[Event "Hastings 1971/72"]

[Site "Hastings ENG"]

[Date "1972.01.04"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anatoly Karpov"]
[Black "Henrique Mecking"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[EventDate "1971.12.29"]
[PlyCount "67"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2
{Karpov chooses the so called Opocensky Variation. True to his
style this variation is rather positional, White does not look to
blow Black out of the board with moves like 6.Bg5, 6.Be3 etc...
Instead he looks to steer the game into positional waters. A very
common theme in this variation is the move a4-a5 (a5 shouldnt be
allowed) clamping down the pawns on the queenside, eliminating
Black's main source of counterplay, the queenside minority attack.
}
6...e5
{Also possible was the move e6 which would transpose into the
Scheveningen Variation.}
7.Nb3 Be6
{Interesting moment of the game. Black compromises his light
square bishop placement with Be6. A most common move in this
position would be Be7 after which Black would try to instead place
his c8 bishop on the long diagonal with b5 and Bb7.}
8.f4
{According to many sources f4 is the most testing moves against
Be6.}
8...Qc7
{Maybe we should consider this a critical move as Black needs to
be preicse on how he reacts to the f5 thread. Qc7 is by far the
most played move. This move appart from adding some extra
protection to the e5 pawn controls the important c4 square,
against any f5 by White Black would play Bc4, exchanging LSQ
Bishops and still getting a grip on d5. Of course, it should be
noted that in a perfect World Black wouldnt want to even exchange
the LSQ Bishops as this weakens the d5 square. Of course Bc4 would
be still better than a retreat move like Bc8, trying to remanouver
the bishop to the b7 square.}
9.a4
{A thematic move. Trying to play a5.}
( 9.f5 Bc8 {Bc8 is more precise than Bd7 as the d7 square needs to
be ocupied by the Queen's Knight, it is important than in case of
Bg5 Black can recapture with a knight, keeping control over the d5
square.} 10.g4 {There are surely other moves in the position. And
I dont think Karpov would play this, this kind of compromises
White to start an attack on the kingside, making the stakes
higher. The idea with this move is also positional, white wnants
to kick the knight from f6 to play Nd5, something like an Adams
Attack (6.h3)} )
9...Nc6
{Mecking (Black) plays this maybe dubious move with the idea of
controlling the weakened b4 square. Why is this dubious? Because
Black just played Qc7 to play Bc4 in case of f5 and Nc6 just
blocks the c-file making Bc4 impossible. Needed in this positon
was something like Be7 or Nbd7, developing moves that make do not
block the c-file.}

10.f5! Bxb3?
{A positional mistake. Why? Because it gives up the light square
bishop which happened to control the important light squares, in
this case the d5 square. Bd7 was probably a more testing line,
with the idea of playing Nb4 and Bc6 with nice control over the d5
square. In some positions Black may even be able to play the
inmediate d5 using the Rd8 resource.}
11.cxb3 Qb6
{Black thought he counted with this resource, having a look on the
b3 pawn and preventing white from castling. Karpov refutes this in
a convincing way.}
12.Bg5!
{Attacking the only defender of the critical d5 square.}
12...Be7
{Probably better and more pratical would have been Nb4 in this
positon.}
13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 Qa5+ 15.Qd2 Qxd2+
{Mecking accepts the inferior endgame as a middlegame with queens
on the board may offer better chances to White because of his
better bishop. The e2 bishop may be redirected to c4 while the f6
bishop will remain passive.}
16.Kxd2
{And we reached a critical position. In this position it is
important for White to correclty evaluate the position and know
the general plan. If White havent correctly analyzed this position
he may have overlooked the winning chances in this seemingly
innofensive endgame. White's plan in this position will be to push
his kingside pawns with g4-h4-g5. Appart from that we can see that
White should also try to to control the only open file which in
this case turns out to be the c-file. I should also mention that
this is a great endgame to show Karpov's technique.}
16...Bg5+
{Good move by Black, this temporarily (you will see why I say
this) stops White from occupying the c-file as the c1 square is
now covered.}
17.Kd3
{Going back with the king would make no sense, it is the endgame
and you wan your king near the action!}
17...O-O 18.h4!
{Very nice move. Karpov of course correctly assese the strategical
importante of the c-file and therefore wants to make use of it
with a move like Rc1.}
18...Bd8
( 18...Bh6?! {This just runs into White hands, after this he will
completely seize the initiative and expand on the kingside with
tempos.} 19.g4 f6 20.Rhg1 Bf4 21.g5! fxg5 22.hxg5 {With f6 to
come. } )
19.Rac1 a5
{Other option here was playing Nd4 but this would also let White
with a better endgame as the move Nd4 stops controlling the b4
square, making it available for a rook to active himself. This
moves makes Nb4 possible, challenging the imposing d5 knight.}
( 19...Nd4 20.b4 a5 21.Rc4! )
( 19...Ne7 {Note that the bishop on d8 has a very important
defensive task, it protects the square c7, stopping any invasion
by White on the 7th rank.} 20.Nxe7+ Bxe7 21.Rc7 Rfe8 22.Rxb7 {
Should be enough to win. with correct play White should undouble
his queenside pawns and get a completely winning endgame with 2
passed pawns on the queenside.} )
20.Kd2!

{A fine move by Karpov. This move opens the Bishop's Diagonal

making it possible to try to play Bb5 or Bc4. In this kind of
positions White would want to trade of his bishop for the knight
to get a favorable endgame, Good knight vs Bad Bishop.}
20...Rb8 21.g4 Nb4 22.Bc4!?
{Interesting moment in the game. Most precise would have been Nxb4
axb4 and Rc4 attacking the weak b4 pawn. Seems like Karpov thought
he would win this endgame even with the more calm Bc4, just
improving his bishop as after Bd5 White will now have an imposing
bishop on d5 from where it looks to all the board.}
( 22.Nxb4 axb4 23.Rc4 {Of course the Rook can't take there but
after a centralizing move like Ke3 by White the pawn will be
threatened and White may be able to double on the c-file.} )
22...Nxd5 23.Bxd5 g5?
{Black in this case is the mouse and Karpov the boa. This is a
deseperate attempt by Black to liberate himself. The truth of this
move is that it only weakens Black's position and makes Karpov's
task easier. Probably better was to move the king out of the g8-a2
diagonal and play f6.}
24.fxg6 hxg6 25.Kd3
{Getting the king out of the sensible diagonal, stoping any
skewers with Bg5+ the idea behind removing the king from the
diagonal is to play h5, completely opening the kingisde for his
rooks to double on the h-file.}
25...Kg7 26.h5 Bb6 27.Rh3!
{A great move that shows Karpov's great technique, this move keeps
the flexibility, White may double on the h-file or on the f-file.}
27...Bc5 28.Rf1
{Starting to put pressure over f7. Karpov rightly moves his c-rook
instead of his h-rook. The rook on h3 is well placed and White may
want to double rooks with Rfh1 is the h-file ever gets opened.
Meanwhile the rook wasnt that well placed over the c-file, we may
even consider the c-file as being closed because of the bishop on
c5.}
28...f6 29.hxg6 Kxg6 30.Rfh1!
{Completely controlling the h-file not letting Black challenge it
with Rh8 and setting some mating nets.}
30...Rbe8 31.Rh7 Kg5 32.Ke2 Kf4 33.R1h3
{Boxing in the King.}
33...Bd4 34.Rg7!
{With Rf3 being mate next move.}
1-0