Below you will find my attempt at annotating a game between two Grandmasters. I chose this game from Nunn’s Understanding Chess Move by Move, a game I had not yet read through but did after completing my analysis.. I will also include the occasional comment of Nunn’s or my comment regarding his comment (in bold) to illustrate when I was particularly off base. I was also able to find it at Chessgames.com and didn’t have to set up the board as I moved through the game. I tried to not look ahead at the next move and was successful for probably 43 out of the 45 moves. The moves I suggest are based on what I could calculate without setting up a board and moving pieces around. You will also find some interesting comments – above my head for the most part – at the website.

Kamsky-Karpov 1996

1.e4 c6, 2.d4 d5

The Caro-Kann. The question here is take, advance or Nc3? Advancing would probably lead to a closed game, taking would open things up early, and Nc3 would leave it up to black to decide. I would probably do that to keep black from getting the classic pawn center, but take would be my second choice.

3.dxc5 cxd5

I think Kamsky had better get his K-side developed and castle what with his King in the open. Karpov may want to develop Q-side and get his rook to c8.

4.c4 Nf6

Shows what I know! This can stop black from getting a 2 pawn center, and could lead to a fight for the c file. I still see this game becoming wide open, and would want to get castled.
This is the Panov-Botvinnik attack.

5.Nc3 e6

Still thinking to develop K-side as white, and Q-side as black.

6.Nf3 Bb4

Bb4 is the traditional Nimzo move, willing to give up the bishop pair for doubled pawns. But my guess is that Kamsky will take on d5. So to what advantage? Perhaps after cxd5 Nxd5, if Nxc3 bxc3, Bxc3 forks rook and king.

7.cxd5 Nxd5

Bd2 would stop the above tactic, but that K-side remains undeveloped.

8.Bd2 Nc6

Let me see now if I can figure out these guy’s plans. I still feel white should get castled via Bd3, O-O, and look to the K-side to attack, since both bishops would point that away, and pawns if black ever takes on c3. Black should grab the open c-file with a rook – pressuring the weak pawn on c3 - via b6, Bb7 and Rc8. I think he still has plenty of time to castle.


9.Bd3 O-O

OK, I was half right. I don’t have a vast amount of chess knowledge, more like half vast.
I would expect white to castle, and black to maintain the tension surrounding c3.

10.O-O Be7

I’m batting .500, record setting in baseball, not so good in chess. The bishop coming back can protect on the K-side, and support operations on the Q-side.
I’ll try to assess the situation. White has an isolated d pawn. Black should strive to attack it, maybe Bf6 and e5, and white should play aggressively, maybe Qc2, which black will counter of course, so then double rooks on the e-file.

11.Qe2 Nf6

The d pawn needs help. Be3, Qe3, Nb5? Nb5 would be chased by a6. Be3 would hinder the queen. Qd3 could lead to more rooks on the e-file, but with the queen in front. Still thinking Black wants to activate the c8 bishop and a8 rook.

12.Ne4 Qb6

Or I guess you can just ignore it! OK, I don’t understand. According to Nunn the idea is not to capture the isolated d-pawn, but to tie white’s pieces down defending it. The d pawn is still in jeopardy, as is b2, but they can both be protected by Bc3 or Be3. I don’t see the point of Ne4. It can’t be to trade on f6 when the re-capture by the bishop puts 3 attackers on d4. Qb6 was a theoretical novelty.

13.a3 Bd7

Well, d4 is still there, but now Qxb2 is lost to Rfb1. Perhaps white’s plan is to just forget about the d pawn and aggressively attack the K-side, but if so, what have his recent moves accomplished? I would think black would want to play in the center, maybe bring the a8 rook over to e8, or maybe to d8 with the f8 rook to e8.

14.Rfd1 Rd8

Black’s move I understand. White I just don’t get. That file will open at Black’s leisure.

15.Nxf6 Bxf6

Didn’t get it before, don’t get it now. Can white really be playing for Qe4 and a threatened mate on h7? I guess forcing g6 would loosen up the pawns around black’s king, but there’s probably more to it than that. Nunn gives Nf6+ ?! so I reckon it was OK to not get it.

16.Qe4 g6

Like I said, a brilliant move by the GM Kamsky! But if I thought of it, how brilliant could it be? So now what for white? Bh6 doesn’t really do anything. Bf5 forces a trade of bishops and removes a defender, but where’s the follow up? But if black isn’t forced by white’s move he could take on d4. Re8 still seems good.

17.Be3 Ne7

Hmm. Protecting the e-pawn and threatening a discovered attack on the queen. But d5 exd5 threatens back, and, I think, wins a bishop via Bxb6 dxe4 and both bishops are attacked. At the least, trading queens seems good for black, pretty much thwarting white’s K-side attack.

18.Ne5 Nf5

A lot going on here, probably more than I can figure out, but let’s try. I’m a big fan of the bishop pair, and it isn’t rocket science to know that it’s especially effective in open positions. But Karpov doesn’t seem to mind trading one for a knight. Clearly I know more about chess than Karpov…in bizzaro world! The question is then what happens after the trade? Probably Karpov will want to double the rooks on the d-file, but perhaps first take white’s dark square bishop.

19.Nc4 Qa6

Clearly not what I was expecting. If I was white I wouldn’t want to lose that bishop. I suppose white could move the knight to threaten the queen, but that seems easily refuted. If the d3 bishop moves the d-pawn falls. White might want to wake up his sleeping a1 rook.

20.a4 Bc6

It just seems like white is trying a bunch of different things here. I say “seems like” because I’m probably missing the point. Black has seized the initiative.

21.Qf4 Bd5

What other real choice did white have? But what’s up with Bd5? When the knight moves Qc6? Will white protect with a rook? If I were black I’d trade the knight for the dark square bishop especially considering the weak dark squares around my king.

22.Ne5 Qb6

And the b2 pawn is threatened though still protected by a rook to b1. If so, take that bishop! Nunn – “(lack considerably ahead.

23.Bxf5 exf5

Now it’s too late. Once again my chess knowledge proves superior to that of Karpov’s. (Or on the other hand, inferior.) Black gains the bishop pair, has doubled – but not particularly weak – pawns, and still threatens the b-pawn. Apparently my fixation with the d-pawn was also in error. It seems like white needs a rook on b1, or as I didn’t spot previously, d2.

24.Rd2 Bg7

Keeping the queen out of the annoying h6 square. White should maneuver his forces over to more effective K-side squares, maybe bring the a1 rook up to the third rank. Black could chase the knight back to the third rank with f6, gumming up the works. Could Kamsky double on the c-file or would black just like the trade(s)? I like the idea of black just forcing white back, as well as my previous idea of Rfe8. Maybe white needs to advance his h-pawn to keep black out of there.

25.h4 Rfe8

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day! I still think white has to activate his a1 rook, and the c-file is open. Black could look to double on the e-file, or chase the knight and out his queen on c6, which would lead to more weakening around white’s king.

26.Qg3 Rc8

The c-file is black’s now. (You know, I never realized chess was such an exciting game. I can hardly wait to see what the next moves are, and to compare them to my disjointed thought process.) I’m having a harder and harder time finding anything good for white. Black has a lot of possibilities. Doubling on the c-file and looking to invade is promising. Why do I think Karpov will do something much more subtle?

27.Nd7 Qc6

I actually considered that move for white – no really. But where does he go now? Back to e5? For what. Qc7 and let’s trade. Of course, Karpov could have already done that so…Nc5? But b6, Na6 Bc4. Or Nb3 or Nd3 and white’s being driven back.

28.Nc5 b6

I’m not as dumb as I look. (Yes I am. So what’s happening that I don’t see?)

29.Nd3 Qd7

What have we here? Wondering about the inactive Ra1. Re4 looks threatening for black with f3? Rxd3.

30.a5 Re4

I guess white’s rook is kind of in the game. Is it better to advance the b-pawn to a light color square. Or just recapture if it comes to that. Nf4 would threaten the bishop and prevent Rg4.

31.Nf4 b4

Have I mentioned the rook on a1? As for black, I wouldn’t trade the bishop, so back it up.

32.Red1 Bc4

I wouldn’t have predicted either of those moves. I wonder about the possibility white pinning on the c-file. I guess they’re not a problem. The rook can move in time if need be. Or just trade. The d-pawn is once again jeopardy, and I think indefensible. So white must look elsewhere for counterplay. I think white has to try to get something going on the c-file.

33.Rc1 h6

At last! But Karpov still ignores the d-pawn, playing h6 to gain space and stop counterplay. Still confused as to what white can do. The knight isn’t going forward. Maybe back?

34.Rc3 b4

Putting the kibosh on that idea. White is being squeezed to death.

35.Rc2 Rc6, Rc1 Bb5

Now why this way of defending and/or trading? The bishop will be back on a strong diagonal.

37.Kh2 Kh7

The patient play of GMs never fails to impress. Now the white king is off the dangerous diagonal, and avoid back-rank mate possibilities. And the black king is off the diagonal that of white’s light square bishop.

38. Rxc6 Bxc6

A couple of “obvious” trades. Now Rc4 b3?

39. Rc4 Bf8

A nice response.

40. Nd3 Qe6

When I saw Nd3 I though Bb5 and white loses material, specifically the knight. So what nefarious scheme is Karpov plotting? Obviously the rook is backing up. Will black play g5 to keep the knight off f4?

41. d5

Uhh? There may be more complicated continuations but Bxd5 seems the cleanest.

…Bxd5, 42. Rxe4 Bxe4, 43. bxa6

…bd6, Nf4 g5, hxg5 hxg5, Qh3+ Kg6. I think black is better. (I’m doing this without looking back at the board. Perhaps it’s all easily refuted.

…Bd6

Woohoo!

44. Nf4 Qe5

Be3 g5, etc?

45. Nh3 Qe7 0-1

So I learned that the idea is to harass an isolated pawn by attacking it and controlling the square in front of it.















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Nice work! I am impressed by the number of moves you guessed correctly. I usually get most of them wrong...

Can you please post the pgn movetext and/or the link to the chessgames.com page of this game? That way I can play through it, too, without having to put in in the computer myself.

If you want to include a board in your post, take a look at the help page for instructions and feel free to post in the help forum if you encounter trouble with it - the board feature is certainly far from perfect.

Here is the link:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1069340

I will look into adding the board feature later.

Enjoy!

I didn't mean I guessed 43 out of 45 correct. I meant I was able to avoid seeing the next move 43 out of 45 times!. I wish I could guess that accurately!

Thanks for the link. For some reason the java game viewer at chessgames.com is not working for me. So I decided to post the game score here and use the forum's viewer



[Event "Match FIDE World Champ., Elista (Russia)"]
[Site "Match FIDE World Champ., Elista (Russia)"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Gata Kamsky"]
[Black "Anatoli Karpov"]
[ECO "B14"]
[PlyCount "90"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bd2 Nc6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Be7 11. Qe2 Nf6 12. Ne4 Qb6 13. a3 Bd7 14. Rfd1 Rad8 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Qe4 g6 17. Be3 Ne7 18. Ne5 Nf5 19. Nc4 Qa6 20. a4 Bc6 21. Qf4 Bd5 22. Ne5 Qb6 23. Bxf5 exf5 24. Rd2 Bg7 25. h4 Rfe8 26. Qg3 Rc8 27. Nd7 Qc6 28. Nc5 b6 29. Nd3 Qd7 30. a5 Re4 31. Nf4 b5 32. Rdd1 Bc4 33. Rac1 h6 34. Rc3 b4 35. Rc2 Rc6 36. Rdc1 Bb5 37. Kh2 Kh7 38. Rxc6 Bxc6 39. Rc4 Bf8 40. Nd3 Qe6 41. d5 Bxd5 42. Rxe4 Bxe4 43. Bxa7 Bd6 44. Nf4 Qe5 45. Nh3 Qe7 0-1

Post edited by: Sciurus, at: 2007/06/06 14:09

I'm going to try this next with the game Kramnik-Topalov 1998 shown here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1143961

I found it first analyzed here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1143961

But, as last time, I will not read the analysis until mine is done. I don't know if any of this helps me get better, but I find this to be an enjoyable way to appreciate chess. I will post under another topic when done - I hope by next week.

Yes, it is certainly fun to do this although it is also very time consuming. So far I made it only through one third of the game.

Here are some of my thoughts on the game an some questions/comments on your annotation:

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. cxd5 Nxd5

Now Black threatens to win a pawn because the N on c3 is attacked twice but defended only once by the b-pawn. White can prevent this with Bd2 like played by Kamsky, but from my inexperienced point of view Black's move 6. ... Bb4 succeeded now to bind two of WHite's pieces on defense while Black's pieces look more active to me, particularly the centralized knight on d5.

8. Bd2 Nc6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Be7 11. Qe2 Nf6

I don't quite understand why Karpov spends time to retreat both his B and now the N here. I do not see any direct threat and would have preferred to develop other pieces first to get space for the rooks to move on the back rank. But probably I am just missing some tactics here. OK, ... Nf6 threatens the d4 pawn which is now attacked by N+Q, but after all White does not even attempt to capture the d4 pawn.

12. Ne4

I don't understand this move either. You write that the next one is a novelty so I guess this one was/is part of an established line which is way over my head...

12. ... Qb6

That might be a novelty but it totally makes sense to me: The Q
threatens both the d4- and the b2-pawns. Furthermore, the Q makes space to put a R on the d-file to increase the pressure on the center.

13. a3

Interesting move. On the first sight I thought it would be a
mistake. I would have played something like Bc3 which puts the B on a diagonal which is blocked by its own pawn. The text move, however, not only defends the b-pawn indirectly, but also restricts the mobility of both the Black knight on c6 and dark-squared bishop.

13. ... Bd7 14. Rfd1 Rad8

It always leaves me in awe how grandmasters know where to put their rooks.


That is how far I got so far.

While we are discussing this game I thought I could also post some links to background info on the Karpov - Kamsky World Championship Match.

I found this article by Mark Weeks on the background of the match quite interesting to read.

In addition, the Wikipedia pages on theWCC match of 1996 as well as Karpov and Kamsky are worth a look.

Thanks. I'll check out those links when I have time. I think I've tended to look at Karpov's games because he's known as a positional player rather than a tactical dynamo like Kasparov or Tal, and while I'm dazzled by the combinations they come up with, it is something I will NEVER be able to do, not that I'll ever understand positional complexities as well as the greats - or even the near greats, goods, not so goods, etc. - but if I have enough time to study a position I can at least get a blurry glimpse at what's going on. That's why I picked Kramnik for my next go at it.

The Qb6 novelty was apparently different than the move Karpov played in the same position in an earlier game in the match, that resulted - I think - in a draw, which is, of course, not what a GM wants with white.

And yes, it definitely takes a lot of time to annotate a game! This is the first time I've ever done it, other than our game. I probably sent too much time doing it when I should have been doing other things...

I noticed on Mark Weeks' page that there were several games with the Caro-Kann Defense and got confused at first about which one we are discussing (the openings in games 2 and 4 seem to be very similar). It is still weird to me how far grandmasters play opening lines out of memory and if you follow live games you see that even though they are playing book moves that they probably memorized to death they still take quite a bit of time for each move.

Yes, time for annotations is a big issue. I don't know when I get to the rest of the game and you seem to be already working on the next one!?