Kasparov On Nakamura's Comments
Near the end of the London tournament, Hikaru Nakamura suggested that the main benefit he drew from his working relationship with Garry Kasparov was in the realm of openings, as he was "quite convinced there are other players who were better than he was" when it came to middlegames and endings. To no one's surprise, I think, it came out soon afterwards that they had terminated their work together, but some might be surprised by Garry Kasparov's rejoinder:
Happy to let my games speak for me for now. Start looking on move 20 if you like!
That's a remarkably collected response from Kasparov, whose comments on other players are often sharp and sometimes incendiary. Good for him! Even better, I think he's right, though Nakamura might rejoin that it's easier to play strongly in the rest of the game when you start off with a big advantage based on your opening prep.
(HT: Brian Karen)
Reader Comments (5)
I don't know, I think this is a brutal a comment as Kasparov has ever made. He's bascially just called Nakamura out to justify his oipinion, and Naka is going to have a hard time doing so. I remember a lot of Kasparov's stuff in 1998 & 1999 that took place after the opening. Maybe I'll dig out some old magazines to go over those tournaments again.
Start looking at move 20 indeed. So, is that when Gazza's opening prep ended? ;/
I think Bent Larsen is quoted as saying that one shouldn't eat a heavy meal before a game because digestion interferes with concentration. I also recall reading somewhere that that rule didn't apply to Kasparov because for the first hour and a half of a game Garry was still cruising along in his preparation, and ready to go full strength deep in the middle game!
“I remember a lot of Kasparov's stuff in 1998 & 1999 that took place after the opening”
The most spectacular example from that period is probably the game vs. Topalov from Wijk aan Zee 1999 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478), where the winning 15-move combination clearly didn’t have anything to do with opening prep. Btw, there’s a lot of such stuff in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005 as well… But seriously, going over Kasparov’s games it’s so obvious that he was a phenomenal middlegame player (in addition to the extremely high standard of his opening prep) that I doubt very much if even Nakamura himself seriously believes in what he said. I suspect it was meant mainly to annoy Kasparov, rather than to count as an insight about his play that can withstand serious scrutiny.
probably another point is to be a good opennings analyser, you have to be a good middle game player to know what positions your aiming for.
Eyal wrote: The most spectacular example from that period is probably the game vs. Topalov from Wijk aan Zee 1999 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478), where the winning 15-move combination clearly didn’t have anything to do with opening prep.
No doubt about it!
Eyal: there’s a lot of such stuff in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005 as well…
Yep! I remember the 1998/1999 years because before that there was some talk of Kasparov 'slipping' a bit back towards the pack. And then? BOOM! Remember the five straight wins as Black at Linares? I believe there's a streak of something like seven straight wins overall in that stretch. Gotta go now or I'd look it up in a database.
And aussie, you make an excellent point regarding the opening & middlegame.