Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Strange Blunder

Top chess players distinguish from club players in the number of mistakes they make when playing the game. The few mistakes you make, the better player you are.

Chess master Savielly Tartakower used to say that “the winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake”.

Without the slightest doubt, that sentence appeared in Anatoly Karpov’s mind the day he lost the 11th game of his 1987-match against Kasparov.

Below, the position after Kasparov 31st move. Black is in trouble because his pieces are passive while White controls important lines. Nevertheless, Kasparov managed to confuse his opponent. Comments are from the book “The longest game” by Jan Timman.

If Karpov had accurately managed his time in his 33rd move, he could have even increased his advantage in the game. But Kasparov’s theatrics in the 32nd move confused Karpov and it was the reason for his strange blunder.

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