Karpov Defeats Ivanchuk In The Cap d'Agde Finals!?

This is almost as big a "miracle" as Notre Dame's win. It's not that Anatoly Karpov has forgotten how to move the pieces or anything, but his salad days pretty much came to an end after the mid-90s, with a few nice results thrown in the early 2000s. At the age of 61 and semi-retired for over a decade, one wouldn't expect him to defeat Vassily Ivanchuk. I don't think Ivanchuk's best is better than Karpov's best, but Karpov's best was last seen in 1996, while Ivanchuk remains in the upper 2700s and as in love with the game as ever. Ivanchuk plays constantly, studies constantly, and will be in the Candidates next spring; Karpov hasn't even bothered with world championship events in over a decade. Maybe he could win a game against Ivanchuk with a bit of good fortune, but certainly if the match continued, his age and rust and Ivanchuk's superior theoretical knowledge and current ability should win the day, right?

Not today. As in the semis, "regulation time" consisted of a pair of rapid games. Karpov struck first with Black, winning in a long ending. For some time Ivanchuk was pressing, but Karpov is nothing if not a resilient defender, and he gradually turned the tables. Still, Ivanchuk made it to an ending with rook vs. rook and knight, which isn't considered to be a terribly difficult draw. It got tricky quickly, though, and Karpov won.

Match over? Hardly. Ivanchuk obtained a positional advantage with Black in a classical Fianchetto King's Indian, and won in good style. And with that, it was time for blitz games (3' + 2"). Again, in keeping with the Notre Dame "miracle" motif, it went to "triple overtime" - 6 games were needed.

Ivanchuk started with White again, but this time he was more successful. He won a pawn shortly after the opening, and was making reasonable progress towards converting it when Karpov missed a simple mating tactic (possibly in time trouble): Ivanchuk 2, Karpov 1. No matter: Karpov generally had good results against Kasparov when the latter played the Gruenfeld in their title matches, and returning to the Exchange Variation he won what at least superficially looks like a very nice game. He sacrificed the exchange for mobile central pawns, and as passers they ran all the way to victory. 2-2.

Time for another overtime. Karpov started with White this time, and Ivanchuk reverted to a King's Indian. Karpov switched to the increasingly popular Makagonov System (5.h3), but the play against centered for a while around Black's attempts to dominate the central dark squares. This time Ivanchuk had to sac a pawn for that control, and the battle was unclear for some time. Finally, he won his pawn back and seemed to have reached a drawn ending, with White having just one small trump left: a little pressure against f7. I wouldn't have thought it would be enough to win, but - quite possibly in time trouble (it is blitz, after all) - Ivanchuk sacrificed one pawn trying to break the bind, but when he blundered a second pawn it was time to give up.

The next game was rather strange. Ivanchuk enjoyed a small edge, which he carried through to a queen ending. Karpov defended resiliently, and eventually Ivanchuk was forced to make sacrifices to try to go forward. On the last move (at least as given on the TWIC page), Karpov took a third extra pawn - and not just any extra pawn either, but White's pride and joy, the d-pawn. After that he could have played for a win if he wanted to, but apparently the shock of being able to take the d-pawn, realizing that it was safe and then executing the move took Karpov too long, and he seems to have lost on time. Ouch!

On then to the third pair of extra games. The match finally had a draw, its one and only, as Ivanchuk more successfully held in the Gruenfeld. (I'm not sure how the game actually finished, but it's a safe bet that what's on the TWIC page isn't correct.) Finally, in the sixth extra game and the eighth overall, the match finished. Ivanchuk was better in a Reti, a pawn up but not necessarily winning in an ending with rooks and opposite-colored bishops. And then...he lost on time! A pity for him, to be sure, but considering the gift win on time in the fourth blitz game it's pretty hard to feel sorry for him. Anyway, with that the Trophee Anatoly Karpov became another trophy for Anatoly Karpov, and a very impressive one at that. (I'm looking forward to seeing what his official rapid and blitz rating is going to be after this event, and where he will rank on those FIDE lists.)

So congratulations to the former world champion, and I hope that all my older readers are heartened by his exceptional achievement.

Cap d'Agde Semi-Finals: Ivanchuk, Karpov Advance to Saturday's Final

The Trophee Anatoly Karpov (in Cap d'Agde) may yet wind up with the trophy going to Anatoly Karpov! Karpov and Vassily Ivanchuk tied for first in the preliminaries, with Ju Wenjun and Romain Edouard taking third and fourth, respectively, and also qualifying. In the semis, Ivanchuk was paired with the lower-rated Ju Wenjun, and swept her 2-0, while Karpov faced Edouard (2664, higher-rated than Karpov at the moment, though well below Karpov's career peak) and won 1.5-.5.

Could the "miracle" happen? As long as Karpov can get playable positions from the opening, why not!?

Karpov in Action, And Doing Well

Anatoly Karpov has been at least semi-retired for around a decade, but every now and then he has the time, gets the bug and plays. Especially when facing the absolute elite, his results naturally aren't up to their former standard, but he can still perform pretty well against just about everyone else - especially in rapid. Case in point: the ongoing rapid event in Cap d'Agde, the Trophee Anatoly Karpov. The preliminary round is near the end, and after 12 of 14 rounds, Vassily Ivanchuk leads with 10 points while Karpov is just half a point behind and (like Ivanchuk) undefeated! Ju Wenjun (2498) is third with 8.5, but in case you hastily conclude that the rest of the field is comparatively weak you're mistaken: Romain Edouard (2664) is in fourth-fifth (tied with Marie Sebag [2521]) with 6 points, and Christian Bauer (also 2664) is in sixth with 5.5. The other two players (Sophie Milliet [2421, 1.5 points] and Aleksandra Goryachkina [2384, 1 point]) are out of the picture for qualification to the second stage; that's a two round knockout competition for the top four qualifiers.

Karpov Defeats Seirawan in Blitz 6-4, Wins Overall Match By Two Points

The blitz portion of the three-part match between the former world champion Anatoly Karpov and 4-time U.S. champion Yasser Seirawan was entertaining and well-played. Neither player had much to offer by way of opening prep, and that mutual lack helped make the match. Neither player got much out of the opening, so that meant they had to play chess: no quick wins and no quick forced or semi-forced draws. Neither player is what he once was, but as if by mutual agreement they reached positions where they could both show some glimpses of their old greatness.

Anyway, after four draws in the first four games - the classical games on Sunday and Monday and the two rapid games on Tuesday - they had only two draws in ten blitz games today. Karpov never trailed, and by running off three wins in a row in games 6-8 he clinched victory in the match.

Question for my readers: do you think chess bloggers will write about the Carlsen-Nakamura nostalgia match in 2050?

Karpov-Seirawan, Two Rapid Games, Two More Draws

Today Mssrs. Anatoly Karpov and Yasser Seirawan sped things up a bit in their St. Louis match, following the previous days' classical games with a pair of rapid contests today. All the same, the play was similar, as were the results. So far, defense has triumphed in the match, but tomorrow they'll finish things up with 10 blitz games.

Other Events: Vallejo Wins Rapid Match vs. Topalov; Karpov-Seirawan Game 1 is Drawn

The 6-game rapid match between Francisco Vallejo Pons and former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov finished today in a 3.5-2.5 victory for the Spaniard. Vallejo won game 5 with the white pieces to clinch overall victory. Topalov won the last game after Vallejo blundered at the end of a long defense, but it wasn't enough to save the match. Vallejo certainly isn't a bad player, but whatever Topalov had going for him in the mid-2000s still seems to be gone, long gone. I haven't rooted for Topalov since "Toiletgate", but while I admit to feelings of schadenfreude it's still a pity to see such a great player become a mere shadow of his former self.

Meanwhile, as one match featuring a former world champion (of sorts) finishes, another match with a former world champion begins. The tripartite classical/rapid/blitz match between Anatoly Karpov (he's the former world champion, for the younger internet crowd) and Yasser Seirawan started earlier today in St. Louis, and game 1 was a long and hard-fought draw. Karpov had White in a 4...Bg4 Slav, and for a while had a very slight edge. At a certain point he was a bit careless, however, and then it was Seirawan's turn to torture him for a few hours. Karpov eventually lost a pawn, but defended well despite a permanent time shortage. They'll play a second classical game tomorrow, and the next day things will start speeding up.

Karpov-Seirawan Coming in June

Perhaps this is so Yasser Seirawan can justify a second edition of Chess Duels? (Kidding.) Unfortunately, Anatoly Karpov and Yasser Seirawan are going to play a three-stage match in St. Louis from June 9-13.

First, a pair of classical games (40/90, SD/30+30") worth three points apiece. Second, two rapid games (25' + 5") worth two points apiece. Finally, ten blitz games (5' + 2") worth a point apiece. The winner (probably Seirawan, given that Karpov has been pretty much retired from serious chess for around a decade) gets $10k, the loser $7k. It's a nice payday for Seirawan, win or lose, but wholly unnecessary for Karpov, whose wealth is reportedly equivalent to at least hundreds of millions of US dollars and possibly in the BILLIONS.

As someone who grew up in the era of Karpov reign, it's painful for me to watch him playing at least 200 points below his peak, playing worse than he did as a teenager. It reminds me of watching Larry Holmes beat the snot out of a slow, aging, overweight, Muhammad Ali who had already gone through several hard fights too many. Watching Karpov play badly doesn't add to the luster of the game and tarnishes his legacy, especially with newer fans who don't know any better. (Note: It wouldn't bother me at all if he still worked at the game, like Korchnoi or - to mention a closer age peer - Beliavsky. But he isn't; he is very busy doing lots of other things, with the result that when he does pop out every once in a while the result is generally a disaster.)

Weekend Events: Bartel Wins the Polish Championship, Plus Karpov Plays in the Bundesliga

Mateusz Bartel is having himself quite the month! First he wins Aeroflot, thereby gaining entry into the Dortmund super-tournament this summer, and now he has won the Polish Championship. Bartel tied for first with Bartlomiej Macieja with 7/9, and then won the first rapid playoff game to win the title. (The second was unnecessary, according to Chess Today, as Bartel would have won based on a superior tiebreak score even if Macieja had won the rematch.) His rating has also been going up, and according to a tweet from 2700chess his rating is up to 2691.8, almost (but not quite) good enough to get to the tweeter's website.

This past weekend saw rounds 10 and 11 of the Bundesliga, and featured a surprise appearance - a participatory appearance! - by former world champion Anatoly Karpov. (He pushed against IM Martin Kraemer, but couldn't quite overcome the latter's resistance and the game was drawn.) For those who care about such things, OSG Baden-Baden leads with 20 match points after 11 of 15 rounds; Werder Bremen has 19 and SC Eppingen has 17. Most of us have no investment whatsoever in the team aspect of the event, but with many excellent players participating in the league (e.g. Giri, Naiditsch, Volokitin, Vitiugov and Vallejo, to name some of the more prominent figures playing this past weekend) it's worth having a look at the games all the same.

You might suspect based on my last comment that I will now present a game. Your suspicion is right - but the game is from Bartel's performance in the Polish Championship. Have a look at his last round win over Tomasz Markowski.

Karpov, Kramnik and Kasparov on Spassky

Their comments about Boris Spassky are fairly brief, but coming as they do from such legends of the game they are noteworthy nonetheless. (HT: Brian Karen)