The Cosmic Egg Timer

Fabiano Caruana – Garry Kimovich Kasparov

2019 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX; match game 5 (30+10); Saint Louis, September 3, 2019

brqknbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BRQKNBNR w HBhb - 0 1

Position 690

On the second day of his chess960 showdown with Caruana, Kasparov, being behind 5–1 in spite of his brilliant play, needed absolutely to subvert and overwhelm the biological laws of nature. 1. b4 Ngf6 2. Ngf3 e6 3. g3 Be7 4. Bg2 d5 5. Nd3 Nd6 6. 0-0 0-0 7. Nde5 Nd7. 7. ... c5 was also interesting. 8. Nxd7 Qxd7 9. d3 b6 10. b5 c5. White’s b-Pawn is obviously taboo due to Qc1-b2 with the double threat of Qb2xg7# and Qb2xb5. 11. c4 f6! If 11. ... d4?! then 12. Ne5 gaining possession of the c6-square. 12. a4 d4 13. e4 a5! 14. Nd2 f5! 15. Qe1. After 15. e5 Nf7 16. Bxa8 Rxa8 17. f4 g5! Black’s initiative would soon become troublesome. 15. ... e5!

16. exf5. Not an easy decision to make, but 16. Qe2 f4 was not an easy one either. 16. ... Qxf5. Once again Kasparov dominates the board and once again he has almost no time left for anything else but hoping for mercy. 17. Bxa8 Rxa8 18. Rb3 Bg5. With time ahead of him, Kasparov would have probably maintained both the tension and the initiative with ... Rf8-f7 followed by ... Ra8-f8, but now he must be content with what his opponent concedes. 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 Qxe4 21. dxe4 h5 22. h4 Bh6 23. Kg2 Rf6 24. Bb2 Raf8 25. f3 Kh7 ½ : ½.

As they say, it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. And thus, even this evening Kasparov gave proof of his extraordinary chess talent. Photo © Lennart Ootes/Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.