A repertoire based on his games features theoretically sharp and deep lines, especially with the black pieces.
White
Kasparov's most-common opening move was 1.d4, which becomes more clearly dominant if one also includes games that began 1.c4 Nf6 2.d4. After 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 he generally avoided the Nimzo-Indian and instead played 3.Nf3.
Against the Queen's Indian: 3...b6 he played in almost equal numbers a3, Nc3 and g3, but easily scored best (83%) with 4.a3, which was also (narrowly) his first choice. The main line continues 4...Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5, at which point Kasparov liked 7.e3, and if 7...Be7 (the normal reply) he played 8.Bb5+ c6 9.Bd3. Today's popular fourth-move alternative for Black, 4...Ba6, only features once in Kasparov's games in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database. He won after going down the mainline 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Nb3 Nc6 10.Bg5.
If Black switched to the Queen's Gambit Declined with 3...d5 Kasparov liked 4.Nc3, often also reaching the position from the move-order 1...d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3. After 4...Be7 5.Bg5 h6 (the most popular choice with Kasparov's opponents) he liked 6.Bxf6!? Bxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1. But after 5...0-0 6.e3 h6, rather than transposing to the previous line, he usually played 7.Bh4!? Clearly there is nothing wrong with this approach - it served Kasparov well enough! - but for the practical club player it may be better, at least at first, to study only Bxf6 or Bh4 systems. If Black went for a Semi-Slav set-up with 4...c6, a position Kasparov often reached from a Slav move-order: 1...d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6, Kasparov mainly played 5.Bg5, meeting 5...dxc4 with 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.exf6 Bb7 12.g3 (there are more than 1,200 games with this position in Mega20). Not all blacks fancy the complications and deep theory of 5...dxc4, which is why by far the most-popular move is 5...Nbd7, which Kasparov usually met with 6.e3, allowing the Cambridge Springs Defence: 6...Qa5, which he normally met with 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2. Against the Ragozin: 4...Bb4 Kasparov liked 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5.
Against the Bogo-Indian: 3...Bb4+ Kasparov liked the slightly unusual 4.Nc3!?, after which the main line runs 4...b6 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bg3 Ne4. Kasparov reached this position four times, scoring a win and a draw with 9.Qc2 and two wins with 9.Nd2.
Against 3...c5 Kasparov varied his replies, narrowly favouring another slightly unusual move, 4.e3.
Against the King's Indian: 2...g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 he scored 88% with 5.Nf3, normally going down the mainline 5...0-0 6.Be2 e5, but then preferring the slightly unusual 7.Be3 (and if 7...Ng4 then 8.Bg5).
Against the Grünfeld: 3...d5 Kasparov liked 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5, four times continuing 8.Be3 and three times 8.Rb1.
Against the Benoni: 2...c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 Kasparov liked 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+, meeting the main reply 8...Nfd7 with 9.a4 0-0 10.Nf3. Against the Benko Gambit: 3...b5 he liked 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6.
I have covered much of the Queen's Gambit Declined: 1...d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 above, but that leaves the Alatortsev: 3...Be7, which Kasparov liked to meet with 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 (4.Nf3 Nf6 would be a simpler repertoire fit), and the Tarrasch: 3...c5, which Kasparov only faced four times, twice playing 4.e3!? and twice playing the main move 4.cxd5.
I also covered the Semi-Slav above, but against the pure Slav: 2...c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 Kasparov liked 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 bb4 8.0-0, usually meeting 8...0-0 with 9.Qe2 but preferring against 8...Nbd7 the somewhat unusual 9.Qb3 a5 10.Na2 Be7 11.Nh4!?, declining to grab the b7 pawn whether Black continued 11...Bg6 or 11...Be4.
Against the Queen's Gambit Accepted: 2...dxc4 he liked 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4.
Against 1...d6 Kasparov liked 2.e4 Nf6 3.f3!? g6 4.Be3 0-0 5.Qd2 with what can be thought of as an Accelerated 150 Attack!
Against the Dutch: 1...f5 Kasparov mostly played 2.Bg5!?
Against 1...e6 he usually transposed to a French: 2.e4 d5, scoring best (92%!) with the Tarrasch: 3.Nd2. A simpler repertoire choice is to allow a delayed Dutch with 2.c4 f5, after which 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 is a position Kasparov reached in three games, winning them all.
Black v 1.e4
Play 1...c5 aiming to reach a Sicilian Najdorf: 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6.
Against 6.Be3 he mainly played 6...e6 and was happy to follow the mainline 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.g4, at which point he played both the equally popular moves 9...Nb6 and 9...h6, scoring better with the former.
Against 6.Be2 he mainly played 6...e6 and was happy to follow the mainline 7.0-0 Be7 8.f4 0-0 9.Kh1 Qc7 10.a4 Nc6 11.Be3 Re8 12.Bf3 Rb8 13.g4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 e5 15.fxe5 dxe5 16.Ba7 Ra8 17.g5 Rd8 18.Qe2 Ne8 19.Be3 Be6 20.Qf2. Kasparov reached this position twice, beating Topalov with 20...Qc4 and drawing with Anand with 20...Rdc8. This is an example of how deep the theory goes in some of Kasparov's favourite lines.
Against 6.Bc4 he played 6...e6 but after the main reply 7.Bb3 he tried four different moves. Most popular with Kasparov were 7...Nbd7 and 7...b5, but he scored 14 percentage points higher with the latter, which is the main move in the position. Play usually continues 8.0-0 Be7 9.Qf3 Qc7 10.Qg3 0-0 11.Bh6 Ne8 12.Rad1 Bd7, which Kasparov reached three times, scoring a win and two draws.
Against 6.Bg5 he mainly played 6...e6 but after the main reply 7.f4 his favourite move was 7...Qb6, being happy to enter the famous poisoned pawn variation 8.Qd2 Qxb2, meeting 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Nc6 11.fxe6 fxe6 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.e5 dxe5 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Ne4 with the slightly unusual 16...Qxa2. If White did not offer the b2 pawn, instead playing 8.Nb3, Kasparov played the slightly unusual 8...Be7.
Against 6.f4 he mainly played 6...e6, meeting 7.Qf3 mainly with 7...Qb6 (this and 7...Qc7 are equally popular in Mega20 but Kasparov's choice scores 10 percentage points better). After the main reply 8.Nb3 he played 8...Qc7!?
Against 6.f3 he mainly played 6...e6, when all of his opponents continued 7.Be3, transposing into the 6.Be3 line already covered.
Against 6.h3 he played 6...e6, when the main move is 7.g4. Kasparov faced this three times, drawing with 7...Nfd7 but winning with 7...Be7 and 7...h6.
Against 6.a4 he played 6...Nc6 7.Be2 e6 (Black's sixth and seventh moves could safely be reversed for repertoire simplicity's sake), and against 6.g3 he played 6...e5.
Knowledge of a lot of theory is needed to follow Kasparov in the Najdorf, but note that with exception of 6.g3 all responses centre on playing ...e6 rather than ...e5.
Against the Hungarian Variation: 4.Qxd4 Kasparov narrowly preferred 4...a6 to 4...Nc6 or 4...Bd7.
Against the Moscow Variation: 3.Bb5+ he mainly played 3...Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7.
Against the 2.Nc3 he varied his responses but scored best (81%) with 2...d6, which is probably the best repertoire choice as if White switches to an Open Sicilian with 3.Nf3/Nge2 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Black gets a Najdorf with 5...a6. Against the Closed Sicilian continuation 3.g3 Kasparov played 3...Nc6 4.Bg2 g6 5.d3 Bg7, at which point he played 6...Nf6 against both 6.f4 and 6.Be3, although against the latter he did also experiment with 6...Nd4. Against the Grand Prix Attack continuation 3.f4 he twice played 3...g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 and once played 3...Nc6 4.Nf3 g6.
Against the GPA without 2.Nc3, ie 1.e4 c5 2.f4 he played 2...d5 3.exd5 Nf6.
Against the Alapin: 2.c3 Kasparov played all three main replies, scoring 50% with ...d5 but 70% with ....Nf6 and 75% with ...e6. However his rating performance with ...e6 was more than 200 points lower than with my repertoire recommendation 2...Nf6.
Against 1.d4 and Others
Against 1.d4 aim for a King's Indian Defence: 1...Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6.
Against 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 he mainly played 6...e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7, mainly meeting 9.Ne1 with 9...Nd7. mainly meeting 9.b4 with 9...Nh5 and mainly meeting 9.Nd2 with 9...a5. If White played 7.d5 he mainly replied 7...a5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Na6.
Against 5.f3 he mainly played 5...0-0 6.Be3 e5, meeting 7.Nge2 with 7...c6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 and mainly meeting 7.d5 with 7...c6, usually following up with a quick ...cxd5.
Against 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 he mainly played 6...c5 7.d5 h6, meeting both 8.Be3 and 8.Bf4 with 8...e6.
Against 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 he mainly played 6...c5 7.d5 e6.
Against 5.h3 he played 5...0-0 6.Bg5 he liked the unusual 6...c6.
Against 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 he mainly played 4...0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 c6.
Against 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 he equally liked 4...d5 and 4...0-0, but the latter is much the simpler repertoire choice.
Against 2.Nf3 he equally played 2...d5 and 2...g6, but scored 17 percentage points higher with the latter, which again is the simpler repertoire choice. If White makes it a London System with 3.Bf4 Kasparov scored best (83%) with 3...d6 4.e3 Nh5 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bg4 g5. He only faced the New London: 2.Bf4 once, replying 2...c5.
He faced the Trompwosky: 2.Bg5 nine times, winning all three games that continued 2...d5 3.Bxf6 exf6. However 2...d6, which was also played three times by Kasparov, is arguably the better repertoire choice. Two of those games continued 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.e3 f5 5.g3 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.Ne2 Nd7.
Against the English: 1.c4 he mostly replied 1...g6, heading for a pseudo-King's Indian set-up, eg 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 e5 4.Bg2 d6. But he did not slavishly stick to King's Indian-style moves, eg he three times faced 5.d3, drawing with 5...Nc6 but winning twice with 5...f5.
Against 1.Nf3 he mostly played 1...Nf6 with obvious transpositional possibilities, being happy to duplicate White's moves in the line 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 0-0, at which point Kasparov's opponents did not play the King's Indian Attack move 5.d3, which is popular at club level. Instead they mostly played either 5.d4, which Kasparov usually met with 5...d5 rather than the KID repertoire-friendly 5...d6, and 5.c4, which Kasparov met equally often with 5...c5 and the repertoire-friendly 5...d6.
Kasparov faced 1.b3 three times, twice playing 1...e5 and once playing 1...Nf6, but in each case following up with a quick ...g6 and ...Bg7.
Kasparov has played many famous games but I have chosen what may be his first competitive use of the Sicilian Najdorf.
Levon Eolian - Kasparov
Caucasas Youth Games (Tbilisi) 1976
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 b5!?
This move is only sixth-most popular in Mega20 but is certainly not obscure as it the famous - notorious, some would say - Polugaevsky Variation. Nakamura, Ivanchuk and van Wely are among modern grandmasters who have played it.
8.a3!?
This is played from time to time by GMs but according to Richard Palliser in Starting Out: Sicilian Najdorf (Everyman Chess 2006) "White can and should aim to pursue the initiative with 8.e5 as slower plans give Black a good game."
8...Bb7 9.Qe2 Be7 10.0-0-0!?
Castling queenside after playing a3 with a black pawn on b5 looks like asking for trouble, but the move had been played by Spassky.
10...Nbd7 11.g4 Qb6
Spassky - V A Tatarintsev, Kislovodsk 1960, saw 11...Rc8 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qe1!? Qb6 with an unclear position (1-0, 36 moves).
12.Bh4!?
My main analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 like this retreat, which clears the g5 square for the white g pawn and makes possible the further, but counterattacking, retreat Bf2.
12...Nc5 13.Bg2 Na4?!
The engines much prefer the obvious 13...b4 14.axb4 Qxb4, although the position remains very sharp.
14.Nxa4 bxa4 15.g5?!
The harassing retreat 15.Bf2 looks stronger.
15...Nd7 16.Be1!?
The bishop is coming to c3, from where it will eye Black's kingside as well as protect White's queenside.
16...0-0 17.h4 Rab8 18.Bc3 Rfc8 19.Rh3
Defending against a classic Sicilian exchange sacrifice on c3 (although normally the white piece there is a knight).
19...Ba8
Renewing the threat, but White overlooks it.
20.Qg4?!
The engines reckon White should have placed the queen so it can recapture on c3 and thus defend b2.
20...Rxc3! 21.bxc3
Not 21.Rxc3? Qxb2+ 22.Kd2 Bd8! with a crushing attack.
21...Nc5 22.f5 e5 23.Ne2?!
The consistent 23.f6 is probably better although the engines cannot agree on the merits of their critical lines, eg 23...exd4 34.fxe7 Bc6 35.Rxd4 Qb2+ 36.Kd1 Bd7 is winning for White, according to Stockfish11 but Komodo11.01 reckons Black has almost full compensation for his material deficit (he has a knight for a rook and pawn).
23...d5?
This seems a mistake. The engines reckon Black is better after 23...Qb2+ 24.Kd1 Bc6.
24.f6??
A move too late. White is much better, according to the engines, after 24.exd5.
 |
| What has White missed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
24...Ne4 25.Bxe4
Forced as 25.fxe7?? allows two mates-in-one, but now Black has the zwischenzug ...
25...Bxa3+
After the further moves ...
26.Kd2 dxe4
... White is the exchange up and Black has multiple pawn weaknesses, but the key factor is the weakness of the white king.
27.Ke1
This is best, according to the engines, as Black threatened to prevent the king's escape with 27...Qf2.
27...Bc5 28.Qf5
White has stopped the mortal danger to his king, but Black has a second trump.
28...a3 29.Qxe5 a2 30.c4 e3 31.Nc1
The engines' best line is 31.Nc3 Qb2 32.Rxe3 Bxe3 33.Qxe3 a1=Q 34.Rxa1 Qxa1+ when Black is up a rook for a pawn.
The game finished:
31...Bd4 32.Qxb8+ Qxb8 33.Nxa2 Qf4 0-1
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