Kasparov, Garry – Topalov, Veselin

LOST BOYS CHESS PAGE http://chess2.lostcity.nl/hoogovens/reports/report4.cfm Wednesday was Garry Kasparov’s day at the 61st Hoogovens Tournament. The world champion downed Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov in one of the finest attacking games of his career, earning the 500-guilder daily brilliancy prize and remaining alongside Viswanathan Anand on top of the standings in the thirteen-round event. For the first time in the tournament, Kasparov appeared at the daily news conference to explain to reporters how he had annihilated his opponent. The visibly relieved and smiling world champion talking to the press was a totally different man from the Kasparov who had paced the stage in the playing hall like a caged tiger, waiting for his victim to make his moves. Analysis based on remarks of the players in the post-mortem. Marc Spierings & Richard de Weger:

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Date: January 20, 1999
Location: Wijk aan Zee
Tournament: ?
Round:
Opening: B07 Pirc Defence
Submitted by: Spierings; de Weger
Published on: February 9, 2020

[Event "?"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "1999.01.20"] [Round "?"] [White "Kasparov, Garry"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B07"] [Annotator "Spierings; de Weger"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "1999.01.20"] [Source "TaL's Chess"] [SourceDate "1999.01.20"] {LOST BOYS CHESS PAGE http://chess2.lostcity.nl/hoogovens/reports/report4.cfm Wednesday was Garry Kasparov's day at the 61st Hoogovens Tournament. The world champion downed Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov in one of the finest attacking games of his career, earning the 500-guilder daily brilliancy prize and remaining alongside Viswanathan Anand on top of the standings in the thirteen-round event. For the first time in the tournament, Kasparov appeared at the daily news conference to explain to reporters how he had annihilated his opponent. The visibly relieved and smiling world champion talking to the press was a totally different man from the Kasparov who had paced the stage in the playing hall like a caged tiger, waiting for his victim to make his moves. Analysis based on remarks of the players in the post-mortem. Marc Spierings & Richard de Weger: } 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Bb7 10. a3 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 { It all centered on Kasparov's stunning Rook sacrifice} 24. Rxd4 {that the world champion had planned when he allowed 19...d5. "It is strange how the mind works," Kasparov told the press. "I was looking for a way to get my Queen from h6 to b6 for the attack, when suddenly I found this tactical idea. It is important that I saw I had at least a perpetual, and intuitively I felt there should be a mate. So I decided to go for the combination." At this point, howewer, Kasparov noticed that Black didn't have to take the Rook at all but could play 24...Kb6 instead. "After this, I couldn't find any advantage for White, and I could tell that Topalov had seen the move too. But he looked up. Maybe he got a sign from above that he should play a great game. It takes two, you know, to do that." } { Whatever Topalov's reasons may have been, he did in fact take the Rook with} 24... cxd4 { Later, Topalov explained why he had played 24...cxd4 instead of 24...Kb6. "I had seen everything up to 33.c3!, but somehow I thought I had a saving countercheck in this variation." } {There followed:} 25. Re7+ ( {not } 25. Qxd4+ 25... Qb6 26. Re7+ Nd7) 25... Kb6 26. Qxd4+ Kxa5 27. b4+ Ka4 28. Qc3 28... Qxd5 {"Now here," Kasparov said, "I could have gone for the draw with 29.Qc7, but while Topalov was thinking about 24...exd4, I had already calculated all the lines and seen that I was winning by force. Sometimes it's good to think like a machine." } {The game went on with} 29. Ra7 29... Bb7 (29... Rd6 30. Kb2 {and} 30... Qd4 {doesn't work anymore. }) 30. Rxb7 { Topalov went for} 30... Qc4 { after which Kasparov brilliantly concluded his attack: } ( {Here} 30... Rd6 { again does not work after} 31. Rb6 Rxb6 32. Kb2) ( {Topalov also said he had analyzed the position with his second, Silvio Danailov, and his computer program, Fritz, and was unable to find a win after} 30... Rhe8 { (instead of 30...Qc4 as in the game)} 31. Rb6 Ra8 32. Be6 (32. Kb2 32... Qe5 ) 32... Rxe6 33. Rxe6 33... Qc4 34. Qxc4 bxc4 35. Rxf6 Kxa3 36. Rxf7 36... c3 {and Black can hold the ending. }) 31. Qxf6 Kxa3 (31... Rd1+ 32. Kb2 Qd4+ 33. Qxd4 Rxd4 34. Rxf7 {threatening} 34... -- 35. Be6 {is also hopeless}) 32. Qxa6+ Kxb4 33. c3+ {[Later, Topalov explained why he had played 24... cxd4 instead of 24...Kb6. "I had seen everything up to 33.c3!, but somehow I thought I had a saving countercheck in this variation."] } {There followed: } 33... Kxc3 34. Qa1+ Kd2 35. Qb2+ Kd1 36. Bf1 36... Rd2 37. Rd7 { "Here Black was sorry he played 3...g6," commented Kasparov. } 37... Rxd7 { (forced) } 38. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Qxh8 { and White had no trouble with the ending. } 39... Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4+ Ke1 42. f4 f5 43. Kc1 Rd2 44. Qa7 1-0