Elastic Maneuvering II

Following up my post on Elastic Maneuvering, the first Karpov game with this theme that made an impression on me was played in 1986. From the diagrammed position the game continued 16.Qc2 Rfd8 17.Rd1 Bg4 18.Rd2 Bh3 19.Bh1. Karpov won a Pawn on the 30th move, getting a 5-4 Kingside Pawn majority (Pawns on the defgh-files vs. efgh). He then went on to convert this to a win in a type of ending that many commentators would summarize as a 'matter of technique'. I suspect that there is much in common between maneuvering and technical play.

Bugojno 1986
Ljubojevic, Ljubomir

Karpov, Anatoli
(After 15...Qd8-d7)

The complete game is on Chessgames.com at Anatoli Karpov vs Ljubomir Ljubojevic; 05, Bugojno 1986. Not too surprisingly, because Karpov's style is often unappreciated, there is no kibitzing on the game.

***

A couple of comments on the previous post showed other areas for research.

Tom Chivers: 'I think Rowson talks about something similar in one of his books, although not with that phrase, maybe with an example by Nikolic or something?'

Wahrheit: 'Yes, it was Nikolic - Gallagher in "[Chess for] Zebras." But I recall that Nimzovich wrote about "tacking" (I wish I could recall the German original) in his books 80 years ago, and I think it was a very similar concept.'

Re Rowson, Chessgames.com is missing the Nikolic - Gallagher game, but I found a likely candidate on Chesslab.com.

[Event "Bundesliga 2000-1"]
[Site "Castrop Rauxel GER"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nikolic,Pr"]
[Black "Gallagher,Jo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2657"]
[BlackElo "2514"]
[ECO "E60"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.O-O Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 a6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Qc2 c6 11.h3 b5 12.Be3 Bb7 13.c5 Qc7 14.Rfd1 Rfd8 15.a4 Nf8 16.b4 Ne6 17.Rxd8+ Rxd8 18.axb5 axb5 19.Ra7 Ra8 20.Rxa8+ Bxa8 21.Qa2 Bb7 22.Qa7 Nd7 23.Ne2 Qb8 24.Qa2 Qa8 25.Qd2 Nf6 26.Ng5 Nf8 27.Qd3 Bc8 28.Kh2 Bd7 29.Nf3 Ne8 30.Bd2 Be6 31.Bc3 f6 32.Nd2 Qc8 33.f4 Qd7 34.Qc2 exf4 35.Nxf4 Bf7 36.Nf3 g5 37.Ne2 Ng6 38.Ned4 Ne7 39.Qb2 h6 40.Qa1 Kh7 41.Nd2 Nc7 42.Nf1 f5 43.Nxf5 Nxf5 44.exf5 Bxc3 45.Qxc3 Qxf5 46.Ne3 Qe6 47.Qd3+ Kg8 48.Qd8+ Ne8 49.Ng4 Kf8 50.Qd4 Ng7 51.Ne5 Nf5 52.Qe4 Be8 53.Nxc6 Qxe4 54.Bxe4 Bxc6 55.Bxc6 Nd4 56.Be4 Ke7 57.Kg2 Ke6 58.Kf2 Ke5 59.Ke3 Ne6 60.Kd3 Nc7 61.Bc6 Na6 62.Bxb5 Nxb4+ 63.Kc4 Nd5 64.Be8 Nc7 65.Bh5 Ke4 66.Bd1 Ke5 67.Bf3 Ke6 68.Kb4 Kd7 69.Ka5 h5 70.Kb6 h4 71.g4 Ne6 72.Be4 Nc7 73.Bf5+ Kd8 74.Kc6 Ne8 75.Bg6 Nc7 76.Bf7 Na6 77.Kd6 Nc7 78.Bc4 1-0

Re tacking, the last chapter in Nimzovich's My System is titled 'Maneuvering Against Weaknesses', and Part V of his Chess Praxis is titled 'Alternating Maneuvers Against Enemy Weaknesses when Possessing Advantages in Space'. In contrast to Nimzovich's insistence on weaknesses, the Dolmatov quote in my previous post suggested the method 'if neither side has any positional advantage (or if it is insufficient to bring tangible results)'.

In the above diagram from the example Karpov game, Black has weaknesses in (1) the b-Pawn on a diagonal controlled by White, and (2) the c-Pawn on a semi-open file which can be controlled by White. What about Karpov games where he won without weaknesses, moving 'to and fro in what looks like an aimless manner', as Dolmatov described it. Finding specific Karpov games on this theme is not trivial, but I'll take a crack at it.