The amazing thing about this game is that these rook sacks are sound!

This is absolutely true. However, computers are tools which take our tactical analysis to a whole new level, and chess wouldn't be the game it is today without them.

<20. Rxe6 is a great sacrifice>

Karpov says of Linares '94

<This was the tournament of my life. I achieved an unprecedented rating performance of 3000 Elo. Nine wins, four draws and no losses in a world-class event is a result for the Guinness book of records.

That year 12 was a lucky number for me: it was the 12th tournament in Linares, and it is well know that I was the 12th World Champion.

That my opponent in this game, Veselin Topalov, would become FIDE world champion eleven years later, was something I could not imagine...>

Here are some of his notes:

After 2.c4 c5

Karpov chose 3.Nf3!? because Topalov had chosen a rare move order himself and Karpov wanted to avoid his home preparation.

10.Bg5 was also possible, with indirect pressure on d6

11.e3! was a valuable novelty, since the usual continuation 11.Be3 gives White only a slight advantage.

14...g6 is forced because Black must prevent the advance of the f-pawn even at the cost of weakening his KS pawn structure.

Karpov calls

20.Rxe6!

'The triump of White's light square strategy! The Rook, like a hurricane, sweeps away everything in its path. Of course this blow had to be forseen before the knight foray to c5.

20.Bxc6 would not win a piece, and after 20...Ra7 21.Qd3 Rxc6 22.cxb5 c4 23.Qf3 Rc8 it would have led to a complicated position'

21.Rxg6!

Black is obliged to accept the sacrifice, since otherwise he loses by force:

21...Kf8 22.Qh3 fxg6 23.Qh8+ Kf7 24.Bd5 mate,

or

26.bxa6

Has White not gained too many pawns for the sacrificed exchange?

28.Rxd4!

A rare instance-the third rook sacrifice in the game! I cannot remember anything similar happening in grandmaster play.

32.Qe5+

32.Nxc5 Rd1+ 32.Kh2 Qf1 34.Qe5+ Kh6 35. Qg5+ Kh7 36.Qe5+

This would have won more simply, However Karpov did not have enough time to work out the exact move sequence.

Black would have saved himself in an amusing way in the variation

36...Rd1+ 37.Kg2 Rg1+ 38.Kxg1? Qd1 39.Kg2 Qh1+! 40.Kxh1 stalemate!

However, White is not obliged to take the rook

38.Kh3 Rh1+ 39.Kg4 and it is all over

Karpov closes with

'A pretty game, wouldn't you agree? Not surprisingly, it won the next competition for the best game in Informator (cf Volume 61, 1994)

A: It’s quite funny and I don’t know why, but I used to play some very beautiful games against Topalov, especially against him, much more than against any other player, maybe because of his style which is rather aggressive, and because of his great fighting ability. It is rather funny but he is the main hero of the book.> -- Kramnik