1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 Bb7 9. d3 h6 9...d6 and 9...Re8 are mostly played. The idea of this move is a quick d7-d5 10. c3 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. Nf1 unambitious, black has seen more trouble in practice after 12.Ba2 12. Ba2! d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Ne4! with the smart Bh6! idea 12... d5 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Bxa8 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Ng3 Nf6! Otherwise after 17.d4! black has more problems 17. Ba2 Qd7 18. b4 Bb7 19. h3 Rd8 white lost some time in preventive moves and black is perfectly OK now 20. Qb3 Bd6 21. Bd2 Re8 22. Ne4 Nxe4 23. dxe4 The black Nc6 is misplaced 23... Nd8 24. c4 bxc4 25. Qxc4 Bc6?! 25... Ne6 followed by a jump to d4 or f4 gives black nice counter play 26. Bc3 Bb5 27. Qd5! c6 28. Qd2 now the Bb5 is a little out of play 28... Qc7 29. Rd1 Nb7 Karpov has managed to gain some advantage again and after the natural 30.Nh4 black will have a hard time pushing the knight away from thewonderful f5 square 30. Qb2?! Qe7! 31. Nh2 again not the best, Rybka suggested a very interesting plan: h4, h5, Bb3, Qa2 and this looks like the only way to keep the advantage 31... Bc7! 32. Nf3 Karpov retreats, otherwise Nd6 equalizes immediately 32... Kh7 33. h4 f6 34. h5 Rd8 35. Rxd8 Qxd8 36. Qb3 Nd6 37. Qe6 Qe8 38. Qxe8 Nxe8 black is completely safe. from now on you will tend to lose interest in the game 39. Nh4 Nd6 40. f3 Bb6+ 41. Kh2 Bc4 42. Bxc4 Nxc4 43. Nf5 c5 44. Ne7 44. b5 Bc7 followed by Na3 44... cxb4 45. Bxb4 Bd8 46. Nf5 Kg8 47. Kg3 Ba5 48. Be7 Kf7 49. Kf2 Bb6+ 50. Ke2 Na5 51. Kd3 Nc6 52. Ba3 Nd4 53. Nd6+ Kg8 54. Bc1 Bc5 55. Nb7 Be7 56. Be3 Ne6 57. Kc4 Nc7 58. Na5 Kf7 59. Nb3 Bf8 60. Nd2 g6 61. hxg6+ Kxg6 62. Nf1 h5 63. Ng3 Bh6 64. Bb6 Ne6 65. Nf5 Bd2 66. Kd3 Bc1 67. Kc2 Ba3 68. Be3 Bc5 69. Kd3 Bxe3 70. Kxe3 Kf7 71. g3 Nf8 72. f4 Nd7 73. Kf3 Nc5 74. Nd6+ Ke6 75. Ne8 Kf7 finally a draw. Karpov missed some chances in posing more serious problems for Nikolic in this game. But he hasn't played for a long time and we can understand him to be more cautious 1/2-1/2 [Karakehajov]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. g4 this agressive move is getting more and more popular. The main idea is to force black to give up the center and the pawn gets as far as g6 quite often and weakens the white squares in black's camp 7... h6 most frequent and statistically best is 7... dc4; with less success are played 7...Bb4 and 7...Nxg4; The text move is also logical 8. Rg1 e5! black needs counter play in the center 9. h4 9. cxd5 cxd5 has beeh played twice at top level 9... dxc4 10. g5 hxg5 11. hxg5 Nd5 12. Bxc4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Nxc3 14. Qxc3 14. g6? Ne5! with the threat of c5 14... Nb6 15. g6 fxg6 16. Bd2 it is an interesting concept to give up the Bc4, white's initiative will probably compensate for black's two bishops. 16... Qf6 17. Bd3 g5 18. O-O-O Bd7 19. f4!? 19.Qa5 was interesting, delaying black's long castle 19... Nd5 19... gxf4 20. Bg6+ is good for black according to Rybka, but I seriously doubt that 20. fxg5! Nxc3 21. gxf6 Nxd1 22. fxg7 Rg8 23. Bc4! O-O-O 24. Kxd1 Be5 25. Bxg8 25. Rg5!? Bf6 26. Rg6 Be5 27. Bxg8 Rxg8 28. Bc3 Rxg7 29. Nxc6 Bxc6 30. Rxg7 Bxg7 31. Bxg7 is also dead draw 25... Rxg8 26. Bc3 Rxg7 27. Rxg7 Bxg7 28. Kd2 Bxd4 This interesting game finished in an absolutely drawn position. Black's solid central play neutralized the initiative white had in theopening 1/2-1/2 [Karakehajov]