Yusupov Goes All In For Checkmate! - Top 10 Of The 1990s - Ivanchuk vs. Yusupov, 1991

In 1991, Vasyl Ivanchuk was 22 and ranked 2nd in the world, an incredible achievement. The Candidates' quarterfinal match in that year between Ivanchuk and Yusupov initially favored Ivanchuk who gained an early lead and needed only a draw in the final game to clinch victory in the match. Drawing on demand would never prove Ivanchuk's forte though as Yusuppov defeated him brilliantly forcing the match into rapid tiebreaks.

In the first game of the tiebreaks, Ivanchuk had White and gained an objective advantage against the King's Indian Defense (a new opening for Yusupov), but Yusupov committed himself fully to the kingside and soon worked up some incredible threats.

A misstep by Ivanchuk allowed Yusupov's threats to materialize. Ivanchuk gave back almost all of his massive material advantage, but even that was insufficient to stave off checkmate.

This is probably Yusupov's finest game (though he was personally unimpressed), but for Ivanchuk, it proved an early indication of a lack of consistency that would plague this brilliant "Chucky" throughout his career.

Top 10 Games of the 1990s

• #1: ???
• #2: ???
• #3: Ivanchuk vs. Yusupov, 1991
  
• #4: Ivanchuk vs. Shirov, 1996 (blog)
• #5: Isaev vs. Timoshenko, 1991 (blog)
  
• #6: Ivanchuk vs. Anand, 1991 (blog)
• #7: Nunn vs. Nataf, 1999 (blog)
  
• #8: Kasparov vs. Kramnik, 1996 (blog)
  
• #9: Kramnik vs. Shirov, 1994 (blog)
  
• #10: Passov vs. Sammour-Hasbun, 1991 (blog)
  
• See also: Top 10 of the 2000s, and Top 10 of the 2010s

My notes are below.

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