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| Feb-03-07 | | whatthefat: Beautiful game. What a great WC match Kasparov vs. Ivanchuk could have made. Around 1995-1997 would probably have been Ivanchuk's best shot with his chessmetrics rating ranging 39-87 points behind Kasparov's. Within this period, the head-to-head score in classical games was actually +2 -1 =4 to Ivanchuk. To put this in perspective, Kasparov's record in classical games for 1995-1997 was an astounding +51 -9 =65. Besides Ivanchuk, the only player he lost more than once to was Kramnik, with a head-to-head of +2 -2 =7. By comparison Kasparov was +7 -1 =16 against Anand, so one could argue Ivanchuk had very good chances. Unfortunately, Ivanchuk made zero impact on that FIDE cycle, dropping out in the 1993 Biel Interzonal despite being top seed! For whatever reason (does anyone know?) he didn't take part in the PCA Interzonal later in the same year, where he would have again been top seed. As <Eggman> suggests above, he may have still been suffering from his 1991 loss to Yusupov. Tragic if true, as he'd no doubt improved since then. |
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| Feb-03-07 | | percyblakeney: Horgen 1995 was the worst tournament in Kasparov's career. As Topalov in Essent Tournament (2006) he played much too soon after the just finished title match (against Anand). Even if this was Kasparov's only loss he played much below his usual standard and ended up 5th of 11 participants (Ivanchuk and Kramnik shared first). |
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| Feb-03-07 | | Plato: What gave Keene the idea that Kasparov is classically-minded? He's certainly not the kind of player who is dogmatic about breaking opening "rules." I can see Tarrasch being enraged and aghast at Ivanchuk's opening choice, but not Kasparov. |
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| Feb-03-07 | | whatthefat: Regarding Keene's comment on the intriguing 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.> I suppose Ivanchuk also saw that castling kingside wouldn't be an option anytime soon, so the rooks cannot be connected. Thus he connects queen and rook instead, to prepare for the later ...Ra8. |
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| Feb-03-07 | | Billy Ray Valentine: <whatthefat> "I suppose Ivanchuk also saw that castling kingside wouldn't be an option anytime soon, so the rooks cannot be connected. Thus he connects queen and rook instead, to prepare for the later ...Ra8." Great comment, whatthefat! I hadn't noticed that before, and this is a favorite game of mine (I decided to learn the French Defense after seeing this game). My first instincts were the same as the annotator's comments, and then I tried to figure out if there was any utility in black playing Bh4... |
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| Feb-21-07 | | ianD: What a game.
So that is how you tame Kasparov! |
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| Apr-07-07 | | KamikazeAttack: Kasparov was ill during this tournment. |
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| Apr-14-07 | | Jim Bartle: If I remember correctly, he wasn't sick. He was exhausted, having beaten Anand in the WC match just a few weeks earlier. |
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| Apr-15-07 | | Fisheremon: <chesswonders: Nice notes by Raymond Keene> It could be nearly true, cos' White admitted only one losing move 27.Nc1? (not noted by commentator!?) just showing his poor knowledge in French. |
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| Apr-16-07 | | Jim Bartle: In Inside Chess Seirawan called 20. Ng4 a disastrous move, saying f4 was necessary. |
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| Jun-10-07 | | ruelas007: This is an incredible game which probes that the basic principles of chess must not be always the most important fact |
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Jul-02-07
 | | notyetagm: <Jim Bartle: ...I'd also say that from what I've read, Ivanchuk definitely moved the wrong knight, but even if he'd moved the right one, the position was still extremely complex, certainly not a clear win for white.> Analysis in "The World's Greatest Chess Games" by Nunn, et al. says that <Conclusion: 25  c6-e7+! would have won.> Instead, Chucky played 25 d5-e7+? and lost an incredible brilliancy to Yusupov. |
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Nov-13-07
| | notyetagm: Game Collection: Grooming passed pawns for promotion Position after 31 ... 0-0! 0-1:
click for larger viewWhite (Kasparov) resigns since the advance of the Black c4-passed pawn will eventually cost him a piece. |
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| Mar-03-08 | | chessgangsta: Probably one of my favorite games by Chucky :-) Incredible how he beat Kasparov with the black pieces in just 31 moves (well Kasparov was lost by move 27 anyway) |
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| Mar-17-08 | | positionalgenius: Excellent game. Ivanchuk's brilliant play demonstrated again. |
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| 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? |
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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+. |
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| 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. |
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| 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 ). |
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| 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. |
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Oct-13-08
 | | sleepyirv: Ivanchuck channels Petrosian, very enjoyable. |
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| 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. |
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| Mar-11-09 | | blacksburg: wow, i can't believe i've never seen this game before. |
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| 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. :) |
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Nov-25-09
 | | Shams: after 21...axb4:
click for larger viewNow 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? |
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