Chess

In 1987, Anatoly Karpov faced Garry Kasparov in the final game of a world championship match in Seville. He was a point ahead and needed only to draw with the black pieces to take the title. The importance of the game seemed to overcome him. He played slower and slower, drifted into severe time-trouble, then, when Kasparov introduced some brilliant complications, Karpov went wrong and lost.

With the passage of a little more than 10 years, it seems that little has changed. This time he needed to draw with Anand to win the championship, but again he drifted into time-trouble. This time, the blunder was worse. It is difficult to guess what Karpov was thinking when he played 27...Bc6, but the move cost him a piece. It is true that 30...Qh4!? 31.Qxh4 allows a draw by perpetual check with Rg2+ and Rf2+, but simply 31.Qxf3 left White a bishop up. Now the title will be decided by a quickplay play-off.

White: Viswanathan Anand

Black: Anatoly Karpov

World Championship - Game six

1 d4 Nf6 23 Qf2 Bg7

2 Bg5 e6 24 Nd4 Bd7

3 e4 h6 25 dxe6 Bxd4

4 Bxf6 Qxf6 26 cxd4 fxe6

5 Nc3 d6 27 e5 Bc6

6 Qd2 g5 28 Ng6 Qd8

7 Bc4 Nc6 29 Nxh8 Bxf3

8 Nge2 Bg7 30 Nf7 Qh4

9 Rd1 Bd7 31 Qxf3 Qxd4+

10 0-0 0-0-0 32 Kh1 d5

11 Nb5 a6 33 Rd1 Qxb4

12 Na3 g4 34 Rb1 Qa4

13 f4 gxf3 35 Qxh5 Nc6

14 Rxf3 Qe7 36 Qe2 Ka7

15 c3 h5 37 Qf2+ b6

16 Rdf1 Rdf8 38 Rc1 Kb7

17 b4 Na7 39 h3 Rc8

18 Nc2 Bh6 40 Qf6 Nd4

19 Qe1 Kb8 41 Nd8+ Kb8

20 Bd3 Bc6 42 Nxe6

21 Nf4 Rfg8 Black resigned

22 d5 Be8