MARK RUBERY CHESS
Garry Kimovich Kasparov turns 61 tomorrow. For twenty years Kasparov had strode the chess world like a colossus, and at an age where most players were on the decline, he was still clearly the number one player on the rating list when he decided to retire in 2005. After defeating Karpov for the world title in 1985 he went on to contest successfully some memorable matches with his arch-rival, before a match against England’s Nigel Short in 1993 was held outside the jurisdiction of FIDE. Even when he lost his title to Kramnik in 2000 there were few who doubted who was number one. Kasparov then pursued a career in politics with an equal measure of energy that he devoted to his beloved game and has since launched the Kasparov Chess Foundation that has held a number of important tournaments in this country.
Kasparov first made the chess world sit up and take notice of his prodigious talent when in 1979 as a sixteen year old he won the grandmaster tournament held in Banja Luka. Here we see him sweep aside the American champion.
Kasparov,Garry – Browne,Walter S (2540) [E12]
Banja Luka, 1979 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 c5 5.d5 Ba6 6.Qc2 exd5 7.cxd5 d6 8.Nc3 Nbd7 9.Bf4 Be7 10.g3 0–0 11.Bg2 Re8 12.0–0 Nh5 13.Bd2 Nhf6 14.Rfe1 Bf8 15.a4 Ng4 16.Nb5 Bb7 17.e4 a6 18.Na3 Rb8 19.h3 Ngf6 20.Bc3 Qc7 21.Nd2 Bc8 22.Bf1 g5 23.Nf3 h6 24.Nc4 b5 25.axb5 axb5 26.e5 Nxd5 27.Nxd6 Bxd6 28.exd6 Qd8 29.Ne5 Nb4 30.Qd2 Nxe5 31.Rxe5 Rxe5 32.Bxe5 Nc6 33.Qe3 Nxe5 34.Qxe5 c4 35.Bg2 Be6 36.Ra7 b4 37.Be4 c3 38.Bh7+ Kxh7 39.Qxe6 1–0
Partially due to laziness and partially due to the fact that I really like the actual process of the game, or because of the habit I picked up in my childhood of ending my analysis with an evaluation of “unclear”, I frequently put off thinking about the situation on the board. I even had a short dialogue with Garry Kimovich on that topic during a tournament we were playing together. I got an extremely interesting position, sank into thought, came to some conclusion, made a move and then left the stage to where Kasparov was pacing. He looked at me with some kind of pity and said: “You realise normal people only begin their analysis in such positions?!” (GM Peter Svidler)