Bisik-Bisik with Garry Kasparov – Part 2

By Edwin Lam Choong Wai

Garry Kasparov made his first trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, back in mid November 2009, in order to speak at the Youth Engagement Summit (YES) 2009. I had the opportunity to catch up with the best player in chess history, ever, over a “Bisik-Bisik” session for ChessBase at the Putrajaya Convention Center. Our candid 40-minute chat covered a variety of topics. In the first part of the Bisik-Bisik session, Garry talked about his recent speaking engagements across Asia, his fascination with Malaysia, growing up years and most importantly, his collaboration with Magnus Carlsen.

In this part 2 Garry took a walk down memory lane to talk about the preparations made for his very first match against Karpov and the recent K-K anniversary exhibition match.

Garry Kasparov: Playing a title match against the world champion himself was fundamentally different to any other Candidates Match before that. I knew then that I would be up against the world champion, a fighter who is most experienced in play at the highest level with a totally different resistance threshold. The 1984 match was one that without a maximum set number of games – the winner was supposed to be the first person to score six wins. Since Karpov had lost quite rarely back then, in order to win this match, I knew that I had to regularly make moves of the highest quality, and this demanded far more serious preparation. I had a five-month time before the match to rest and to prepare for the unknown test. I had a group of four chess trainers, Nikitin, Shakarov, Vladimirov and Timoschenko throughout my preparation. Dorfman came to assist me at the start of the main match, while Adorjan participated in the final pre-match training session. This was a very small team compared to the resources that Karpov had, but still, what mattered was that we had a plan to prepare for the match.

Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov at the 1984 match

Initially, my trainers and I looked at Karpov’s games and drew up a competitive and creative portrait of him, picking out the strong and weak aspects of his play. After that, we compiled a list of chess openings that were most likely to occur in the match, with a preference to variations leading to complicated and at times intricate positions. From here onwards, we began concrete chess opening preparations. This is a most important part of the preparation for any important chess match, and our work here included studying a number of variations for both the black and white sides of the same chess opening. All these work, which were the result of hours and hours of prolonged brainstorming together with my highly-qualified trainers throughout a five-month period, helped me greatly in the critical situation, which arose soon after the start of the match.

The 1984 match was abandoned after 48 games

But, the biggest achievements in this pre-match preparation were above all, my ability to start the match with Karpov with a creative approach to solving a broad grasp of chess opening problems as well as a readiness on my part to engage in a battle with Karpov in any chess openings’ dispute in the most varied situations.

One of the key challenges the Kasparov team had prior to the second match was time. We realized that time was short and we began preparations began virtually the day after Campomanes’ announcement of the match. We drew up a six-month schedule that included both relaxation and independent work, besides three twenty-day sessions with my trainers and helpers. As part of my preparation I also played two training matches with GMs Hubner and Andersson in May 1985. And, thereafter began my first of the three twenty-day sessions with my trainers. Here, we continued our work on chess openings, besides working to improve my positional technique. We also included as part of the session some form of physical training, whereby we went running barefoot along the beach besides swimming in the sea, cycling and football.

Kasparov vs Karpov 1985 in the Tchaikowsky Theatre in Moscow

The summer months went by very quickly and in September 1985 the match with Karpov commenced. Here, I felt far more confident than say, one year back. I had become stronger and had more stamina and my style of play was more balanced and universal. My store of opening ideas had been thoroughly replenished and I am now ready for a renewed battle with the mighty Karpov!

You can’t prepare without the computer. You must be constantly updated with all the improvements in the modern-day game of chess. Now that I am working with Magnus, Alexander Shakarov and I will always go to TWIC and we will look at the regular issues, just to see the games – all the relevant ones. You have to follow, you have to update your database and you have to be aware about the improvements. And, those are just general tournaments. As for, big tournaments like Moscow, I am always following them. You can’t be behind. It’s not like 20 years ago, when you knew you could benefit from a game that was played somewhere where nobody else saw it. Today, in a week, or in 24 hours, or live, people can see all these games. So that’s why you have to be very creative, because everybody have access to the same information. Your creativity is more important, because you have to process these games and invent something new.

Kasparov and Carlsen working on notebook computers and with a chessboard

The K-K match in Valencia was a great story. But, it is such a pity that the K-K match was again the biggest story in the world of chess. It showed that the chess world has made no real progress because, if the nostalgic K-K match in 2009 had bigger coverage than Anand-Kramnik’s world championship match in Bonn, then this is bad news for all in the world of chess. I mean, you can’t imagine that the match Borg-McEnroe today can have bigger coverage than say, Federer-Nadal? There is something wrong and I think the world of chess has stagnated. I played the match against Karpov to drive some awareness about the game and to re-construct the good old days when chess was really popular and made it to the front page of almost every major newspaper in the world. I liked the experience, although the match was not really of any significance.

The 2009 Kasparov-Karpov match in the Centro Cultural Bancaja in Valencia

Something we have sorely missed: Kasparov in serious OTB play

12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov once again faced his historical nemesis

I think Karpov was a little out of shape. Well, not that I am in my best shape right now. I mean, Kramnik called both of us “rusty” after the simultaneous in Zurich. He is right, and I am not going to argue with his assessment there, as Karpov played for seven-and-a-half hours and I played for six hours and 15 minutes. But, one thing Kramnik forgot to mention is that I had the strongest simultaneous – the highest average amongst the players, higher than Kramnik, Anand or Topalov. I also didn’t lose a single game, and I conceded only four draws. These are little things that he should mention. But, again, I am not trying to pretend that I am as good as 20 years’ ago. That said, I didn’t lose in the simultaneous.

Kasparov and Karpov with the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand in Zurich

For me, playing in simultaneous displays is kind of a compensation for not playing chess. So, when I do play in simultaneous, I take it seriously, and if I have strong players as opponents, I want to beat them. For instance, in that display in Zurich that I made four draws, I beat the top three, and all of them were 2300+ players. I beat all of the top three and I played some decent games. Kramnik cited one of these games, saying it was a good position. He is right, probably that I am rusty compared to my best years. But, still, I am capable of finding good moves.

© Edwin Lam Choong Wai 2009

A game from the Zürich Simul by Garry Kasparov

Kasparov in the simultneous exhibition in Zurich in August 2009

Working hard at every board [simul pictures by Christian Bossert]

After the simultaneous exhibition mention above – it took place in Zürich in late August 2009 – the ChessBase team asked Garry Kasparov to show us one of the games. He complied willingly, selecting one against a player with a 2000+ rating. With the game still fresh in his mind Kasparov analysed with Matthias Deutschmann, a player in the German Bundesliga, who took notes during the session. Deutschmann is a well-known humorist and cabaret artist, who has supplied the German voice to our chess program Fritz.

Kasparov - N.N. (Board 8) (2000) [A31]
Zurich 200 Year Jubilee simul, 22.08.2009 [Deutschmann,Matthias]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d5 6.cxd5 Bb4+. Kasparov himself has played Bc5 in this position. 7.N1c3 0-0 8.a3

8...Bc5 9.Na4! Bb6 10.Nxb6 Qxb6

11.Nc3. Fritz prefers the line 11.e4 Nxe4 12.Be3 Qd8 13.Qc2 Bf5 14.Bd3 Qd7 15.Rc1 Na6 16.Nxa7 Qxd5 17.Ke2 Rfd8 18.Rhd1 Nxf2 19.Bxf2 e4 20.Bb5 Bg4+ 21.Ke1 Bxd1 22.Rxd1, but Kasparov's knight retreat is simple and good! 11...Bf5 12.e3 Na6 13.f3 e4 14.g4 Bg6 15.f4 h5 16.f5 Bh7 17.g5 Ng4 18.Qd4

18...Rfe8. 18...Nc5 19.Be2 (19.h3 Qd6 20.hxg4 Qg3+ 21.Kd1 Qf3+ 22.Kc2 Qxh1 23.Bd2 Rac8) 19.Bb5 Ne5 20.0-0 [20.Qxb6 axb6+–] 20...Nf3+ 21.Rxf3 Qxd4 22.exd4 exf3 23.Bxe8 Rxe8 24.Bf4. An alternative considered by Kasaprov was 24.f6 gxf6 25.gxf6 Re1+ 26.Kf2 Rh1 27.Kxf3 Rf1+ 28.Kg3 Rxf6 29.Bf4+–. 24...Bxf5 25.Kf2 b5

26.Be5? A self-critical Kasparov gave this move a question mark. Better was 26.b4 "Cutting off the knight!" (Kasparov); 26.Nxb5 Re2+ 27.Kxf3 Bg4+ 28.Kg3 Rxb2 29.Nxa7 Rb3+ 30.Kg2 Bf3+ 31.Kg1 Bxd5 32.Nc8. In this variation Black would still have some play. 26...b4. 26...Bg4 27.Kg3 f6 28.gxf6 gxf6 29.Bxf6 Rf8 30.Be7 Rf7 31.Bc5+–. 27.Nb5?! "Not the best continuation." What is wrong about simply taking the pawn on b4? 27.axb4 Nxb4 28.Kxf3 a6 29.Ra4 Nd3 30.Rxa6 Nxb2 31.Ne4 Bg6 32.d6+–. 27...Rc8?! 27...Bg4! 28.Nd6 Rb8 29.axb4 Rxb4 30.Ra2 (30.Rxa6? Rxb2+ 31.Kg3 Rg2+ 32.Kf4 f2–+) 30...Nb8 31.h3 Bxh3 32.Rxa7 Rxb2+ 33.Kxf3 Bg2+ 34.Ke3 Bxd5 35.g6 Rb3+ 36.Kd2 fxg6 37.Rxg7+ Kf8=.

28.Kxf3 Rc2 29.Bd6 Rxb2 30.axb4 Nxb4 31.Bxb4 Rxb4 32.Nd6 Bg4+ 33.Ke4 Rb2 34.Rxa7 Re2+ 35.Kd3 Rxh2

36.g6!! Very elegant and study-like! For a game in a simultaneous exhibition this is quite sensational It is interesting to see how long the best chess engines in the world take to find this line. 36...fxg6 37.Ra8+ Kh7 38.Nf7 g5 39.Rh8+ Kg6 40.Ne5+ Kf5 [40...Kf6 41.Nxg4++–] 41.Rf8# 1-0. [Click to replay]

ChessBase articles on the Karpov-Kasparov match in Valencia

Previous Bisik-Bisik articles by Edwin Lam

About the author

Caption: Jumpa di Kuala Lumpur! (which is Malay language for ‘see you in Kuala Lumpur’)

Working full-time as a Public Relations Manager of Procter & Gamble Asia Pte Ltd based in Singapore, Edwin Lam is highly passionate about the game of chess. Having grown up with an artistic feel of life, he somehow went about doing a degree in Commerce at Monash University’s main Clayton campus in Melbourne. Being the only child in the family, he had to follow his heart, not his head, and chose to return home to Malaysia, upon graduation. Knowing something was amiss in life, he started fiddling with the advertising industry, when he started working. Here, he deepened his love for writing – be it copy-writing, copy strategy development, article writing or even translation work.

As a lifestyle writer, his work has been published in Plan B and J-Trend based here in Kuala Lumpur. As a chess columnist, he has written for a host of international publications. Beginning with a regular column in the now defunct Philippine-based Chess Asia, he has branched out and contributed to the Melbourne-based Chess Kids as well as Australian Chess, which is under the editorship of FM Brian Jones. Since the beginning of 2007, he has also been contributing chess articles and chess book reviews to the Arvind Aaron-led Chess Mate magazine (India) as well as Black & White (India). One of his most well known articles is the nice profile he wrote about GM Yasser Seirawan that appeared in the US-based ChessCafe.com. He also contributes regularly to the world’s top chess news site, Chessbase.com.