chess
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Your support makes all the difference.How much do great players know, how much do they calculate at the board, and how much do they rely on intuition? When Garry Kasparov accepted Anand's piece sacrifice with 11...hxg5 in this game from the Intel Grand Prix in Paris, we can be fairly certain that a good deal of what followed is lurking somewhere on his laptop computer.
The idea of offering a piece with h4 to open the h-file in such positions is far from new. Kasparov must have known that 12...Ng4! and 13...e5 would give the necessary breathing space to create counterplay while the white queen slides in front of her rook. Since Anand needed a win to stay in the contest, he had to try 19.Rhxd6 instead of inviting a draw with 19.Qg6+ Kg8 20.Qh7+.
Was Kasparov's queen sacrifice in reply a piece of inspired defence, or was the position after 23...Rh8 already on his database? One cannot be sure, but on past evidence, it would not be surprising.
White: Viswanathan Anand
Black: Garry Kasparov
1 e4 c5 16 Qh2 f5
2 Nf3 d6 17 Qh7+ Kf7
3 d4 cxd4 18 Rh6 Bxg5
4 Nxd4 Nf6 19 Rhxd6 f3+
5 Nc3 Nc6 20 Kb1 Qxd6
6 Bg5 e6 21 Rxd6 fxg2
7 Qd2 Be7 22 Qh2 Bf3
8 0-0-0 0-0 23 Qg3 Rh8
9 f4 h6 24 Qxg5 Rh1+
10 h4 Nxd4 25 Nd1 g1(Q)
11 Qxd4 hxg5 26 Rd7+ Kf8
12 hxg5 Ng4 27 Qxf5+ Kg8
13 Be2 e5 28 Qxf3 Rf8
14 Qg1 exf4 29 Qb3+ Kh7
15 Bxg4 Bxg4 White resigns
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