Hi there.
In this lecture, we're going to look at one of the greatest arguably attacking games of all time from
one of my favorite players of all, Garry Kasparov.
So Garry Kasparov was heavily influenced by Alexander Alekhine.
You know, Alekhine was Kasparov's favorites and possibly Karpov absolutely loved Capablanca.
So we see here against Topalov in 1999, her against women's group a round for E4 from France.
Then Topalov, who was also a former world chess champion, plays D6.
We have.
So a perk pierced the fence or perk.
So D4 from Kasparov 9693 G6 we have Bishop E freeze.
So this is a classic setup from White's to try and swap off those bishops potentially with queenly to.
And Bishop 86.
Here if Knight G4 Bishop for Bishop G7 this is potentially it's just in White's favor the knight's going
to be kicked back and White's going to Castle Queenside.
So another attacking ingredient here would be opposite side castling game where White's in a good position
to potentially win.
The race is here with crude stuff coming up.
So that's that would also be a juicy attacking game in its own right.
If we look at this again with E5, White could take on it E5 and unless Black wants to lose castling
rights while Knight takes E5, one could keep the tension with Bishop Geoffrey in the game.
Keep the Queen's on in particular for this position is just nice for white as well.
So Bishop G7 not bothering with this technicality of knight G4.
Queen D2 announced C6 here if Knight G4, Bishop G5.
If we look at this with this particular situation again the knight gets kicks back.
Now if it refuses, then this situation.
Is interesting, but why has a four and now tanks take the queens off?
This is a big position in its own right, winning the rook there.
Know, this is a very tricky position because look at F6 as well as C7.
So this this is undesirable as well.
So C6 was played now afraid so depriving this technicality.
Now finally B5 Knight DJ to Knight Bd7 now Bishop h6 So does Black really want to castle into this potential
attack?
No, Topalov actually takes on H6.
We have Queen STS 86 Bishop Be7 and now a free dissuading b4 taking time out to do that.
If the Queen had plunged into g seven, rook g eight and this position has G5 Arch, then actually Black
has a small edge here.
Funny enough.
So that's no good to do that.
A free E5 Why consoles Queen St Queenie seven King b1a69c1.
So this looks to be heading towards the king if it's going to Castle.
This would be a key defender b seven Even though it's a bad bishop, it's still quite often a good idea
to get rid of a key defender around the king.
So black does Castle Queenside knight be free?
He takes D4, Rook takes D4, and now C5.
It looks as though Black's play is fairly logical, putting more central pressure on White's position.
Knight B6 We have G3 here.
It seems Queen F4 might have actually been a technical improvements.
So for example, if Knight H5 Queen E free this position, the knight can be kicked back and H4 one
has a small edge.
An eye on C5 means D5 is out of the question.
So the Knight on B3, the Queen on E4, looking at C5, holding black back is interesting.
And if we look at this again, if King B eight, then there's Knight take C5.
That would be a key point that King is out of the question here.
I mean, we could follow this through though, further with H five, which is interesting because what
won't do well.
Knight Thanks.
A6 Czech Bishop Thanks.
Queen E three, Queen C seven and Bishop takes B5 actually gives Y a very pleasant position.
There's more than enough compensation here for the p sacrifice if rook hd here G Free queen e5 Queen
C1 is actually a small edge for white.
Technically, if D5 offering C5 four D takes this position with rook, takes the rook thanks to a white
gets rid of that key defender f tanks and this position is precarious.
You can see with the king on B7 light square bishop without a counterpart Bishop G2 is actually rather
annoying.
So five knight tanks f6.
This is still annoying.
E4 is pretty loose here in this variation, so it ends up that white actually has great prospect hands
to punish that pin for example, and end up with an end game which is advantageous.
Fascinating stuff.
So that's just for, you know, technically what the engines think gives why something in in this position.
But Geoffrey has played we have King B eight and now A5 so this actually loses control over C5, which
means D5 is is on the way and it seems you know what is actually Kasparov done here is allowing this
potentially lucrative D5 to really put pressure on the centre.
We have Bishop H3 being played if G4 d5 Black's should by all rights be about equal.
Here there is this piece SAC to maybe make sure White can guarantee a draw.
This situation leads to a perpetual check scenario.
So okay, but okay.
We have Bishop H free but now D5 and it looks very informatic to play this Queen for Czech King a7 Rook
hd one and now very thematic looking the D4 the four being played here.
Okay, so Knight's D5 might be tanks, d5 E tanks.
We have Queen D six and now the spectacular iconic move of the game which triggers absolute brilliancy
in follow ups is played here.
So what does Kasparov want to do?
What he doesn't want to do and yet end up with zero attacking prospects would be to exchange off Queen's
here especially with.
Five.
Being a disconnected pawn, what is White doing with this position after King B six?
Say why it's going to lose that --?
Blacks can have a big position advantage.
No, that's not the way to play this.
There's an opportunity here for an attack for a king chase.
So what would you play here for?
500 points, especially if haven't seen it before.
It's a brilliant continuation.
Okay.
It kicks off with Route 64 now.
Engines nowadays scoff at this move, largely because they indicate King Bs6 and this was found out
later.
King B6 actually leaves White in a precarious situation if this this rook sacrifice was rejected.
What does White do here?
There's two key moves which are much better than the others.
One is b4.
And in this case, Queen takes her fourth queen's coming off.
It's a good sign for black.
Black's can have a small edge here of the Queen's come off.
The other move might be free.
That's Bishop, thanks to E5.
And if the Queen's come off again, a good sign for black.
But Topalov actually took the rook sacrifice.
And we have an absolutely brilliant king, Hans, one of the ugly, you know, one of the greatest king
hunts ever.
So it kicks off here.
What would you play in this position?
So we've already sacrificed one, Rook.
So what you want to do now?
Yeah.
Sacrifice another rookie seven check so King B six is played.
If Queen takes E seven, the thing is, Queen takes the four check and you can see that there was a
weakness of the last move.
The the queen has lost access to B6.
And this means actually b six is very, very juicy.
Queen B six check should be seven, nine, C six check, and then Queen A7 and Checkmate.
If we look at this again with King B eight in this position, there's Queen takes four and actually
we've got a killer Common square on 87.
This is incredible stuff.
So what does Black do?
Queen takes E seven.
We just transpose them to what we've just seen before.
So what does Black do after Queen?
Thanks D for Rook t seven.
Then Bishop takes D seven and if nine tanks.
Look at this, Queen.
Thanks h h check.
Queen takes eight of Black's rooks and gobbles And this is actually favorable for white this possession
now.
Fascinating stuff.
So basically the king comes up the board.
And one of the key things about dragging the king down to the board, you're taking the king to your
attacking resources.
Usually you're attacking resources are going to the opponent's king.
But if the opponent's king wants to come and be self mated, that's great in general.
Queen Thanks.
D four check.
And then we have King takes a five if Queen C five here, then weakness of the last move ten The currency
queen takes F six check.
And what happens here?
Queen D6 There's a key move here, which leaves when a great tall batter.
Can you see what that is for?
20 points?
In this variation, the key move would be Bishop E says, If F takes, then we we're going to win the
Queen with advantage.
So what does Black do?
King takes 85.
We've got before, Chuck.
And here, you know, if the king steps back, you know, we've marked C five making Queen D for even
more effective.
The rook stops the king going backwards.
So that's just going to be mated.
And in the case of King, a four queen C free now threatens Queen b4.
And you can see the power of that bishop going to e six because the Queen D five.
So Bishop takes the D5.
But the thing is King B two renews the threat of Queen B free.
So here Queen B free.
Chuck C takes his mate.
Yeah, the Kings come to be self mated so King takes a five is played.
So fun stuff before the Kings coming down the board.
Queen C free now with the France of Queen before free chat mates.
So that has to be stopped.
But now Rook seven with another mate France.
If King be too.
That would be a terrible mistake here.
The queens would come off queen before pinning the queen.
That's game over.
Black would be winning there.
So, Rook 720 queenly for this Rook takes 86 meeting Bishop b7 if rook d six head king b2 is strong
this position it doesn't quite work out because Queen takes d4 weakness of the last move neglecting
a6 you know we make the so Bishop b seven and now a brilliant move.
To try and lure the queen away from be free for ten points.
Yeah.
Rook takes me seven.
We want to lure the queen away from be free so we can play queen.
Be free, mate.
So Queen goes to see four.
If queen tanks, we play queen B free chat Mating of queen.
Before we play queen, be free mating.
So Queen C4 four.
But this now leads to a very interesting queen saying Sex king takes a free queen, takes a sex check
King takes before and now an absolutely beautiful move in the circumstance because, you know, black
has got threats Now.
This is we've got to keep it running.
We're forcing moves here.
This is a key ingredient of attacking chess quite often because, you know, we've sacrificed material
especially and our king is actually unsafe.
We've got a limit, severely limit the opponent's replies.
We don't want any surprise resources.
So it's good that this whole attack is running with forcing moves here.
That's a key observation of many of Garry Kasparov attacks, forcing moves.
Don't let black be creative and clever.
You know, this isn't a James Bond film where you leave James Bond to be resourceful in Escape.
No, you've got to eliminate him non controversially here but we see another forcing move see free check
we have King take C free if queen tanks C free then B five drops and then black gets lawnmower mated
lawnmower make pattern so King takes C4.
But now queen A one can only move for advantage King d2 If King D free, then there's a skewer Bishop
f one shank.
But even better than taking the Queen because there is rook D one can keep it forcing absolutely forcing
with Queenie Queenie five shake then take the Queen under much better circumstance.
So anyway, King D two we have Queen Bee two checking D one and now another amazing forcing move.
Absolutely amazing stuff.
Bishop F1 we have looked to if Queen takes F1, Queen C to check and then rookie seven check is mating.
So yeah, rook D2 and here a beautiful move.
There's so many beautiful moves in this game.
It's countless beautiful moves.
Wrote these seven penning the rock.
So here, if Queen takes F, one Queen takes detours, mate.
So Rook takes the seven in this plate, and now Bishop takes C4.
And funny enough, the queen takes the rook.
We have rook D3.
So Black's only chance now is C free and C two to keep the game going with ac1.
France ex-wife addresses this Queen eight first C free queen A4 puts a lock on the C to square and that's
Czech.
And now F for.
So yes, there's no the frets have been taken out.
King C one, two.
Queen 87.
End of game.
Yeah.
It's it's a winning position.
Clearly, the queen is superior to the rook pawns.
Not that dangerous.
Now, if King E to, you know, one could take out H seven and then Queen D seven and even some simplified
so winning king and pawn ending here simply.
So yes an absolutely iconic game.
Fantastic variations several attacking ingredients are being demonstrated in the course of this game.
Amazing forcing moves, amazing sacrifices, and because of the sacrifice and he's bringing the king
down the malt board, he's got to keep control with forcing moves.
Like you see Fraser's spectacular forces move using all angles of the ball like Queen one.
It's amazing the use of squares all around the boards.
It's amazing, you know, the double rook sacrifice.
Basically, the second one couldn't be taken.
But the key point in my view, about bringing a king fundamentally down the board, the key point is
you're bringing the opponent's king to your resources to be checkmated.
Usually you're bringing resources to the opponent's king or you're hoping your superiority resources
will prevail.
But yes, it was pretty much forcing.
So it doesn't leave too much scope for the opponent being resourceful.
That's the key point there about being forcing along the way of the attacking beauty of this game.
Really a magnificent game, one of the highly celebrated games of all time.
But nevertheless, it has the instructive attacking ingredients, especially if you look at the variations.
What ingredients do those have?
When you analyze game in depth, you get the full flavor of the ingredients brought out, in my view.
So, you know, even iconic classics, you know, if you analyze them like this, there's you get you
get to see a glimpse of maybe things that didn't occur to you before.
So I hope you've enjoyed this potential revisit of this iconic game and got some instructive points.
Okay.
Thanks so much.