27 Years Ago, in Wijk

by Johannes Fischer
1/20/2026 – On 20 January 1999, Garry Kasparov played what may have been the greatest chess game of all time in Wijk. With a series of sacrifices he drove the black king onto the back rank, where he finally delivered checkmate. In a free reader, Robert Ris presents Kasparov’s masterpiece and other brilliancies from Wijk aan Zee.
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Erwin l’Ami saw the game in person in Wijk as a 13-year-old spectator.

Seeing that game live was one of my most electrifying chess experiences ever. The excitement was shared with all the other spectators as to all of us it was obvious that we were witnessing something truly special. The fact that Kasparov would score an amazing 10/13 and win the tournament is not the first thing I remember from this event. The masterpiece that Kasparov created against Topalov, and the experience of seeing it unfold up close, certainly is. (Erwin l’Ami, „My Wijk aan Zee“, in: Kings, Queens & Rookies: The Tata Steel Chess Tournament. A Celebration of 85 Years, New in Chess 2023, S.14.).

In every list of the greatest games of all time compiled over the past 25 years, this game by Kasparov appears at the top or close to it, and countless YouTube videos have analysed and retold it with admiration over the years. But for those who do not yet know it, or who would like to enjoy it once again, it is presented here with comments by Robert Ris.

In his free course Wijk aan Zee Classics: Great Games, Timeless Lessons, Robert Ris presents five more brilliant games from Wijk.

On this DVD a team of experts gets to the bottom of Kasparov's play. In over 8 hours of video running time the authors Rogozenko, Marin, Reeh and Müller cast light on four important aspects of Kasparov's play: opening, strategy, tactics and endgame.

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Topics: Garry Kasparov, Wijk aan Zee 1999
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.