Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov (1999) "Kasparov's Immortal"

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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

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Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov (1999) "Kasparov's Immortal"

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+ sac: 24.Rxd4

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Dec-17-14 KeyanChess: Very beautiful game. 24. Rxd4!!! was so shocking
and brilliant, it looked like a blatant error when I first saw the
move! Topalov played a great game as well, but Kasparov
prevailed by finding and making brilliant moves one after
another.
Dec-20-14 Rookiepawn: <SS> made a good point about another potential
weak 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>

Kasparov on
Kasparov: Part I

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 and
interpreted.
For example <sharpnova> in his above arguements CHOOSES
to 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 his
performance at Linares - and in june 1999 Kasparov reaches
2884 - 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 the
90'es and beyond - with Anand, Karpov and Kramnik as the
closest 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 Buenos
Aires 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 considers
black better due to the response 24...Kb6!)
Stockfish cannot, however, find 27. b4+, for whatever reason, at
least not at d=29. However, as soon as I set PV=2, it finds it and
picks it as clearly best almost instantly. Must be some weird
super aggressive pruning going on. (Stockfish actually believes

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Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov (1999) "Kasparov's Immortal"

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478

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 installed
Stockfish 6, and it finds 27. b4+ at d=24 (~5 seconds).
Mar-19-15 islam tolba: Kasparov declared by himself that " the game is
considered 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 On
Doctor on.
Mar-19-15 keypusher: < offramp: I enjoyed playing through this game the
first time. The second time I got bored halfway through and put
Carry 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 for
kasparov to play this gem in 1999 rather than 1990 "at his
statistical peak" was certainly weird, and certainly not because
Garry's gut says his peak was in 1999.
Its weird because elo takes victories, losses, and draws as its
sole input. Creativity and beauty are completely unquantifiable,
or at any rate no one has made an attempt to quantify them for
the sabrematricians of chess. Moreover, whether a game was a
massacre, a narrow victory, the result of opponents' extreme
blunders, a product of time pressure or tournament
circumstances, 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 nine
years earlier is unbelievably irrelevant to the quality of this or
any other game. To think otherwise isn't just a religious attitude
toward statistics, it's an innumerate one.
Apr-02-15 kingscrusher: My latest video annotation for this amazing
game - 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 and
black's position becomes stronger. I don't see anything immortal
in 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) and
also passed pawns on both sides compensating favorably for the
exchange. 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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Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov (1999) "Kasparov's Immortal"

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478

hundreds of games with extraordinary combinations and this is

one such interesting game.
After 34 Rxf7 Rd6 can prevent both Be6 and Rxf7 and still the
game 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 it
WON. And she is rite!
I have no time for people of shurpnovus's ilk, who swallow the
ribbons of Rubka with da zeal of a happy lrge fellow with a
donut!
Chess shod NOT be about computers and it' nice dat kaspo strate
ROLLED da tupluv with his INTUIOTION and not his cupoter.
Lol da thing of it is dat shurpolio couldn't beat kuspo with
ROOKE ODS and a dump.
Jun-23-15 Reisswolf: This is obviously Kasparov's immortal, but it also
featured great calculation by Topalov. He calculated the
sequences 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 this
game. Kasparov has played many more games that are more
interesting than this, Kasparov vs Kramnik, 1994 for example.
Jun-23-15 FairyPromotion: <offramp> After gladly agreeing with you on
the Karjakin-Anand game, I'll have to disagree with you on this
one. Kasparov has played many amazing games, and 6 of them
are possible candidates for (my personal) top 100 games of all
time, that win vs Kramnik included. But I would say that there is
a clear seperation between this game, which I would rank as top
5, 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, and
is exceptional as a whole, however the final move by Kramnik is
a huge let down. On the other hand sequence between 24.
Rxd4!! and 37. Rd7!! in this game applies heavy gravitation on
my jaw, no matter how many times I've played it over.
Jun-23-15 offramp: <FairyPromotion>, I do understand your concept. But
I dislike games where "one player plays, the other sits and
applauds". I like games where both players play very well. I
think Topalov was playing like a shill in this game.
Jul-07-15 Albion 1959: Kaspowerov !! This is an amazing game to play
through. The lines are profoundly deep and mind blowing !! This
must surely be one of Kasparov's best ever games ? Was this
brilliant deep tactical calculation ? Or was this something more
intuitive ? This must have been sheer instinct with a gut feeling
that something "must" be there for white ! However, in the final
analysis everything just seems to work for Kasparov. Not even
Fischer at his peak produced games like this !
Aug-10-15 Albion 1959: I had another look at this game, and I gave it the
Rybka treatment. Topalov was doing okay up until move 31,
when he blundered with Kxa3?? This allowed Kasparov to keep
the attack going with Qxa6+ and c3+, keeping Topalov's king on
the run. He could have done better with Rd1+ for example:
31.Qxf6 Rd1+

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Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov (1999) "Kasparov's Immortal"

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478

32.Kb2 Ra8
33.Qb6 Qd4+
34.Qxd4 Rxd4
35.Rxf7 a5
Black reaches an ending, the exchange ahead, though white has
two 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 Star
Trek 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 BN
1. (-0.43): 24...Kb6 25.b4 Qxf4
2. = (0.00): 24...Rhe8 25.Rxe8 Nxe8
3. = (0.00): 24...Rhf8 25.c4 cxd4
4. = (0.00): 24...Rhg8 25.c4 cxd4
5. = (0.00): 24...Bxd5 25.Rxd5 Nxd5
6. = (0.11): 24...g5 25.Qxd6 Rxd6
7. = (0.15): 24...Nxd5 25.Qxf7+ Kb8
8. (0.42): 24...Qxf4 25.Rxf4 Nxd5
9. (0.70): 24...Kb8 25.Qxd6+ Rxd6
10. (0.86): 24...Bb7 25.Qxd6 Rxd6
11.
(1.47): 24...h5 25.c4 g5
12.
(1.95): 24...h6 25.c4 bxc4
13.
(2.85): 24...c4 25.Rxc4 Qxf4
14.
(3.62): 24...Ne8 25.Qxf7+ Nc7
15.
(3.87): 24...b4 25.axb4 cxb4
16.
(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) "Kasparov's Immortal"

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478

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