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These Pawns Can't Be Stopped! - Best Of The 60's - Gufeld vs. Kavalek, 1962

These Pawns Can't Be Stopped! - Best Of The 60's - Gufeld vs. Kavalek, 1962

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NM SamCopeland
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In the 1970s, Gufeld won the 3rd best chess game of the decade against Bagirov. In the 1960s though, he was on the wrong side of a brilliancy from Lubomir Kavalek in the 1962 Student Olympiad.

Kavalek's mass of beautiful pawns in the center of the board is remarkably picturesque. He proves willing to sacrifice BOTH rooks to retain the dark-square bishop that he needs to force them through. The thrust and counterthrust from the players as Gufeld attempts to eliminate the Bb6 and Kavalek strives to preserve it is creative and delightful.

Top 10 Games of the 1960s

While the final phase of the game looks clean and inexorable from Kavalek, the early phase is incredibly turbulent. 7.d5 is a near fatal error from Gufeld that is refuted by 7...e3! Still, Kavalek curiously plays 9...Nf6, declining the capture on f2, and giving Gufeld a second chance. Possibly reeling from the opening developments, Gufeld chooses to accept Kavalek's piece sacrifice rather than circle the wagons. From there, the game goes entirely Kavalek's way, and the exchange of queens that Gufeld may have counted on does not help much at all.

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SamCopeland
NM Sam Copeland

I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.

You can find my personal content on Twitch , Twitter , and YouTube where I further indulge my love of chess.