Kasparov, Gary - Deep Junior
Man vs Machine (New York), 01/26/2003

Round 1


1.d4 After the drawn match between Kramnik,V vs Deep Fritz it will be very interesting to see how top grandmaster Gary Kasparov will do against the improved version of world computer chess champion Deep Junior (Utzinger,K) The first game was played under the human's command. Kasparov demonstrated better opening preparation. With precise moves White took control over the center. Junior's attempt to intercept the initiative with an exchange sacrifice merely precipitated the machine's defeat. The human made several excellent prophylactic moves, opened the position and forced exchanges. This was a great start for the match (Shipov,A)
1...d5 2.c4 In a sense, this is a surprise. Garry invariably starts with the king pawn when facing humans . Playing with the computer he decided to try closed openings. Judging from the first game, Kasparov is incredibly strong in all the openings! (Shipov,A)
2...c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 This is the initial position of the Meran variation of the Slav Defense (Shipov,A)
6.Qc2 With this prudent move White turns into the system called "Anti-Meran". The main path here is 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 followed by tons of variations. With the move made White is trying to save a tempo. Capturing on c4 in this situation would be a concession on Black's part (Shipov,A)
6...Bd6 7.g4 Kasparov,G as chosen a sharp opening which seems to be dangerous against a strong computer program. / Kasparaov,G hat eine scharfe Eroeffnung gewaehlt, was gegen ein starkes Computerprogramm als gefaehrlich gilt (Utzinger,K) Huh ? What's this ? I've never seen such a move in a queen's pawn opening (Amir Ban) Wow! The first moves could have misled some spectators. They might have thought that Kasparov was trying to set up a calm maneuvering position. Nothing of the kind! Garry opted for the sharpest, the most irrational line of the Anti-Meran. White's g-pawn is trying to oust the f6-knight, which is the most important piece among those fighting for the center in Black's army. If Black captures on g4, White will get some pressure along the g-file. It is well known that all new ideas are merely forgotten old ones. However, this line with 7.g4!? had never been tested in tournament practice untill the early 1990s. Great masters of the past never thought of playing such sharp moves in closed openings. Interestingly enough, nobody else but Garry Kasparov himself took a hand in exploring this line. He has successfully played this variation on both sides. Other chess players followed his example (Shipov,A)
7...dxc4 Book move. Okay! Boris is on top of this (Amir Ban) Black clears the d5-square for the knight's retreat. On 7...Nxg4 White has the strong response 8.Rg1. If 7...0-0 then 8.g5 Nh5 9.Bd2! followed by castling long. White is prepared to launch an attack both in the center and on the kingside. The most popular continuation for Black in this position is 7. ..Bb4. Black is ready to trade his bishop in order to secure the excellent e4-square for his knight. No doubt Garry has some secret weapon in each of these lines...(Shipov,A)
8.Bxc4 This is nice. The White bishop did not have to make any intermidiate stops and captured on c4 with one move (Shipov,A)
8...b6 Last book move of Deep Junior / Letzter Buchzug von Deep Junior (Utzinger,K) Last move out of book, and probably not the best one. This line didn't figure in our preparations and Junior is playing randomly out of the general book (Amir Ban) Although I am not a great expert in this opening, this move looks dubious to me. Indeed, Black has no time to arrange his pieces properly. White's active play forced the machine to take some counter-measures. The b7-b6 move makes sense only in one matter-of-principle line. However, Junior did not venture upon it! I think this was the main reason behind the computer's inglorious defeat. Other Black options look more logical. With 8... b5 on any retreat of the white bishop Black transfers his knight to d5. Another reasonable continuation is 8...Nd5: the black knight takes a central square, asking White's g-pawn: "What are you doing on g4?". Finally there is the move 8...e5: Black opens the center and the diagonal for its light-squared bishop. By the way, on 9.g5 the knight can jump into the center with 9...Nd5 - White's double capture on d5 gives Black a good initiative for the pawn (Shipov,A)
9.e4 White is threatening the fork e4-e5. How should Black react? (Shipov,A)
9...e5 First move out of book, and Junior went deep for 25 minutes. A minor panic occurred when the screens went black. We almost rebooted before someone asked how long it was since any input was made, and we realized power saving was done for the monitors, and solved the "problem" by moving the mouse. Deep Junior didn't like the position at all, scoring it around 0.70. It never got any better. The alternative is Bb7 with great complications. Junior spent a lot of time dismissing the lunatic c5 (Amir Ban) This is an illogical, inconsistent response. The moves b7-b6 and e6-e5 are from different plans! After the move made, Black's pieces lose coordination. The main idea of this variation is based on the unprotected position of the f3-knight. Black can take advantage of it with 9...Bb7 10.e5 c5! In order to find the right path in the following crazy complications, a really powerful computer is needed. For example: 11.Be2 cxd4 12.exf6 dxc3 13.fxg7 Rg8 14.Qxh7 Nf6 15.Qh6 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Be5 17.0-0 cxb2 18.Bxb2 Bxb2 19.Rad1 Qc7 20.Bxa8 Nxg4 and Black obtained good counterplay for the exchange (Inarkiev - Grachev/St.Petersburg/2001). Another line goes 11.exf6 Bxf3 12.fxg7 Rg8 13.Qxh7 Nf6 14.Bb5+ Ke7 15.Bg5 cxd4 16. Bxf6+ Kxf6 17.Ne4+ Bxe4 18.Qxe4 Qc7 and leads to a balanced position, Barsov-Reefat, Calcutta 2001. What would Kasparov have played in case of 9... Bb7? I am afraid he won't answer this question at the press conference. Play this line against him in a tournament game and you will find out! (Shipov,A)
10.g5 White is throwing the knight out of the center and getting a clear advantage (Shipov,A)
10...Nh5 On 10...Ng4 White has the strong reply 11.d5! with the idea of 11...Bc5 12.h3! Nxf2 13.Rh2 and the Black knight can't get back. In case of 10...exd4 11.Nxd4 the weakness of the c6-pawn tells against Black (Shipov,A)
11.Be3 White is about to complete his development (Shipov,A)
11...O-O The chess pro gram does not fear White's kingside attack. A human would most probably have decided to castle long side. / Das Schachprogramm fuerchtet den Koenigsangriff nicht. Ein Mensch haette wahrscheinlich eher die lange Rochade angestrebt (Utzinger,K) One way or another, Black should evacuate his king from the center. In the line 11...exd4 12.Nxd4 Ne5 13.Be2 Black can't protect the h5-knight with 13...Ng4 due to the elegant blow 14.e5! and White emerges a piece up (Shipov,A)
12.O-O-O (!) White is castling on the opposite wing, which inevitably leads to a shap position. With the kings on opposite wings, a calm life is out of the question for both kings (Shipov,A)
12...Qc7 Black played this move in this position's previous history. In my opinion the move 12...Qe7!? is no worse. The e-file should be reserved for the rook in some lines, whereas the queen is well-placed on e7 (Shipov,A)
13.d5 Strong played by Gary Kasparov and giving the program the possibility to close the centre with c6-c5. / Von Gary Kasparov stark gespielt. Gibt dem Programm die Moeglichkeit, mit c6-c5 das Zentrum zu schliessen (Utzinger,K) Kasparov took half an hour for this move (Amir Ban) This strong novelty literally buries this line . White is cutting piercing holes in Black's defense and taking up excellent positions with his pieces. Previously White tested 13.Be2 exd4 14.Nxd4 Nf4 15.Kb1 Be5 16.h4 Nc5 17.h5 Nce6 18.g6 Nxd4 19.Bxd4 Be6! and Black has good prospects, Ward,C-Gausel,E/Copenhagen /2002/ and 13.Kb1 g6 14. Be2 exd4 15.Nxd4 Nf4 16.h4 b5?! (16...Nxe2!?) 17.Bxb5! Bb7 18.h5 Be5 19.Bc4 White is clearly better ,Hillarp Persson,T-Borgo,G/Batumi 1999 (Shipov,A)
13...b5 Not the best move in my opinion. Has Deep Junior evaluated the coming situation incorrectly? / Meiner Meinung nach nicht die beste Antwort. Hat Deep Junior die bald entstehende Situation falsch eingeschaetzt? (Utzinger, K) Very much a Junior move. Of the alternative suggested: c5 is detested by Junior, and seems to lose quickly. 13. .. Bb7 14. dxc6 Bxc6 15. Nb5 Bxb5 16. Bxb5 Nc5 17. b4 Ne6 18. Qxc7 Bxc7 (or Nxc7) may be better for black, but not by much, and with the queens off not really a practical chance (Amir Ban) Is it possible to refrain from such a natural move? More stubborn was 13...Bb7 although White can consolidate his grip over the d5-square and obtain a long-lasting advantage. Anyway, it was a better option for Black (Shipov,A)
14.dxc6 (!) When choosing between two squares of retreat, Garry decided ... not to retreat (Shipov,A)
14...bxc4 The only move (Shipov,A)
15.Nb5 Much stronger than 15.cxd7 Bxd7 16.Qd2. Gary Kasparov shows that he intends to play for win. / Bedeutend staerker als 15. cxd7 Lxd7 16.Dd2 usw. Gary Kasparov scheut sich nicht, die schaerfste Wahl zu treffen (Utzinger,K) Not so good was 15.Qd2 Bb4 16.cxd7 Bb7 and Black has a chance to capture the d7-pawn with time (Shipov,A)
15...Qxc6 16.Nxd6 And now, White has a clear advantage. / Nun hat Weiss klaren Vorteil (Utzinger,K) Now we can see the human's idea! By sticking his knight on d6, Kasparov paralyzed Black's army. Black's rooks no longer have the c8 and e8-squres at their disposal. Black can't exchange White's pesky knight,so the computer has to put up with it. I daresay that this position is already hopeless for Black (Shipov,A)
16...Bb7 Deep Junior took 35 minutes for this move ! The longest Junior move ever in a competition. The reason, of course, is that scores are starting to fall (Amir Ban) The continuations 16...Ba6 17.Qc3! and 16...f6 17.Rhg1! are no fun for Black either (Shipov,A)
17.Qc3 (!) There is no point in grabbing the c4-pawn. it is an ideal cover for the white king! After all, the black rooks can't x-ray through this pawn. With his last move White has attacked the e5-pawn. It turns out that this threat is virtually impossible to repel. After long reflection, Junior made an unexpected decision (Shipov,A)
17...Rae8 Was this really necessary? If 17...f6 so 18.Rhg1 with a very nice play for White. The rest of the game is only a technical matter for Gary Kasparov. / War dieses Opfer wirklich notwendig? Falls 17...f6, so folgt wohl 18.Thg1 mit gutem Spiel fuer Weiss. Was noch folgt, ist fuer Gary Kasparov nur noch eine technische Sache (Utzinger,K) Despite its appearance this is not a desperation move. It already appeared in PV's two moves earlier. Rather than lose e5, Deep Junior is quite happy to give the exchange in return for temporary initiative. Kasparov's plan of K to a1 and opening the c file is totally counter-intuitive to Junior (Amir Ban) Sacrificing the exchange! The variations given below illustrate Black's problems: 17...Rfd8? 18.Nxf7! Kxf7 19.Rxd7+! Rxd7 - two decoying sacrifices helped the white knight to win the Grand Prix! 20.Nxe5+! - a triple fork! The problems for Black are in the line 17...Nf4 18.Bxf4! exf4 19.Nf5! Black faces an unpleasant alternative - either get checkmated on g7, or give up his queen after the fork on e7. More reasonable was 17...Rad8 with the idea of sacrificing another pawn for the initiative after 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Qxe5 c3! Actually this line is in Junior's "spirit". I guess that Garry would not have captured on e5. The solid move 18.Rd2! followed by doubling the rooks on the d-file looks more practical. White has very stong pressure! Finally, Black could have played 17...Rab8!? in the hope of putting some pressure on b2 (Shipov,A)
18.Nxe8 White accepted the offer (Shipov,A)
18...Rxe8 19.Rhe1 (!) White has ideally arranged his pieces in the center (Shipov,A)
19...Qb5 Black's counterplay can be based only on the knight's transfer to d3. White can trade his bishop for a knight, but Black has two of them (Shipov,A)
20.Nd2 Rc8 Only active play offered Black some chances. The question is, how to start it? For example, on 20...Nf4 White reacts with 21.Bxf4 exf4 22.Nxc4 Rc8 23.Kb1 Rxc4 24.Rxd7! and Black perishes due to the weakness of his eighth rank (Shipov,A)
21.Kb1 (!) It is very important to move the king away from the busy thoroughfare (Shipov,A)
21...Nf8 (?!) Where is this knight headed? it is a mystery. Junior posed no problems to the human; it did not even make Garry calculate lines to repell Black's attack. On 21...Nc5 White has the good rejoinder 22.Bxc5 Qxc5 23.Nxc4! Qxf2 24.Nxe5! and White's queen is immune because of the checkmate on the eight rank. Probably Black should have pushed his a-pawn first 21...a5!? To make a luft with 21...g6!? was another reasonable option (Shipov,A)
22.Ka1 (!) The white king is absolutely safe now (Shipov,A)
22...Ng6 Too little, too late. Nothing came out of the Deep Junior's attempts at activity. I was greatly impressed with the way Kasparov handled this part of the game. It looks much more than simple technique, and I'll bet many GM's will get it wrong, especially when reduced to a minute a move (Amir Ban)
23.Rc1 Ba6 24.b3 (!) Collapse. Deep Junior admits now it is a clear exchange down, and with inferior position to boot (Amir Ban) No matter how hard Black tries, he can't hold the c4-pawn anymore. It is all over! White's rooks are breaking free (Shipov,A)
24...cxb3 25.Qxb3 Ra8 Or 25...Qe8 26.Rxc8 Qxc8 27.Bxa7+- (Shipov,A)
26.Qxb5 Bxb5 27.Rc7 An excellent start for Gary Kasparov who seemed to be well prepared. On the other hand, Deep Junior did not succeed to get the dynamical position the program likes very much. But we should not overestimate this loss, it was just one game. / Ein super Start fuer Gary Kasparov, der gut vorbereitet schien. Andererseits ist es Deep Junior nicht gelungen, eine ihm liegende dynamische Stellung zu erhalten. Aber machen wir nicht den Fehler, diesen Verlust zu ueberschaetzen. Es war nur eine Partie (Utzinger,K) White either trades the rooks or captures the a7-pawn. Garry's humble a2-pawn will be a forcible argument in the endgame. The computer's evaluation of this position in Kasparov's favor reached the critical mark. Junior resigned! The human took the lead in the match (Shipov,A)


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