Garry Kasparov is widely regarded as one of the best to have ever played chess alongside Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer, Magnus Carlsen and others, if not the greatest. Such was the Soviet-born Russian chess star’s dominance that he reigned as the world No 1 for a record 255 months from 1984 until his retirement from competitive chess in 2005. He was also the youngest world champion at the time, defeating Karpov at the age of 22 in 1985, and would hold on to that title for 15 years until losing to fellow Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in 2000.

So what exactly was the reason behind Kasparov’s dominance? According to Soviet-born Israeli GM Boris Gelfand, it was the 63-year-old’s creativity and his ability to invent new ideas and opponents that ensured he remained a step ahead of everyone else.

“I think his creativity. He was inventing so many interesting ideas and all different openings that he was really above his opponents in this direction. Also matched with a very strong calculation. I think he played two hours per 40 and spent one-and-a-half hour for the first 20 moves, and maybe 10 of them were preparation or 12,” Gelfand said on the Chess with Mustreader podcast.

“But this part from a bridge between opening and middle game. he played so much better than his opponents. He knew how to outplay (his opponents) in this part of the game.

“Kasparov knew how to find ideas. HIs opening creativity, depth of creativity and the feeling was really amazing,” the 57-year-old added.

‘Kasparov focused on few openings, but went extremely deep in them’

Gelfand, who had unsuccessfully challenged Indian legend Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship in 2012 and had a peak ranking of No 3 in , further revealed attending a training camp with Kasparov and his late coach Yury Dokhoian and how he came up with an entirely new opening after focusing on the board for about 20 minutes.

“Once I had a training camp with him. Yury Dokhoian, his late coach, sits, and we decide to analyse Najdorf (Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation). Let’s say bishop e3 in the sixth move. And he thinks. Thinking five minutes, thinking 10 minutes, thinking 20 minutes. And they (others present in the camp) push Yuri saying, ‘What is this? Let’s analyse’,” Gelfand continued.

“(He) tells me to sit and wait. And then he kept up with this idea – knight g4, bishop g5, h6, g5, g7. One of the best system. In 2010, I won against Nakamura and Karjakin. Maybe the best till now, or one of the best. It’s not refuted till now.

“He just came and was able to go so deep in this idea. He focused so intensely for 20 minutes and he created a new opening idea. This was a reason of his dominance. Kasparov focused on few openings, but went extremely deep in them,” the 2009 Chess World Cup winner added.