Kasparov-Karpov 1987 match, game 24 adjourned position

[nnnnnnnn]

Kasparov had to win game 24 (playing White) of his 1987 match against Karpov to retain his title. The position was adjourned after Kasparov's 42nd move Kg2:
[fen]5nk1/4q1p1/4p2p/1Q6/4B3/4P1P1/5PKP/8 b - - 4 42[/fen]


Could Black have held the position by just sitting tight (Black lost eventually after a later ...h5)? If so, where exactly did Black go wrong? If not, how does White break through? The pgn to the full game is below.
[pgn]
[Event "Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match"]
[Site "Seville ESP"]
[Date "1987.12.18"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Garry Kasparov"]
[Black "Anatoly Karpov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.b3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O b6 7.Bb2 Bb7 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Nc3
Ne4 10.Ne2 a5 11.d3 Bf6 12.Qc2 Bxb2 13.Qxb2 Nd6 14.cxd5 Bxd5 15.d4 c5 16.Rfd1
Rc8 17.Nf4 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 Qe7 19.Rac1 Rfd8 20.dxc5 Nxc5 21.b4 axb4 22.Qxb4 Qa7
23.a3 Nf5 24.Rb1 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Qc7 26.Nd3 h6 27.Rc1 Ne7 28.Qb5 Nf5 29.a4 Nd6
30.Qb1 Qa7 31.Ne5 Nxa4 32.Rxc8+ Nxc8 33.Qd1 Ne7 34.Qd8+ Kh7 35.Nxf7 Ng6 36.Qe8
Qe7 37.Qxa4 Qxf7 38.Be4 Kg8 39.Qb5 Nf8 40.Qxb6 Qf6 41.Qb5 Qe7 42.Kg2 g6 43.Qa5
Qg7 44.Qc5 Qf7 45.h4 h5 46.Qc6 Qe7 47.Bd3 Qf7 48.Qd6 Kg7 49.e4 Kg8 50.Bc4 Kg7
51.Qe5+ Kg8 52.Qd6 Kg7 53.Bb5 Kg8 54.Bc6 Qa7 55.Qb4 Qc7 56.Qb7 Qd8 57.e5 Qa5
58.Be8 Qc5 59.Qf7+ Kh8 60.Ba4 Qd5+ 61.Kh2 Qc5 62.Bb3 Qc8 63.Bd1 Qc5 64.Kg2 1-0
[/pgn]

[JVMerlino]

Your FEN for the diagram is incorrect. This is the right one:
[d]5nk1/4q1p1/4p2p/1Q6/4B3/4P1P1/5PKP/8 b - - 4 42

[nnnnnnnn]

Thank you!! I hope it is correct now.

[Fritz 0]

I will always regret that Karpov didn't save this game. Or scored the sixth win in 1984. I am sure that it would have changed the chess history altogether.

[Eelco de Groot]

It is of course possible that SF misses something but from a short search it seems that today's programs agree that 45...h5 really was the move that gives the game away. Lots of other moves at that point give a +1.48 score which is just for the extra pawn and maybe a little for the Bishop, and that they all agree probably means that they transpose. See Blue Marlin here


[fen]5nk1/5q2/4p1pp/2Q5/4B2P/4P1P1/5PK1/8 b - -[/fen]

Engine: Blue Marlin 14.9a (512 MB)
gemaakt door dorsz and the Stockfish developers (see

51 43:33 +1.48 45...Df6 46.Dc6 Kg7 47.Lc2 Df7
48.Db5 Pd7 49.Lb3 Pf8 50.Ld1 Kg8
51.Db3 Df6 52.h5 g5 53.Da4 Df7
54.Kg1 Kg7 55.Da1+ Df6 56.Db1 De7
57.Dc2 Kg8 58.Dc3 Ph7 (2.901.391.083) 1110

51 43:33 +1.48 45...Dd7 46.Dc4 g5 47.h5 Dd6 48.Db3 Kf7
49.Lf3 Dd7 50.Ld1 Dc6+ 51.Kg1 De4
52.Db5 Kg8 53.Db2 Kf7 54.Da1 Db7
55.Da4 De7 56.Le2 Df6 57.De4 Db2
58.Lc4 Da1+ (2.901.391.083) 1110

51 43:33 +1.48 45...Dg7 46.h5 g5 47.Dc6 Df7 48.Lf3 Df6
49.Da4 Kg7 50.Da7+ Kg8 51.Lg4 Dd8
52.Da6 De7 53.Da1 Db7+ 54.Kg1 De4
55.Le2 Df5 56.Dd1 De4 57.Lf3 Df5
58.Lc6 Df6 (2.901.391.083) 1110

50 43:33 +1.48 45...Ph7 46.Dc2 Pf8 47.Dd1 Ph7
48.Lf3 Pf6 49.Dd6 Ph7 50.Lg4 Pf8
51.Db8 g5 52.h5 De7 53.Da8 Dd6
54.Kg1 De7 55.Da4 Df7 56.Da1 Dg7
57.Db1 Df6 58.Dc2 Kg7 (2.901.391.083) 1110

50 43:33 +1.48 45...Kh8 46.Dd4+ Kg8 47.Dd1 Ph7
48.Dc2 Pf8 49.Lf3 Dd7 50.De4 De7
51.Db1 g5 52.h5 Kf7 53.Dd1 Kg7
54.Da1+ Df6 55.Da7+ Df7 56.Da6 Kg8
57.Lg4 Dd7 58.Da8 De7 (2.901.391.083) 1110

50 43:33 +1.48 45...Pd7 46.Dd6 Pf8 47.Dd1 Ph7
48.Dc2 Pf8 49.Lf3 Dd7 50.De4 De7
51.Db1 g5 52.h5 Kf7 53.Dd1 Kg7
54.Da1+ Df6 55.Da6 De7 56.Kg1 Df7
57.Da1+ Df6 58.Dd1 Df5 (2.901.391.083) 1110

beste zet: Df7-f6 tijd: 43:33.078 min n/s: 1.110.338 nodes: 2.901.391.083

This is without EGTBs , I did not check any continuations I don't remember the game I'm afraid, I don't know what Kasparove wrote later but it could be Karpov was tired or just did not prepare for Kasparov's last move or something similar? Costly mistake for Karpov, it could have ended differently.

[Ajedrecista]

Hello:

If a single word must be used to define the WCC of 1987 in Seville (Spain), it would be 'drama'. Drama, drama, drama everywhere! In fact, the successful must-win situation in the last game did not happen since 1910 with Lasker according to ChessGames!

I do not bring analysis of the game but some videos, photos and reports outside YouTube that could be more difficult to find.

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There is a book called Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part 2: 1985-1993 where games of 1987 WCC are featured. Sometimes, there are free previews of the book at Google Books, but it depends on the pages. I found a text only version where the keyword is the date "19.12.1987" (without quotes). Then you can go through the game with some comments and the times remaining on each clock after the games, which slightly differ from other source given below.

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The event was covered by the national Spanish TV corporation. One example is its appearance at Informe Semanal (literal translation: 'Weekly Report', which still runs each Saturday night). Here is the video in Spanish language:

Kasparov - Karpov: duelo en Sevilla. (Aired on 12th December, 1987).

It was aired in the later stages of the Championship, with two games remaining. However, it is very interesting because we can see images of the preparation of the venues, the chess set with the special rook —inspired by a local monument of Seville called Torre del Oro—, the change of the knights from the original set, the change of the chair by Karpov, how computer chess software looked like at that time (on topic in this forum) and many other things. The chess set itself has own threads on the Internet. I bring two from chess.com (#1 and #2).

The chessboard is still in a chess club of the city according to #1 thread (third photo of the original post). There are expositions from time to time, like the following one:

https://twitter.com/echaguen/status/1422987217157476362



The different chairs are quite evident in this photograph.

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The chess games started at 4:30 PM local time and were adjourned if needed. The article of best selling Spanish newspaper El País on the first part of the last game even includes the ticket prices: 200 to 400 pesetas (the Spanish currency back then) in the box-office, reaching 8000 pesetas at resale. Claculating to today prices:

Code: Select all

€ 1 = 166.386 pesetas (fixed at New Year's Eve of 1998)
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:1998:359:0001:0002:EN:PDF

Official conversion rates of 31st March, 2022 according to BOE (Spanish Official Gazette):
https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2022/04/01/pdfs/BOE-A-2022-5232.pdf
€ 1 = $ 1.1101  (US)
€ 1 = £ 0.84595 (UK)

Inflation from December, 1987 to March, 2022 according to INE (official agency in Spain):
https://www.ine.es/varipc/verVariaciones.do?idmesini=12&anyoini=1987&idmesfin=3&anyofin=2022&ntipo=2&enviar=Calcular
178.6% (Spain).
168.7% (Andalusia).
(These values are variations: 100% means a doubling).

Taking the national value of variation:
Pesetas from December, 1987; €, $ (US) and £ (UK) from 31st March, 2022:

p pesetas = € p/166.386 (nominal value) = € 2.786*p/166.386
p pesetas ~ € 0.016744197*p

p pesetas ~ (€ 0.016744197*p)×(1.1101  $/€) ~ 0.018587733*p
p pesetas ~ (€ 0.016744197*p)×(0.84595 £/€) ~ 0.014164754*p

Ptas.      €       $ (US)     £ (UK)
 200      3.35       3.72       2.83
 400      6.70       7.44       5.67
8000    133.95     148.70     113.32

I wish I am right: in today standards, less than {€, $ (US), £ (UK)} 10 at box-office and more than {€, $ (US), £ (UK)} 100 at resale. Here are the articles of the first and second parts of the last game of the Championship, with brief comments on some moves:

Kasparov aventaja en la última partida a Karpov, que hizo frente con éxito al reloj
Kasparov retiene el título al forzar el abandono de Karpov en la reanudación de la última partida

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ABC is other Spanish newspaper that also featured the event, this time in descriptive notation. Here are some pages:

First part of the last game:
Parte del público celebró la casi segura derrota de Karpov cuando su reloj llegó al límite
Ventaja de Kasparov en la última partida del Mundial de ajedrez, que quedó aplazada
La última partida, de dramático desarrollo, se aplazó con clara ventaja de Kasparov

Second part of the last game:
Kasparov ganó la última partida y conserva su título de campeón del mundo de ajedrez
Gari Kasparov retuvo el título de campeón al ganar la última partida, aplazada el viernes

Full page versions are available with the expand button on the bottom right side of each page.

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Last but not least, the Spanish referee of the referee committee of that event wrote a list with curiosities of the match (in Spanish language), such as how Seville was designed the host city ahead of Abu Dhabi and Madrid, some budgets, renting of houses for both teams, the special chess set with the famous rook, the names of people in Kasparov's and Karpov's teams, GMs covering the event (Spassky, Tal, Smyslov, Korchnoi, etc.), anecdotes (new, smaller chessboard; 40/150 time control; times remaining after games —slightly different from other source above—; etc.) and some photos of stamps, the chess board, set and clock... Source:

http://www.fsajedrez.com/torneos/mundialsevilla87.pdf

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Google Translator or other online translatos could be very useful for these written gems.

Regards from Spain.

Ajedrecista.