8

I was studying some Karpov games and I came across a knight manoeuvre that I hadn't seen before in the Ruy Lopez, shown in the below game (moves 15,16...):

[Event "Milan"]
[FEN ""]
[Site "Milan ITA"]
[Date "1975.08.23"]
[EventDate "1975.08.20"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Anatoly Karpov"]
[Black "Wolfgang Unzicker"]
[ECO "C97"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "43"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2
Bd7 13. Nf1 Rfe8 14. d5 Nb7 15. N3h2 g6 16. Ng3 c4 17. f4 exf4
18. Bxf4 Bf8 19. Bg5 Be7 20. Qd2 Bc8 21. Rf1 Nd7 22. Ng4 1-0

What is the significance of this compared to positioning the knight on e3 or g3 (as shown in the below games respectively as examples)? Why did Karpov choose this, and why isn't it seen as often (the Zhigalko-Gorovets game sees it eventually, but only after the knight is taken to g3)?

[FEN ""]
[Event "Import"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/oOAcwi26"]
[Date "2016.04.01"]
[White "So, W."]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[UTCDate "2021.12.10"]
[UTCTime "12:48:18"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "C97"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/matttttuhhhhh"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Bd7 13. Nf1 Nc4 14. b3 Nb6 15. Ne3 c4 16. Ba3 Rfe8 17. Qd2 Bf8 18. bxc4 Nxc4 19. Nxc4 bxc4 20. Rab1 Rab8 21. Rxb8 Rxb8 22. Bb4 h6 23. Rd1 a5 24. Ba3 Bc6 25. Qe2 exd4 26. Qxc4 dxc3 27. Qxc3 Rc8 28. Qd4 Bd5 29. Bb1 Be6 30. Qe3 Rb8 31. Nd4 Bd7 32. Rc1 Qb6 33. Qd2 Re8 34. Re1 a4 35. Bc2 Qb7 36. Qd3 Qc7 37. Qd2 Qb7 38. Qd3 Qc7 39. Qd2 { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2

and

[FEN ""]
[Event "Import"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/hyhFvIUl"]
[Date "2019.04.28"]
[White "Zhigalko, Sergei"]
[Black "Gorovets, Andrey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2477"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[UTCDate "2021.12.10"]
[UTCTime "12:48:08"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "C97"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/matttttuhhhhh"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Bd7 13. Nf1 Rfe8 14. Ng3 Nc4 15. b3 Nb6 16. a4 c4 17. axb5 axb5 18. Rxa8 Rxa8 19. b4 Na4 20. Bd2 g6 21. Ng5 h6 22. Nf3 Bf8 23. Qc1 Kh7 24. Nh2 Re8 25. d5 Bg7 26. Rf1 Bc8 27. Kh1 Qe7 28. Qa1 Bd7 29. Be3 Ra8 30. Qe1 Ng8 31. Qd2 h5 32. Ne2 Bh6 33. f4 f6 34. Nf3 Rf8 35. Rg1 Kg7 36. Rf1 Be8 37. Qe1 Kh8 38. Nh4 Nb2 39. Qg3 Kh7 40. Ra1 Na4 41. f5 g5 42. Ng6 Bxg6 43. fxg6+ Kxg6 44. Qe1 Qd7 45. Ng3 Ne7 46. Bd1 h4 47. Bg4 Qb7 48. Nf5 Nxf5 49. Bxf5+ Kg7 50. Qe2 Rd8 51. Qg4 Kf8 52. Ra3 Qf7 53. Be6 Qg6 54. Bf2 Qh7 55. Ra1 Nxc3 56. Bf5 Qf7 57. Ra7 Qe8 58. Qf3 Na4 59. Bg4 Qg6 60. Bh5 g4 61. hxg4 Qg5 62. Be3 c3 63. Bxg5 Bxg5 64. Rf7+ Kg8 65. Qf5 { 1-0 Black resigns. } 1-0
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  • Isn't it obvious from the game? The knight invades via g4 where it hurts most, h6 (or f6) ;-) I have the feeling, though, that Black defended bad. With the surprise gone and medicine found, maybe that plan went out of fashion.
    – Hauke Reddmann
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 19:09
  • 1
    @HaukeReddmann Yes, but I was more wondering about how this game was different to the others that made the knight coming to g4 better, especially since I would assume Karpov didn't know f5 was about to be taken away as the normal goal for the knight? Looking at the engine though, disappointingly I think you're right about it just being a novelty plan since the engine doesn't suggest it at all in the top 5 moves and (at low depth anyway) says it's probably an inaccuracy.
    – Matt
    Commented Dec 11, 2021 at 2:44

1 Answer 1

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2

I think more typically the idea is Kh1 and then Ng1 to get the knight out of the way of the f-pawn. Karpov has historically displayed a very fine "feel" for where pieces are best placed, so while I wouldn't rule out the blunder or surprise factor explanations right away, I wouldn't be quick to embrace them, either.

A typical usage of the Nh2 is support a pawn advance to g4, possibly supporting a N sac on f5 to open up the g-file, rather than Ng4, so perhaps that was in Karpov's mind as he played Nh2, and he simply switched plans when Unzicker gave him a better choice.

With Nb7 Unzicker signaled he was probably hoping to get the knight placed on c5, looking at d3/e4 to defang the Bd2, paired with Bg7, to infiltrate behind White's advanced pawn center and reinstate the control over d5 he lost by advancing the c-pawn. The logical counter to that is f4 and if necessary e5 to close out the bishop's diagonal, and to do that he needed to get the knight off f3, so it had to move. The Kh1/Ng1 sequence took longer and the idea of eventually putting the knight on g4, where it supports e5 as well as hitting the weakened dark squares around Unzicker's King, is likely to be useful in some lines. It's not a foregone conclusion that will be the best landing spot for the knight, maybe it should go back to f3, for instance, in some lines. But that possibility, plus the idea of supporting g4 to take control of f5, made h2 Karpov's choice.

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  • Obviously, the B being "defanged" above should be Bc2, not Bd2. Sigh.
    – Arlen
    Commented Dec 13, 2021 at 19:59

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