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Garry Kasparov vs Vladimir Kramnik
"Clash of Titans" (game of the day Apr-06-2005)
Dos Hermanas (1996), Dos Hermanas ESP, rd 6, May-27
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran. Wade Variation (D47)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 6 OF 6 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-29-12  Suryanshu: at move 25 ... d perfect answer should have been Ra2 and not Rxf3 (Rybka) i guess Kasparov paid d price for being too hungry ...

d material at this point was equal and d game would have progressed fr a draw.

Nov-23-12  Conrad93: Kasparov was winning in the middle game, but blundered. It had nothing to do with Kramnik outplaying him.

He;s not in the same league.

Nov-23-12  Conrad93: Kramnik missed a simple mate in four. How lame!
Nov-23-12  SimonWebbsTiger: "Having seen a forced win, I did not even bother to look for anything better (especially since I had little time left). Meanwhile it would have been better to conclude the game with...mate in four moves" (Kramnik - My Life and Games.)

This game won the best game award in Informator 67 with 87/90 points. The second best game (also a Kramnik game) received 55/90 points.

btw, at no point was Kasparov winning. 23. Nf3? instead 23. Ra2 Be4 24. Re1 Bb7! 25. Qd3! ; and 24.Nc5? instead 24. Qe2! holds the balance.

This game was Kasparov's first loss with white since 1986.

Nov-23-12  Conrad93: 23.Qe2 wins.
Mar-25-13  Conrad93: To be fair, Kasparov played terribly right from the opening...

Not his best chess.

Mar-25-13  Jim Bartle: <Conrad93: 23.Qe2 wins.

Conrad93: To be fair, Kasparov played terribly right from the opening...>

How did he play terribly right from the opening yet have a winning position after move 22?

Mar-25-13  Conrad93: <How did he play terribly right from the opening yet have a winning position after move 22?>

Ah, I see a dreamer...

Mar-25-13  Jim Bartle: Well, conrad, there's an obvious contradiction between your two posts.
Mar-26-13  Conrad93: That tends to happen a lot.
Jan-06-14  Dave1: Smashed him
Mar-27-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Check It Out: Kramnik smashed Kasparov, and Jim Bartle smashed Conrad93.
Mar-27-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <CIO> As you well know, <Conrad> would smash Kramnik.
May-01-17  ZackyMuhammad: Kramnik
Jun-25-17  Artemio: Is Kasparov the greatest player ever...see Kramnik's wins against him.
Oct-19-17  Damenlaeuferbauer: In my opinion the best game of the decade 1990 - 1999!
Nov-07-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: In order to understand the kibitzing I had to take <fgh> off my ignore list.
Nov-08-17  Isilimela: The knight sac with 21 ... O-O is judged objectively unsound (Stockfish) but very good chess psychology from Kramnik - Kasparov could not easily tell whether bluff or brilliancy!
Aug-27-18  Caleb554: Chess is complex enough and over the board it is very difficult to find the right moves even in a winning position.

It does not matter if the engine does not like Kramnik's position at move 22, as over the board it is hard to refute it unless you are skilled defensively.

Kramnik is no less talented than Kasparov positionally and strategically. Kasparov excels in creating and calculating deeply in sharper positions where he has the initiative, much of which is aided by his opening preparation.

Kramnik at his peak can go and hold his own with Kasparov at his peak. I think this is because Kramnik is a much more tough, resilient and defensively resourceful player than Karpov. Kramnik also works on his openings very hard and is also a better end-game player.

Aug-28-18  WorstPlayerEver: 23. Qe2 Bxg3 24. Nf5 Rxf5 25. Rxf5 Re8 26. Nc5 Qxf5 27. exf5 Rxe2 28. hxg3 Bc8 29. Bf4 Bxf5 30. Rxa6


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Jun-30-19  Zinjanthropoid: Interesting how Kasparov doesn’t move his queen during the entire game. Kramnik had ten queen moves out of 35, almost a third of his moves.
Feb-09-21  Gaito: A critical moment of the game arose after 22.fxe4 (see diagram)


click for larger view

BLACK TO MOVE
In his annotations (Informant No.66) Kramnik attached an exclamation mark to the move 22...Qh3!, and added lengthy analysis intended to prove that 22...Rxf1+?! would have been a dubious move leading to White's advantage. What does Stockfish 12 have to say about that? Well the opinion of the engine is that White stands better in the diagrammed position, and it recommends 22...Qe5 as the best move for Black. LcZero shares the same opinion. In fact, the engines don't seem to like Kramnik's move 22...Qh3?, on account of the reply 23.Qe2! with a high evaluation in White's favor, namely +2.86. LcZero shares this point of view. A sample variation: (from the diagram): 22...Qh3? 23.Qe2! Rxf1+ 23.Qxf1 Qxf1+ 24.Kxf1 Bxe4 25.Bf4 Rf8 26.Ne6 Rf6 27.Nac5 Bxc5 28. Nxc5 Bd5 29. Ke2, and White has a healthy extra piece and a won ending (computer evaluation: +3.63) (see diagram below):


click for larger view

Feb-09-21  Gaito: Another critical moment of the game is depicted in the following diagram:


click for larger view

WHITE TO MOVE
Kasparov played 24.Nc5?, and Kramnik attached a question mark to this move (Informant 66). Moreover, he attempted to show that 24.Qe2! was the correct move, and added a tremendously lengthy analysis with tons of variations and sub-variatons. (I wonder if ever there was a person on our planet who played over those lengthy variations with a chessboard and pieces). But is 24.Nc5 really a bad move as Kramnik assures? Curiously enough, the engines do like the move 24.Nc5! and their veredict is that the position after that move is about equal (evaluation: -0.30). As a matter of fact, White's decisive mistake came just a move later: 24.Nc5! Rxf3 25.Rxf3?? That move was a blunder, changing a computer evaluation of 0.00 to one of -4.21. It is curious that Kramnik did not attach even one question mark to the move 25.Rxf3. He only mentioned that a better alternative would have been 25.Ra2, and added lengthy analyisis intended to prove that Black would have had a better position anyway. The engine, however, has a different opinion. A sample variation (from the diagram): 24.Nc5 Rxf3 25.Ra2! Rxf1+ 26.Qxf1 Qxf1+ 27.Kxf1 Rc8 28.Be3 Bf4 29.Bxf4! Rxc5 30.Ra4 (diagram), and according to all engines the position is equal and a draw as a likely result notwithstanding Black's extra pawn.


click for larger view

Kramnik has a different opinion, and wrote in his notes that Black has a clear advantage in the diagrammed position. Nobody should wish to argue with the former world champion, so let us take it for granted that Black has a clear advantage in the diagrammed position; but just for the sake of having fun, let us have this ending played out by SF12 vs. SF12 at 10 seconds per move: 30...Bxe4 31.Rxb4 Bd3+ 32.Kf2 Rc2+ 33.Kg3 Bb5 34.h4 Re2 35.Rd4 Re1 36.b4 Kf7 37.Bd6 (evaluation: -0.07) h6 38.Rf4+ Kg6 39.Bc5 Bd7 40.Rd4 Bb5 41.Rg4+ Kh7 42.Bd4 Re7 43.Kf2 Bc6 44.Rf4 Be8 45.Bc5 Re5 46.Bd4 Re7 47.Bc5 Re6 48.Rg4, draw by repetition; computer evaluation: 0.00. (DIAGRAM)


click for larger view

Feb-09-21  Gaito: The following diagram shows the position on the board after 29.Ra2:


click for larger view

BLACK TO PLAY AND MATE IN FOUR
In his lengthy annotations on chess informant No. 66, Kramnik admitted that Black had a forced mate in 4 moves from this position, but said that he was pressed by the clock, and so he overlooked it, but quickly played a move that also kept a winning advantage (29.Qh1+). Can some kibitzer please spot the checkmate in four? Maybe 29...Bxd3+ 30.Rxd3 Qh1+ 31.Ke2 Qg2+ 32.Ke3 Rxe4 mate.

Apr-14-24  mk volkov: "My only loss with White in classics with 1.d4 in almost 19 years, since the accursed 18th game in 1986 match against Karpov until the final of the sports career in 2005! And not by accident Kramnik was the one - the hardest opponent for me since the middle 1990s. Annoyance and bitterness from the embarassing failure were long: if I won, more likely I would win the tournament also..."

(Kasparov. "My Chess Way III")

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