Garry Kasparov vs Vassily Ivanchuk (1995) "Enrage the Beast"

Garry Kasparov vs Vassily Ivanchuk
"Enrage the Beast" (game of the day Jul-20-04)
Horgen (1995) · French Defense: Winawer. Advance Variation General (C16) · 0-1

[Event "Horgen"]
[Site "Horgen SUI"]
[Date "1995.10.26"]
[EventDate "1995.10.21"]
[Round "6"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Garry Kasparov"]
[Black "Vassily Ivanchuk"]
[ECO "C16"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "62"]

1. e4 { Notes by Raymond Keene. } e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5
b6 5. a3 Bf8 {Black has chosen an anti-intuitive system in
which he not only postpones the development of his pieces, but
also retreats to the back rank the only piece he has so far
developed. This is the kind of defence calculated to enrage
the classically minded Kasparov. The virtues of Black's system
are its solidity and the potential mobility of his queenside
pawn mass. } 6. Nf3 Ne7 7. h4 h6 8. h5 {Played to cramp
Black's kingside, but Black, following the Nimzowitsch
example, has not yet committed himself to castling on either
flank. } 8...a5 9. Bb5+ c6 10. Ba4 {An artificial decision. In
the further course of play this bishop becomes a target for
Black's advancing pawns thus involving White in a serious loss
of time and space. It seems more sensible to play 10 Bd3 with
the plan of Ne2 and c3. After 10 Bd3 White can meet 10...c5
with 11 Nb5 Nec6 12 dxc5 bxc5 13 c4, exploiting his lead in
development. Black's best after 10 Bd3 is doubtless 10...Ba6
when White could try 11 Bf4 Bxd3 12 cxd3 sacrificing pawn
structure for dynamic chances in the c-file. } 10...Nd7
11. Ne2 b5 12. Bb3 c5 13. c3 Nc6 14. O-O Qc7 {In spite of his
lack of development, Black's position is rich in resources. He
clearly, for example, possesses the initiative on the queen's
flank. Kasparov's next move is a further waste of time. His
plan should be to attack Black's position by utilising the
White f-pawn as a battering ram. To that end White's most
promising course is 15 Nh2 followed immediately by f4 and f5
when White's knights, after due preparation with Be3, can then
gallop directly to aggressive squares such as f4 and g4. }
15. Re1 c4 16. Bc2 Nb6 17. Bf4 Be7 18. Bg3 Rb8 19. Nh2 {At
last, but the force of the f4-advance has been weakened by
White's displacement of his queen's rook. } 19...Qd8 {A
mysterious defensive move. The only justification I can see
for it is that Black wishes to remove his queen from the
potential long term range of White's dark-squared bishop.}
20. Ng4 b4 21. axb4 axb4 22. cxb4 {White could still eliminate
all risk by playing 22 b3 at once when 22...bxc3 23 Nxc3 Bb4
can be met by 24 Re3. } 22...Nxb4 23. Bb1 Bd7 {The critical
moment. White now mistimes his effort to eliminate his one
queenside weakness, the b-pawn. By playing instead 24 Qd2 he
would maintain the balance of the position. In particular,
Black could not then complete his mobilisation with 24...O-O
on account of possible sacrifices against the h6-pawn
introduced with 25 Bf4. Note, however, that White cannot
sacrifice at once with 25 Nxh6+ gxh6 26 Qxh6 on account of
26...Nd3. } 24. b3 Ra8 25. Rxa8 Qxa8 26. bxc4 Nxc4 {Black's
knights have seized dominating posts. } 27. Nc1 Ba4 {White's
pieces are in a terrible tangle and it suddenly transpires
that he cannot defend his pawn on d4. } 28. Qe2 Qa7 29. Ne3
Qxd4 30. Nxc4 dxc4 31. Qf1 {A counsel of despair. } 31...O-O
{At long last Black completes his mobilisation. This is one of
the later instances of castling in a grandmaster game and with
Black's king now in safety, Kasparov decided to resign. White
is only a pawn down, but the advance of Black's passed c-pawn
will inevitably cost White a piece.} 0-1

To move:

Last move:

Given 53 times; par: 56 [what's this?]

Annotations by Raymond Keene. [404 more games annotated by Keene]

explore this opening	find similar games	47 more Ivanchuk/Kasparov games
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Mar-17-08		positionalgenius: Excellent game. Ivanchuk's brilliant play demonstrated again.

Apr-25-08		arsen387: From the annotation on move 23..Bd7 < The critical moment. White now mistimes his effort to eliminate his one queenside weakness, the b-pawn. By playing instead 24 Qd2 he would maintain the balance of the position. In particular, Black could not then complete his mobilisation with 24...O-O on account of possible sacrifices against the h6-pawn introduced with 25 Bf4. Note, however, that White cannot sacrifice at once with 25 Nxh6+ gxh6 26 Qxh6 on account of 26...Nd3.> I don't understand how 25.Bf4 could help to that plan with sacrifice on h6? Could anyone explain the idea behind it?

Apr-25-08		Eyal: <arsen387: I don't understand how [24.Qd2 0-0] 25.Bf4 could help to that plan with sacrifice on h6? Could anyone explain the idea behind it?> Well, 25.Bf4 aims at h6 and creates the threat of 26.Bxh6, where 26...gxh6 would lose immediately to 27.Qxh6 threatening both mate on h7 and Nf6+. So Black probably has nothing better than to give up a pawn with 25...Nd3 26.Bxd3 cxd3 27.Qxd3; if 25...Bg5 then 26.Ra3! (stronger than 26.Qxb4 Bxf4 27.Nxf4 Qg5 28.Nxh6+ Qxh6) with a strong attack, e.g. 26...Bxf4 27.Nxf4 and again Black has to contend with the powerful threat of a sac on h6 - this time Nxh6+.

Apr-25-08		arsen387: thanks <Eyal>, now I see it. I don't know why but I considered only the threat of 26.Nxh6 sac and never 26.Bxh6! with an unstoppable attack.

Aug-12-08		shach matov: a rather average game by ivanchuk, but kaspy was definitely not in form here (a rare occasion). why not 6.f4 right away for white, storm the kings side since black wasted two moves with the Bb4-Bf8 nonsense. with white dominating the king side and soon to be opened queen side where is black to castle?? with all the tempos wasted by chucky, this should have been a complete disaster for black. This game should be called Black Magic ( or miracle ).

Oct-03-08		TheaN: <31....0-0 32.0-1> is typical: how often, usually on a somewhat lower level (I've had it happen a few times), is it not that the game ends with a defensive move? Castling, in that way, looks unique (keeping the checkmates with a castle aside) but involves the same principle. Quite a few times did one of my games end with a King move that did not fuel an attack or passed pawn.

Oct-13-08		sleepyirv: Ivanchuck channels Petrosian, very enjoyable.

Feb-11-09		Lt.Surena: 20.Ng4?, f4 seems better. White is getting restricted to playing defense contrary to what it is supposed to do in French Defense (ie. aggressively staging an attack in the king side). Thank you Mr. Keene for a wonderful game analysis.

Mar-11-09		blacksburg: wow, i can't believe i've never seen this game before.

Nov-25-09		OnlyBelieve: Of all the games that I've seen on this site, this one stands out. This was just monstrous - I'm glad I play the Winawer. :)

Nov-25-09		Shams: after 21...axb4: click for larger view Now Kasparov took on b4; Keene suggested b2-b3 instead, but why can't white just leave things as they stand? ...b3 temporarily shutting the bishop out on b1 doesn't seem to be worth the positional cost, and trading on c3 looks better for white than the game continuation. What am I missing?

Mar-18-10		Bonifratz: I love 31...0-0 1-0 :)

Mar-23-10		James Bowman: Interesting note all the games in the data base that Ivanchuck beats Kasparov it's in less than 40 moves no long end game victories which seems unusual to me at his level of chess.

Oct-23-10		dr.phon98: 5...Bf8 is the only move that will free the e7 square for the Knight. I think this is the simplest reason, bec. if Nh6 then BxN destroying the kingside.

Oct-23-10		Elsinore: Interesting that on move 8, Keene correctly describes Ivanchuk's strategy as anti-intuitive b/c he doesn't develop a piece while retreating the one piece he had developed. But when you look at the board at move 27, you see that Kasparov has four of his pieces on his back rank, while Ivanchuk has 3 minor pieces deep in Kasparov's territory, with the Queen and Bishop ready to attack.

Nov-13-10		sevenseaman: I think Vassily Ivanchuk had the wherewithal to be a World Champion. Sad!

Nov-13-10		GilesFarnaby: I think that the French is still the opening against which Kasparov has the worst record. Well, and that Pyreneese Gambit

Nov-30-10		MTuraga: Ivanchuk copies Petrosian's style and Kasparov crumbles. Petrosian was a difficult opponent for even the best like Kasparov, Fischer, Botvinnik and Tal.

May-08-12		solskytz: <Ray Keene> What a brilliant and illuminating piece of analysis, GM Keene! For me you are here clarifying intriguing points of strategy, giving a great lesson. Many thanks! Solskytz

May-08-12		lost in space: I played this system as Black often (also the Bb4-f8 move; later b6, Qd7 Ba6). The advantage for Black is to get rid of the bad bishop (either vs the white bishop - or soemtinmes avs a white night (o.k. when the positon can kept close) Normally Black has a very hard time if white is able to somehow open the position - often tried with c4 and f4-f5.

May-14-12		LoveThatJoker: This is an awesome game! LTJ

Dec-08-12		parisattack: Wonderful example of this variation - although Kasparov certainly went along too easily. Similar to the Gurgenidze Robatsch in both essence and form, black's KB returns home once the job of closing the center is accomplished. In that line black sometimes tries to temporize by not even playing Bg7 to save a tempo.

Mar-22-13		ironTigran63: This game reminds me from a game in a simultaneuos display by Kasparov (white), that I was attending to; only with the difference that Garry didn't lose in such a crushing style!

Mar-30-13		solskytz: Strangely, I now realize that all of this myth about Ivanchuk being this giant-slayer are urban legend material... Here it says that GK had 11 wins against VI, to 4 of the latter. Against Carlsen - it says 8 to 3 - for some reason I thought it was 8 to 1. For some reason, there is something that makes his wins over the greats very memorable - maybe it's the fact that the Greatest players lose rarely (like Reti being immortalized on having beaten Capablanca in 1924)

Apr-17-13		sicilianhugefun: Kasparov once said that when Ivanchuk is playing with him, Ivanchuk plays like Chucky but against lesser mortals, Ivanchuk just play like a Patzer. Perhaps this explains why Ivanchuk defeated Carlsen and Kramnik during the candidates match in London.

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Kasparov on Kasparov: Part I

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