15:02.940 --> 15:06.720 The simplicity is that we're not really gambling in a maze of variations. 15:07.800 --> 15:09.120 I remember a British championship. 15:09.120 --> 15:14.460 I focused on simple chess, and that helped my results rather than the maze variations which can occur, 15:14.460 --> 15:15.600 especially the longer the time. 15:15.600 --> 15:18.270 The minute you have more time to think about trivia. 15:18.480 --> 15:23.280 And amazing men's universes of variations, it seems. 15:23.460 --> 15:24.690 Galaxies are variations. 15:24.690 --> 15:25.380 But no, no. 15:25.380 --> 15:26.220 Keep things simple. 15:26.220 --> 15:28.350 Quite often it's the most effective. 15:28.470 --> 15:29.250 Okay. 15:29.730 --> 15:31.830 I hope you enjoyed it so much.