The Pearl of Wijk aan Zee

The Pearl of Wijk aan Zee

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I belong to a private chess.com group where a member posts a complex position every week or so and the other members perform a stoyko exercise, writing out all the their analysis of the position and then deciding on their choice for the best line. It has been trememdously helpful for my calculation.

It was my turn this past week and, since I'm currently finishing up Winning Chess Combinations by Seirawan, I chose the following position to post to the group. This position is from a Kasparov-Topalov game that has been called "The Pearl of Wijk aan Zee" and considered by some to be Kasparov's finest game.

Take 30 minutes or so and write down all the lines that you can visualize in this position and then decide which is best for white.

Here is the whole game.
 

I am a professor researching goal setting, motivation, emotions, creativity, and related aspects of human performance in early-stage entrepreneurship.

 

From 2012 to 2017 I pursued aggressive adult improvement (starting at age 43). I recorded my journey here as I gained over 400 rating points over two years, peaking at 1753 USCF in 2015. After taking a multi-year break to complete my doctorate, I returned to competitive chess in 2024.