Karpov-Kasparov, Linares 1993
In the last decade of the past century and the beginning of the 21st century the annual events in Linares were the crème de la crème of the chess tournaments, being dubbed "the Wimbledon of chess", or “the world championship of tournament chess".
The fierce battles between Karpov and Kasparov in Linares were in a way the continuation of their epic World Championship matches.
In the 11th edition of the Linares tournament 1993, which was a round robin with 14 top Grandmasters, Karpov and Kasparov were leading with 6,5 points after 9 rounds. The world numbers one and two were to meet in the 10th round, incidentally scheduled on the 50th birthday of Robert Fischer. Karpov chose to play the solid Samisch Variation against Kasparov’s King’s Indian Defence. On move the 12th World Champion went for a rare continuation, designed to increase White's pressure in the centre. However, with his fantastic feeling for initiative, Kasparov immediately started active actions on the queenside, sacrificing a central pawn in order to hinder the development of White's kingside. Karpov underestimated the upcoming danger and after just 22 moves the position on the board became as horrible for White as it can get: with his king in the centre, all white pieces were placed on the first rank. Shortly before getting mated, Karpov lost on time on move 27. Kasparov won the 11th edition of the tournament in Linares with 10 points out of 13 games, 1,5 points ahead of the second-place Karpov.
Curiously, one year later in Linares, Karpov played the best tournament of his life, winning the 12th edition with 11 points and finishing 2,5 points ahead of the second place Kasparov.