Originally posted by wormwood
I think it was seirawan who said that he'd been intimidated by kasparovs opening, and worked like hell to get past that. that garry was like a tennis player with a monster 1st serve, and if only he just could survive the serve, he just MIGHT have a slight chance. and then he did get past garry's opening, only to find out that all other aspects of garry's play was every little bit as monstrous as his 1st serve.
Valeri Tsaturian is an excellent source for his strengths, and so I've quoted him below. Do remember that GK learned from Botvinnik's school of chess. He was the most ideal student hand picked by the GM himself. How could anyone argue with what he has done? He dominated chess for twenty years.
Q
To make a rather primitive classification, the average grandmaster knows about 1,500 - 2,000 typical positions, including the opening, possible middlegame plans, and some outlines of endgame. Super GMs, like Kramnik or Anand, have a wider and deeper knowledge. As for Kasparov, his knowledge is truly head-spinning, I guess, his number of positions might exceed 10,000. Garry's memory is phenomenal! I think it even impedes him during the game. - Valeri Tsaturian
Potentially, Garry is an outstanding tactician who thinks originally and has a fine, sharp sense for dynamic positions. The trainers who worked with him concentrated on another of his assets, the most obvious one being his unique memory. This natural gift and his strong character, multiplied by his tremendous working ability, along with his ability to accumulate and retain information, produced the world champion; perhaps the greatest chess player of all time. Nevertheless, I believe that Garry did not realize his true chess potential to the maximum. Great knowledge is a great burden. Young Kasparov was incredibly inventive, even in difficult positions. He knew how to transform them, to explode the situation on the board in his favor, and he collected points from the strongest opponents, who could not cope with such complications. Garry's chess talent had a lot in common with Tal's. Later these traits were greatly developed. Garry has been the world's strongest player for 20 years and still he is not fully satisfied. Due to the constant pressure on him, Garry can't play a single game for his own pleasure. Those who've seen friendly games by Kasparov, when he plays in a relaxed manner without worrying about the outcome, will never forget it: what spectacular chess! - Valeri Tsaturian
and finally -- I dispute that his only good work is the opening. His middlegame and ending technique is among the most inventive in history.
[Event "Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1979.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "3"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Garry Kasparov"]
[Black "Lev Polugaevsky"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "73"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 a6 7.g4 Nc6 8.g5 Nd7 9.Rg1 Be7 10.h4 O-O 11.h5 Nde5 12.Nxc6 Nxc6 13.f4 b5 14.Qf3 Bb7 15.Bd3 Nb4 16.f5 exf5 17.Qxf5 Nxd3+ 18.cxd3 Qc8 19.h6 Re8 20.hxg7 Qxf5 21.exf5 Bxg5 22.Rxg5 Rxe3+ 23.Kd2 Rf3 24.Ne4 Bxe4 25.dxe4 Re8 26.Rc1 d5 27.e5 h6 28.Rh5 Rxe5 29.f6 Rf2+ 30.Kd3 Rf3+ 31.Kd4 Re4+ 32.Kxd5 Re8 33.Rxh6 Rf5+ 34.Kd4 Rf4+ 35.Kc5 Re5+ 36.Kb6 Re6+ 37.Rc6 1-0
Q