Notable Games
Vassily Ivanchuk
15 celebrated games · 1688 in the full archive
◈The games that made the legend
Ivanchuk – Kasparov · 1991 · 1–0
The breakthrough. At Linares 1991 — the elite event Ivanchuk went on to win — the 21-year-old beat reigning World Champion Garry Kasparov in a Moscow Sicilian, a result that helped carry him to world No. 2.
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Ivanchuk – Karpov · 1991 · 1–0
The same Linares 1991 also saw Ivanchuk defeat former World Champion Anatoly Karpov in a Nimzo-Indian, part of the run to first place ahead of both Karpov and Kasparov.
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Anand – Ivanchuk · 1991 · 0–1
Playing Black, Ivanchuk outguns Viswanathan Anand in a sharp Najdorf at Linares 1991 — "the battle for e4" — completing a clean sweep of Kasparov, Karpov and Anand at a single tournament.
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Kasparov – Ivanchuk · 1995 · 0–1
A celebrated win with the black pieces over World Champion Kasparov at Horgen 1995, answering 1.e4 with the French Winawer — the kind of game behind Kasparov's admission that "against Kasparov, Ivanchuk always plays like Ivanchuk."
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Ivanchuk – Shirov · 1996 · 1–0
Ivanchuk's "Golden Queen Sacrifice." In the razor-sharp Botvinnik Semi-Slav at Wijk aan Zee 1996 he played 21.Qg7!!, giving up the queen for two pieces and a monster g7-pawn — routinely ranked among the greatest queen sacrifices ever played.
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Ivanchuk – Topalov · 1996 · 1–0
A model kingside attack against Veselin Topalov at Novgorod 1996 — a Scheveningen Sicilian crowned by the g6 breakthrough, long admired as one of the finest same-side-castling assaults on record.
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Ivanchuk – Morozevich · 1996 · 1–0
"Better Luck to Moro": at the 1996 Donner Memorial in Amsterdam, Ivanchuk answers Alexander Morozevich's French with the classical Steinitz and finishes with a crisp attack, later chosen a chessgames.com Game of the Day.
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Topalov – Ivanchuk · 1999 · 0–1
A brisk 25-move win with Black over Veselin Topalov in a Symmetrical English at Linares 1999 — proof that Ivanchuk could punish the elite from either colour.
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Ivanchuk – Topalov · 2007 · 1–0
At Morelia/Linares 2007 Ivanchuk grinds down Topalov in a Najdorf English Attack — the audacious 15.Nd5 left sitting en prise, then a flawless conversion that ends by winning a piece.
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Aronian – Ivanchuk · 2008 · 0–1
Sofia M-Tel Masters 2008: Ivanchuk opened with five straight wins — this Slav victory over Levon Aronian among them — en route to a runaway title, 1½ points clear of Topalov with a 2977 performance.
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Ivanchuk – Jobava · 2010 · 1–0
A crisp Caro-Kann win over Baadur Jobava at the 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad, where Ivanchuk anchored board one for Ukraine's gold-medal team.
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Ivanchuk – Vachier Lagrave · 2010 · 1–0
A 91-move masterclass in technique against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave at the same 2010 Olympiad — an English-opening middlegame squeezed into a marathon, textbook endgame win.
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Ivanchuk – Radjabov · 2011 · 1–0
Round one of the 2011 Kings Tournament in Medias: Ivanchuk beats King's Indian specialist Teimour Radjabov in his own opening, an Averbakh-system win over the Azerbaijani star.
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Carlsen – Ivanchuk · 2013 · 0–1
London Candidates 2013, round 12: with Black, Ivanchuk defeats favourite and eventual winner Magnus Carlsen in a 90-move Taimanov Sicilian — one of only two games Carlsen lost, and a defeat that threw the title race into chaos.
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Ivanchuk – Kramnik · 2013 · 1–0
The dramatic final round of the 2013 London Candidates: Ivanchuk, already out of contention, defeats co-leader Vladimir Kramnik — who needed a win for first — and, with Carlsen also losing, hands Carlsen the tournament and a world-title match on tiebreak.
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