What is Kasparov's greatest game of chess? His most epic? His most brilliant? His most accurate contest, maybe by both parties? His best ending? His best attack? (The number of possible categories is almost endless.)
This post is devoted to that subject. Unfortunately, without Kasparov's direct input, we may never know. It is also a task that is necessarily given to bias, opinion, and many other subjective factors. To be honest, every good chess player has their own favorite Kasparov game (or a Capa game, or a Fischer contest ... etc.); and they are not always the same game.
*9*. Garry Kasparov - Deep Blue (Computer); "IBM Man-Machine", New York (USA) 1997;
In May 1997, IBM's Deep Blue Supercomputer played a fascinating match with the reigning World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov. The event was captured live on IBM Web site, where millions of chess and computing fans tuned in to witness the event in real-time.
In 1989, Kasparov easily defeated the program -- then named 'Deep Thought' -- in a two-game, fast-play match. The Deep Blue team spent seven long years preparing for a return match with Kasparov, which they eventually got in 1996. The first match was played in February 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kasparov won the match 4–2, losing one game, drawing in two and winning three. A rematch, which has been called "the most spectacular chess event in history", was played in 1997 – this time Deep Blue won 3½–2½.
*8*. Garry Kasparov - X3D Fritz (Computer); FIDE Man-Machine World Chess Championship, New York (USA) 2003;
In November 2003, Garry Kasparov engaged in a four game match against chess playing computer program X3D Fritz (which was said to have an estimated rating of 2807), using a virtual board, 3D glasses and a speech recognition system. The first was a draw, X3D won the second after Kasparov blundered when short of time, Kasparov won the third, and the last game was a draw. The X3D Man-Machine World Chess Championship match ended in draw. Kasparov continued to criticize the blunder in the second game that cost him a crucial point. He felt that he had outplayed the machine overall and played well. "I only made one mistake but unfortunately that one mistake lost the game."
*7*. Michael Adams - Garry Kasparov; "Slipped a Mickey", (XXII Torneo Ciudad de Linares), Linares (Spain) 2005;One of the more brilliant games that was played in Linares, and one of the prettier and most attractive of Garry's wins as Black; (for Linares, and perhaps the whole of his incredible chess career). It is certainly a "barn-burner". Great stuff.
*6*. Garry Kasparov - Lajos Portisch; Niksic (Yugoslavia), 1983;
Garry has played so many really beautiful games that it is very hard to pick just one clash as his best effort. Some like his game vs. GM L. Portisch; as his best, but this one has only the slight drawback as possibly being almost entirely the result of pre-game preparation. (But it is still a great game of chess. I am sure Kasparov himself ranks it as in his own Top 50)
*5*. Rustam Kasimdzhanov - Garry Kasparov; XXII Super-GM Tournament (round # 09), (XXII Torneo Ciudad de Linares), Linares (Spain) 2005;
In possibly his last tournament, Garry Kasparov played a really brilliant game. Not only this, but it was a win with the Black pieces that practically stands theory on its ear.
*4*. Anatoli Karpov - Garry Kasparov; Linares (Spain) 1993;
Easily one of Kasparov's best games is his ultra-brilliant win against Karpov from Linares, 1993. This has to be in any list of Garry Kasparov's best games!
*3*. Anatoli Karpov - Garry Kasparov; World Championship Match London/Leningrad, 1985; The game that Garry himself considered his finest game of chess and his greatest creative achievement for many years, was the sixteenth game (16) from the second Kasparov-Karpov World Championship Match.
*2*. Garry Kasparov - Anatoli Karpov; World Championship Match London/Leningrad, 1986;
This game won a number of prizes. It was awarded a prize for the best game of the match shortly after the conclusion of this contest. It won the best game contest for that issue of the Informant. It was voted the game of the year by a panel of judges, echoing the sentiments of the readers of the Russian magazine, '64'. It was also proclaimed the game of the decade by a panel of judges for a European Chess Magazine.
*1*. Garry Kasparov - Veselin Topalov; "Kasparov's Immortal", 61st (Hoogovens) Chess Festival, Wijk aan Zee (Netherlands), 1999;
Maybe the most complicated game ever played. I spent six months analyzing what others had written, before even attempting my own analysis. Then I methodically compared my analysis to what had already been done. I probably spent over a year preparing the game before it actually appeared here on my web pages. A truly Herculean effort. This game features one of the most complicated combinations and "King Hunts" that ever took place in a real, over-the-board game.
So what is Kasparov's very best game? Maybe he has yet to play it!! Maybe that should be left for later generations! Or maybe Garry when he is old and gray should be allowed to pick that game himself. It does not matter which game you think is Garry's best. To play over the games of this great player is both a treat and a learning experience. And if you study Garry's games very deeply, I cannot help but believe that you must improve the level of your play!
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