Garry Kasparov didn’t just win games — he produced masterpieces. His best work reads like a highlight reel of attacking chess: deep sacrifices, screaming king hunts, and opening preparation so far ahead of its time that opponents were beaten before they knew what hit them. Here are a few of his most celebrated games, described in plain English so you can enjoy the story even if you don’t want to move the pieces yourself.
Kasparov vs. Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 1999 — “Kasparov’s Immortal”
If Kasparov has a single signature game, this is it. Playing White against Veselin Topalov at the Hoogovens tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Kasparov unleashed an attack so beautiful it’s simply called “Kasparov’s Immortal.” Chess.com has ranked it the greatest game of all time, and Kasparov himself has called it the finest he ever played.
The game began as a Pirc Defense and quickly turned violent. On move 24, Kasparov played the stunning rook sacrifice Rxd4, tearing open Topalov’s position. What followed was one of the most famous king hunts in chess history: Topalov’s king was chased all the way from its home on the queenside across the entire board, dodging checks and threats, while Kasparov’s remaining pieces closed the net. When the smoke cleared, Kasparov had a winning position and duly collected the brilliancy prize.
It’s the kind of game that gets replayed forever — a reminder that at his best, Kasparov could calculate combinations most players can’t even see the beginning of.
Karpov vs. Kasparov, World Championship 1985 (Game 16) — “The Octopus Knight”
This one is a landmark from the greatest rivalry in chess. In Game 16 of his 1985 World Championship match against Anatoly Karpov, Kasparov — playing Black in a Sicilian — planted a knight deep in the enemy camp on the d3 square. The piece was so annoying, so impossible to dislodge, and so far-reaching in its influence that it earned a nickname: the “Octopus Knight,” with tentacles reaching into every corner of Karpov’s position.
The knight sat on d3 for nearly 20 moves, strangling White’s game. Eventually Karpov was reduced to giving up material just to be rid of it, and Kasparov converted the win. Chess Informant’s readers later voted it one of the best games of its era, and Kasparov himself wrote that few of his creations could match its overall grandeur. It’s a perfect example of his gift for turning a small positional idea into a suffocating, game-winning bind — and it came in the very match that made him the youngest World Champion in history.
Deep Blue vs. Kasparov, 1997 (Game 6) — the machine strikes back
Not every famous Kasparov game is a triumph — and this one matters precisely because it wasn’t. In the deciding sixth game of his 1997 rematch against IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue in New York, Kasparov defended with a Caro-Kann. Deep Blue offered a well-known knight sacrifice on e6, cracking open Kasparov’s king. Rattled and low on confidence, the world’s best human player collapsed in fewer than 20 moves and resigned.
That loss handed Deep Blue the match by a score of 3½–2½ — the first time a reigning World Champion had ever lost a full match to a computer under standard conditions. It’s a short, painful game rather than a work of art, but it may be the most historically important game Kasparov ever sat down for. It marked the moment machines caught up to the very best of humanity at the board.
Kasparov versus the World, 1999 — one man against the planet
Here’s a game unlike any other. In 1999, Microsoft’s MSN Gaming Zone hosted “Kasparov versus the World,” in which Kasparov, playing White, took on a World Team — more than 50,000 people from over 75 countries who chose Black’s moves by online vote, guided by a panel of young experts. It ran for four months and 62 moves, and after an epic, hugely complicated struggle, Kasparov won.
The game became famous both as a spectacle — the largest interactive chess game ever played — and as a genuine work of art. Kasparov later wrote that he had never put as much effort into any other game, and went so far as to call it “the greatest game in the history of chess.” For fans, it’s a reminder that even against the combined brainpower of tens of thousands, the champion found a way through.
Why these games matter
Put together, these games capture the whole Kasparov experience: the breathtaking attacker who produced immortal brilliancies, the positional strangler who could win with a single well-placed piece, the showman who beat the entire planet at once, and the human champion who took on the future of computing and became part of history even in defeat.
Want to see how these ideas fit into his overall approach? Read about Kasparov’s playing style, explore the openings he used to set up attacks like these, or head back to the main Garry Kasparov profile.
FAQ
What is Kasparov’s most famous game? His 1999 win over Veselin Topalov at Wijk aan Zee, known as “Kasparov’s Immortal,” is the most celebrated — often voted among the greatest games ever played.
What was the “Octopus Knight”? A knight Kasparov posted on d3 in Game 16 of his 1985 World Championship match against Karpov. It dominated the board for nearly 20 moves and became one of the most famous pieces in chess lore.
Did Kasparov ever lose a famous game? Yes — his loss to Deep Blue in Game 6 of the 1997 rematch is one of the most famous games in history, because it was the first time a world champion lost a match to a computer under tournament conditions.
Keep exploring
More Kasparov: his playing style · his openings · his rating history · fun facts & records · or the full Garry Kasparov profile.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, Kasparov’s Immortal, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.