Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov Replays His Four Most Memorable Games | The New Yorker

i'm garry kasparov and i'd like to share with you some of my most memorable moments at the chessboard [Music] it's game 24 against Anatoly Karpov the World Championship match 1987 in Sevilla Spain I was trailing 12 to 11 before the last game and as a world champion I had my last chance to retain the title by beating Karpov in this game 24 who forgave 24 I was not rushing from the beginning I tried to play a very quiet positional game waiting for carbs mistakes and the game was adjourned to be resumed next day and the position that you could see now it's hard to assess I still don't know when it's winning for white or its draw I would say it's 5050 white has an extra pawn as you could see but they're all poles on the same side limited number of pieces so it's very difficult to actually find any winning plan for white next day when I showed up at the stage I was a couple of minutes earlier I have to say that with my coaches we have been analyzing this but we couldn't find any decisive ideas and then I saw Karpov entering the stage that was the crucial moment because I could look at his eyes I could look at his body and he looked doomed I could immediately understand that he didn't believe he could defend this position and that's everything it's about your confidence that you can either win or defend and that will make all the difference for the outcome of the game so Karpov played g6 I was waiting just playing some unimportant 2527 even if these moves are unimportant it adds chances that you will make a mistake and after h4 carpel made a decisive mistake just amazing because after the adjournment he had time to analyze this position home and and this move it fixes the pawn structure but the problem is now white can exchange Queens and because these pawns are fixed is two weaknesses black position will be lost and eventually I proved my position by threatening to change Queens and pushed pushed and pushed and eventually on the game so that's one of the clearest moments where he could see the translation of your psychological witness into serious mistakes at the chessboard it is another memorable moment very painful one I have to admit 1996 the final match for a Grand Prix event rapid blitz chess that I played against Vishy Anand I think I have emphasized as a buoys game so it's a five minutes chess it's not about making long-term calculations this moves played by instincts we probably - blitz games the first one I was almost losing but managed to escape and that's the last decisive game I played was black totally outplayed him as you could look at the position black has two pawns with me and precise two extra pawns and total domination in the center so I don't know which move is not winning you know if you don't make a move you're still winning but I wanted just to exchange wins and of course you can take with a knight here and then after exchange of Queens it's an endgame with two extra pawns I think that most like animal have resigned if I just take with a knight on this three but suddenly I thought you know why to go tonight if I don't get me the same by exchanging Queens by taking who's Queen the problem is that why does not have there is not forced to take a queen all of a sudden has a move Queen takes d4 and instead of having winning position black now is lost because my queen is attacked my roof is attacked my bishop is attacked and there's nothing I can do about it so that's one of the more blunders I mean I couldn't see my face I could imagine this one the hundreds of hundreds of images showing my color frustration and it's Sam it cost me the victory the final but also it's kind of a memory score so it's just it's something that is just it's it's sitting there so even 20 years later I cannot look at this position without some sort of pain another very memorable and very painful moment it's a last game of my famous rematch against the blue certainly because I won the first one 1996 the match was a tie each side won one game with sweet Rose played with black pieces and I missed my chances game four and five and I I wasn't sure when I started the game and I picked up the line that I never played before but that was my hope that since I never played it before and it was not part of my opening repair to our that computer would not be ready and I play in this position very risky to be precise bad move h6 attacking the knife and provoking white to sacrifice a piece which is very strong it's maybe not winning but gives quite a very strong initiative but machines don't sacrifice the piece for a pawn without having a concrete outcome inside so I expected that computer would go back on here for because this move was not in the special database prepared by Grandmaster team that worked with deep blue and to my horror the blue immediately 226 which meant that the move was already put in I just couldn't play this game position was pretty dangerous and bad but you know I lost it in a few moves because I was shocked by the fact that I just made such miscalculation I found out later should many years later that I was right on both counts one is that machines didn't play such moves it was just against machines logic and that was admitted by the blue team saying d blue would have never made this move unless that very morning they decided to install this open position in the open book maybe it's the most famous game in the history of chess if you look at the sheer numbers who followed it many people believed it was a watershed moment machines established its dominance over human players now of course the features app on your mobile form today is stronger than the blue [Music] this is arguably most important game in my life game 24 against Anatoly Karpov me now second match 1985 I was leading 12 to 11 before the last game and Karpov had to win to retain his title and as you could see he achieved very promising position it's a white concentration on the kingside its menacing and white has quite a few options one is just it's I should always watch a 5 as the as a breakthrough another one is a little more subtle to play a bishop d4 just exchanging the bishop that is one of the key defenders of blacks King kind of like goes in 5 then he takes now because of the attack on f7 I have to take what's at night but then Queen actually changes its direction attacking h7 point so there are many options for white and it seems that like had nothing to do to improve position here after long thought I found one of the most difficult moves in my life and at first sight is a paradox because you don't want to put your rook in such an ugly position as a 7 but that's something that you have to do instead of whitener pushing on the kingside the game shifted to the center and a queenside and priority here is to defend the king rook here protects this pawn and neutralizes boughs of white threads and that's most important because if white initiative doesn't produce immediate results then eventually black can do something active and I remember that's when I play groupie 7 and carpet came back to the chessboard from his ring room instantly you could feel that he sends that something has changed he didn't like it so I actually began gaining even more confidence your confidence is not only good for you but somehow it transcends to your opponent and it undermines your opponent's confidence and the Karpov made a quite move King g'wan I put another look here which is totally odd because both rooks are just standing behind upon all these things but I'm just fighting his f5 and then after obi-wan I even play f5 and carbo to campus on I took on f6 and then eventually I profiles the pawn game ended up with a complicated position that's Karpov had to force a draw but he decided to press forward because draw didn't make any good to him and eventually I won the game won the match and won my title November 9 1985 you have to make tough decisions and you have to be able to resist pressure and survive after psychological blows and losses it's more visual character and with some good training it's not really hard to reach certain level the difficulty starts when you are trying to fight for big titles and just to climb to the top

Channel: The New Yorker

Views: 2,046,775

Rating: 4.9341626 out of 5

Keywords: chess, garry kasparov, chess value, chess opening position, chess defense, chess strategy, garry kasparov chess, king chess, chess pieces, garry kasparov strategy, chess gambit, gambit opening, chess opening, king's gambit, grandmaster, chess grandmaster, garry kasparov 2018, garry kasparov deep blue, garry kasparov vs deep blue, deep blue, kasparov, kasparov vs deep blue, masterclass garry kasparov, the new yorker, new yorker, new yorker video

Id: 6vYJyOGKCHE

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 19 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/GMaimneds]

There's actually an error in the video, certainly on the editing / visual effects front.

At 3:56, Kasparov mentions his queen, rook, and bishop being under attack, and the wrong rook is highlighted. The rook in the corner is still safe, but Kasparov's other rook is in danger from the queen along the diagonal.

[u/xd_melchior]

Short list:
- Releasing the finesse-bluff in a 4-player game of Hanabi, saving the red 5.
- Choosing giants in Terra Mystica in a game with a 1st round ST bonus.
- Bidding 41 for the 25 card in Power Grid.
- Securing all pre-requisite green cards in Age 1 in 7 Wonders, allowing him an easy path to generate 55 points through green alone by Age 3.

[u/LordAlvis]

I think his story about a game versus Deep Blue encapsulates why I dislike chess.

"...this move was not in the special database prepared by the team..."

It seems to me that to become a decent chess player I have to input a bunch of moves into my database; performance depends in a big way on my ability to memorize. That's just not fun (your mileage may vary).

[u/WhyYouLetRomneyWin]

So against DeepBlue, the computer traded a knight for a pawn and Kasparov still lost?

[u/ACSlayter]

That was really interesting.

I coach softball and I am constantly trying to teach my girls how to be confident and it just goes to show you that all champions have confidence in themselves, even when the odds are against them.