Karpov, Anatoly vs Kasparov, Garry, World Championship 32th-KK2

Note: This game (Karpov–Kasparov 1985 Game 16) has its full editorial coverage in the dedicated page at karpov-kasparov-1985-game-16, which discusses the famous Octopus knight on d3 — the defining positional sacrifice of the match. The PGN here is the auto-imported Lichess record of the same game; the canonical Caissly article is the hand-written one.

Game 16 was the turning point of the 1985 rematch. Kasparov, playing Black, planted a knight on d3 that controlled the dark squares around the white king for the next seventeen moves. The “octopus” analogy — coined in post-game commentary — referred to the knight’s ability to attack pieces on every direction from d3 while being nearly impossible for White to dislodge.

The full editorial commentary lives at the link above.