Implications and Drama

There was pressure for Lev Psakhis to play on board 1 despite Kasparov having a much higher rating. A possible explanation was that Karpov who was board 1 for another team, did not want to face Kasparov, and used his influence accordingly.

Kasparov had two exciting draws with Karpov

"The Moscow International Grandmaster Tournament(1981) was my first serious test in big-time chess, and therefore on the whole I was satisfied with my score.." Kasparov wrote in The Test of Time

Kasparov's individual performance was (+8=2)

Implications and Drama

This tournament was an important lesson for Kasparov in how resourceful Grandmasters can be 

Implications and Drama

Dramatic last round win against Tukmakov, needed to win the tournament

Tukmakov made the horrific blunder Qe3 here, allowing Kasparov to play Qxc5 exploiting white's back rank

"Because of the special circumstances of this game - its effect on the tournament and the psychological atmosphere in which it was played - I regard it as one of the most important moments of my chess career." Kasparov wrote in Child of change

Drama and implications

The drama was in being able to play in this tournament in the first place. Since the wounding by Fischer of Soviet chess system, the authorities were keen to ensure that Karpov would be dominant as their national chess flag for quite some time. As such they did not really need another champion. Kasparov was denied by the officials at first the right to play in Bugojno, and was offered instead the low category tournament at Dortmund

"I was seeking to play one of the major overseas events - at Bugohno, London or Turin. Instead I had been offered a low category tournament at Dortmund. I refused to accept this decision and decided to fight it. It was time for me to answer politics with politics. But what political weapons did I carry, as a young man of eighteen, compared with the formidable power of the world champion? It was like David and Goliath. I looked around for a sling." Kasparov wrote in Child of change

The sling was in the form of a ten minute speech which was in effect a coded message to Geidar Aliev asking for support for Kasparov's experience abroad.

Surprise, surprise, Karpov was not at this tournament

Implications and drama

Kasparov was again the highest scorer on the team. Kasparov had the opportunity to play the great Kortchnoi (who Karpov was arguably afraid to play without the backing of an army of grandmasters), and left a knight en-prise for 7 moves:-

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 c5 5.d5 d6 6.Nc3 0–0 7.Nf3 e6 8.0–0 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.Nd2 Nbd7 12.h3 Rb8 13.Nc4 Ne5 14.Na3 Nh5 15.e4 Rf8 16.Kh2 f5 17.f4 b5 18.axb5 axb5 19.Naxb5 fxe4 20.Bxe4 Bd7 21.Qe2 Qb6 22.Na3 Rbe8 23.Bd2 Qxb2 24.fxe5 Bxe5 25.Nc4 Nxg3 26.Rxf8+ Rxf8 27.Qe1 Nxe4+ 28.Kg2 Qc2 29.Nxe5 Rf2+ 30.Qxf2 Nxf2 31.Ra2 Qf5 32.Nxd7 Nd3 33.Bh6 Qxd7 34.Ra8+ Kf7 35.Rh8 Kf6 36.Kf3 Qxh3+ 0–1

Drama and implications

The USSR sports committee awarded Kasparov a special prize for his game against Portisch, "the supreme creative achievement of 1983'

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.a3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.Bb5+ c6 10.Bd3 c5 11.0–0 Nc6 12.Bb2 Rc8 13.Qe2 0–0 14.Rad1 Qc7 15.c4 cxd4 16.exd4 Na5 17.d5 exd5 18.cxd5 Bxd5 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Rxd5 Kg8 21.Bxg7 (diagram above) Kxg7 22.Ne5 Rfd8 23.Qg4+ Kf8 24.Qf5 f6 25.Nd7+ Rxd7 26.Rxd7 Qc5 27.Qh7 Rc7 28.Qh8+ Kf7 29.Rd3 Nc4 30.Rfd1 Ne5 31.Qh7+ Ke6 32.Qg8+ Kf5 33.g4+ Kf4 34.Rd4+ Kf3 35.Qb3+ 1–0

Drama and implications

In respect of the strength of Kortchnoi:-

The match was made dramatic by the fact that Kasparov had defaulted against Kortchnoi in August! 

"They had to eat humble pie and crawl to Campomanes and FIDE to persuade them to reverse their verdict and allow me to play Kortchnoi after all. Even worse, they had to crawl to the hated defector and somehow get him to agree that his 'victory' against a phantom opponent in Pasadena was null and void - a 'non-event' by a 'non-person'" Kasparov wrote in Child of change

British players might particularly like this rabbit quote!:-

"I thought that the chess mafia would be shown up in their true light by these events - exposed like startled rabbits in the headlights of a car.." Kasparov wrote in Child of change

Kasparov was still only 21 years old and was already the rightful challenger to Karpov!

This match started on 10th September 1984. It was still in  progress five months later!. After the 1st nine games, Kasparov found himself with four losses and five draws

Kasparov switched style completely, resulting in 17 consecutive draws ! Kasparov did not want to lose through over aggression, and Karpov seemed content to have altered Kasparov's style

After six weeks of tedium, Karpov took the lead 5-0 with a beautifully subtle win in game 27. Kasparov stuck to his new style however. In game 31, Karpov was a pawn up in the following position after playing Qxd4:-

However Kasparov managed to obtain a draw

"He was on the point of winning six-nil. It was a standard position and he was a pawn up. But he couldn't take the initative. He waited for me to lose instead. He let me off the hook. He game me a chance to find a counter-move which I did, and he quickly lost his advantage. The moment had passed. He must still have dreams about that game. He had mein his sights, right at the centre of the target, but he couldn't pull trigger." Kasparov wrote in the Child of Change

Kasparov was finally rewarded with his first win in game 32, which was notable also for the number of moves made before the kings moved:-

After another 14 draws, Kasparov won two games in a row (games 47, and 48)

After 48 games, the score was now 5-3 to Karpov, but suddenly after five months, the match had become alive. Then the unthinkable happened:-

The president of FIDE, Florencio Campomanes, flew to Moscow, announcing a postponement of the next game, held meetings with Russian organizers, then declared the match to be terminated without result.

British Grandmaster Raymond Keene wrote:-

"What is one to make of all this? Karpov has always suffered, in my opinion, for the stigma of a champion who won by default (against Fischer in 1975). That he should be allowed to duck out of a critical situation by the intervention of a deus ex machina, in the form of the FIDE President, can do his reputation nothing but damage. He would have been much wiser to play on and risk the consequences. As for Kasparov, after a highly shaky start, he has produced what is most certainly, the most impressive rearguard action any sportsman in any discipline of recorded sport. Remember that the first player to six games wins the match. From games 1-9, Kasparov went down four losses and five draws. He seemed annihilated and no one came to his rescue at this point. From then on, displaying remarkable tenacity and maturity, he held Karpov at bay in the long war of attrition from games 10-26. The public may have seen these games as tedious draws, but they were an important part of Kasparov's process of mental reconstruction. Losing game 27 made Kasparov's position desperate, but his opponent's inability to deliver a knock-out blow permitted Kasparov to complete his psychological repairs and ultimately take over the initiative. Indeed Kasparov won convincingly in the extended 39-game match, from games 10-48, by three games to one with thirty-five draws.
Kasparov had the knife at his throat for four months, yet he never gave up and at the end his chances may even have been superior. He was certainly playing much better chess, and many observers will now prefer to regard his claims to be the legitimate world champion as more valid than Karpov's."

Kasparov was angry at the decision of the president of FIDE to say the least, believing the entire thing to be a conspiracy between Campomanes and Karpov to save the champion from a severe attack of exhaustion. Later it emerged that Karpov was equally surprised by the decision, and also as annoyed as Kasparov. 

Mitigating circumstances for the decision were:-

• The players had overstayed their welcome in the magnificent hall of columns in central Moscow. After game 47, they had been transferred to the less glamorous Hotel Sport in the outskirts of the city. 
  
• Even before Kasparov's dramatic consecutive victories, there were talks of postponing the match at a later date. Even the possibility of terminating the match and starting again at a later date had been discussed as a possibility before Campomanes had announced his decision. Even so, it was arguably a terrible decision.

"To me the apparent determination of all authorities - Campomanes and the Soviet Chess Federation combined - to protect Karpov at all costs and cheat the young pretender was exposed as devoid of all legitimacy or justice. My campaign for truth and democracy in chess was spectacularly vindicated and shown to be urgently needed" Kasparov wrote in Child of change

Because of the excessive duration of this match, future matches would take the format of the best of 24 games, instead of the first to score 6 points