It was a welcome return to see Anatoly Karpov, one of the greatest players of all time, whose epic rivalry with Garry Kasparov is unparalleled in chess history, and whose feeling for positional chess can only be compared to Capablanca or present-day Carlsen. In fact the contrast in styles was even directly compared to Capablanca and Alekhine of yesteryear.

Twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov

Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov, two-time Latvian champion has permanently left his mark on the Sicilian variation with his name. It was his theoretical investigations, and success against top players that helped forge it into one of the most popular and successful opening lines against 1.e4. He also authored books on the subject, and if that was not enough, he was also a significant contributor to the theory of the Sicilian Alapin 1.e4 c5 2.c3, helping bring it too out of obscurity, and transforming it into one of White’s main weapons to avoid the theory-heavy lines of the Sicilians.

Two legends face off

The match conditions were comfortable and elegant

The event was held in the Tal Residence apartment complex, so-named not just as a tribute to Latvia’s most famous player, but also because, as explained on the project's website: "Architect Ingurds Lazdins has used chess motifs in the facade of the building: geometry of the bay windows represents chess figures of different heights, and the combination of light and dark toned glass – an imaginative chessboard."

The drawing of colors was done the old-fashioned way: "pick a hand"

Live transmission of the games was available throughout, with live video commentary by GM Alexey Shirov, GM Arturs Neiksans, WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola and IM Nikita Meskovs.

The website provided high-resolution video with GM commentary by Alexei Shirov no less

A look through the lens

In spite of the time off, everyone expected a comfortable win by Karpov, however, he helped keep it suspenseful when he completely botched the opening in the second game of day one and was so badly outplayed that he resigned in almost complete zuzwang. Was this going to be a report on a shock loss by the champion?

It was not the first result chess fans expected

Sveshnikov showed that he was not to be taken lightly, and took full advantage

The next day Karpov came back with a vengeance and won both his games, reasserting his authority, though only leading by a point. The match was still open. On the third day, the first game of the day, and game five of the match, saw a vintage performance by the 12th World Champion. Fighting over a small weakness on the dark squares, he proceeded to work his way towards debilitating and exploiting them in textbook fashion.

With this win, he had already secured match victory, and a draw in the last game finished the match 4-2 in his favor.

A big congratulations to the organizers for also providing the complete videos on YouTube for reference

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.