[Event "World Championship 29th"] [Site "Baguio City"] [Date "1978.09.12"] [Round "21"] [White "Korchnoi, Victor"] [Black "Karpov, Anatoly"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2665"] [BlackElo "2725"] [Annotator "Llewellyn, Alan"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "1978.07.18"] [EventType "match"] [EventRounds "32"] [EventCountry "PHI"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] {Victor Korchnoi was playing for the World Championship in this game, against World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Victor was before this 21st match game standing at 4 - 1 down in the series with them both needing to get to 6 wins to be champion, draws didn't count. This game has a spectacular ending thats why I included it} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bf4 {The Opening started off an English Opening but soon transposed into a Queen's Gambit Declined although 5.Bg5 has a greater attacking reputation in that Opening and is better known.} O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. Rd1 Qa5 10. a3 Re8 { a novelty produced by Anatolys team for him beforehand. The point of it will become clear in a few moves time.} 11. Nd2 $1 {Now here White is threatening b4, but if he plays it straight away then the Knight sacrifices itself from c6 onto b4 and after the Bishop takes the b-pawn the Knight on c3 is pinned and lost for example:- Nd2 unpins the Knight on c3 so now b4 is again threatened as the c3 Knight can simply move out of the way of any attack.} (11. b4 $4 Nxb4 12. axb4 Bxb4 13. Rc1 Ne4 14. Be5 f6 15. Bd3 fxe5 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Ng5 Bd7 18. O-O Bxc3 19. Qxc3 Qxc3 20. Rxc3 Bc6 $19) 11... e5 $6 {Anatoly then decides to employ an aggressive attack which makes for an exciting game but is rather dubious.} 12. Bg5 Nd4 $5 13. Qb1 $5 {Victor doesn't fall for Anatoly's trap, the point of 10...Re8 now becomes clear.} (13. exd4 $2 exd4+ 14. Be2 dxc3 15. Nb3 Qa4 16. Bxf6 dxc4 17. Qxc3 Qxb3 18. Qxb3 cxb3 19. Bd4 Bxd4 20. Rxd4 $17) 13... Bf5 14. Bd3 e4 15. Bc2 (15. Bf1 $16 {this gives an advantage to White in winning material straight away as both b4 and exd4 winning a piece and also even Bxf6 is threatened winning the d5 pawn, but the attack by Anatolys pieces would have been hard to cope with over the board so Victor tries to simplify to a won endgame.}) 15... Nxc2+ 16. Qxc2 Qa6 $3 {a good move both threatening to stop castling by White and defending the f6 Knight so that a weakening of the Kingside pawns doesn't occur for Black. Also if that wasn't enough for one move to do, moving the Queen from a5 stops the threat of the pawn forking the Queen and Bishop on c5 by the move b4.} 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Nb3 Bd6 19. Rxd5 Re5 20. Nd4 Rc8 21. Rxe5 Qxe5 22. Nxf5 Qxf5 23. O-O Rxc4 24. Rd1 Qe5 {after this mass swap off White has been left back where he started in material, except Anatoly has some important weaknessess in the position at e4 d6 and b7 and the Rook is only a target for Victor at c4. Coupled with the fact that Victor is threatening Anatolys back rank to actually checkmate him, Victor is the only one, barring disasters, who is going to win from here. The Queen move to e5 both defends the Bishop and threatens Qxh2+.} 25. g3 a6 26. Qb3 b5 (26... Rc7 27. Nxe4 Qxe4 28. Rxd6 $16 {if theRook threatens mate ie Rc1+ its not good for Black because Victor can play simply Rd1 when the rooks are forced off or Anatoly has to play Rc8 because then White is threatening mate.}) 27. a4 $1 Rb4 28. Qd5 Qxd5 29. Rxd5 Bf8 30. axb5 a5 31. Rd8 Rxb2 32. Ra8 f5 33. Rxa5 Bb4 34. Ra8+ Kf7 35. Na4 Rb1+ 36. Kg2 Bd6 37. Ra7+ Kf6 38. b6 Bb8 39. Ra8 Be5 $6 {a tired Anatoly plays a dubious move.} (39... Bd6 $142) 40. Nc5 $1 {Bd6 would have prevented this move which gets the b pawn to b7 easier.} Bd6 41. b7 $1 Ke7 (41... Bxc5 42. b8=Q Rxb8 43. Rxb8 $18) 42. Rg8 Be5 {defending the g7 pawn but again Bxc5 isn't good enough.} 43. f4 exf3+ 44. Kxf3 Kf7 45. Rc8 Ke7 46. h3 h5 47. Rg8 Kf7 48. Rd8 g5 49. g4 {Black was threatening g4 himself winning the g3 pawn.} (49. Ra8 $2 g4+ 50. hxg4 hxg4+ 51. Kf2 Rb2+ 52. Kf1 Bxg3 $11) 49... hxg4+ 50. hxg4 Ke7 51. Rg8 fxg4+ 52. Kxg4 Kf7 53. Rc8 Bd6 54. e4 Rg1+ 55. Kf5 g4 56. e5 Rf1+ 57. Ke4 Re1+ 58. Kd5 Rd1+ 59. Nd3 $3 {the spectacular finish, its all over now for Anatoly though he went on to win the match and remain World Champion.} Rxd3+ 60. Kc4 $3 {With two pieces hanging and the pawn ready to become a Queen, Anatoly resigned a posible line goes 60...Bxe5 61.Kxd3 Kf6 62.b8=Q Bxb8 63.Rxb8 Kf5 64.Ke2 Kg3 65.Kf1 Kh2?! 66.Rg8 g3?? 67.Rh8# Note Whites King can get back to defend or occupy g2 or g1 otherwise it would be a draw.} 1-0