Petrosian's King March "Staggers" Kasparov - Best Of The 1980s - Kasparov vs. Petrosian, 1981
In Tilburg, 1981, the 18-year-old prodigy Garry Kasparov faced the great world chess champion Tigran Petrosian. Kasparov, a clear future titled contender, was actually born in the same year in which Petrosian became world champion!
Playing with the white pieces against a Petrosian who was no longer as active or competitive as he once was, Kasparov was ambitious, clearly hoping to win. Initially things went Kasparov's way as he got a great opening position and developed a nice attack with excellent maneuvers, but Petrosian's incredible defense "staggered" the might Kasparov as Petrosian marched his king straight into the teeth of Kasparov's attack.
Top 10 Games of the 1980s
- #1: ???
- #2: ???
- #3: ???
- #4: ???
- #5: ???
- #6: ???
- #7: ???
- #8: ???
- #9: Kasparov vs. Petrosian, 1981
- #10: Beliavsky vs. Nunn, 1985 (blog)
- See also: Top 10 of the 1990s, Top 10 of the 2000s, and Top 10 of the 2010s
This game features many instructive maneuvers, including 11.Bf1!, 19...f5!!, and Petrosian's incredible marching king conception.
Also incredible was the resource Kasparov missed beginning with 36.Bxc7!
Lessons:
- Strong defenders never give up.
- Great attackers have an excellent sense of where to place their pieces. (Bf1!)
- In special situations, the king can fend for himself.
My notes are below. Kasparov's annotation in "My Great Predecessors III" are incredible, and I highly recommend you read them!
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I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.
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