A READER ASKS ABOUT THE 1989 KARPOV vs. YUSUPOV MATCH

Ignacio Dee writes:

I am a chess journalist based in Manila, and in covering three Olympiads and other international events in the Philippines, I have met your best players.

I am interested to get your opinion why, during the 1989 candidates semifinal between Anatoly Karpov and Artur Yusupov, Yusupov was outplaying Karpov with black using Lasker’s Defense. The type of dry, boring position from the opening should not have given Karpov problems, but Yusupov was outplaying him in the middlegame, only to stumble in the first time control.

How did Yusupov manage to get active play as black in an opening that obviously favors Karpov? Yusupov is also strong in these dry positions, but Karpov obviously has mastered this position better.

In your opinion, what weaknesses did Yusupov and Dvoretsky find in Karpov’s play? It is surprising that the loopholes were found in positions where maneuvering was required, and not tactics.

 
A SOLID SYSTEM

Silman Replies:

I’m always happy to see that some people remember the many great candidate matches (now tossed in the garbage in favor of less games and faster time controls) that were played in the past. Ah, Tal vs. Larsen, Tal vs. Gligoric, Tal vs. Korchnoi, the many wonderful Spassky matches (vs. Geller, Korchnoi, Keres, Tal, Larsen), Karpov’s amazing match results, and that’s just a handful of the thrilling moments that many young players are completely unaware of. The match you’re alluding to – Karpov’s match against Yusupov – was a major tussle since Yusupov was in his prime and very hard to beat.

To answer your question, I don’t believe the decision to play Lasker’s Defense in the QGD (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7) was predicated on any stylistic problem with Karpov. Rather, I think it was based on the following simple points and logical match strategy:

* Yusupov had played this opening before and knew it inside and out. It suited his style quite well, and he enjoyed the positions that came from it. The fact that he continued to use Lasker’s Defense after this match (against Joel Benjamin, P Cramling, P Nikolic, Khalifman and others – all with good results, though Karpov thrashed him on a couple of occasions) shows his affinity for it.

* Since Yusupov would be more familiar with this system than Karpov, why not make use of it?

* Karpov usually played 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 and was a great aficionado of the Queen’s Indian Defense (3…b6). Why should Yusupov enter a system that Karpov was a master of, when he could instead transpose to the QGD, avoid sharp Nge2 systems thanks to Karpov’s move order, and wage war on his own “turf?”

* Lasker’s Defense was somewhat underrated at that time, and it was doubtful that Karpov would fill his match preparation with an exploration of this rarely used line. This was shown by the fact that Karpov actually got into trouble against it, until he finally chose the most testing reply.

*Karpov was always a monster as White, so a drawing weapon with Black would give Yusupov a huge advantage (IF it held!).

In game four of the match, after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 Karpov tried 9.Qc2 but that led to easy equality for Black after 9…Nxc3 10.Qxc3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 b6 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Be2 c5!? 14.dxc5 Rc8, =. In fact, Black gained the advantage in that game and Karpov was lucky to make a draw.

In game six, White tried 9.cxd5 but after 9…Nxc3 10.bxc3 exd5 11.Qb3 Rd8 12.c4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nc6 14.Qc3 Bg4 15.0-0 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Qf6 17.Be2 Rac8 Black again had no problems and again ended up with an edge (though another draw resulted).

It was only in game eight that Karpov played what is now thought to be the most testing line: 9.Rc1 c6 10.Bd3 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd7 13.0-0 e5 (After this, Yusupov switched to 13…b6) 14.Bb3 exd4 15.exd4 Nf6 16.Re1 Qd6 17.Ne5 Nd5? (17…Be6 is far better) 18.Rg3 Bf5 19.Qh5! Bh7 20.Qg4 g5 21.h4 and White notched up a smooth victory. Karpov ended up winning this match by a close 4.5 - 3.5 score.

I should add that Lasker’s Defense has been used as Black by such players as Khalifman, Bologan, U. Andersson, Vaganian, Kramnik, and even Kasparov (just to name a few). Theoretically, it’s still thought to be completely sound, offering White no more than a very small plus.