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Petroff Defence: Steinitz Attack

Kamsky–Karpov, FIDE World Championship Elista 1996 · Carlsen–Nepomniachtchi, FIDE World Championship Match 2021 · 6:08 · ECO C43

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In this video

Game 1: Gata Kamsky (2735) vs Anatoly Karpov (2770)

FIDE World Championship Elista 1996, 16 June 1996 · Black won (0-1) · 29 moves

Click a move to jump the video to it. Dotted moves are the opening line the video is about.

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Key moments

  1. 5...Nd7The first move after the opening line0:28
  2. 27.Bd2The evaluation moves from −1.18 to −6.24, and Black stays more than two pawns ahead from here2:04
  3. 29...Rxd2Black wins after 29 moves2:16

Evaluation

Above the line, White is better; below it, Black. Scores are in pawns, capped at five either way.

Game 2: Magnus Carlsen (2855) vs Ian Nepomniachtchi (2782)

FIDE World Championship Match 2021, 5 December 2021 · White won (1-0) · 46 moves

Click a move to jump the video to it. Dotted moves are the opening line the video is about.

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Key moments

  1. 5...Nd7The first move after the opening line2:44
  2. 24...Rd6The evaluation moves from +1.67 to +3.44, and White stays more than two pawns ahead from here4:08
  3. 33...Qxa2The evaluation moves from +3.64 to +5.114:52
  4. 36.Qe5The evaluation moves from +5.27 to +4.415:05
  5. 46.Qf3White wins after 46 moves5:55

Evaluation

Above the line, White is better; below it, Black. Scores are in pawns, capped at five either way.

About these games

After 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5, White has a knight on e5 against Black's knight on e4, with a symmetrical d-pawn centre and the bishop on d3 aimed at the kingside. Black's usual reply is to challenge the e5 knight with ...Nd7, trade it off and develop quickly. White hopes for a small lead in development and pressure down the e-file.

Kamsky–Karpov continued 5...Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.O-O Bd6 8.Nc3, and Black answered with 8...Qh4, provoking 9.g3 before 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 left White with doubled c-pawns. After 11.Re1+ Kd8 Karpov kept the king in the centre, and White held a slight edge at around +0.50 for a long time. Black then took over the e-file with ...Re8, ...Re7 and later ...Rae8, and by 25.Bc2 the score stood at −0.32. The turning point was 27.Bd2, which moved the evaluation from −1.18 to −6.24. After 27...Re2 28.Rxe2 Rxe2 (−7.19) 29.Rf1 Rxd2, Black won.

Carlsen–Nepomniachtchi followed the modern 7.Nd2, exchanging the e4 knight at once. Black's 9...h5 was met by 10.Qe1+ Kf8 11.Bb4, which forced off the dark-squared bishops. Unlike Game 1, Black gave up castling on the kingside rather than leaving the king on d8. The position stayed level (+0.26 after 20.c4) until 21...b5 lost a pawn to 22.Qa3+ and 23.Qxa7. After 24...Rd6 the score jumped from +1.67 to +3.44, and the rooks came off. In the queen endgame, 33...Qxa2 raised it from +3.64 to +5.11, and White won after 46.Qf3.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Introduction and the opening line
  2. 0:10Game 1: Kamsky vs Karpov, FIDE World Championship Elista 1996
  3. 2:25Game 2: Carlsen vs Nepomniachtchi, FIDE World Championship Match 2021

The opening line

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5

See every video from this position →