Qg5-f6+? (being pressed for time, Garri steps onto the wrong track: he seems to have been under the false impression that Black has

to answer 35. ... Qf7) 35. ... Kf8-e8! (not, of course, 35. ... Qf7 36. Qh8+ Qg8 37. Qxe5 Re8 38. Qf4, with a formidable attack; the crushing e4-e5 is the threat Black is unable to avert) 36. Rf1-a1 Qc7-e7! 37. Qf6-e6 (if 37. Qxe7+, then 37. ... Kxe7 38. Rxa4 Rd6, and Black has the advantage) 37. ... Rd8-d6! (finally parrying White's threats) 38. Qe6-g8+ Qe7-f8 39. Qg8-g3 (the last clouds of the storm have now dispersed) 39. ... Qf8xh6 40. Ra1xa4? (Garri is evidently upset and makes the blunder; yet 40. Re2 Bb3 would be no better for White) 40. ... Qh6-c1+ 41. Kg1-f2 Qc1xb2+ 42. Kf2-f3 Ke8-f7 White resigns.

Why, the reader may ask, are such games presented in a book devoted to Kasparov's creative development?

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First of all, because this game, too, is illustrative of Kasparov's brilliant combinational talent. Secondly, because, as the saying goes,

"all my victories begin with the victory over myself" and surely, in order to recover from such a regrettable defeat as he suffered in the above game with Petrosian, Kasparov had to pull himself together. It will be noted that his loss to Petrosian was the only one in the tourna-ment. Perhaps psychology has something to do with it, but Petrosian used to be a difficult opponent for Kasparov. This is further evidenced by the game they played in the 1981 Tilburg International Grandmas-ter Tournament. Again Kasparov vigorously attacked, obtained a very promising position, but then over-reached himself, riskily sacrificed a pawn and ... Petrosian succeeded in erecting a powerful rampart.

The crisis again came when the time was running short in the follow-ing position (No 53).

White threatens to sacrifice the Rook on b5, but the Black King takes over the defender's duties.

35. ... Kb7-c6! 36. Rb3-a3 (on 36. Rxc7, Black would respond 36. ... be) 36. ... b5xc4 (and now the Black King proves to be invulner-able) 37. Ra3xa6+ Ra8xa6 38. Ra2xa6+ Bc7-b6 39. Bd6-c5 Qe8-d8 40. Qb1-a1 Nd7xc5 41. d4xc5 Kc6xc5 42. Ra6-a4, and White resigns.

However, Kasparov finally succeeded in surmounting the difficult psychological barrier by scoring his first victory over Petrosian in the 1982 Bugojno International Tournament.

Game 37 Queen's Indian Defence

Kasparov Petrosian 1. d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2. c2-c4 e7-e6 3. Ng1-f3 Bf8-b4+ 4. Bc1-d2 Qd8-e7 5. g2-g3 Bb4xd2+ 6. Qd1xd2 0-0 7. Bf1-g2 d7-d5 (Vasili Smyslov and

53 54

other experts prefer the line 7. ...d6 8. Nc3 e5) 8. 0-0 d5xc4 9. Nb1-a3 (a good plan, for at c4 the Knight will be able to control some of the central squares) 9. ... c7-c5 10. d4xc5 Qe7xc5 11. Ra1-c1 Nb8-c6 12. Na3xc4 Qc5-e7? (he should have played 12. ... Rd8, and on 13. Qc2, Bd7, thus co-ordinating his Rooks) 13. Nf3-e5! Nc6xe5 (now 13. ... Bd7 is weak, because of 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. Qxd7 Nxd7 16 Nd6) 14. Nc4xe5 Nf6-d5 15. Rf1-d1 (not, of course, 15. Bxd5 Rd8) 15. ... Nd5-b6 16. Qd2-a5l (No. 54)

Black has made only one, seemingly insignificant, mistake; but this was masterfully exploited by Kasparov. Black's position begins to crumble; thus it is hard to see how the Bishop at c8 (and therefore the Rook at a8) can be brought into play.

16. ... g7-g6 (if 16. ... f6, then 17. Nc4 Nxc4 18. Rxc4 b6 19. Qc3, etc.) 17. Rd1-d3 Nb6-d5 (the^Vain attempt to relieve his position by giving up a pawn, but on 17. ... Rd8, 18. Qc5! would be very strong;

for instance, 18. ... Qxc5 19. Rxd8+ Qf8 20. Rxf8 Kxf8 21. Rc7) 18. e2-e4! (White does not even consider the capture on d5, after which Black would be able to enliven his pieces) 18. ... Nd5-b6 19. Bg2-f1 (the Bishop has done his job here and may now go to another diagonal) 19. ... Rf8-e8 (or 19. ... f6 20. Nc4 Nxc4 21. Rxc4 b6 22. Qc3, the line 20. ... Bd7 21. Nxb6 ab 22. Qxb6 Bc6 23. a3 being not very comforting either; for instance, 23. ... Bxe4 can be met by 24. Rc7) 20. Rd3-d1! (opening the route to b5 for his Bishop) 20. ... Re8-f8 21. a2-a3 Kg8-g7 (21. ... f6 22. Nc4 Bd7 23. N x b 6 a b 24. Qxb6 Bc6 is also bad, if only because of 25. Bb5) 22. b2-b3 (Black is reduced to immobility,so White does not have to makehaste) 22. ... Kg7-g8 23. a3-a4 Rf8-d8 24. Qa5-c5l Black resigns.

On 24. ... Qc5, there would follow 25. Rxd8+ Qf8 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8 27. Rc7, etc.

Never in his long career as a Grandmaster was Petrosian crushed in such a style!

"Of course, even in a short fight between two Grandmasters one may eventually find out an inexact move, an erroneous combination, or an unsuccessful manoeuvre, but these errors are not so evident and their refutations not so simple, and therefore such short games can also represent finished works of chess art." (Anatoly Karpov)

Kasparov played Boris Spassky, former World Champion, at the international tournaments in Tilburg (1981) and Bugojno (1982).

In their Tilburg encounter, Kasparov excellently handled (as White) a sharp variation of the Indian Defence, and gained the advantage. He then created a number of dangerous threats, won a pawn, and, in an extremely complicated situation, underestimated Black's counter-chances.

After thrilling adventures and mutual oversights the former World Champion won on the 66th move.

The Spassky-Kasparov game at the International Tournament in Bugojno (1982) was also exceptionally hard fought.

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Game 38 Sicilian Defence

Spassky Kasparov 1. e2-e4 c7-c5 2. Nb1-c3 e7-e6 3. g2-g3 d7-d5

The classical, "centre-oriented" handling of the opening problem, but the fianchettoing of the Bishop has also been employed for a long' time in master chess, though. Thus, in an international tournament in Vienna in 1873, the great German master Adolf Anderssen continued here 3. ... b6 4. Bg2 Bb7.

4. e4xd5 (4. d3 is also playable, leading, after 4. ... Nf6 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nge2 de, to a roughly even game) 4. ... e6xd5 5. Bf1-g2 Ng8-f6 6. Ng1-e2 (after 6. d4 the Black pieces would become active:

6. ... cd 7. Qxd4 Nc6 8. Qd1 d4 9. Nce2 Bc5 10. Nf3 Bf5 11. 0-0 0-0 6. ... d5-d4 7. Nc3-e4 Nf6xe4 8. Bg2xe4 Nb8-d7 (so far the opponents have repeated a Spassky-Korchnoi game played in the 1978 Candi-dates' Semifinal Match in Kiev) 9. 0-0 Nd7-f6 10. Be4-g2 Bf8-d6 11. c2-c3 (in the above-mentioned game, Spassky played 11. d3 and, after 11. ... 0-0 12. Bf4 Bg4, gained nothing) 11.... d4-d3!? (a daring and risky move: 11. ... 0-0 12. cd cd 13. d3 Re8 would be more solid) 12. Ne2-f4 0-0 (the line 12. ... Bxf4? 13. Qa4+Bd7 14. Re1+, fol-lowed by 15. Qxf4, is weak) 13. Nf4xd3 Bd6xg3 14. f2xg3 Qd8xd3 15. Qd1-f3 Qd3xf3 16. Bg2xf3 Bc8-h3 17. Bf3xb7 (to 17. Rd1, Black would have answered 17. ... Bg4) 17. ... Ra8-e8! (No. 55)

A correct and bold decision. White would have the advantage after both 17. ... Rxf 1 18. Bxa8 Bd3 19. Bf3 Re8 20. b3, and the straight-forward 17. ... Rab8? 18. Rg2. In the move played, Kasparov delicate-ly allows for the fact that White's Q-side has not yet been developed.

18. Bb7-g2 (after 18. Rd1 Bg4 19. Rf 1 Be2 20. Re1 Bd3l, Black would gain the advantage) 18. ... Bh3xg2 19. Kg1xg2 Re8-e2+

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20. Rf1-f2 Rf8-e8 21. b2-b3 (the line 21. d4 cd 22. cd Re1 would keep White thoroughly tied up) 21. ... Re2xf2+ 22. Kg2xf2 Nf6-g4+

23. Kf2-g2 f7 f5! (the apparently attractive 23. ... Re1 24. Bb2 Re2+ would result in White's advantage after 25. Kf3 Rxd2 26. Ba3 Nxh2+ 27. Ke4) 24. h2-h3 Ng4-e5 25. d2-d4 c5xd4 26. c3xd4 Ne5-d3 (the excellently co-ordinated Black pieces fully compensate him for his small material loss) 27. Bc1-g5 (the natural 27. Ba3 is refuted by 27 Ne1+ and 28. ... Nc2) 27. ... h7-h6 28. Ra1-d1 h6xg5 29. Rd1xd3 Re8-e2+ 30. Kg2-f3 Re2xa2 31. d4-d5 Kg8-f7 32. d5-d6 Kf7-e8 Game drawn. The variation 33. Re3+ Kd7 34. Re7+ Kxd6 35. Rxg7 Rb2 36. Rxg5 Ke6 37. Kf4 Rf2+ 38. Ke3 Rb2, etc. con-vinces us that the result of the game is quite natural.

I would like to conclude the chapter with Maxim Gorky's words:

"Talent is having faith in onejelf, in one's strength." Garri Kasparov has this faith.

Chapter Ten