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Oh, What Could Have Been!
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May 16, 2021
0
#3
Yes, even World Champions miss stuff that might be considered "basic".
In Game 11 of the 2nd Karpov-Kasparov match, Karpov missed a "simple" or "obvious" tactic, although, I have to say, to this day it is not obvious to me, and to this day I admire Kasparov's combination:
To this day I find this game fascinating, yet Kasparov only mentions it casually in his books. I searched all over, and could not find a printed copy of this game wth decent comments. In desperation I bought Keene's book on the match, but his comments do not satisfy me. What can you do? All these GMs feel it is beyond their dignity to comment on this game, but I believe it deserves better! So there you go!
May 16, 2021
0
#5
Thanks, Batgirl, for the game with notes! Will try typing some of it in my blog post about white-square problems for Black in the Queen's Indian Defense:
güzel
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Good post
yes
Even extremely strong players miss things. While they might have great sight of the board, sometimes they lack just a smidgen of X-ray vision.
An x-ray is a hard-to-define tactic that encompasses several different ideas. Some people use the term to define a skewer, others an indirect attack or even a tactical defense. In the case below Black had a very clever move that actually attacks the e1 square for an eventual mate. Unfortunately Lajos Portisch, a very deserving GM, missed the tactic altogether and had to settle for a draw.
Here's the game as it was played (note: in the show position Black obviously can't take White's Queen)
What Portisch missed:
(He probably saw ... Qf2, threatening mate at f1 (Black's Queen is taboo), and that White could play Ng3, defending the f1 square, but he apparently didn't see the x-ray on e1.)