The Best Games of Kasparov II

Description

♟️ What does this second volume cover?

The period 1994-2005 is the final stage of Kasparov’s domination and, in many respects, the most interesting for the modern player. It’s the period where Kasparov fully incorporates computers into his preparation, where his openings become more sophisticated and where his opponents — Kramnik, Anand, Topalov — are already players trained with the same technological base. The games in this volume are the most modern of the two volumes and the most directly relevant to the chess played today.

The period also includes the only great setback of Kasparov’s career as number 1: his loss to Kramnik in the 2000 title match, where Kramnik systematically neutralised his preparation with the Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez. Stohl analyses that match with particular detail, explaining both Kramnik’s ideas and Kasparov’s difficulties in finding an answer.

🎯 Who is this book for?

• Advanced players who have worked through Volume I and want to complete their study of Kasparov’s career
• Players who want to study modern chess from the late 1990s and 2000s — the period most directly relevant to current chess
• Players who want to understand how opening preparation works in the computer era of elite chess

📖 Contents

The book covers the period 1994-2005 with the most representative games of Kasparov’s final stage:

• Games from the major tournaments: Linares, Wijk aan Zee, Dortmund
• The match with Kramnik for the world title in 2000 and the Berlin Defence as a neutralisation weapon
• Encounters with Anand and Topalov in the elite tournaments of the 2000s
• The evolution of Kasparov’s openings: how he incorporated computers into his preparation
• The final games before his retirement in 2005

📚 The match with Kramnik: the only great defeat

The Kasparov-Kramnik match of 2000 is one of the most studied events in modern chess because it showed how to neutralise Kasparov’s preparation: avoid the positions he wanted and steer games to technical endgames where his tactical energy had no application. The Berlin — the Ruy Lopez variation Kramnik chose as his weapon — went from being considered a historical curiosity to becoming one of the most played lines in elite chess. Stohl explains that process with the necessary variations.

👤 About the author

Igor Stohl is a Slovak Grandmaster and one of the most rigorous analysts of his generation, having studied Kasparov’s style in depth over many years.

♟️ Why we recommend it at Chesscul

At Chesscul we recommend this second volume as the most directly relevant to the modern player: the games from 1994-2005 are played with a level of opening understanding and preparation that is completely contemporary. Studying them with Stohl’s annotations is the best way to understand how elite chess works in the computer era.

🔗 Recommended companions

• The Best Games of Kasparov, Volume I: the first volume, with games from 1973-1993, indispensable for understanding the evolution that culminates in this second volume.
• Strategy III by Botvinnik: another world champion annotating his own games — the historical counterpoint to Stohl’s external analysis.
• Decision-Making in Major Piece Endgames: Boris Gelfand, Kasparov’s contemporary, analyses the decision process in elite positions with the same depth.