Between October 6th and 9th, a match took place between the 12th World Chess Champion, Anatoly Karpov of Russia and Dutch Grandmaster Jan Timman. The match was held in Murmansk, Russia, as part of the Basamro Chess Tournament. This tournament sees junior chess teams competing against each other. The event was formed in 2013, in celebration of international relations between Holland and Russia. That edition of the tournament was held in Rotterdam and was contested between Rotterdam, Murmask, Antwerp and Groningen. It was won by Murmansk. From then on, the location of the tournament has alternated between Murmansk and Rotterdam, with other teams also being invited to join. The 2014 edition saw Rotterdam strike back and take the title, with Paris taking victory in 2015.
This year, Murmansk and Rotterdam were joined by teams from Leningrad, Sussex, Paris and Novorossyisk. The match format consisted of 8 players per team per round, with the following stipulations: boards 1 and 2 having been born in or after 1999; boards 3 and 4 having been born in or after 2001; boards 5 and 6 having been born in or after 2003; boards 7 and 8 having been born in or after 2005. Each team must also have at least one female player participating. It would be a round-robin event, played over 5 rounds, time control as follows: 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus 30 seconds per move starting from the first move.
This year, in keeping with the tradition that no team has yet retained the title, victory went to Leningrad. Having led the standings after round four, they held their nerve in the final round and took the title a clear two points over their nearest rivals, Murmansk.
Final Standings:
- Leningrad Region — 10
- Murmansk Region — 8
- Paris — 5
- Sussex — 5
- Rotterdam — 2
- Novorossysk — 0
The Karpov-Timman match, which was held during the tournament, was a four game match, played over similar time controls as the junior event. It was won by Jan Timman, who at the age of 64, finally got to beat his old rival in a match. Three of the games were drawn, but Timman struck in game three to win 2½-1½.
[Event “Basamro Supermatch Karpov-Timman”]
[Site “Murmansk”]
[Date “2016.10.08”]
[Round “3.1”]
[White “Karpov, Anatoly”]
[Black “Timman, Jan H”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E62”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.O-O c6 7.Nc3 Bf5 8.Ne1 Be6 9.d5 cxd5 10.cxd5 Bd7 11.Qb3 Na6 12.Nd3 Qb6 { Unknown territory. The game had been following Szalai-Baklan, Mamaia 2012, which had continued 13.Qa3 and been drawn in 44. Karpov’s choice does not really seem a very positive way of continuing, despite the doubling of Black’s pawns. } 13.Qxb6 axb6 14.Bg5 Nc5 15.Nb4 { Not that I would dare to question a player of Anatoly Karpov’s prowess, but I am not sure about White’s knights. At first glance they look nice and on good squares, but I am not sure what their potential is from here. } 15…h6 16.Bd2 { The best response — White does not want to surrender the bishop pair in such an open position. After 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 Black would be better. } 16…Rfc8 17.Rfc1 Bf5 18.f3 g5 19.Nd1 { Better than e4, which looks rather attractive at first sight. However, after …bg6, the e4-pawn is on a bit of shaky ground (Black has 3 good pieces on it) with no immediate follow-up. White is virtually compelled to play g4 in order to prevent Black probing with g5-g4. The knight is on its way to e3 and possibly c4. } 19…Nfd7 20.Bc3 { The other reason for Nd1, Karpov has decided that he really does not like the ownership of Timman’s dark-squared bishop on the a1-h8 diagonal. } 20…Ne5 { Better than allowing the trade, Timman clearly wants to keep pieces on. But this move is not only to mask the bishops, it is also covering White’s Ne3-c4 possibilities. for the time being, if White wants to achive that, it will cost him the bishop pair or the compromising of his Kingside pawns. } 21.b3 ( 21.Ne3 Bd7 { Better than retreating to h7 — the g6-square being to where the Knight will go to should White push with f3-f4 (gxf4, gxf4 Ng6). } 22.f4 gxf4 23.gxf4 Ng6 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 { and Black is better after f5 or Rf1. } ) 21…Bg6 { Perhaps …Bd7 was slightly better, leaving the g6-square available for the knight as in the 21.Ne3 variation. } 22.f4 gxf4 23.gxf4 Ng4 { White gets his wish of being able to exchange bishops. } 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.h3 Nf6 26.Ne3 Kh7 27.Kh2 Be4 28.Ng4 Nfd7 29.Nf2 Bxg2 30.Kxg2 f5 31.Nc2 { ?? a bad mistake, upon which Timman pounces. } ( 31.Nd1 Nf8 32.Kf3 Ng6 33.Ne3 Nh4+ 34.Kg3 Ng6 { is pretty much level and there may just be repetition, here via Kf3 Nh4+ etc. } ) 31…Nxb3 { Picking up a pawn. Quite surprising that Karpov has allowed this. } 32.axb3 Rxa1 33.Rxa1 Rxc2 34.Ra7 { Kf3 was also playable, but would not really change very much, White is in big trouble and his position deteriorates rapidly. } 34…Nf6 35.Rxb7 Nxd5 { Clearly very much winning, the knight’s sights set on f4 next. } 36.Kf1 Rc1+ 37.Kg2 Nxf4+ { Being able to capture this pawn with ceck is a very big bonus, allowing the knight to return to d5 in order to safeguard the b6-pawn. } 38.Kh2 Nd5 39.e4 fxe4 40.Nxe4 Kg6 { And Kaprov resigned, the material advantage coupled with Black’s superior position makes this impossible to hold. } 0-1
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