Spanish Delight (Lubomir Kavalek annotates)

Alexander Ivanov, a Massachusetts grandmaster, playing black against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, invited a powerful attack in the Spanish after an inaccurate opening play. The Romanian grandmaster finished the game with a beautiful coup de grace.

One of the greatest players in history turns 60

Karpov was born on May 23, 1951 at Zlatoust in the Urals region of the former Soviet Union, and learned to play chess at the age of four. His early rise in chess was swift, as he became a  Candidate Master  by age eleven. At twelve, he was accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik's  prestigious chess school, though Botvinnik made the following remark about the young Karpov: "The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession.  Karpov acknowledged that his understanding of chess theory was very confused at that time, and wrote later that the homework which Botvinnik assigned greatly helped him, since it required that he consult chess books and work diligently.  Karpov improved so quickly under Botvinnik's tutelage that he became the youngest Soviet National Master in history at fifteen in 1966; this tied the record established by Boris Spassky in 1952.

Karpov's "boa constrictor" playing style is solidly positional,  taking no risks but reacting mercilessly to any tiny errors made by his opponents. As a result, he is often compared to his idol, the famous José Raúl Capablanca, the third World Champion. Karpov himself describes his style as follows:

Let us say the game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculation; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory.... I would choose the latter without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic.

Notable games

Sicilian Sveshnikov (B33)

Typical attack in the Sicilian

Some openings have their own tyical methods of attack. For example, it is possible to say that some sacrifices are typical and can be executed in many cases in intuitive way. In the open Sicilian there are frequently sacrifices on e6, f5, d5, and b5.