[Event "?"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "1999.01.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator ""Sports.com""]
[ECO "B07"]
[EventDate "1999.01.20"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[Source "TaL's Chess"]
[SourceDate "1999.01.20"]

{ Sports.com chess www.sports.com/chess/pl_kasparov.html Garry Kasparov
has been the undisputed king of the chess world from the time he became the
youngest ever World Champion in 1985. His ferocious attacking chess, combined
with brilliant opening analysis, had his rivals running scared, and he has won
practically every tournament that he played. He is ranked number 1 in the
world. But Garry's world collapsed when he defended his World Champion title
against Vladimir Kramnik in November. Many pundits thought that Garry would
walk the match, but he failed to win a single game and lost his title tamely,
failing to win a single game. At the press conference after the match, Garry
promised to exact his revenge at Wijk aan Zee. Garry will be itching to prove
that he is still the world's greatest player - and that at 37 he isn't past
it! Garry's featured game has been described as the most brilliant ever
played! Garry was White against Veselin Topalov at the Wijk aan Zee tournament
in 1999. If he reproduces this sort of form in this year's tournament, he will
have the opposition quaking in their boots! } 1. e4 { Garry has a
phenomenal array of opening weapons - expect to see him use both the d-pawn
Opening, 1.d4, and also 1.e4 during the tournament. } 1... d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 { Veselin plays a slightly unusual defence. This is known as
the Pirc, after a Yugoslav grandmaster who invented the concept. The idea is
to allow White to set up a big pawn centre, and then to attack it with the
Black pieces, particularly developing the bishop on the long black diagonal.
Veselin probably thought it wise to avoid Garry's analysis in the more common
Sicilian Defence variations. } 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Bh6 { Garry swaps off the dangerous bishop and prepares an attack on the Black king.
Watch out for a pawn storm with g4 and h4 if Black risks castling on the
king's side. } 8... Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Bb7 10. a3 e5 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. Kb1 a6 13. Nc1 O-O-O { Actually the opening has gone pretty well for Black, and Ves
has managed to tuck his king into safety on the queen's side. He has also got
his fair share of the central territory. I would expect Garry to play much
more aggressively if anybody tries to repeat Ves's strategy. } 14. Nb3 exd4 15. Rxd4 c5 16. Rd1 Nb6 17. g3 { Garry is looking for ways to harass his
opponent's king. This sneaky little pawn move prepares to bring out his bishop
to h3, checking the king. Garry plans to throw this bishop and both his
knights into the attack. } 17... Kb8 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Bh3 d5 { Ves is not
having any nonsense - he reckons Garry is bluffing and that he can afford to
strike out in the centre. A brave guy! } 20. Qf4+ Ka7 21. Rhe1 d4 { OK, we are reaching crisis point. Black has mobilised his pawns and is about
to push Garry backwards. Actually, Black has a fine position - all his pieces
are bearing down on the centre - his only problem is that his king's position
is a little bit airy. Normally the king feels much safer behind a solid wall
of protective pawns on the second rank - here Black's pawns have moved onto
the attack and left the king to fend for himself. } 22. Nd5 { Forward! } 22... Nbxd5 23. exd5 Qd6 { I guess that both players had been angling for this
position well in advance. Ves will have reasoned that his pawns have pushed
Garry back, and that White's pawn on d5 is about to drop off. Unless White can
do something, he is going down. But Garry had everything under control - watch
what happens now! It's genius in action... } 24. Rxd4 { Wow, a rook sacrifice.
The rest of the game features White sacrificing most of his pieces to get at
Black's king. } 24... cxd4 { Ves is up for this - he snaps the rook off and
asks Garry to prove what he's up to. In actual fact, this proves to be a
mistake. Later analysis proved that Ves could have kept the game level by the
remarkable move, king to b6. This way the king would be able to fend for
itself and White would be driven back. } 25. Re7+ { A second rook sacrifices
itself! Now this one Ves can't take - if he does Garry would play queen takes
pawn on d4, check, then Black must go king to b8, then White queen to b6 check,
Black goes bishop to b7 in the way, and finally White knight to c6, check -
that's not just winning Black's queen, as after king to a8, queen to a7 is
checkmate! Also Black can't really play his king back to b8, as then queen
takes pawn on d4 would be catastrophic. So Ves decides to run for it with his
king up the board! } 25... Kb6 ( 25... Qxe7 26. Qxd4+ Kb8 27. Qb6+ Bb7 28. Nc6+ Ka8 29. Qa7# ) ( 25... Kb8 26. Qxd4 ) 26. Qxd4+ Kxa5 27. b4+ Ka4 { Now this i
s an incredible place for the king! OK, Black is a rook and a knight ahead -
easily enough to win in normal circumstances, but Garry must have been
drooling at his attacking prospects! He just needs to get at Ves's king. } 28. Qc3 { Garry drops back to threaten queen to b3, checkmate. Black must find a
defence to protect the b3 square. } 28... Qxd5 { If Ves had captured the pawn
with his bishop, there would have been a beautiful finish - Garry would play
his king to b2, and then next move queen to b3, check. Although this queen
could be captured by Black's bishop, the next move would be White pawn on c2
takes Black bishop on b3, checkmate! } ( 28... Bxd5 29. Kb2 -- 30. Qb3+ Bxb3 31. cxb3# ) 29. Ra7 { Garry finds another threat - this time rook takes a6 will be
checkmate. Note that if Garry had tried the sneaky king to b2, Ves would have
jumped at the chance to play his queen to d4, swapping off the queens. } 29... Bb7 30. Rxb7 { This rook is really stuffing Black! It can't be taken because of
queen to b3, checkmate, but at least Black now has one move to try to
construct a defence for his king. } 30... Qc4 { Ves decides that he must find
a way for his king to break out of jail. Remember, he is still a whole rook up,
so he can afford to give back the knight and still retain a winning advantage
in pieces. Garry has nothing better as he can't allow the queens to be swapped
off. } 31. Qxf6 Kxa3 { So this is the big idea - the king is going to
gobble up White's pawns and then the queen will be close by to help the
defence. } 32. Qxa6+ Kxb4 { It looks like Black is nearing safety - he
even has his own threat now of rook to d1, check, followed by queen to c3 and
a quick checkmate. Has Garry let Black escape? } 33. c3+ { No way! This is a
very sneaky check and must have been anticipated by Garry way, way back.
Imagine the position at move 24 when he sacked his rook - isn't it incredible
to be able to foresee all this? } 33... Kxc3 { Black has to capture this way,
as queen takes c3 allows White to play queen takes b5, check, followed by a
rook check and then mate. } 34. Qa1+ { The pawn sacrifice has allowed White to
land another check, and this time it's fatal. } 34... Kd2 { Black carries on
forward, but in truth he had little choice. If the king had gone back to b4,
then queen to b2 check, and Black would first of all lose his queen, and then
the king in short order. } 35. Qb2+ Kd1 36. Bf1 { The bishop had been quiet
over the last few moves, so it takes the chance to sacrifice itself! If the
Black queen takes the bishop, then White plays queen to c2, check, king to e1
is the only move, and now rook to e7 forces checkmate next move. } 36... Rd2 { Ves tries a counterattack on White's queen. } 37. Rd7 { And it's met by yet
another sacrifice! Now Black can't take the White queen because that would
leave his own king attacked by White's rook, and he can't take the bishop
because of queen takes rook, checkmate! So that only leaves... } 37... Rxd7 38. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Qxh8 { Garry snaffles piggy in the corner and now he has a
winning advantage of queen against rook. All he has to worry about in the last
few moves is the Black passed c-pawn, but that's not going to cause any great
problem! } 39... Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4+ Ke1 42. f4 f5 43. Kc1 Rd2 44. Qa7 { White is now going to chop off all the Black pawns one by one! Ves has had it.
This is a scintillating display - look for more of the same at the 2001 event
as Garry tries to prove he's still the boss! } 1-0