Kavalek in Huffington: The Towering Defense

The Towering Defense That Shaped Chess History

By GM Lubomir Kavalek

Preparation for the World Championship match in Chennai could be extremely elaborate, and Anand must do some guesswork concerning Carlsen's choice of defenses with the black pieces since it is Magnus's first title match. Vishy, on the other hand, prefers solid defenses in the closed openings but may come up with something fluid this time. Older players usually seek an early conflict in the middlegame to avoid long tiring endgames.

The Berlin Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6) is always a possibility, hovering over any king-pawn player like a sword of Damocles. Both Carlsen and Anand are capable of using it. It was played already in the first world championship match between William Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort in 1886. In 2000, Vladimir Kramnik played the Berlin and ended Garry Kasparov's world championship reign.

Two Tower Defense

Kasparov became the world champion with a dynamic defense he adopted from my game played at the 1976 Interzonal in Manila. Not only did he win the last game in the match against Anatoly Karpov in December 1985, but the variation he used had a profound influence on subsequent matches. Karpov didn't dare to play the king pawn openings against him again. It was my unintended gift to Kasparov.

The London-based Czech artist Jan Brychta illustrated the duel Kasparov-Karpov
on a postal envelope: Kasparov is fighting from the rook

The rooks played a major role in the variation when it first appeared in the game Balashov-Kavalek, Manila 1976. Despite being strongly endorsed by my opponent and his famous coach Vladimir Yurkov, it was only picked up two years later by other players. Kasparov didn't fare well in his first attempt against Yuri Razuvaev in the Soviet championship in 1978, but he worked on it and eventually got it right. Nearly 1200 games were played with this variation after the inaugural game.

Two consecutive rook moves in the Sicilian Scheveningen define the variation:

Kasparov commented the game in his book "Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-1985" and again in his new work "Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part II: 1985-1993", published by Everyman Chess. It may look repetitive, but he likes to improve his analyses with new computer engines and look at the games from a different angles.

Kasparov's new volume encompasses eight turbulent years, ending with his departure from FIDE. During this time he became the world champion and played four matches for the world title against Karpov. He created the Grandmasters Association (GMA) and won the World Cup - an elite competition of six Grand Prix tournaments. He became the world's best player, triumphing in matches and tournaments. His rating went up and up, reaching peerless heights. It was a fascinated journey with a few dangerous bumps along the way. Garry seemed to succeed in everything he embarked on, and as the Executive Director of the GMA, I was fortunate to witness his achievements first hand.

The Two Tower variation is still going strong after 37 years. Here is the inaugural game:

Original column here – Copyright Huffington Post

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