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Karpov at Cape D’Agde
The second Anatoly Karpov Trophy is a closed fast play tournament. This year it took place October 25 to November 2. Eight players met initially in a round robin tournament and after fourteen rounds, four qualified from the knockout. The pace of play was 25 minutes + 10 seconds/move. For the pairing scheme and rounds I refer you to
http://www.capechecs.com/trophee_ccas.php
The players were Vassily Ivanchuk Ukraine, Etienne Bacrot France, Anatoly Karpov Russia, Zhao Xue China, Yannick Pelletier Switzerland, Marie Sebag France, Marlya Muzychuk Ukraine and Nino Maisuradzde France.
Cape D’Agde is the seaside resort of the town of Agde in the south of France. If you look on a map you will see it is halfway between Montpellier and Narbonne. Evidently the Agde area is famous for a nudist beach although the locals seem to prefer the word “naturist”.
Ivanchuk kept drawing his games and Karpov kept winning his, finishing the preliminary tournament with an undefeated 11/14 score. He qualified for the semi-finals together with Bacrot, Muzychuk and Ivanchuk.
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At this point I enjoyed reading all the comments in ChessVibes about Karpov’s victory up till then. Here is a selection:
- Karpov will remain dangerous in rapid chess for years to come. At his age he probably doesn't want to stare at the board for 6+ hours at a time though. What a way to enjoy his retirement! I am sure that Kasparov is fully aware of this and I hope to see him back in business soon! Kasparov has already quit Russian politics, vowing to not return there ("I've done everything that I could."), so why not at least play rapid chess?
- Kasparov is 12 years younger than Karpov, was always much more prepared in opening theory and also had more stamina. But even so, he was never able to dominate against Karpov. Garry has a +28 -21 = 129 score against him, but many of this advantage happened in the 90s, when Karpov was not as strong as before. I strongly believe that the young Karpov was the best player ever.
- Karpov was a bigger talent and a better all around player than Kasparov if one compares their peak performances. But Kasparov had the killer instinct, the psychology of the winner and this is more important than fine technique in competitive chess.
- This performance and that of the 70-year-old Korchnoi proves that an 'old man' like Kasparov could still make the top players sweat if he wanted to compete. However these old men have already accomplished everything he wanted to in chess and the youngsters would be fortunate to have a career half as great. Karpov's tournament successes include over 160 first-place finishes. I don't think any other player in history comes close to that.
- Karpov may be using doping.
- Is there any known substance that leads to better performance in chess?
- Vodka and cigarettes.
- Check his shoes!!!
- Karpov finished 1st over 160 times in his career.
How many times did you say that Kasparov finished first? Also what will Kasparov be able to do when he is over 60 years old?
There are different kinds of greatness. Number of 1st place finishes = Karpov. Longest as world number one = Kasparov. Number of top level games without a loss = Tal - by a lot. Greatest domination of his contemporaries = Fischer. Greatest performance by a person 70+ = Korchnoi. Longest domination of top tournaments = Lasker. Greatest accuracy according to a strong engine = Capablanca with Fischer a close second.
- Try to list the number of actual classical tournaments Karpov won and you will find that they are less than 60 rather than 160. The latter number includes every rapid and tiebreak minimatch event he ever played. But numbers of course mean nothing here. Bogo won many more tournaments than Lasker.
Karpov was a great player but hardly won any tournament after Linares 1994. For almost 15 years before that he never finished ahead of Kasparov. It's easy to calculate that you can't reach 160 won real tournaments mainly by winning lots of events in the 1970s.
Before Linares 1994 Chessmetrics lists Karpov's strongest tournament performances as shared first with Korchnoi in Interzonal and shared first with old Tal in Montreal 1979. Then he won lots of comparatively weak events too and was of course truly great. But no comparison to Kasparov who only played the strongest events and simply did better.
++++++++++
On Friday, Nov.1, the semi-finals were played with Karpov vs Mariya Muzychuk and Bacrot against Ivanchuk.
(ChessVibes) In their first game, Muzychuk played well and aggressively against Karpov's Petroff Defense. Eventually she reached an ending with an extra pawn, but Black had enough compensation to hold the position. In any case, it was an excellent game by the 21-year-old Ukrainian, who is the younger sister of world #4 Anna Muzychuk.
Also in the second game Muzychuk was doing well, as Black in an Anti-Grünfeld, but she shouldn't have allowed the transition into the pawn ending. In fact Karpov could have won that immediately with the study-like 47. g5!. Instead, a drawn queen ending was reached which Muzychuk defended tenaciously, until she blundered after more than a hundred moves.
Vassily Ivanchuk was out of form and lost two short games to Bacrot.
(Dennis Monokroussos in The Chess Mind):
Karpov and Bacrot drew both rapid games (25' + 10"), and so the match moved on to a blitz phase (3’+ 2”), and only here did Karpov taste defeat for the first time in the entire tournament. Unfortunately for Karpov, he lost both games - and despite having won positions in both. In the first, blunders near the end cost the game, while in the latter he was still winning in the final position and so presumably lost on time. Alas - but that's blitz. Despite his tremendous success in the preliminary stage Karpov still came in second overall, but even so it was a fantastic result. Of course a very good result for Bacrot as well, and congratulations to both players are in order.
++++++++
- Nobody cares
- I care. In fact, even as an experienced chess player, I find the games fascinating and something to learn from. Besides, Karpov is a legend I respect. Bacrot was one of the most talented chess prodigies in the world in 1999 (you are probably too young to remember him that way).
- Life (and in particular the clock) can be cruel sometimes... nevertheless, what a great performance by the elder statesman of chess, Anatoli Karpov!
+++++++++
Karpov, Anatoly-Muzychuk, Maria
Cape D’Agde, France 2013.11.01
A16 English
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.h4 h6 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bg7 8.d4 c5 9.Be3 Qa5 10.Qd2 Nc6 11.Rc1 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 f5 14.e5 Be6 15.Bc4 Bxc4 16.Rxc4 e6 17.Rb1 O-O-O 18.Ke2 Rd5 19.g3 Rhd8 20.Ne1 Bf8 21.Nd3 g5 22.hxg5 hxg5 23.Bxg5 Rxd4 24.Rxc6+ bxc6 25.Bxd8 Rxd8 26.Rh1 Ba3 27.Rh7 Rd7 28.Rxd7 Kxd7 29.Kd2 Be7 30.Kc3 Bd8 31.Kc4 Bb6 32.Nc5+ Ke7 33.f3 Bc7 34.Kd4 Bb6 35.a4 a5 36.Kc4 Bc7 37.Nd3 Bb6 38.g4 fxg4 39.fxg4 Kf7 40.Ne1 Bf2 41.Nf3 Kg6 42.Kd3 Bb6 43.Ke4 Bf2 44.Nd4 Bxd4 45.Kxd4 Kg5 46.Kc5 Kf4 47.Kb6 c5 48.Kxa5 Kxe5 49.g5 c4 50.Kb4 Kd4 51.g6 c3 52.g7 c2 53.g8=Q c1=Q 54.Qd8+ Ke4 55.a5 Qb2+ 56.Kc5 Qc3+ 57.Kb5 Qb3+ 58.Kc6 Qc4+ 59.Kb7 Qb5+ 60.Qb6 Qd7+ 61.Qc7 Qb5+ 62.Ka7 Kf5 63.a6 e5 64.Qb6 Qd7+ 65.Kb8 Qe8+ 66.Kc7 Qe7+ 67.Kc6 Qe6+ 68.Kc5 Qe7+ 69.Kc4 Qf7+ 70.Kb4 Qf8+ 71.Ka4 Qe8+ 72.Ka5 e4 73.a7 Qc8 74.Qb5+ Kg4 75.Qd5 Qc3+ 76.Kb5 Qb2+ 77.Kc6 Qf6+ 78.Kc7 Qc3+ 79.Qc6 Qa5+ 80.Kb7 Qb4+ 81.Kc8 Qf8+ 82.Kc7 Qf4+ 83.Qd6 Qc1+ 84.Qc6 Qf4+ 85.Kb6 Qf2+ 86.Qc5 Qb2+ 87.Kc6 Qf6+ 88.Kb7 Qf7+ 89.Kc8 Qe8+ 90.Kc7 Qf7+ 91.Kb6 Qb3+ 92.Qb5 Qa3 93.Qd7+ Kf4 94.Qd5 Qb4+ 95.Kc7 Qe7+ 96.Kb6 Qb4+ 97.Kc6 Qa4+ 98.Kb7 Qb4+ 99.Kc7 Qe7+ 100.Qd7 Qc5+ 101.Kb8 Qb6+ 102.Kc8 Qc5+ 103.Qc7+ 1-0
Once more Karpov failed to achieve anything against his less experienced opponent and reach an endgame with only minimal chances to hope for anything. The clocks were down to only a few minutes each, which did nothing to promote optimism, but a repeated blunder by Black, initially missed by Karpov, changed the course of the game. The live commentators were convinced White could not enter the pawn endgame with any chance for a win, but with six minutes left on his clock, Karpov ‘s ineffable instinct sent off alarms and he was suddenly calculating furiously. One minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes passed and suddenly he played 44.Nd4! a winning move if he saw the key at the end of the line. The color commentators could not see it, and had no engines to help them, but they correctly concluded that if Karpov had played it, they must be wrong, and there were no two ways about it. In a fantastic flurry, Karpov showed he had seen it, but with so little time left, stumbled at the finish line and now it was going to be a mad queen and pawn endgame. He managed to outsmart Muzychuk, as he pushed forward, and after 50 moves, oscillating between won and drawn, the world champion’s persistence finally paid off as she blundered on move 103 and it was over. (ChessBase)
The second Anatoly Karpov Trophy is a closed fast play tournament. This year it took place October 25 to November 2. Eight players met initially in a round robin tournament and after fourteen rounds, four qualified from the knockout. The pace of play was 25 minutes + 10 seconds/move. For the pairing scheme and rounds I refer you to
http://www.capechecs.com/trophee_ccas.php
The players were Vassily Ivanchuk Ukraine, Etienne Bacrot France, Anatoly Karpov Russia, Zhao Xue China, Yannick Pelletier Switzerland, Marie Sebag France, Marlya Muzychuk Ukraine and Nino Maisuradzde France.
Cape D’Agde is the seaside resort of the town of Agde in the south of France. If you look on a map you will see it is halfway between Montpellier and Narbonne. Evidently the Agde area is famous for a nudist beach although the locals seem to prefer the word “naturist”.
Ivanchuk kept drawing his games and Karpov kept winning his, finishing the preliminary tournament with an undefeated 11/14 score. He qualified for the semi-finals together with Bacrot, Muzychuk and Ivanchuk.
+++++++++
At this point I enjoyed reading all the comments in ChessVibes about Karpov’s victory up till then. Here is a selection:
- Karpov will remain dangerous in rapid chess for years to come. At his age he probably doesn't want to stare at the board for 6+ hours at a time though. What a way to enjoy his retirement! I am sure that Kasparov is fully aware of this and I hope to see him back in business soon! Kasparov has already quit Russian politics, vowing to not return there ("I've done everything that I could."), so why not at least play rapid chess?
- Kasparov is 12 years younger than Karpov, was always much more prepared in opening theory and also had more stamina. But even so, he was never able to dominate against Karpov. Garry has a +28 -21 = 129 score against him, but many of this advantage happened in the 90s, when Karpov was not as strong as before. I strongly believe that the young Karpov was the best player ever.
- Karpov was a bigger talent and a better all around player than Kasparov if one compares their peak performances. But Kasparov had the killer instinct, the psychology of the winner and this is more important than fine technique in competitive chess.
- This performance and that of the 70-year-old Korchnoi proves that an 'old man' like Kasparov could still make the top players sweat if he wanted to compete. However these old men have already accomplished everything he wanted to in chess and the youngsters would be fortunate to have a career half as great. Karpov's tournament successes include over 160 first-place finishes. I don't think any other player in history comes close to that.
- Karpov may be using doping.
- Is there any known substance that leads to better performance in chess?
- Vodka and cigarettes.
- Check his shoes!!!
- Karpov finished 1st over 160 times in his career.
How many times did you say that Kasparov finished first? Also what will Kasparov be able to do when he is over 60 years old?
There are different kinds of greatness. Number of 1st place finishes = Karpov. Longest as world number one = Kasparov. Number of top level games without a loss = Tal - by a lot. Greatest domination of his contemporaries = Fischer. Greatest performance by a person 70+ = Korchnoi. Longest domination of top tournaments = Lasker. Greatest accuracy according to a strong engine = Capablanca with Fischer a close second.
- Try to list the number of actual classical tournaments Karpov won and you will find that they are less than 60 rather than 160. The latter number includes every rapid and tiebreak minimatch event he ever played. But numbers of course mean nothing here. Bogo won many more tournaments than Lasker.
Karpov was a great player but hardly won any tournament after Linares 1994. For almost 15 years before that he never finished ahead of Kasparov. It's easy to calculate that you can't reach 160 won real tournaments mainly by winning lots of events in the 1970s.
Before Linares 1994 Chessmetrics lists Karpov's strongest tournament performances as shared first with Korchnoi in Interzonal and shared first with old Tal in Montreal 1979. Then he won lots of comparatively weak events too and was of course truly great. But no comparison to Kasparov who only played the strongest events and simply did better.
++++++++++
On Friday, Nov.1, the semi-finals were played with Karpov vs Mariya Muzychuk and Bacrot against Ivanchuk.
(ChessVibes) In their first game, Muzychuk played well and aggressively against Karpov's Petroff Defense. Eventually she reached an ending with an extra pawn, but Black had enough compensation to hold the position. In any case, it was an excellent game by the 21-year-old Ukrainian, who is the younger sister of world #4 Anna Muzychuk.
Also in the second game Muzychuk was doing well, as Black in an Anti-Grünfeld, but she shouldn't have allowed the transition into the pawn ending. In fact Karpov could have won that immediately with the study-like 47. g5!. Instead, a drawn queen ending was reached which Muzychuk defended tenaciously, until she blundered after more than a hundred moves.
Vassily Ivanchuk was out of form and lost two short games to Bacrot.
(Dennis Monokroussos in The Chess Mind):
Karpov and Bacrot drew both rapid games (25' + 10"), and so the match moved on to a blitz phase (3’+ 2”), and only here did Karpov taste defeat for the first time in the entire tournament. Unfortunately for Karpov, he lost both games - and despite having won positions in both. In the first, blunders near the end cost the game, while in the latter he was still winning in the final position and so presumably lost on time. Alas - but that's blitz. Despite his tremendous success in the preliminary stage Karpov still came in second overall, but even so it was a fantastic result. Of course a very good result for Bacrot as well, and congratulations to both players are in order.
++++++++
- Nobody cares
- I care. In fact, even as an experienced chess player, I find the games fascinating and something to learn from. Besides, Karpov is a legend I respect. Bacrot was one of the most talented chess prodigies in the world in 1999 (you are probably too young to remember him that way).
- Life (and in particular the clock) can be cruel sometimes... nevertheless, what a great performance by the elder statesman of chess, Anatoli Karpov!
+++++++++
Karpov, Anatoly-Muzychuk, Maria
Cape D’Agde, France 2013.11.01
A16 English
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.h4 h6 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bg7 8.d4 c5 9.Be3 Qa5 10.Qd2 Nc6 11.Rc1 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 f5 14.e5 Be6 15.Bc4 Bxc4 16.Rxc4 e6 17.Rb1 O-O-O 18.Ke2 Rd5 19.g3 Rhd8 20.Ne1 Bf8 21.Nd3 g5 22.hxg5 hxg5 23.Bxg5 Rxd4 24.Rxc6+ bxc6 25.Bxd8 Rxd8 26.Rh1 Ba3 27.Rh7 Rd7 28.Rxd7 Kxd7 29.Kd2 Be7 30.Kc3 Bd8 31.Kc4 Bb6 32.Nc5+ Ke7 33.f3 Bc7 34.Kd4 Bb6 35.a4 a5 36.Kc4 Bc7 37.Nd3 Bb6 38.g4 fxg4 39.fxg4 Kf7 40.Ne1 Bf2 41.Nf3 Kg6 42.Kd3 Bb6 43.Ke4 Bf2 44.Nd4 Bxd4 45.Kxd4 Kg5 46.Kc5 Kf4 47.Kb6 c5 48.Kxa5 Kxe5 49.g5 c4 50.Kb4 Kd4 51.g6 c3 52.g7 c2 53.g8=Q c1=Q 54.Qd8+ Ke4 55.a5 Qb2+ 56.Kc5 Qc3+ 57.Kb5 Qb3+ 58.Kc6 Qc4+ 59.Kb7 Qb5+ 60.Qb6 Qd7+ 61.Qc7 Qb5+ 62.Ka7 Kf5 63.a6 e5 64.Qb6 Qd7+ 65.Kb8 Qe8+ 66.Kc7 Qe7+ 67.Kc6 Qe6+ 68.Kc5 Qe7+ 69.Kc4 Qf7+ 70.Kb4 Qf8+ 71.Ka4 Qe8+ 72.Ka5 e4 73.a7 Qc8 74.Qb5+ Kg4 75.Qd5 Qc3+ 76.Kb5 Qb2+ 77.Kc6 Qf6+ 78.Kc7 Qc3+ 79.Qc6 Qa5+ 80.Kb7 Qb4+ 81.Kc8 Qf8+ 82.Kc7 Qf4+ 83.Qd6 Qc1+ 84.Qc6 Qf4+ 85.Kb6 Qf2+ 86.Qc5 Qb2+ 87.Kc6 Qf6+ 88.Kb7 Qf7+ 89.Kc8 Qe8+ 90.Kc7 Qf7+ 91.Kb6 Qb3+ 92.Qb5 Qa3 93.Qd7+ Kf4 94.Qd5 Qb4+ 95.Kc7 Qe7+ 96.Kb6 Qb4+ 97.Kc6 Qa4+ 98.Kb7 Qb4+ 99.Kc7 Qe7+ 100.Qd7 Qc5+ 101.Kb8 Qb6+ 102.Kc8 Qc5+ 103.Qc7+ 1-0
Once more Karpov failed to achieve anything against his less experienced opponent and reach an endgame with only minimal chances to hope for anything. The clocks were down to only a few minutes each, which did nothing to promote optimism, but a repeated blunder by Black, initially missed by Karpov, changed the course of the game. The live commentators were convinced White could not enter the pawn endgame with any chance for a win, but with six minutes left on his clock, Karpov ‘s ineffable instinct sent off alarms and he was suddenly calculating furiously. One minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes passed and suddenly he played 44.Nd4! a winning move if he saw the key at the end of the line. The color commentators could not see it, and had no engines to help them, but they correctly concluded that if Karpov had played it, they must be wrong, and there were no two ways about it. In a fantastic flurry, Karpov showed he had seen it, but with so little time left, stumbled at the finish line and now it was going to be a mad queen and pawn endgame. He managed to outsmart Muzychuk, as he pushed forward, and after 50 moves, oscillating between won and drawn, the world champion’s persistence finally paid off as she blundered on move 103 and it was over. (ChessBase)