Kasparov's Game 16

By game sixteen of their second World Championship match, Kasparov had clawed back from an early deficit to level the score, and this Sicilian Taimanov turned the momentum decisively his way. The critical idea came early: 16...Nd3!, planting a knight deep in White's position where it could not easily be dislodged, set the tone for a middlegame in which Karpov's structural chances counted for less and less against Kasparov's active pieces.

The combination that decided the game arrived late, after both sides had manoeuvred for another eighteen moves. Kasparov's knight on d3 was finally captured on move 34, but the intermezzo 34...Nf2+! forked king and rook, winning back more material than Karpov had bargained for. A few moves later Kasparov's rook and queen broke into the position together, and Karpov resigned after 40...Re1+ rather than face the mating attack that followed.

Kasparov called it one of his favourite games from the match, and it is often cited as the point at which his combinative style overtook Karpov's grinding technique in the contest. Two games later Kasparov clinched the match and, at twenty two, became the youngest ever World Chess Champion.