Kasparov, Garry – Deep Blue

This move is never seen at Grandmaster level, for the simple reason that it hands over the advantage of the first move to Black.

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Date: May 6, 1997
Location: New York, NY USA
Tournament: IBM Kasparov vs. Deep Blue Rematch
Round:
Opening: A00 Irregular Openings
Submitted by: Daniel King
Published on: February 20, 2020

[Event "IBM Kasparov vs. Deep Blue Rematch"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1997.05.06"] [Round "3"] [White "Kasparov, Garry"] [Black "Deep Blue"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Opening "Mieses opening"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Daniel King"] 1. d3 {This move is never seen at Grandmaster level, for the simple reason that it hands over the advantage of the first move to Black.} 1...e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c4 Nf6 4. a3 {This is a standard position from the Sicilian Defense, but with colors reversed and a tempo down, and that is enough to confuse Deep Blue. There are simply too many options to consider in the opening, even with its enormous calculating power.} 4...d6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 {Activating the bishop on the long diagonal, and building a solid home for White's king.} 7...Be6 8. O-O Qd7 {I think most humans would be worried about a knight arriving at g5 and would play 8...h6 first.} 9. Ng5 {The knight move complicates the position, so it's no wonder that the world champion thought for over twenty minutes before going down this path. Black must preserve the bishop with either 9...Bg4 or...} 9...Bf5 10. e4 Bg4 11. f3 Bh5 12. Nh3 {Having sidelined the bishop Kasparov retreats his knight preparing to storm his pawns down the board on the kingside. His strategy here bears some similarity to the Kings Indian Defense - with colors reversed - in which Kasparov is a great expert.} 12...Nd4 13. Nf2 h6 {A cautious, but probably wise, decision giving the bishop an escape square in case Kasparov does attempt a pawn storm.} 14. Be3 c5 15. b4 b6 16. Rb1 Kh8 {It's hard to say what this move is about. It might be that Deep Blue envisages a time when the position will open up, in which case the king is best placed tucked away in the corner.} 17. Rb2! {After the game, Kasparov demonstrated the following variation: 17.h4 a6 18.Bxd4 cxd4 19.Bh3 Qc7 20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.cxd5 . The point of h4 was to keep Black's bishop from moving to g5 from where it controls c1 and can settle on e3. But now White is set to dominate the c-file as the bishop on h3 controls c8. } 17...a6 18. bxc5 bxc5 19. Bh3 Qc7 20. Bg4 Bg6 21. f4 {White's strategy is directed against the bishop on g6: he wants to bury it by playing the pawn to f5.} 21...exf4 22. gxf4! {Kasparov has a powerful pawn center; he has a knight which is itching to leap into d5 once Black's knight can be shifted from f6; and Black's bishops have no scope at all. A human with this position against Kasparov would feel completely demoralized.} 22...Qa5 {Deep Blue abandons its fight for squares and grabs a pawn instead.} 23. Bd2 Qxa3 24. Ra2 Qb3 25. f5 Qxd1 26. Bxd1 Bh7 27. Nh3 Rfb8 28. Nf4 Bd8 29. Nfd5 Nc6 30. Bf4 Ne5 31. Ba4 Nxd5 32. Nxd5 a5? {a poor positional decision by Deep Blue} 33. Bb5 Ra7 34. Kg2 g5 35. Bxe5+ dxe5 36. f6! {This is the crucial move. Black's position is cut in two. There is little connection between kingside and queenside which is potentially extremely dangerous for Black's king. Although Kasparov is a pawn down his superbly placed knight and bishop almost single-handedly dominate Black's pieces (with a bit of help from the pawn on f6).} 36...Bg6 37. h4 gxh4 38. Kh3 Kg8 39. Kxh4 Kh7 40. Kg4 Bc7! {Deep Blue is prepared to give back a pawn to free his position } 41. Nxc7 Rxc7 42. Rxa5 Rd8 43. Rf3 Kh8 44. Kh4 Kg8 45. Ra3 Kh8 46. Ra6 Kh7 {This prevents the positional threat 47. Bc6 Rd6, and White can't escape the pin as there is no rook check on a8.} 47. Ra3 Kh8 48. Ra6 1/2-1/2