Warhorses

Towards the end of last year, those two old warhorses Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman added to their total of over 100 competitive games against each other by contesting a four-game match in Groningen, Holland. Both aged 62, the players displayed resilience and ingenuity which contribute to the annals of age-related achievements in serious international competitive chess. After draws in the first three games, Karpov broke through to take game four and overall match victory by 2½–1½.
 
Karpov-Timman: Groningen Match 2013; Queen’s Indian Defence
 
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Ba6 5 b3 This variation was popular in the World Championship matches between Karpov and Kasparov. However, Black’s next move was never tried in the various games in the title clashes. 5 … b5 A new departure. 5 … Bb4+ was the standard move from the Karpov-Kasparov games. 6 cxb5 Bxb5 7 Bg2 The obvious move is 7 Nc3, developing a piece, while simultaneously attacking Black’s bold bishop.