20 January 1999 · Hoogovens tournament, Wijk aan Zee (round 4)

Kasparov’s Immortal: the Rxd4!! sacrifice against Topalov, 1999

Kasparov’s Immortal is a 1999 chess game won by Garry Kasparov against Veselin Topalov in the Hoogovens tournament at Wijk aan Zee. Kasparov sacrificed a rook with 24.Rxd4!! and won in 44 moves. It is one of the best-known attacking games of the 1990s.

Date: 20 January 1999
Place: Hoogovens tournament, Wijk aan Zee (round 4)
Players: Garry Kasparov (White) vs Veselin Topalov (Black)
Result: 1-0 in 44 moves
Opening: Pirc-style set-up (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6)
On Chess History: You play Kasparov, coached by a herring gull from the beach

Play the story Interactive: the moves, the characters, the endings to find.

The moves

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.f3 b5 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.Bh6 Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Bb7 10.a3 e5 11.O-O-O Qe7 12.Kb1 a6 13.Nc1 O-O-O 14.Nb3 exd4 15.Rxd4 c5 16.Rd1 Nb6 17.g3 Kb8 18.Na5 Ba8 19.Bh3 d5 20.Qf4+ Ka7 21.Rhe1 d4 22.Nd5 Nbxd5 23.exd5 Qd6 24.Rxd4 cxd4 25.Re7+ Kb6 26.Qxd4+ Kxa5 27.b4+ Ka4 28.Qc3 Qxd5 29.Ra7 Bb7 30.Rxb7 Qc4 31.Qxf6 Kxa3 32.Qxa6+ Kxb4 33.c3+ Kxc3 34.Qa1+ Kd2 35.Qb2+ Kd1 36.Bf1 Rd2 37.Rd7 Rxd7 38.Bxc4 bxc4 39.Qxh8 Rd3 40.Qa8 c3 41.Qa4+ Ke1 42.f4 f5 43.Kc1 Rd2 44.Qa7 1-0

The sacrifice 24.Rxd4!! gives the rook for two pawns and opens the king. After 24…cxd4 25.Re7+ and 26.Qxd4+ the attack wins everything, and the finish 36.Bf1!! is a quiet move that ends the game.

The sacrifice

Topalov had Black with a king on the queenside, and Kasparov opened lines against that king. The position was complicated and very sharp, and the decisive idea came on move 24: a rook sacrifice that gave up material for activity.

The course shows the choices at each stage. After 24.Rxd4!! cxd4 the attack goes on with 25.Re7+ and 26.Qxd4+, and the Black king on a5 has no safe square.

The finish

The last part of the game is a long technical win. The quiet 36.Bf1!! and the rook sacrifice 37.Rd7!! remove Black’s last defenders, and Kasparov converts the win to the end of the game at move 44.

Kasparov’s Immortal is the best example of the idea behind the course: study a famous game move by move, and understand why each move is the only one.

Questions and answers

What is Kasparov’s Immortal?

A 1999 game that Garry Kasparov won against Veselin Topalov at Wijk aan Zee, with the rook sacrifice 24.Rxd4!!. It ended 1-0 in 44 moves.

Why is the 24th move famous?

24.Rxd4!! sacrifices a rook for two pawns and opens the Black king to the attack.

Can I play Kasparov’s Immortal?

Yes. You play Kasparov’s side on Chess History.

Sources and checks

Kasparov–Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 1999 (Wikipedia, chessgames.com 1011478)
Engine check on this site: Stockfish 17

The moves on this page are checked for legality, and the engine evaluations come from Stockfish 17. Where a game is more legend than fact, the story says so.