Maybe the greatest game ever

I just found a game that I think easily qualifies for at least the greatest attack in the history of chess. Those of you who visit www.chessgames.com will be able to look it up easily: Garry Kasparov vs. Veselin Topalov, Wijk aan Zee, 1999, White (Kasparov) wins. It is absolutely amazing how all Kasparov's pieces fall together so perfectly, and how he was able to see a move like 24. Rxd4!! and follow it with 25. Re7! Anyone who loves analyzing great attacks will love this game!

-Kev

Maybe someone could paste the move sequence here?

Here you are ...

[Event "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "1999.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Kasparov Gary (RUS)"]
[Black "Topalov Veselin (BUL)"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "87"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5 7. Nge2 Nbd7
8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Bb7 10. a3 e5 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. Kb1 a6
13. Nc1 O-O-O 14. Nb3 exd4 15. Rxd4 c5 16. Rdd1 Nb6 17. g3 Kb8
18. Na5 Ba8 19. Bh3 d5 20. Qf4+ Ka7 21. Rhe1 d4 22. Nd5 Nbxd5
23. exd5 Qd6 24. Rxd4 cxd4 25. Re7+ Kb6 26. Qxd4+ Kxa5 27. b4+ Ka4
28. Qc3 Qxd5 29. Ra7 Bb7 30. Rxb7 Qc4 31. Qxf6 Kxa3 32. Qxa6+ Kxb4
33. c3+ Kxc3 34. Qa1+ Kd2 35. Qb2+ Kd1 36. Bf1 Rd2 37. Rd7 Rxd7
38. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Qxh8 Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4+ Ke1
42. f4 f5 1-0

Thanks, Nicolai.🙂

Yes, thank you! 🙂

Seems to me that a truely great game should result in a draw.

a 'perfect' game would end in a draw, not necessarily a great one 🙂

If anyone is interested, I've collected a bunch of annotations and web sites for the Kasparov-Topalov game. It's not my favorite game to play over, but one of the most exciting!

~asianrose~

I would be interested, AsianRose. I probably won't understand most of what they are talking about, though, given how high a level they play at.

One of those lucky games of Gary ....
H.

Topalov is certainly one of the bravest players around for taking on these types of positions against anyone, even Gazza - he had a couple of ways to bail out to even positions before the complications.
Thought I'd give his game from yesterday's FIDE WC match - he only needed a draw against Kharlov to go through, so obviously sacs a Rook for what seemed like negligible compensation:

[White "Kharlov,A"]
[Black "Topalov,V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2593"]
[BlackElo "2737"]
[EventDate "2004.06.19"]
[ECO "C24"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O d6 6. a4 O-O 7. Re1 Nbd7 8.Nc3 Nc5 9. d4 exd4 10. Nxd4 a5 11. Bf4 Ng4 12. Be2 Nf6 13. Bf3 Re8 14. Qd2 g6 15. h3 Nfd7 16. Rad1 Bf8 17. g4 Qb6 18. Bg2 Ne5 19. b3 Qb4 20. Nde2 f6 21. Be3 h5 22. f4 Nxg4 23. hxg4 Bxg4 24. Qc1 f5 25. Rd4 Qb6 26. Qd2 Qc7 27. Bf2 Re6 28. Rc4 Rae8 29. Nd4 Rxe4 30. Nxe4 Nxe4 31. Bxe4 fxe4 32. Rc3 d5 33. Rg3 Bd6 34. Be3 Qd7 35. c3 Rf8 36. Rf1 b6 37. Rf2 c5 38. Nb5 Bb8 39. Rfg2 g5 40. Rf2 Kg7 41. Qc1 Kg6 42. Qf1 Rf5 43. Rgg2 Qf7 44. fxg5 Bf3 45. Rh2 Bxh2+ 46. Rxh2 Rf4 47. Bxf4 Qxf4 48. Rg2 h4 49. Qe1 e3 50. Rh2 Qxg5+ 51. Kf1 h3 52. Qb1+ Be4 53. Qb2 Bd3+ 0-1

Originally posted by Osse
Topalov is certainly one of the bravest players around for taking on these types of positions against anyone, even Gazza - he had a couple of ways to bail out to even positions before the complications.
Thought I'd give his game from yesterday's FIDE WC match - he only needed a draw against Kharlov to go through, so obviously sacs a Rook for what seemed lik ...[text shortened]... Rf4 47. Bxf4 Qxf4 48. Rg2 h4 49. Qe1 e3 50. Rh2 Qxg5+ 51. Kf1 h3 52. Qb1+ Be4 53. Qb2 Bd3+ 0-1

Originally posted by Osse
Topalov is certainly one of the bravest players around for taking on these types of positions against anyone, even Gazza - he had a couple of ways to bail out to even positions before the complications.
Thought I'd give his game from yesterday's FIDE WC match - he only needed a draw against Kharlov to go through, so obviously sacs a Rook for what seemed lik ...[text shortened]... Rf4 47. Bxf4 Qxf4 48. Rg2 h4 49. Qe1 e3 50. Rh2 Qxg5+ 51. Kf1 h3 52. Qb1+ Be4 53. Qb2 Bd3+ 0-1

Originally posted by seraphimvulture
I think players like Alekhine, Kasparov, and Topalov are solely responsible for many, MANY unnecessary sacs done by players hoping to pull off a miracle. 😉

-Kev

Yeh, here you go. For the record, i saw that i would loose my black bishop but played for a flawed mate, check it out. I might have lost but this was one of my most enjoyable encounters here....Game 451068