Linares, 2005

Topalov - Kasparov

This is the final position of Kasparov's final official game. He retired after this game, and I miss following his games ever since. Topalov played 30. Kg4 and that was it. Why did Kasparov resign here? Let's look at a few continuations:

30... g5 31.hg+ hg 32. kh5 g4 33. kg4 and white is looking pretty good. Another way would be to give a check like 30... h5+ 31.kf4 ke7 the king gives way 32. ke5 a6 33. ed ed 34. kd5 kf6 35. ke4 g5 36. d5 g4 37. d4 and black has to give way. Finally, black could spend a tempo by 30... a6 31.h5 g5 32. a3 de4 33. de4 ke7 34. kf3 kd6 35. ke3 kc6 36. d5+ ed 37. kd4 de 38. ke4 kd6 39. kf5 kd5 40. kg6 and white penetrates into the kingside.