Kasparov versus the World

Kasparov versus the World (Kasparov against the world) is a chess game , from 21 June to 22 October 1999 on the Internet portal MSN was held. The then world chess champion Garry Kasparov played against internet users who voted on their moves. The game that Kasparov won after moving 62 is considered the most- analyzed single chess game.

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Kasparov led the white stones. The reflection time was 24 hours per train. The Internet users were given moves by four young chess talents ( Étienne Bacrot , Florin Felecan, Irina Krush and Elisabeth Pähtz ), which could be discussed in an Internet forum. In addition, the English grandmaster Daniel King commented on the current game. The move that most Internet users voted for was carried out.

Course of the game

Kasparov opened with 1. e2 – e4 and chose the Moscow variant against the Sicilian Defense , ECO code B52. On move 10 Black played an innovation proposed by Irina Krush. Black sacrificed a quality against two pawns. The then fifteen-year-old Krush subsequently developed into the leader of the “world team” and coordinated the analyzes , which were also contributed by the Russian grandmaster Alexander Chalifman . From the 10th to the 50th move, their proposed moves were chosen without exception. Finally, there was a complicated queen ending , in which Kasparov Although a pawn down, but had a more advanced pawns possessed. It was an endgame with seven stones, for which at the time of the game no endgame database was available that would have made a perfect game possible.

On move 51 Black made a mistake; instead of b7 – b5, the move Kb1 – a1 suggested by Krush would have led to a draw . There were allegations against the organizer MSN that it was possible to register several times to participate in the voting and thus to manipulate the result. On move 54, the move Qd1 – d5 suggested by Bacrot but not chosen would still have held a draw. Another controversy arose on the 58th move when the email with the move proposal from Krush was delayed and was only put to the vote when numerous votes had already been cast for other move proposals. At this point in time the position was already objectively lost, but the chosen move made it easier for Kasparov to manage the profits. In protest, a majority on the 59th move voted for an obviously gross mistake, but MSN took the move out of the ranking. After White's 62nd move, a majority of 51 percent of those who voted voted to give up the game. Kasparov had previously indicated a forced profit variant and announced “ Matt in 25 moves”.

Game notation

Kasparov – The World

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Position after 51 Qh7

Kasparov – The World 1-0

(Internet) zone.com , June 21, 1999-22. October 1999

Sicilian Defense , B52

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5 + Bd7 4. Bxd7 + Qxd7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. 0–0 g6 8. d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bg7 10. Nde2 De6 11. Nd5 Qxe4 12. Nc7 + Kd7 13.Nxa8 Qxc4 14.Nb6 + axb6 15.Nc3 Ta8 16. a4 Ne4 17.Nxe4 Qxe4 18.Qb3 f5 19.Bg5 Qb4 20.Qf7 Be5 21.h3 Rxa4 22.Rxa4 Qxa4 23.Qxh7 Bxb2 24.Qxg6 Qe4 25. Qf7 Bd4 26. Qb3 f4 27. Qf7 Be5 28. h4 b5 29. h5 Qc4 30. Qf5 + De6 31. Qxe6 + Kxe6 32. g3 fxg3 33. fxg3 b4 34.Bf4 Bd4 + 35. Kh1 b3 36. g4 Kd5 37. g5 e6 38. h6 Ne7 39. Rd1 e5 40. Be3 Kc4 41. Bxd4 exd4 42. Kg2 b2 43. Kf3 Kc3 44. h7 Ng6 45. Ke4 Kc2 46. Rh1 d3 47. Kf5 b1D 48. Rxb1 Kxb1 49. Kxg6 d2 50. h8D d1D 51.Dh7 diagram. b5 52. Kf6 + Kb2 53. Qh2 + Ka1 54. Qf4 b4 55. Qxb4 Qf3 + 56. Kg7 d5 57. Qd4 + Kb1 58. g6 De4 59. Qg1 + Kb2 60. Qf2 + Kc1 61. Kf6 d4 62. g7 1: 0

Reviews

After the game, Kasparov was very impressed with the quality and said that he put a lot of effort into his analysis. The book about the competition, written by Kasparov and King, has 202 pages and thus holds a record for the most extensive analysis of a single game.

From the perspective of the organizer MSN, the game was a complete success. In total, over 58,000 participants from more than 75 countries took part in the voting, the website had more than 3 million visitors and more than 28 million page views . On average, over 5,000 votes were received per train vote.

The game was also viewed as an experiment to find out whether the collaboration of many people via the Internet could lead to a performance that was beyond the ability of the individual participants. Superficially, this can be affirmed based on the game that Kasparov was only able to win after a long struggle. It should be noted, however, that there were many flames and unqualified contributions in the analysis forum , so that it is primarily due to the commitment of an individual ( Irina Krush ) that one could offer serious resistance to the world's best player. In the end, the “difference in the coordination and management of the computer support of the two sides” became noticeable in the ladies endgame, which was precisely led by Kasparov. This factor may have tipped the balance in favor of the world champion.

literature

• Garri Kasparov, Daniel King: Kasparov against the world. The story of the greatest online challenge . KasparovChess Online, New York 2000, ISBN 0-9704813-0-6 .

Web links

• Kasparov vs. The World ( Memento of March 3, 2000 in the Internet Archive )
• Complete Commentary by Move ( Memento of August 22, 2000 in the Internet Archive ) Documentation of the move recommendations of the world team and the Internet votes (English)
• Hartmut Metz: Garri Kasparow checkmates the world .
• Kenneth W. Regan: Kasparov Versus the World . (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Microsoft challenged over Net chess . BBC News, October 19, 1999.
2. ^ Danny King : Kasparov versus The World Game Overview . ( Memento from January 29, 2000 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ Edward Winter: Chess records . (As of August 30, 2009)
4. ↑ World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov Defeats World Team In Kasparov vs. the World on MSN.com . Microsoft press release, October 25, 1999.
5. ↑ Michael Nielson: Kasparov versus the World . August 21, 2007.
6. ↑ Igor Stohl : Instructive masterpieces from modern chess practice . Gambit Publications, London 2003, ISBN 1-904600-04-2 , p. 342.