Hi everyone, it's Jerry. This is a game from the 2004 Reykjavik Rapid between Garry Kasparov
who is playing the white pieces versus Magnus Carlsen. At the time Kasparov was rated 2831
and Carlsen, still just a 13-year-old International Master, was rated 2484. This game lasted 32
moves but I think it's a pretty good one to go through because it involves arguably one
of the best ever chess players, Garry Kasparov, and the number one chess player as of the
July 2011 Fide rating list, Magnus Carlsen. One other interesting thing to note is that
about one month after this game was played... that's when Magnus Carlsen met all the requirements
for that Grandmaster title. So let's have a look at this. We have Kasparov opening up
with c4, Carlsen knight f6. Knight c3, g6 going for the King's Indian setup, and now
e4 putting a giant grip on that d5 square. So there is not going to be any d5 move. If
d5 did want to get played, it's going to have to be played right now. But we don't have
that. g6, e4, d6, d4. So with such a pawn center, black is certainly going to have to
strike at it at some point. And since d5 is no longer on the cards, we are going to need
either the c-pawn or e-pawn to strike at the white pawn center. So bishop g7, knight f3,
castle, bishop e2, and now e5. So black is going with this pawn striking in the center,
and now bishop to e3. There is no win of a pawn because even though this knight wins
the pawn in this position, it's also unprotected and it fails... well it could just be met
with just knight takes pawn, discovered attack on the knight. So instead we just have more
development by white. Bishop e3, developing the bishop, watching over d4. And now black
gives up the center capturing on d4. Instead we could see knight g4 attacking the bishop,
chasing it to g5. Just showing a few moves deep... that's as far as I want to take this
right here. f6, the bishop is hit and it has a big decision to make. Where exactly does
it want to reside? The knight on the other hand is either going to be kicked away to
h6, or it will voluntarily go to that h6 square where it will then pivot on f7 and be a pretty
good contributor to this e5 square which is a strong point for the black position. We
don't enter that territory, instead again black gives up the center. After pawn takes,
how exactly to recapture? Capturing with the queen would allow knight g4, both queen and
bishop being hit... something you want to avoid. Similarly bishop takes would allow
knight development with tempo. So that's why we have knight takes, and now c6 An important
point is this position right here because it may be very very tempting to just want
to let's say castle. And even though this is a developing move, it could run into some
trouble here because after rook e8, how exactly to meet the pressure against that e4 pawn?
Do you move that bishop again? Do you move that queen to let's say c2? Let's take a look
at the queen c2 move. First and foremost, does this queen really want to play the role
of watching over this e4 pawn? Probably not. And that move could be met with let's say
just knight g4, trying to chase that bishop away from the defense of the knight. White
would pretty much be forced into giving up the bishop pair. When there's a position here
which is still open, I don't know if that can really be recommended. Also if you do
f3, well that's now going to allow a move like d5, taking advantage of the fact that
this bishop is now unprotected. And so white could capture in this direction with that
pawn, but when it comes to this pawn it's pretty much powerless. You can't capture because
of rook takes bishop. So how to really maybe deal with this situation? Black makes this
c6 move in order to prepare d5. And so instead of castle in other words in this position,
we have white playing f3 taking this move into account. Preparing to meet this rook
to e8 move, which is played, with now not castle but bishop f2. What is this move doing?
It's getting out of harms way along this e-file and it's allowing this pawn to have more strength...
it has its strength back. And so this next move by black, d5, can now be met with e takes
d and that's exactly what we see. So e takes d, c takes d, and now c5. So a great change
has just occurred with regard to the pawn structure. We have a three on two with regard
to the queen side structure. And we also have an isolated pawn on d5. What that implies
is that d4 is going to be an important square for white to maintain control over. And the
reason for that is because if you don't have control over it, this pawn can push forward.
And this is a passed pawn, and you are going to want to keep it blockaded at its very earliest
point, and d4 is that point. The other thing to take note of is that since this pawn is
now on the c5 square, you'll note that its support points are going to be important for
black to be taking into account. So what are this pawns support points? Its support points
are both b6 and d6. b6 really isn't too much of a concern. It's not like there is going
to be some knight landing on the b6 square because we have the a7 pawn watching over
it. But you'll note that the other square, this d6 square, is very vulnerable to the
black side right here... it's a hole in the black position and it has that c5 pawn which
acts as a supporter for that... a knight let's say getting to that square. So certainly a
square to be cautious of is that d6 square. But before we even get there we have more
development for black, knight c6. Only now does white castle, and now knight to h5 looking
to pivot on f4, but white is able to conveniently defend that with queen to d2. And I use the
word convenient because I think that queen might have wanted to go there anyway, and
now she is doing a couple things. In fact she's watching over f4...she is stopping the
knight from pivoting there, and she's also vacating this d1 square for the queen rook.
After bishop e5... well what is that move looking to do? It's lending support to that
f4 square so this move is maybe available, but white just stops that with g3. And even
though it weakens the h3 square this really isn't that big of a problem really for the
white side. The pieces for the black side... if they can't really crash through, they're
just going to start to become a little bit misplaced, this guy right here in particular.
One other thing to note is that at the very early stage in the game, and by very early
I'm referring to move 2... when black makes this move g6, they are kind of saying that
one of their minor pieces is going to hold a greater value than any other minor pieces
that they have... that piece being their dark squared bishop. And the reason for that is
because what does g6 do exactly? Well it prepares for that bishop to be developed to g7, but
it's also weakening f6 and h6. And so if you are going to, on the black side, give up your
dark squared bishop in some manner, and if there are still let's say a lot of pieces
remaining on the board, in particular the queens, that could certainly turn out to be
a problem, and in this game it's a big problem. So after bishop to e5, we have g3. h3 is weakened.
Black tries to take advantage of that, the bishop is deep in the white position controlling
squares near the white king, but you'll note that even though the rook is attacked, it's
maybe just being chased away to a square it already wanted to go to. Certainly this file
is going to be a good one for a white rook. So we have rook e1. After knight to g7 this
is where it starts to maybe show itself a little bit that the coordination of the black
pieces is just a little bit off when we have I guess you'd say a fianchettoed knight. Not
really the ideal placement for a knight. The other pieces are maybe well-placed but this
knight right here on g7... not so hot. And usually it'll just take one poorly placed
piece in order for your position to maybe crumble. And the position really does crumble
very very fast unfortunately for black. Before we have any really strong move just yet, we
do have rook on a to d1 getting the last piece involved, bolstering the center right here.
These rooks very very well-placed... hard to suggest better placements for those rooks.
The knight on c3 classically developed, it's very well on that square. The bishops... it's
a really really nice setup for white. But again what's really glaring for the black
side unfortunately is that knight on g7. So rook to c8 trying to get some other piece
involved. But I think it's just too little too late at this point unfortunately because
of the idea... the really simple idea of getting a knight to that d6 square, and it starts
with knight on d to b5. And I don't know that there is really much that black can do in
this position. What black ended up choosing to do was kick the knight to that square.
And so after bishop takes knight, because we do have this fork going on, so that knight
move comes with that much more of an effect. Not only is it just pivoting on a hole, but
it's hitting both rooks. So bishop takes knight, pawn takes bishop, and now d4. This right
here is a pretty interesting position. It may be very tempting to just to want to go
ahead and grab that pawn, but white doesn't. They play knight e4, trying to just focus
on f6 and that's very telling in this game. But before we get to that point... if instead
we did have bishop takes pawn, there's an interesting variation that I took note of
in this game and it may have come in the following form: if knight captures bishop in this position,
queen captures, knight f5 can start to maybe cause white some problems. And I think black
could maybe wriggle out of this situation even though this pawn is very deep and looking
to press forward to d7 to fork both rooks. What exactly to do in this position? If let's
say the queen maybe retreats to d2. You'll note we can have now queen to b6, and this
is an interesting variation that I ended up finding. After this check, king h1, knight
to e3... this can be really problematic for white. Problematic to the point where black
could maybe get away with a draw at this point. The rook is being hit, and if white was maybe
banking on this particular move working, it actually doesn't. For example, if d7 in this
position, we could have bishop g2 check, king g1, knight takes rook discovered check, king
takes bishop, queen f2 check, king h1, and after knight takes knight it seems like white
is still going to be quite alright and they are going to be up a piece after the smoke
has cleared. But not so fast actually because after pawn takes knight, we now have rook
on c to d8. And after pawn takes rook, rook takes queen, and this queen's position is
great. She can't be dislodged, she's keeping the king right in the corner, we have a five
on five with regard to the pawns, and a situation here where this bishop is caught in a crossfire...
pinned in both directions. And the queen with its pressure on the rook... there is nothing
that this bishop can do. Even though it's present on the board it's kind of in a position
where it just can't move anywhere. And so there is no progress to be made unfortunately
in this position. And just showing let's say one quick draw in this position, it would
come in the following form: black could always just make a move like h5, and then move the
king back and forth on let's say g8 and h7 and there's no progress to be made on the
white side, and it would just turn out to be a draw. So I don't know that this would
all be forced... I think it is maybe forced at this point right here if we did have queen
to d2, but maybe there is something maybe a little bit different. But I thought that
that was one interesting variation which maybe white had spotted, and just wanted to avoid
altogether at this point right here. So instead of in other words capturing on d4, we had
knight to e4 focusing instead on A) preserving this bishop, and by doing so you are preventing
any nonsense that might occur against your king along this diagonal and B) keeping again
a close eye on that f6 square. So bishop f5 unfortunately is met with a really nice move,
and that is d7 landing a fork to these two rooks. And if queen takes, this is going to
be "lights out" very quick. So instead bishop takes is necessary and only now at this point
do we have bishop takes on d4. Because after knight takes bishop... that is the move that
gets played but you'll note that getting that knight to that f6 square is going to be very
troublesome to the black side After knight takes bishop, queen takes knight, once again
this knight is getting ready to pivot on f6. Again black does not have a dark squared bishop.
f6, h6... if you could maybe access either of those squares, look to do that in your
own games. Certainly f6 is going to be the one white is looking to get to from such a
position here. There is no way out unfortunately for black at this point. It's just downhill,
there is no way to save the game. So how this actually finishes up is knight to f5. There's
nothing really else to do....this bishop is hit twice, the knight is getting ready to
go to f6. After knight to f5 the queen is being attacked. White of course just has to
be maybe a little bit careful here not to just go forward with knight to f6 check, king
h8, and this queen is being hit. And she can't move to a square where she still keeps a close
eye on f6. And so if the queen now takes on d7, we would have queen takes knight and black
is getting out of any trouble. So instead we just have, of course not just the knight
going to f6, but just queen takes bishop and this game finishes up very quickly. Queen
gives check, king goes to the corner. There's just a little bit of pressure that black is
able to place on white, but after white consolidates... that's going to be very telling. White is
certainly up a piece at this point, queen takes pawn. White is up material, so you offer
queen exchanges. What else is there really to do? After the exchange of queens, bishop
c4, knight d4 hitting on f3, but after rook to e3 to defend that pawn... since white has
now consolidated and there's no more pressure that black can place on white... black ends
up resigning at this point. So that's all for this video. As always, I hope you got
something out of it. Take care, bye.