Khalifman takes the lead

Alexander Khalifman vs Vladimir Akopian

FIDE world championship · 1999 · 1-0

Preparing your chess set…

Click or drag to move · Arrow keys + Enter to play

0 / 121 half-moves

Playback speed

Continuous playback · extra time at key moments

Following the game

The story behind the moves

A masterpiece, move by move

Khalifman wins the fourth game of the 1999 FIDE knockout final. His kingside pawns become the decisive source of threats.

Scroll through every key moment at your own pace. Turn on Follow game to return to the current lesson as playback continues.

Themes to watch

Coming up

23. Qxa5

Look a little closer

Choose an endgame. White exchanges queens on a5. Without queens, the activity of the rooks and the relative strength of the pawn majorities become central to the play.

Coming up

51. c6

Look a little closer

Break through on the queenside. The c-pawn advances with an attack on b7. After ...bxc6, White’s rook recaptures and becomes active on the sixth rank.

Coming up

60. g6

Look a little closer

Connected threats. The g-pawn joins the h-pawn on the sixth rank. The rook on d7 and bishop on d1 help White maintain pressure while Black has to address the approaching pawns.