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The Credit Suisse Masters Blitz Tournament was perhaps the biggest event of 1996. Anand and Kasparov would ultimately fight it out in the final, one year after their match for the World Championship in New York.
Along the way, however, much of the attention went to the impressive fighting style of 20 year old Judit Polgar. She was expected to have a tough game against the strong Russian GM Vladimir Epishin, a member of Anatoly Karpov’s World Championship teams. What followed was a massacre.
Typically, Judit Polgar opened with 1.e4 and Epishin played the Caro-Kann, the ultra-solid 4…Nd7 line used to such great effect by Karpov. Judit went on the offensive right away with 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.Ng5, going after the f7 pawn. Even after the natural 6…e6, defending, Judit piled on the pressure with 7.Qe2.
With these crude attacking attempts, it’s quite easy to run out of aggressive moves and that’s what seemed to be happening after …Nb6 and …h6 pushed back the Bc4-b3 and the Ng5-f3. GM Epishin was able to develop his dark-squared Bishop and exchange it off. Judit, meanwhile, had castled Queenside…
Now we get to see a creative attacking maneuver well worth remembering. The earlier Bishop exchange had given White doubled g-pawns - the flipside of this is the h-file was now open. Judit brings her Rook to h4, helping to control more important squares than would have been possible by a standard Re1.
A few ordinary maneuvers take place but, by the end of them, we notice Judit has achieved a few things: established a Knight on e5, protected by the other Knight; doubled Rooks on the h-file; brought her Queen to eye h6 too; kept her Bishop pressuring f7.
That doubled g pawn soon makes itself useful: 24.g5 Nf5 - GM Epishin harasses the awkward-looking Rook on h4. 25.gxh6! Judit lets her Rook drop 25…Nxh4 26.h7+!
What follows is one of the most memorable attacks in chess history as Judit Polgar rips open line after line, peeling back the Kings defense. After letting the Rook go, Judit sacrifices a Queen, Knight then her Queen again to force Epishin to resign. Just an incredible game.
Next we get to see a short clip from Judit Polgar vs Garry Kasparov. In a level endgame with Rook and opposite-colored Bishops, Garry sets a cunning trap which Judit allows. Watch the video to learn this pattern, it’s a clever trick well worth remembering.
If you enjoyed this free preview of Grandmaster Magazine: Credit Suisse Masters 1996, check out the full course here.