Garry Kasparov's Forgotten Weapon Against The Queen's Gambit (part eight)

KASPAROV lost with the white pieces in the first game of his Candidates semi-final match against Viktor Korchnoi, but in game two he had the chance to play his new favourite weapon against the Queen's Gambit.

Korchnoi (2600) - Kasparov (2690)

Candidates Semi-Final Game 2 (London) 1983

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3!?

Once again a player avoids 3.Nc3 against Kasparov. In his career Korchnoi was almost twice as likely to play 3.Nc3, and he also frequently reached the position after 3.Nc3 by a transposition from the English. Korchnoi was not a fan of the Catalan - if someone met his 3.Nf3 with 3...Nf6 he almost always played 4.Nc3 rather than 4.g3. Perhaps there was no particular reason for favouring Nf3 on this occasion, or perhaps it was a psychological reference to Tony Miles having played the move the last time Kasparov faced 1.d4.

3...c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.g3

This is more common than 5.Nc3 in Mega20.

5...Nf6

Much more popular is 5...Nc6 but most games reach the same Tarrasch tabiya.

6.Bg2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Nc3 Nc6

So here we are again, and Korchnoi goes for the absolute main line.

9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 h6 11.Be3 Re8

Korchnoi with the black pieces preferred 11...Bg4 in a 1957 USSR Championship draw with Boris Spassky, who also played 11...Bg4 early in his career when reaching this position with the black pieces (but Spassky later switched to the text).

12.a3!?

A very unusual choice - it seems to have been a novelty - but one that was to be adopted up by Vasily Smyslov. One point of the move is to take the b4 square away from the black queen's knight; another is to prepare possible queenside expansion. The downside is that the move is a little slow, but White argues that the IQP is firmly blockaded and there is no need to rush as the long-term structural advantage lies with White.

12...Be6

This is Komodo11.01's choice. Stockfish12 prefers 12...Bg4, while 12...Bf8 has also proved popular, albeit from a small sample-size.

13.Qb3

13.Nxe6 and 13.Kh1 will be covered in later games.

13...Qd7 14.Nxe6!? fxe6

Black no longer has an isolani and has a central pawn-majority, but White has the bishop-pair and fewer pawn-islands.

15.Rad1 Bd6

The bishop is more active on d6, and it breaks the rook's pin on the d pawn.

16.Bc1!?

This retreat makes e4 possible.

16...Kh8

Kasparov gets his king off the diagonal of the white queen in anticipation of White levering the centre with 17.e4.

Position after 16...Kh8

17.Qa4!?

The consistent 17.e4 has to be met by 17...d4, according to the engines, when 18.Nb5 e5 19.Nxd6 Qxd6 20.Qxb7 Rab8 does not give Black enough compensation for a pawn, they reckon. Korchnoi was well-known for grabbing pawns and holding on for dear life, which makes it surprising he did not go in for this. However Black is not forced to play 18...e5. Instead he can move the bishop, eg 18...Bc5, when the engines give 19.e5!? Nxe5 20.Be3 Nc6 21.Qc4, after which White regains the pawn and has a slight edge, according to the engines. Another possibility is 18...Bb8 19.f4 e5 20.Nc3, again with what they reckon is an edge for White.

17...Qe7 18.e3 a6 19.Qh4!? Rac8 20.e4 d4 21.Ne2 e5 22.Bh3 Rc7 23.Bg5 Kg8 24.Bxf6 Qxf6 25.Qxf6!? gxf6

White has the better bishop and fewer pawn-islands, but endings will be problematic while Black has a protected passed d pawn.

26.Nc1 Na5 27.Nd3 Nb3 28.Bf5 a5 29.Kg2 Kg7 30.Kh3 Ree7 31.Nc1 ½–½