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11. ... b4 The pawn can be attacked on this


square, but it can be defended as well.


11. Nc4 0-0 12. Bd2 Nc6 13. Qa1 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5!?


Karpov chooses to go for a slow posi-


tion. It was not an easy decision, as the white knight is well placed on c4. The alternative 14. ... exd5 15. Nce5 would have led to an equal position.


15. Qa6 Bf6 16. Ra1 h6


l+-wq-trk+ +-zp-+pzp- Q+n+pvl-zp +-+n+-+- -zpN+-+-+ +-+P+NzP- -zPPvL-zPLzP tR-+-+-mK-


After 16. ... h6


17. Re1 In some ways the position is easy to


play for White, but in other respects it is hard. White has a stable position and a lot of choices, as Black threatens very little. On the other hand it is not easy to choose between the numerous options of roughly equal value.


17. ... Qe7 18. Nce5 Qd6 19. Nc4 White could not resist the temptation


of this indirect draw offer. Simpler was 19. Nxc6 Bxc6 20. d4 Ra8 21. Qc4 with an equal position.


19. ... Qc5 Karpov wants to play on.


20. Be3!? Black’s eventual victory comes as a


result of his subsequent domination of the dark squares, so one might say that the text move is the first step towards White’s eventual demise. At the moment there are a lot of pieces on the board, so White does not have to worry too much about the dark squares, but the more pieces are exchanged, the more White’s sensitivity on the dark squares will grow. I would personally prefer 20. Ra1, which


would just hold the position, although Saidy thinks there is nothing wrong with the move he played. The position was equal before and remains the same after this move as well, so the American—who is not only a decent chess player but a medical doctor as well—certainly has a point. In chess certain things are a mat- ter of taste; it is one of the things that


uschess.org


IM Anthony Saidy in 1969


Saidy won the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championship and is the author of several chess books, including The Battle of Chess Ideas, and The World of Chess (with Norman Lessing). He is a retired medical doctor. (Photo is not from the book.)


Chess Life — January 2012


39


PHOTO: ARCHIVAL


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