Kasparov - Topalov 1-0 Hoogovens 1999
This is one of the most incredible games I've seen so far. Kasparov played a very
deep combination to win over Topalov in Hoogovens 1999 tournament.
Fortunately this game was deeply analyzed by Michael Greengard who contributed
lots of original analysis and collected other notes from emails.
You can find his original article on this game in his famous column at TWIC
and his humour column at chessbase.
What you read here is more or less the analysis you can download via his column
at ChessBase.
Unless you find a name next to a variation, the analysis is from
Michael Greengard.
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5 7. Nge2 7... Nbd7 8. Bh6 8... Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Bb7 10. a3 10... e5 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. Kb1 a6 13. Nc1 O-O-O 14. Nb3 exd4 15. Rxd4 c5 16. Rd1 Nb6 17. g3 Kb8 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Bh3 d5 20. Qf4+ Ka7 21. Rhe1 d4 22. Nd5 Nbxd5 23. exd5 Qd6
| | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | | | 8 |  |  |  |  | | | | | 8 | | 7 |  | | | | |  | | | 7 | | 6 | | | |  | |  | | | 6 | | 5 |  | |  |  | | | | | 5 | | 4 | | | | | |  | | | 4 | | 3 |  | | | | | | |  | 3 | | 2 | | | | | | | | | 2 | | 1 | |  | |  |  | | | | 1 | | | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | |
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24. Rxd4!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! Kasparov punishes Black's ... d4 in the most spectacular way possible. Combination of the decade, anyone? (Played by Fritz5.32 in 2:30, but it evaluates it as a draw.) Later Kasparov said that he had seen this sacrifice back on move 19 when he allowed Black to play ...d4.
24... cxd4? Always ready for a fight, the Bulgarian takes the rook. Declining the sacrifice with 24...Kb6 (or 24... Rhe8?!) for an even game was better. Easy to say in hindsight! Even though this was the losing move (!) it's hard to criticize taking a full rook when there are literally hundreds of possible defensive possibilities.
25. Re7+ Kb6 ...Qxe7 is mate in four and Black has some other spectacular ways to lose after ...Kb8.
26. Qxd4+ Kxa5 Topalov continues in true romantic style, taking all the offered material. We can all thank him for his contribution toKasparov'sbrilliancy!
27. b4+! 27... Ka4 28. Qc3!? 28... Qxd5 29. Ra7 Bb7 30. Rxb7!! 30.Qc7 was White's last chance to force Black to take a repetition draw. Now if he hasn't calculated perfectly he'll lose. (Need I say that he calculated perfectly?)
30... Qc4 Now Black loses spectacularly but it's hard to fault Topalov for missing the what now happens. Observe the Swiss-watch precision of the white pieces. All four (remember the king!) play crucial roles, with a little help from the pawn on c3! It's absolutely amazing that Kasparov could weave a mating web with so few pieces on the board and see the one exact move that would win in every line. Most of White's moves are "only" moves, that is, anything else loses. This adds considerably to the beauty of the attack, it's like acrobatics without a net! (This is easily checked with computer assistance. You can set the machine to examine the two best moves for White in each position instead of just the best move. In most cases for the next 10 moves the best move wins and the second-best loses!!)
31. Qxf6 Kxa3 32. Qxa6+ Kxb4 33. c3+! 33... Kxc3 34. Qa1+ A beautiful triangulation: Qf6-a6-a1
34... Kd2 35. Qb2+ Kd1 36. Bf1! The bishop lives!! It moves back to its home square to threaten mate, prevent any checks by Black and offer itself for sacrifice. Anything else? Sure this is a great move, and the only move, but Kasparov had to have seen it long ago!
36... Rd2 37. Rd7! Rxd7 38. Bxc4 Black can't move his rook because of the dual mate threats on c1 and e2.
38... bxc4 39. Qxh8 Now it's mop-up time.
39... Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4+ Ke1 42. f4 f5 43. Kc1 Rd2 44. Qa7 1-0
Credits for this game analysis go to:
- Michael Greengard (MIG)
Michael Greengard for his initial analysis of this game.
- MIG and many others
MIG and many others for their expanded (and corrected) analysis of this game.
- MIG at ChessBase
MIG for the finalized analysis which is available for download on ChessBase site. The whole analysis above is more or less exactly what you can download from ChessBase.
Meikel's Chess Area is Copyright 1998, 1999 by Meikel Weber.
This page was generated on 16-Sep-1999 12:06.
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