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Kasparov vs Kramnik: the Ultimate Blitz Battle!
The 1995 Intel Grand Prix final produced the pairing everyone wanted to see: the newly recrowned Garry Kasparov vs Kramnik, the 20 year old Russian tipped by Garry himself to be the next world champion.
Some had wondered what kind of form Kasparov would be in following a draining title match against Viswanathan Anand but he shook off any doubts, beating Morozevich, Georgiev and Anand 6-0 en route to the final.
Kramnik's margin of victory was slimmer but still conclusive as he beat Frenchmen Etienne Bacrot and Joel Lautier plus Vassily Ivanchuk by the same 1.5-0.5 score.
This would be the 5th mini-match featuring Kasparov vs Kramnik in the Intel series with honors even. Vladimir Kramnik has won the first 2 battles, Kasparov the last 2.
In this video, we join commentators GM Daniel King and GM Maurice Ashley for the first game of this thrilling encounter, the winner of which would win 1st place and an $80,000 prize. Garry has White, opens 1.e4 and we soon see a Bb5 Sicilian. Unusually, Kasparov opts for a quiet, positional line, gaining space with a timely c3-c4 move, pushing Kramnik's knight back.
More surprises as Kasparov opts to trade Queens on move 11. However, he soon reaches a position where he controls most of the good squares, leaving Kramnik with the tough task of unraveling his pieces. Kasparov stares at the board, sensing possible tactics as Black's King is the only defender of his d6 Bishop. GMs King and Ashley start looking at some violent continuations around a Nd5 sacrifice but no definite win is found.
Garry continues to gain space with f2-f4 but seems perplexed: he shakes his head, sure that there must be a breakthrough but unable to find it. Eventually he pushes c4-c5, a move described by GM Ashley as "taking all the fire out of White's possible advances". In other words, by committing to c5, Kasparov relinquished control of d5 and no longer has the option of pushing b5.
A couple of moves later, Vladimir is able to exchange off Rooks, relieving a lot of pressure - there will be no more tactics along the d-file. Kasparov's frustration is visible as he realizes he's let Kramnik off the hook.Now the game enters a new phase as the 2 Super GMs conduct a minor piece war for 37 moves.
Watch the rest of the video to see how this fantastic contest ends! And, if you enjoyed this free preview, check out the full course https://www.ichess.net/shop/intel-grand-prix-paris-1995/.
