After Korchnoi sought asylum in the West in August 1 976, the Russians system atically tried to make life difficult for him. First Pravda and 64 published a letter signed by most Russian grandmasters condemning and criticising him. Then the Soviet Chess Federation asked FIDE to exclude Korchnoi from the matches lead ing to the world championship. Their motto was, perhaps, 'Even if it doesn't help, it can't hurt.'
Fortunately, it didn't help. But it meant that until further notice Korchnoi could meet Soviet opponents only in matches. The confrontation peaked in 1 977, when he successively met Petrosian, Polugaevsky, and Spassky. Petrosian went down after a nerve-racking equal struggle, Polugaevsky never had a chance, and it seemed at first that Spassky would be similarly run over: after nine games Korchnoi had built up a lead of 6112-2112. At that point, Spassky began to exhibit a remarkable pattern of behaviour: he appeared at the board only to make his moves, and then he immediately sauntered backstage to muse over the course of the game - a unique method of thought which appears to be not very efficient. In stead of realising this, Korchnoi took it as a serious insult. He became extremely upset and lost four games in a row. Only then did he slowly pull himself together. With two draws and two more wins, he won the match by a comfortable margin and went on to face Karpov.
This game is from the period before the relationship between Korchnoi and Spassky was so radically disturbed.
1 e4 2 d4 3 lDc3 4 eS 5 a3 6 bxc3 7 a4 e6 d5 ..i.b4 cS .i.xc3+ ltle7
In the second game of this match Spassky chose the sharpest system with 7 'ii'g4, but it turned out badly for
him. He now uses the 'positional' method preferred especially by Smys lov and Fischer.
7 8 l0t'3 9 ..i.d2
..i.d7 1i'aS
The important alternative is 9 'ii'd2. 9 • • • ltlbc6
10 J.e2 f6 (D) Attacking the centre immediately.
w
This was first played by Korchnoi, against me, in Leeuwarden 1 976. Black provokes his opponent to open the centre at once, an idea formerly considered too dangerous because of White's bishop-pair.
In the old days Botvinnik used to close the centre with 10 ... c4. Planinc has had particular success against 10 ... c4 with 1 1 lLlg5, and even the great expert Uhlmann could not find a satisfactory reply; e.g., Kavalek-Uhlmann, Manila 1 976: 10 ... c4 l l lLlg5 h6 1 2 lLlh3 0-0-0 1 3 lLlf4 <ti>b8 1 4 0-0 lLlc8 15 lLlh5 .:.hg8 1 6 j,g4 lLlb6 17 .:.e 1 lLlxa4 1 8 .:.e3 b 5 1 9 .:.f3 j,e8 20 .:.g3 lLle7 2 1 j, c 1 lLlg6 2 2 j,a3 �aS 2 3 'ii'd2 'ilc7 24 j,h3 j,d7 25 j,d6 1i'c6 26 .:.n j,cS 27 f4 f5 28 exf6 gxf6 29 f5 ! and White broke the position open.
Later, Vaganian tried 10 ... 'ii'c7 and reached a good position against Klo van after 1 1 0-0 0-0 12 .:.e1 h6 1 3 j,f4 lLlg6 14 j,g3 lLlce7 . Kurajica, against me, later improved White's play: 1 3 'ii'c 1 f6 1 4 exf6 .:.xf6 1 5 1i'a3 ! c4 1 6 lLle5 and White stood better.
1 1 c4 'flc7 12 e:xf6
I play 1 2 cxd5 first, which amounts to a transposition of moves.
12 gxf6
13 cxd5 lLlxdS 14 c3
But now the game takes another route. Against Korchnoi I tried 14 c4 to aim for the endgame after 14 ... lLlde7 1 5 dxc5 0-0-0 16 j,c3 e5 1 7 1i'd6. The continuation was 1 7 . .. lLlf5 1 8 'ii'xc7+
<li>xc7 19 0-0 lLlfd4 20 lLlxd4 lLlxd4 2 1 j,d 1 �c6 and now White should have further opened the position with 22 f4 (instead of 22 j,xd4 as played), after which the chances would have re mained balanced.
The text-move is based on a differ ent strategy: White holds d4 so as to prevent Black from quickly freeing his game with e6-e5 . The centralised po sition of the knight on d5 helps Black to rapidly carry out this advance any way.
14 0-0-0
15 0-0 .:.hg8 16 .:.e1 (D)
A very tense position. After this move the storm breaks, but 16 g3 would also have been answered by 1 6 ... e5 17 c4 lLlf4 with complications similar to those in the game.
16 . . • e5!
Very sharply judged. 17 c4
The standard reaction. White wants to establish a strong protected passed pawn in the centre. Spassky now had
only forty minutes left on his clock, Korchnoi eighty. The tension was pal pable.
17 • • • .i.h3
This blow makes the game more complicated than it would have been after 17 . . . .!Llf4. But it is no worse a move, since 17 ... .!Llf4 1 8 .i.xf4 exf4 1 9 d 5 .i.h3 produces the same position as the best variation after Black's next move.
17 ... e4 is bad because of 18 cxd5 exf3 1 9 .i.xf3 .!Llxd4 20 .i.c3 with po sitional advantage for White.
18 .an (D)
1 8 g3 is bad here because after 1 8 ... .!Llf4 1 9 .i.xf4 exf4 Black already threatens a decisive double capture on g3, a good example of how quickly the black attack can develop.
A very interesting possibility is 1 8 tDg5 , to keep the g-file closed. Three white men are attacked, and in such cases a countersacritice is not out of place. But which one should Black take? 1 8 ... fxg5 1 9 cxd5 is simply bad, and White has the advantage also after
1 8 ... .!Llf4 1 9 .i.xf4 l:xd4 20 1i'c 1 ; e.g., 20 ... .i. xg2 21 .i.g4+ ! 'ii?b8 22 .!Lle6, or 20 ... .i.f5 2 1 .i.e3 fxg5 22 .i.xd4 .!Llxd4 23 .i.d 1 and Black does not have enough compensation. Much stronger is 1 8 .. . .i.xg2, leading to very intricate and interesting complications which do not seem unfavourable for Black. It is irrelevant, however. After 1 8 .!Llg5 tDc3 ! the white attack is refuted ele gantly and convincingly. Black re mains at least a pawn ahead with an overwhelming position.
18 .!Llb6
The piece sacrifice Korchnoi has in mind looks overwhelming, but in the end it turns out to be not very promis ing. The alternatives are:
1 ) 1 8 .. . l:txg2+. This direct try fails to 1 9 .i.xg2 'ilg7 20 .!Llh4 .!Llxd4 2 1 l:ta3 and the rook goes to g3.
2) 18 ... .!Llde7 19 d5 .!Lld4 20 tDxd4 cxd4. A very interesting position. Al though Black seems to have a nice pawn front, it is destroyed by 2 1 1i'f3 i.f5 22 i.b4 e4 23 l:txe4 ! i.xe4 24
'ii'xe4, and White has all the trumps with his pair of bishops and two pawns for the exchange.
3) 1 8 .. . lill4 ! is undoubtedly the strongest move. After 1 9 ..i.xf4 exf4 20 d5 ..i.g4 ! 2 1 'ii'b3 ..i.xf3 22 1i'xf3 lDd4 Black has a fairly large positional advantage thanks to his strong knight.
19 dS �xc4
The follow-up to the previous move.
20 dxc6 'ii'xc6 White's position seems very vul nerable. Strangely enough, it turns out all right. Immediate attempts to force matters fail; e.g., after 20 ... .txg2 2 1 .ixg2 'ii'xc6, 2 2 �g5 i s good enough.
21 g3 (D)
The only move. 2 1 l:ta2 fails to 2 l . ..�xd2 22 l:txd2 l:txd2 23 'ii'xd2 'ii'xf3 and wins.
21 • • • .txn
22 l:txfl
Not 22 �xfl because of 22 .. . 'ii'xf3 23 'ii'xf3 �xd2+ and Black stays two pawns ahead.
22 • • • e4
This is the only way for Black to win his piece back, because after 22 ... l:td3 White can defend with 23 'ii'c2 'ii'd5 24 .ie3, and 22 ... l:tg4 is met by 23 'ii'e2 J:.e4 24 .ie3 and, at best, Black can get a third pawn for his piece.
23 'iVb3 (D)
A roughly equal alternative is 23 'ii'c2. After 23 ... 'ii'd5 24 l:tfc 1 Black has the choice of having his pawn on e4 or f3. In the first case, after 24 ... �xd2 25 �xd2 'ii'xd2 26 'ii'xc5+ �b8 27 1i'c7+ �a8 28 l:tab l he must be prepared to defend passively with 28 ... l:tb8. There fore, the second choice is better be cause of Black's mate threats on the back rank: 24 ... exf3 25 'ii'xc4 'ii'xd2 26 'ii'xc5+ �b8, and now 27 'ii'f5 is best, to recover the pawn. The chances are equal.
Playing to win the exchange with 24 l:tfd 1 (instead of 24 l:tfc l ) fails af ter 24 . . . exf3 25 .ia5 'ife6 followed by 26 ... 'ifh3 and mate.
23 • • • 'ii'dS
24 l:.acl (D)
It is possible that Spassky had been planning 24 l:.fd l here, since now it wouldn' t fail as it did with the queen on c2 (Black's f3-pawn hangs). But 24 ... �5 would be lethal.
24 lDxd2
24 . . . �5 seems a crushing blow, but closer analysis shows that it works out badly. White replies 25 l:.xc5 + ! 1Yxc5 2 6 l:.c l , and Keene concludes that White stands clearly better after 26 .. . 'it'xc 1 + 27 .txc l lDxf3+ 28 �g2, for White's queen and bishop combine very well indeed. Stronger is 27 .. . exf3 (instead of 27 . . . lDxf3+) to keep the
f-pawn indirectly protected after 28 .tf4 with 28 .. . l:.gf8. Black is not badly off as far as material is concerned, but his pieces do not work well together. It is understandable why Korchnoi did not enter this variation.
25 lDxd2 'ii'xd2 26 :xeS+ �b8 27 l:.bl
Now it looks as though White is taking over the attack, but it has little potency. 27 28 l:bS 29 'ii'e6 l:.g7 l:.dd7 e3 The safest way to a draw.
30 fxe3 llge7 31 'iVg8+ lld8 32 'it'b3 l:t8d7
Korchnoi offered a draw here, but Spassky, with a forced draw in hand, refused.
33 'iVg8+ l:.d8 34 ft3 l!z.1/z
Spassky offered the draw, and Korchnoi accepted. After the forced 34 .. . l:.8d7 35 'ii'g8+ he could have de manded a draw by the repetition rule, but the personal tensions were not yet so great at this stage.