Grandmaster games · Hoogovens tournament 1999
Kasparov's Immortal
A rook sacrifice on move 24, and a king hunted from a7 all the way to d1: the most famous attacking game of the modern era.
The setting
Wijk aan Zee, January 1999: the Hoogovens tournament (today's Tata Steel), the strongest event of the winter. In round 4 the world champion, Garry Kasparov, has White against Veselin Topalov, one of the most aggressive players of the new generation. Topalov chooses the Pirc, an opening that invites White to attack. Kasparov accepts the invitation, and went on to win the tournament.
Why study it
Live it from inside both minds. Kasparov's plans are visible long before they happen: the knight's three-move road to a5, the bishop to h3, the e-file opened on purpose, and then a rook sacrifice calculated to the point where the black king has to walk. Topalov's mind shows the other side of it: why taking the rook felt right, and the quiet defence, 24...Kb6, that Stockfish says would have held.
Live it from inside a mind
Each player speaks in the first person, in a voice of their own: what they see, what they fear, the lines they calculate, why they choose. Switch minds at any move.
Garry Kasparov
White · Russia · 2812 at the time · peak 2851
World champion since 1985 and the world number one, 35 years old and at the height of an attacking career. Six months after this game Kasparov's rating reached 2851, a record that stood for 13 years.
Veselin Topalov
Black · Bulgaria · 2700 at the time · peak 2816
A 23-year-old from Bulgaria, already among the elite and known for bold, fighting chess. Six years later Topalov became FIDE world champion, at San Luis 2005.
Round four, and I have White against Topalov. Veselin plays sharp, ambitious chess, and with Black that means an opening that hands me the centre and waits to hit it. Good. I want a real fight today, kings on the same wing or opposite wings, pieces aimed at them, and I am ready to take risks to get one.
Round four, Black against Kasparov, the world champion. I will not hide behind a solid opening. The Pirc gives White the centre and asks me to prove it is a target, and it leads to positions where both sides can lose. That is the game I want against Garry: one where the champion has to take risks too.
The game in 7 chapters
- 1
A sharp Pirc moves 1–8
Topalov chooses the Pirc, letting White build a big centre to strike at later. Kasparov answers with the most aggressive set-up against it: Be3, Qd2, f3, and Bh6 to trade off the bishop that would guard a black king on the kingside.
- 2
Both kings go west moves 9–14
With the dark-squared bishops gone, short castling is out for Black, so both kings castle queenside, side by side. Kasparov sends a knight on a long journey towards a5; Topalov opens the centre with ...exd4.
- 3
The pressure builds moves 15–23
Topalov gains space with ...c5, ...d5 and ...d4, and by move 23 has a queen trade on offer that would end White's attack. Kasparov has every piece around the black king: a knight on a5, the bishop on h3, the queen on f4, rooks on d1 and e1.
- 4
The immortal sacrifice moves 24–28
24.Rxd4 gives a rook to rip the position open. After 24...cxd4 and 25.Re7+, the black king has to walk forward, taking the knight on a5, and a pawn check drives it to a4, among White's pawns.
- 5
The king hunt moves 29–35
Kasparov gives up more material, a rook for the bishop, to keep the king in the open. Checks with the b- and c-pawns and with the queen from a6, a1 and b2 drag the black king across the board to d1, in front of the white king.
- 6
Two quiet moves moves 36–39
With the black king on d1, Kasparov stops checking. 36.Bf1 and 37.Rd7 are quiet moves that use the d-file pin to win Black's queen and a rook: the hunt ends in a winning endgame, queen against rook.
- 7
The technique moves 40–44
Queen against rook and a passed c-pawn. Kasparov brings the queen back, blockades the pawn with the king and starts the kingside pawns; Topalov resigns after 44.Qa7.