Karpov vs. Korchnoi | 1974 Candidates Final - GM Yasser Seirawan

Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan takes us back to the 1974 Candidates Final: Anatoly Karpov vs. Viktor Korchnoi. Since Bobby Fischer relinquished the title, the match winner was awarded the world championship.
2015.11.24
Anatoly Karpov vs Viktor Korchnoi, Karpov - Korchnoi Candidates Final (1974): B77 Sicilian, dragon, Yugoslav attack, 9...Bd7

[@Mcsqueegy]

Listening to Yasser with headphones on maximum bass... guaranteed relaxation in 15 seconds

[@tome57a]

Any time I feel stressed, I can immediately relax just by listening to Yasser. I just love this guy

[@openclassics]

He is sooo nice! But I hate his „Blendax“ - smile. He seems to earn money with it.😁

[@General_Aladeen]

hahaha

[@paytonclyde4820]

you all probably dont give a damn but does anybody know a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I was stupid lost my password. I would appreciate any tricks you can give me.

[@adrianleandro4315]

@Payton Clyde instablaster ;)

[@riekejulian5493]

Gift me more Yasser! He's such a great teacher and person!

[@SteveRunciman]

+Rieke Julian Yasser is the coolest man in the Chess World. Perhaps THE world.

[@blairschirmerx1711]

Why are the comments for Tatev Abrahamyan's videos disabled? Anyone know?

[@blairschirmerx1711]

Please include in the title that this is a Beginner's level look at the match.

[@greense65]

@@SteveRunciman I remember he'd come down sometimes from Seattle to play tournaments in Berkeley in the late '70s or early '80s. Everyone wanted to be around him. I'd always hear people in the common areas "Yasser this", "Yasser that". Very charismatic guy.

[@phoeNYkx]

Yas will make a good grandpa narrating stories to his grandchildren :)

[@Tod_oMal]

I would love him to do chess storytelling and not only matches.

[@DominickDecocko]

he actually learned it from narrating stories to his grandchildren

[@IZn0g0uDatAll]

NOOOOOOOO!!!! It's called the Dragon because Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky noted the ressemblance between black's pawn structure and the draco constellation. He was an amateur astronomer.

[@blairschirmerx1711]

(X) X X X X X So to speak. Close enough, eh?

[@vzjaginsevsaoirse5003]

Correct

[@RayVitoles]

karpov was the most worthy rival for kasparov.garry would not be legend if it wasn t for his archenemy.Both plays& games are very genius and you should watch their games.karpov is the techician god and kasparov is the tactician god

[@gxtmfa]

RayVitoles this is 100% true. Don’t forget- Karpov has one of the greatest tournament performances of all time (Linares 1994)

[@arkos1179]

@@gxtmfa the greatest actually

[@dreamdamons4576]

we love you Sir....your persian fans from Iran Serirawan is a born Chess lecturer

[@spirou2012]

We often see Karpov as a strategic player, but the truth is he had no mercy when he was attacking

[@polopolo1032]

the introdutions he gives aren't any less entertaining and beneficial than the lecture itself , love u GM Yasser

[@jjgonzalez3395]

I think I have seen all of Yasser's Videos. Please make more! He is easily the best instructor on youtube.

[@bigbrother5024]

+JJ Gonzalez You watched *all* clips of him? That's bound to be tough, I downloaded them all but couldn't cope with him being behind the board overlay all the time. The older clips are even worse, at least in the newer ones he names the squares he's pointing at rather than talking about "this square" and "that pawn".

[@jjgonzalez3395]

I think I have watched all of the videos except for the ones where he talks about how pieces move, and some of the ones that are tailored to kid's beginner classes. But I have watch all his intermediate and expert videos. I can even admit to watching some of his kids lectures. Even though I am above that level, I still found Yasser to be instructive. For example, the video titled "Space Control: Which Squares Do The Pieces Like?" was actually very informative even though its a "Sunday Kid's Class." I have been studying chess videos for two years now, and Yasser is by far my favorite GM. Although I do agree that he can do a much better job by using the mouse to point to pieces rather than moving off screen, his chess humor, knowledge, and passion make his videos very enjoyable.

[@SteveRunciman]

+JJ Gonzalez I love the Kids Lectures. Even a GM could learn from them.

[@Tod_oMal]

I just started. Would you like to recommend me his top 3 videos in your view? Thanks.

[@carlosoliva7550]

100% de acuerdo contigo JJ

[@willmcpherson2]

"oooooooooh" - Yasser Seirawan

[@AD-iy8mq]

Really great calm voice with in depth analysis. Real pleasure to watch the clip. Many thanks

[@KhornateBeef]

WOW. What a teacher, makes it look so easy.

[@atraxia888]

Yasser is the boss

[@florians.8952]

Yass :D

[@cenntraru]

Yoss

[@blairschirmerx1711]

It's a shame he doesn't tell us whether Karpov and Korchoi believed the winner of their match would become world champion

[@Anna-tl6oz]

AdrianSalles888 he's like the Bob Ross of chess, mixing in a little bit of Professor Binns ;P

[@abebuckingham8198]

I'm a fast talker and he's a slow talker so I struggle to listen to him. However this exercise in patience has proven to be one of the most valuable lessons he teaches to elevate my game.

[@AndrewIsbell]

Thank you for uploading this.

[@mayedasun]

Fantastic lecture. Beating the dragon 101.

[@nicholasgranat2999]

Always a pleasure,thank you!

[@DansChessLounge]

Wonderful video! I hope to one day give lectures as interesting as GM Seirawan. His chess commentary is so vivid that it makes you feel as if the story is unfolding right before your eyes.

[@zerellix]

Thank you for the video :)

[@francoislechampi2002]

"at first sight, you think that black is okay, but then you realise..." I love the way Mr SEIRAWAN makes chess interesting and full of suspense

[@alperenmercan747]

"g5 whoa wait a minute "

[@fabian13333]

Great lecture thank you

[@fromthesea101]

Great commentary and analysis

[@sinsinter7814]

Yasser uses so many emotional intonation, its sounds like he would talk about his best acid trip :D

[@tonykora1715]

wt a great teacher u r Mr Yasser.

[@dmaster20ify]

Great game Yasser Sierawan

[@Ronbo710]

I like how the Yaz lectures take on the ambiance of a bed time story.

[@user-nw6qp1ki2n]

Yasser ⭐️ u make my day 🌈

[@martm216]

Yasser speaks well. What a wonderful teacher.

[@timbeckett7246]

Viktor Korchnoi was the best counter attacker at his prime even Tal gets squished by him. R.I.P Korchnoi

[@Tod_oMal]

Karpov vs Korchnoi were the first matches that I studied as a boy when I started with Chess, I wasn't even aware that he passed. R.I.P. Viktor.

[@tome57a]

Korchnoi a.k.a. "Viktor The Terrible" was a "tough old bird" even in his extreme old age. He loved chess till the day he died and was a warrior. He played kids sixty or seventy years his junior in some tournaments and still beat them.

[@RicardoAGuitar]

Korchnoi was a tough, tough opponent for Tal. He was one of the few Tal opponents that could see through Tal's attacking schemes. Incidentally, Seirawan was also a tough opponent for Tal. They played five classical games, and Tal only managed one draw, losing the other four.

[@DominickDecocko]

he got that amusing inspiring laugh i bet he can make paint drying seem inspiring

[@jumpyjoie]

Oops! My bad! Yasser showed the same tactic in a different variation! Nice game! :)

[@yurd563]

Thanks

[@ollie708]

very instructive

[@boomjonggol5757]

First to win 10 games, draws don't count Karpov and Kasparov: um how long would that take?

[@hamrohangulcollege8098]

i love yasser smiling face

[@caroljung1310]

This is the Bob Ross of chess

[@klodm.2064]

But it's called the Dragon because king side pawn structure looks like the Draco constellation.

[@altgreven9211]

+Klod M. And why is the constellation called Draco?

[@skakofilsanonims4434]

+Klod M. I agree that Seirawain could have at least mentioned the constelation of Dragon

[@beeble2003]

@@altgreven9211 Because it looks vaguely like a dragon. The opening is named because it looks vaguely like something that looks vaguely like a dragon, which is a pretty weak claim. I mean, your mom looks vaguely like something that looks vaguely like a dragon, and so does mine.

[@zombieninjapitbull3856]

That moment when you normally auto-like a yasser vid, but the likes are at 666 and you dont want it to change.

[@choowde1521]

yasser is just so nice

[@bigmac329190]

Yasser is very , very camp.

[@schrodingershat3240]

That was probably the most instructive lecture I've ever seen! I'll dump the najdorf and go back to the dragon!

[@greense65]

I took the opposite conclusion from the lesson.

[@RicardoAGuitar]

My preference is to play 2...e6 and delay moving the d-pawn

[@FeindrplaysMC]

Ah the yugoslav attack, my favourite opening

[@user-kg3ej2qd1v]

Nice lecture from GM Seirawan. According to a chess engine, it seems though that Korchnoi's weakest move was the defensive 22)...Re8 (instead of the correct ...Qc5). The move 19)...R4c5 is OK.

[@iXNomad]

Chess engines calculate variants but they can't calculate ideas. Don't you rely only on engines.

[@jancivianci3028]

Korchnoi was tough.

[@-dash]

He was a menace

[@andy4226uk]

Btw the dragon isn't called it because it looks like a mythical dragon. It's because it looks like the constellation Draco.

[@joshmountain9705]

which looks like a dragon

[@marufsarkar2960]

+andy4226uk Simple reason is blacks kingside pawn structure looks like Dragon.This is the main reason.

[@lehimahima5011]

good

[@user-pn4fr7hl2r]

R4c5 for black was losing move, which one is the correct move?

[@pazdziochowaty]

Karpov found R8c5 the best while Gufeld in "The Sicilian Dragon" gives Be6 as an alternative which controls d5 square

[@florentingoyens7558]

24:25 "Ho dear ho dear, what do we do now ?"

[@openclassics]

I love his English. Better than all natives!!!

[@jumpyjoie]

At 25: 03 wouldn't Rxb2+ Kxb2 Qc3+ Kb1 Qb4+ lead to a draw by perpetual check?

[@mircoschlogel1822]

This man loves chess. With all his heart.

[@antonsebastian6484]

at 38:00 isn't Qg7# unstoppable I'm not sure why he said Qg5 for black since it doesn't stop the mate in one. Please correct me if I am wrong I am just looking deeper into the dragon line of sicillian

[@postyoda1623]

+Anton Sebastian No it's check.

[@Ivan_Malichev]

+Anton Sebastian Qg5 checks white king on c1.

[@dr.drakeramoray789]

+Anton Sebastian i would also like a clarification for that, i mean its either Qg7# or Nf6+ with Qh7#, i have absolutely no idea how to stop both of those

[@fredtheafricanpianist5935]

+Anton Sebastian Seems to be so at first glance. Its only that Qg5 is check, the queen on g5 attacks the king on c1, as someone said in the replies.

[@dr.drakeramoray789]

+Frederick Ikpatt oooh thanks guys, i didnt even notice that lol

[@eldoreschess2428]

21:00 Topalov would be proud!

[@Ronbo710]

And now ... Daily Affirmations ... with Grandmaster Stuart Smalley.

[@superboyprime7223]

Silician dragon is so dangerous for both side

[@thepepp92]

it's called the dragon because it resembles the dragon constellation

[@user-mq3yz1ij2o]

10:15 " Ben Finegold don't raise your hand " lmao

[@dannygjk]

IMO at that time Korchnoi was just as good as Karpov. Korchnoi was at a big disadvantage because Karpov was the darling of the Soviet government and had the support of a huge GM contingent.

[@RicardoAGuitar]

Also, the Soviets boycotted his events, so he was deprived of several strong opponents, which world-class players need to play to stay sharp.

[@hewhoyawns315]

These comments are ancient but I thought I should note this anyway: Korchnoi didn’t defect until 1976.

[@tahaceen]

38:10 so after ..QG5 why not white just plays QG7 mate# ??? cant imagine Anatoly Karpov made the error please advise....

[@fightingaligator8452]

Because it is Qg5+ I thought the same thing but then I looked at the game in a board and it made sense

[@abhayjha6709]

The king is checked

[@vivamangiare]

It's funny how he want to point thing at the board over the wall while the other guys are telling him to go back in the camera frame with the lasers ahahahaha

[@courtinbaptiste5232]

Every dragon player must know this game. I think 10.h4 should be met by ...h5 before white is allowed to play Bh6. Maybe not better, but safer. That was played in a Carlsen-Radjabov game.

[@RicardoAGuitar]

I can't remember who said it, but it went "if white cannot play g2-g4 against the Dragon, his attack is going nowhere."

[@MartinZanichelli]

There is a Short-Ernst match where Ernst allows h5 and after Nh5, Short plays a Rh5 and crushes Black. Ernst was very brave to play a Dragon against Short.

[@davidcady6315]

If I had kids, I'd hire Yasser as a babysitter :-)

[@danielrangel1241]

On 38:13 Qg7 is checkmate rather than exchanging

[@timothylawrence8929]

Qg7# is illegal because white is in check

[@alexpotts6520]

I still don't understand Rd3, but I think that's okay since Yasser himself doesn't either. Only Karpov could play such a quiet move in such a double-edged position and actually make it work.

[@videofudge]

Adding protection to c3. With 2 rooks and the queen aiming at c3 there are a lot of exchange sac ideas.

[@tt6703]

but did Korchnoi shake Karpov's hand after that game? My guess is no

[@brickchains1]

10:20 T H I C C

[@nathanapex2397]

im looking this when Korchnoi died ;~; sad

[@petrnebesniy5746]

gg

[@tiagoscharlautomazpereira7379]

38:08 ...when black plaus Qg5 is not necessary white plasy Qxg5. Its mate in Qxg7.

[@patrickmoloney672]

Did you know that Yasser was Korchnoi second after he lost to Karpov in 1974.

[@bhardwajr01]

at 18:25 why can't instead of taking the rook we can play g5 attacking the only defender of king

[@bhardwajr01]

and also at 18 :55 and we will be a piece up

[@flyingsuqirrel1433]

+Rochak bhardwaj What about knight h5?

[@jesusrios1313]

Mikhail Not Michael.

[@joecressman3956]

Perhaps he was Michael to his American friends, of which Yasser was one of them?

[@Sakurei1]

+Joe Cressman Nah. It's just that Yasser botchers names like no one else. he can't pronounce anything not-English properly for some reason.

[@bigbrother5024]

+Sakurei1 If you want name-botching look at a recent clip of Hansen - he doesn't even bother to *try* to pronounce the names correctly. Yasser shows high repect for other players and esp. GMs of old, and that's what counts.

[@GoldenBoyXCM]

35:38 lol

[@SuedeStonn]

I analyzed one of my games on chess.com, and found that while I had some 'inaccurate' moves I had no mistakes or blunders... I resigned after being down two pawns and thought my position to be not very good and no prospects of making it better. Can you lose and not make any mistakes? Apparently so. ;}

[@bigmac329190]

SuedeStonn an inaccuracy is a minir error. If your opponent has less , then his position will be better.

[@bigmac329190]

SuedeStonn an inaccuracy is a minor error. If your opponent has less , then his position will be better.

[@SuedeStonn]

I don't think an 'inaccuracy' is a 'minor error', rather a move that isn't the best move but not a bad move either. Again, they aren't 'mistakes', which are much worse and will most likely affect the outcome of the game and not in a favorable way to the one who made a mistake.

[@gaming2top759]

SuedeStonn yes so, therefore, your move wasn't the best but opponent played better move.

[@SuedeStonn]

BTDroad 2TOP yes, and most likely played a better move based on the not-so-good move. Another thing I've noticed is practically every game I've played I've had inaccurate moves... even when I think I've played a perfect game! (Admittedly that's 2, maybe 3, games, lol.) What I think that comes down to is a very high bar set by chess engines that are some 15-1700 points higher than I. :P

[@bidishachakraborty4420]

9

[@theresnoonehereatall4807]

Never seen Yasser so excited. Must have been the espresso...

[@dannygjk]

1...c5!? - Alphazero.

[@bigbrother5024]

Mr. cam operator - read my lips: "No. New. Taxes".... no, wait, it's: "Please. Keep. The. Person. In. The. Left. Third. Of. The Frame." :-) ... but otherwise Mr. Seirawan's lectures are the very best, at least during the time when he's not occluded by the chess board overlay.

[@bigbrother5024]

+Big Brother Addition: Nearly missed the one time when he explained the Dragon and you disabled for board overlay for a short time - so you *are* trying to improve :-)

[@victorsamuelbaezsouffront9017]

that finegold is a troll 😂😂😂🤣

[@rommelflorencio2716]

if "Rc5" is "the only wrong move by black, what else black can do?1 it seems "nothing else" = thats why korchnoi gave up the dragon variation maybe realizing "by founding accurate reply by white" it surely be defeated (?!)

[@zacharywoodford8530]

Bobby Fischer was such a diva. Really makes me lose a lot if respect for him.

[@artistfrank8511]

skip to minute 8

[@bidishachakraborty4420]

How nice my mana

[@bobfree1226]

Fisher was the greatest ever-no doubt about it.always ahead of everyone in moves.in blitz games he crushed everyone.karpov,carlsen,kasparov were steps below him.

[@argokan]

@Bob Free You could make then the same argument (Botvinik was rather adamant about this) about Capablanca, when you look at the history (chronologically) of the talent development (at the respective ages of both players) as well as the Capa's ability so assess the position easier and quicker than perhaps anyone in the chess history ?

[@petersmythe6484]

The reason for the name is a bit arbitrary; I think.

[@beeble2003]

Exactly. The actual reason is that it looks a bit like the star constellation Draco, the dragon. But saying that something looks like something that looks a bit like a dragon isn't the greatest reason for naming it...

[@xfilesmanson]

I hate how he points his finger behind the board that we can see, it caters to the classroom, but leaves out the people on youtube, we can't see what he's pointing at, unless your extremely fast with finding the squares he names. This is why I'd rather watch Akobians lectures. Yasser rarely highlights squares like Ben Finegold and Akobian do. Finegold cracks to many jokes. Which makes Akobian the best teacher.

[@bigbrother5024]

+Justin You're certainly correct about the invisible pointing of Yasser :-o but as relatively few people complain in the comments it might really be that others are very quick at spotting the squares he names? Btw I agree that Ben Finegold is too much on the heavy joking side.

[@watchingyoutube5093]

18:30 bxc3?? is a blunder and white should instead play g5! with a great attack

[@jc7868]

very funny teacher haha

[@TheMASDrummer]

He kind of looks like kasparov

[@dannybando4041]

can't white just play g5 and kick the knight away for checkmate on h7?

[@beeble2003]

38:10 Is Yasser having a bit of a crazy moment, here? ...Qg5 hangs Qg7# and he was talking about that mate threat just a moment ago!

[@metaphysician7621]

Um, ...Qg5 is check, and the queens come off.

[@beeble2003]

@@metaphysician7621 Doh! Thank you.

[@wolfgangsiegfried9435]

Didn't Karpov hold Korchnoi's family ransom during their matches?

[@peristiloperis7789]

+Wolfgang Siegfried, of course not! That was the Soviet Union Regime. Karpov didn't even know what was going on offiside the chess board. Yes, he received a great support from the government, but he had nothing to do with their crimes. Karpov is in fact a great person, a gentleman and one of the kindest GMs ever.

[@wolfgangsiegfried9435]

Peristilo peris I always thought Karpov was a good guy until I heard about the ransom thing. How could Karpov honestly not know though? At a minimum Korchnoi would have told him over the board.

[@peristiloperis7789]

+Wolfgang Siegfried , well, you don't know if he really knew. And eeven if he did, he could not do much about it, since he was a kind of hostage himself.

[@libertyprime9307]

+Wolfgang Siegfried Karpov is one of the most timid, goody two-shoes types you'll ever meet. He couldn't take a butterfly for ransom.

[@bigmac329190]

Karpov said a couple of months ago that he never knew.

[@mymneisadj]

never play f3

[@Locke19901]

NEVER!

[@RicardoAGuitar]

Never is a long time.

[@ShadowShinobi108]

Play at 1.5x speed for normal talking speed 🤣

[@simsim7907]

H4 h5 sac sac and mate xDDD

[@dmaster20ify]

I don't like the systems where the champion is forced to play to a decisive win. The Champ is already the champ. The onus should be on the challenger to pull out a win. If the match ends in a tie the champ should have all the right to retain his title.

[@RicardoAGuitar]

That's fine, but it sucked when a challenger drew the match and had to go through the qualifying process all over again. To me, if you challenge and draw the match, the champ keeps his title - but you've earned an automatic rematch.

[@predragmiletic3078]

"it looks like a dragon".. no it doesnt and never did

[@laneswafford3040]

Predrag Miletic you have to have some imagination!

[@user-xi4os2jw7y]

27:03 when i heard this i thought "oh damn, theres another player with the last name botvinnik? i never knew", but than i quickly realized that he just anglicized mikhail botvinnik's name lmao