garry kasparov vs veselin topalov (1999)

7/23/2019 Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov (1999)

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Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov"Kasparov's Immortal" (game of the day Apr-13-13)

It (cat.17), Wijk aan Zee (Netherlands) (1999) · Pirc Defense: General (B06) · 1-0

<< < + > >>

To move: white Last move: 1.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5

7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Bh6 Bh6 9. Qh6 Bb7 10. a3 e5 11. O-O-O

Qe7 12. Kb1 a6 13. Nc1 O-O-O 14. Nb3 ed4 15. Rd4 c5

16. Rd1 Nb6 17. g3 Kb8 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Bh3 d5 20. Qf4 Ka7

21. Rhe1 d4 22. Nd5 Nbd5 23. ed5 Qd6 24. Rd4 cd4 25. Re7

Kb6 26. Qd4 Ka5 27. b4 Ka4 28. Qc3 Qd5 29. Ra7 Bb7

30. Rb7 Qc4 31. Qf6 Ka3 32. Qa6 Kb4 33. c3 Kc3 34. Qa1

Kd2 35. Qb2 Kd1 36. Bf1 Rd2 37. Rd7 Rd7 38. Bc4 bc4

39. Qh8 Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4 Ke1 42. f4 f5 43. Kc1 Rd2

44. Qa7

y Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov (1999) "Kasparov's Immortal" http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=

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Given 92 times; par: 59 [what's this?]

explore this opening find similar games 41 more Kasparov/Topalov games

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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 45 OF 45 · Later Kibitzing>

Dec-17-14 KeyanChess: Very beautiful game. 24. Rxd4!!! was so shockingand brilliant, it looked like a blatant error when I first saw themove! Topalov played a great game as well, but Kasparovprevailed by finding and making brill iant moves one afteranother.

Dec-20-14 Rookiepawn: <SS> made a good point about another potentialweak point of stats: data quality. You should believe in stats as

strongly as in their data quality. Stats are really tricky.Jan-16-15 Poulsen: <Rookiepawn><Stats are really tricky>

You are off course right: stats ARE tricky - not only because of data quality (a point Jeff Sonas' Chessmetrics is well aware of),but also because of the way stats are or can be used andinterpreted.

For example <sharpnova> in his above arguements CHOOSESto use Kasparov's peak performance at Tilburg 1989 to argue,that around this time Kasparov was strongest. This victory(among others) leads to a rating of 2885 on the april 1990

ratinglist - according to Chessmetric.

However in may 1993 Kasparov goes to 2886 - following hisperformance at Linares - and in june 1999 Kasparov reaches2884 - once again following a great performance at Linares.

These 3 peaks are visible on the graph shown on Chessmetrics,but over all Kasparov is clearly the no. 1 player throughout the90'es and beyond - with Anand, Karpov and Kramnik as theclosest contenders.

Thus - contrary to what <sharpnova> believes - I don't think,that Chessmetrics supports the claim, that he was stronger in

1990 than in other periods.

To compare: Bent Larsen's peak performance came at BuenosAires 1979 at a point when his career had long been in decline.

Feb-03-15 Kinghunt: What a long way engines have come. At d=25,Stockfish has 24. Rxd4 as its first choice move. (It considersblack better due to the response 24...Kb6!)

Stockfish cannot, however, find 27. b4+, for whatever reason, atleast not at d=29. However, as soon as I set PV=2, it finds it andpicks it as clearly best almost instantly. Must be some weirdsuper aggressive pruning going on. (Stockfish actually believes

Kasparov onKasparov: Part I


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itself to be losing until b4 is found/forced.)

Feb-03-15 Kinghunt: I take back the second part of my previous comment.I was using the old version of Stockfish before. I just installedStockfish 6, and it finds 27. b4+ at d=24 (~5 seconds).

Mar-19-15 islam tolba: Kasparov declared by himself that " the game isconsidered the best chess game ever played " .

Mar-19-15 Howard: Someday I'll have to get a computer....

Mar-19-15 offramp: I enjoyed playing through this game the first time.The second time I got bored halfway through and put Carry OnDoctor on.

Mar-19-15 keypusher: < offramp: I enjoyed playing through this game thefirst time. The second time I got bored halfway through and putCarry On Doctor on.>

If a man is tired of this game he is tired of life.

Mar-19-15 Baron Harkonnen: <If a man is tired of this game he is tired of life.>

What about a man who believes in the M61MG book?

Mar-22-15 Alex Schindler: The comment about finding it strange forkasparov to play this gem in 1999 rather than 1990 "at hisstatistical peak" was certainly weird, and certainly not becauseGarry's gut says his peak was in 1999.

Its weird because elo takes victories, losses, and draws as itssole input. Creativity and beauty are completely unquantifiable,or at any rate no one has made an attempt to quantify them forthe sabrematricians of chess. Moreover, whether a game was amassacre, a narrow victory, the result of opponents' extremeblunders, a product of time pressure or tournamentcircumstances, a slow positional dance or a hyperkinetic tactical

melee - this all goes completely outside the algorithm.

So the thought that Garry's highest statistical likelihood of winning a game against a given opponent would have been nineyears earlier is unbelievably irrelevant to the quality of this orany other game. To think otherwise isn't just a religious attitudetoward statistics, it's an innumerate one.

Apr-02-15 kingscrusher: My latest video annotation for this amazinggame - one of the greatest games ever played:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ej...

Apr-18-15 narayase: Why not 20... Qd6?

After 31 Qf6 Rd1+, 32 Kb2, Qd4+ forces Queen exchange andblack's position becomes stronger. I don't see anything immortalin this game.

Jun-20-15 Mfrankpsyd: After 31... Rd1 32. Kb2 Qd4+ 33. Qxd4 Rxd4 34.Rxf7 White has mate threats (Be6 followed by Bb3 or Rf6) andalso passed pawns on both sides compensating favorably for theexchange. You don't see what's immortal about this game?!?Beauty is immortal.

Jun-21-15 narayase: Hi

Dont feel offended. I am a chess enthusiast and have studied


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hundreds of games with extraordinary combinations and this isone such interesting game.

After 34 Rxf7 Rd6 can prevent both Be6 and Rxf7 and still thegame is on for Black with twin rooks.

Jun-23-15 posoo: now dis - DIS - is a classic example of da debate of chesse. SALLTY SIMPSON says dat da kasp sac is SOUD bc itWON. And she is rite!

I have no time for people of shurpnovus's ilk, who swallow theribbons of Rubka with da zeal of a happy lrge fellow with adonut!

Chess shod NOT be about computers and it' nice dat kaspo strateROLLED da tupluv with his INTUIOTION and not his cupoter.

Lol da thing of it is dat shurpolio couldn't beat kuspo withROOKE ODS and a dump.

Jun-23-15 Reisswolf : This is obviously Kasparov's immortal, but it alsofeatured great calculation by Topalov. He calculated thesequences after 24. Rxd4 very well. I believe the move that he

missed was 37. Rd7.Jun-23-15 offramp: <Reisswolf: This is obviously Kasparov's immortal...>You're entitled to your opinion. I quickly grew fed up of thisgame. Kasparov has played many more games that are moreinteresting than this, Kasparov vs Kramnik, 1994 for example.

Jun-23-15 FairyPromotion: <offramp> After gladly agreeing with you onthe Karjakin-Anand game, I'll have to disagree with you on thisone. Kasparov has played many amazing games, and 6 of themare possible candidates for (my personal) top 100 games of alltime, that win vs Kramnik included. But I would say that there isa clear seperation between this game, which I would rank as top5, and the other 5 that I wouldn't put in my top 30.

The win vs Kramnik features a great journey by the h pawn, andis exceptional as a whole, however the final move by Kramnik isa huge let down. On the other hand sequence between 24.Rxd4!! and 37. Rd7!! in this game applies heavy gravitation onmy jaw, no matter how many times I've played it over.

Jun-23-15 offramp: <FairyPromotion>, I do understand your concept. ButI dislike games where "one player plays, the other sits andapplauds". I like games where both players play very well. Ithink Topalov was playing like a shill in this game.

Jul-07-15 Albion 1959: Kaspowerov !! This is an amazing game to playthrough. The lines are profoundly deep and mind blowing !! Thismust surely be one of Kasparov's best ever games ? Was this

brilliant deep tactical calculation ? Or was this something moreintuitive ? This must have been sheer instinct with a gut feelingthat something "must" be there for white ! However, in the finalanalysis everything just seems to work for Kasparov. Not evenFischer at his peak produced games like this !

Aug-10-15 Albion 1959: I had another look at this game, and I gave it theRybka treatment. Topalov was doing okay up until move 31,when he blundered with Kxa3?? This allowed Kasparov to keepthe attack going with Qxa6+ and c3+, keeping Topalov's king onthe run. He could have done better with Rd1+ for example:31.Qxf6 Rd1+


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32.Kb2 Ra833.Qb6 Qd4+34.Qxd4 Rxd435.Rxf7 a5Black reaches an ending, the exchange ahead, though white hastwo pawns: Move 33 instead of Qb6, if Kasparov tries Rxf7,Topalov has the powerful 33.Rxf7 Rd2!Which practically forces Qc3 and an exchange of queens: In StarTrek parlance, Mr Spock would have said to Captain Kirk about

this game "It's chess Jim, but not as we know it!"Nov-18-15 dnp: I never get tired of playing through this game

Nov-18-15 yurikvelo: http://pastebin.com/yRVTkKuC

this game "Myth Buster"

Dec-07-15 yurikvelo: D=42, 100 BN1. (-0.43): 24...Kb6 25.b4 Qxf42. = (0.00): 24...Rhe8 25.Rxe8 Nxe83. = (0.00): 24...Rhf8 25.c4 cxd44. = (0.00): 24...Rhg8 25.c4 cxd45. = (0.00): 24...Bxd5 25.Rxd5 Nxd56. = (0.11): 24...g5 25.Qxd6 Rxd6

7. = (0.15): 24...Nxd5 25.Qxf7+ Kb88. (0.42): 24...Qxf4 25.Rxf4 Nxd59. (0.70): 24...Kb8 25.Qxd6+ Rxd610. (0.86): 24...Bb7 25.Qxd6 Rxd611. (1.47): 24...h5 25.c4 g512. (1.95): 24...h6 25.c4 bxc413. (2.85): 24...c4 25.Rxc4 Qxf414. (3.62): 24...Ne8 25.Qxf7+ Nc715. (3.87): 24...b4 25.axb4 cxb416. (5.30): 24...cxd4 25.Re7+ Kb8 <-- Topalov played

17. (6.18): 24...Ng4 25.Nc6+ Bxc6

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garry kasparov vs veselin topalov (1999)

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