Alternative topics 4: 10 worst chess blunders
I not only enjoy playing chess, but also analysing and studying chess games of ages past.
If both sides play well in a chess game, then the only outcome can be a draw, logically speaking, irrespective of the fact White always moves first. Chess players only win because of their opponents making mistakes and them being able to react swiftly and correctly in response to said mistakes, many of which are bad enough to be called blunders. These particular mistakes lose a lot of material or lose the game altogether by permitting a forced mate when either none was apparent or where it was overlooked.
Here is a list of what I believe to be the 10 worst chess blunders ever played in tournament play, with those clearly caused by time trouble excluded from the list:
10. Chandler vs. Polgar (1987). Murray Chandler was clearly winning, with a king, bishop and two united pawns playing against just a king and knight. However, Zsuzsa Polgar (her sister Judit is a chess grandmaster as well, with her other sister Sofia being an International Master), then just 18 years of age, managed to trick Mr Chandler by leaving her knight hanging with 53...Nh6. Mr Chandler fell for it with 54. gxh6+?? and Ms Polgar, rather than taking the pawn and allowing the white king to enter the corner via Kf7, retreated the black king with 54...Kh8! leading to the famous "king, rook's pawn, and wrong-colour bishop vs. king" draw since the black king could hold the corner indefinitely. A draw was agreed only two moves later. 54. h4 would have given White a certain win.
9. Beliavsky vs. Johannessen (2002). Alexander Beliavsky had come relatively level with Leif Johannessen in this game, played in the 9th Linares Anibal in Spain. Whilst he had only a slight endgame advantage with material being equal and neither player having a passed pawn, Mr Beliavsky then made the worst move possible, 69. Kf4?? which led to a mate-in-one via 69...Qb8#. 69. fxg6+ would probably have been best in the circumstances.
8. Arnold vs. Hanauer (1936). It is not often that a blunder occurs early enough to lose the game in the opening stage within tournament games. This blunder caused the fastest verified loss in tournament play ever*, with Frederick Arnold losing this game in the American Chess Federation Congress (now called the U.S. Open, a qualifier for the US Chess Championship) after only 5 moves. Milton Hanauer as Black played 4...Ne4! seemingly giving his queen away since the knight was pinned by the white bishop. But because White did not develop other pieces, 5. Bxd8?? led to 5. Bxf2#, meaning that Mr Arnold had fallen into a beginner-style trap. Retreating via 5. Be3 would not have been that bad for White.
7. Taimanov vs. Fischer (1971). This is one of the most memorable blunders not only because of its relative magnitude but also because of the consequences it had for Mark Taimanov. In the candidates' match, the main qualifier for the World Chess Championship at the time, Mr Taimanov made a classic mistake of capturing a "posioned pawn" by playing 46. Rxf6??, whereupon Mr Fischer, almost never missing an opportunity in chess, responded 46....Qd4+. Mr Taimanov retreated 47. Rf2 but 47...Ra1+ won the white rook, and he resigned, leading to a humiliating 6-0 defeat by Mr Fischer. As a direct result, the USSR cancelled Mr Taimanov's salary and forbade him from travelling overseas for a few years; furthermore he never truly recovered from the humiliating loss, even though Mr Fischer beat Danish chess grandmaster Bent Larsen 6-0 as well during the same qualifier.
6. Petrosian vs. Bronstein (1956). Blundering a queen away is something every chess player has done as a beginner-but when it happens at grandmaster-level play it is sensational; Tigran Petrosian was World Chess Champion from 1963-69 and David Bronstein almost became World Chess Champion in 1951,losing to Mikhail Botvinnik (whose loss in 1963 to Mr Petrosian put a final end to his on-off World Chess Champion tenure). For no apparent reason, Mr Petrosian played 36. Ng5?? even though it achieved nothing useful in the position. Worse still, his queen was en prise after 35...Nf5. Mr Bronstein swiftly captured the white queen for nothing with 36...Nxd6 and Mr Petrosian resigned on the spot.
5. Grinfeld vs Pankins (1974). The most notable aspect of this blunder is that White briefly forgot how the pieces actually moved and captured. He announced checkmate with Qg3+?? only to realise that the pawn on h4 only guarded forwards, not backwards. He resigned after Black responded ...Kxg3. Although I have not been able to discover whether or not this was a tournament game, it clearly qualifies for this list of blunders by any standards.
4. Emma vs Stein (1966). The moves played by both sides after 34.Kf1 were bizarre and inexplicable. Leonid Stein, a noted Russian grandmaster, instead of playing 34..Bc8 to threaten 35..Bh3+, attacked the white rook with 34...Qc2?? not noticing that he put his queen en prise. Instead of promptly capturing the black queen, however, Jaime Emma put his rook out into the open with 35. Rd7? and Mr Stein responded 35...Qh2 putting his queen out of danger but still in a good attacking position. A draw was agreed 13 moves later.
3. Karpov vs Bareev (1994). The game was relatively level at this stage and Russian grandmaster Evgeny Bareev was intending to exchange rooks and give Black a solid position. Having mixed up the order of moves, however, he played 34...Ba7?? which missed the hanging rook and in fact was the only move in the position allowing a mate-in-one, via 35. Rxd8#. Unsurprisingly, Anatoly Karpov, having been World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, did not miss the opportunity to play said move.
2. Reshevsky vs. Savon (1973). Samuel Reshevsky was a US chess grandmaster who had a serious habit of getting into time-trouble in tournament play. Thus, in one tournament game, the Petropolis Interzonal, he played 40. Qxg6+?? forgetting about the black bishop on b1, which captured the white queen via 40...Bxg6. What makes this blunder even worse is that Mr Reshevsky had in fact a choice of two forced checkmates against Vladimir Savon: 40. Rh8+ Kg5 41. h4+ Kxh4 42. Rxh4+! Kxh4 43.Qxh5# and 40. g5+! Kxg5 41. h4+ Kh4 42. Qf4#. He was not in fact in much time trouble either!
1. Deep Fritz vs. Kramnik (2006). Cited as the "blunder of the 21st century" and for good reason: Vladimir Kramnik was World Chess Champion at the time (he lost the title to Viswanathan Anand the following year). He had an easy draw with 34...Kg8, against a state of the art chess computer similar to the more famous Deep Blue, but instead he played 34...Qe3?? even though that would prove to be no help to his position whatsoever, especially with White's passed pawn. Deep Fritz promptly responded 35. Qh7#, a threat that should not have been overlooked by even a club player!
Honourable Mention: Olte vs Nichols (1974). As chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower said, "no one ever won a game [of chess] by resigning." George Olte, having trapped his king on the first rank, played 36. h4 in desperation to queen a pawn and salvage something from a lost position. Surprisingly, his opponent, Robert Nichols, resigned on the spot when in fact he had a forced checkmate: 36....g2+ 37. Kg1 gxf5 38. h5 Kg3 39. h6 f4 40. h7 f3 41. h8=Q f2#.
*A supposed four-move game between Amedee Gibaud and Fred Lazard, which features the blunder 4.h3?? leading to White losing his queen or being checkmated in two moves after 4...Ne3!, is not eligible for this list because the game in question never actually happened as described within the relevant tournament. It is just an urban legend.
If both sides play well in a chess game, then the only outcome can be a draw, logically speaking, irrespective of the fact White always moves first. Chess players only win because of their opponents making mistakes and them being able to react swiftly and correctly in response to said mistakes, many of which are bad enough to be called blunders. These particular mistakes lose a lot of material or lose the game altogether by permitting a forced mate when either none was apparent or where it was overlooked.
Here is a list of what I believe to be the 10 worst chess blunders ever played in tournament play, with those clearly caused by time trouble excluded from the list:
10. Chandler vs. Polgar (1987). Murray Chandler was clearly winning, with a king, bishop and two united pawns playing against just a king and knight. However, Zsuzsa Polgar (her sister Judit is a chess grandmaster as well, with her other sister Sofia being an International Master), then just 18 years of age, managed to trick Mr Chandler by leaving her knight hanging with 53...Nh6. Mr Chandler fell for it with 54. gxh6+?? and Ms Polgar, rather than taking the pawn and allowing the white king to enter the corner via Kf7, retreated the black king with 54...Kh8! leading to the famous "king, rook's pawn, and wrong-colour bishop vs. king" draw since the black king could hold the corner indefinitely. A draw was agreed only two moves later. 54. h4 would have given White a certain win.
9. Beliavsky vs. Johannessen (2002). Alexander Beliavsky had come relatively level with Leif Johannessen in this game, played in the 9th Linares Anibal in Spain. Whilst he had only a slight endgame advantage with material being equal and neither player having a passed pawn, Mr Beliavsky then made the worst move possible, 69. Kf4?? which led to a mate-in-one via 69...Qb8#. 69. fxg6+ would probably have been best in the circumstances.
8. Arnold vs. Hanauer (1936). It is not often that a blunder occurs early enough to lose the game in the opening stage within tournament games. This blunder caused the fastest verified loss in tournament play ever*, with Frederick Arnold losing this game in the American Chess Federation Congress (now called the U.S. Open, a qualifier for the US Chess Championship) after only 5 moves. Milton Hanauer as Black played 4...Ne4! seemingly giving his queen away since the knight was pinned by the white bishop. But because White did not develop other pieces, 5. Bxd8?? led to 5. Bxf2#, meaning that Mr Arnold had fallen into a beginner-style trap. Retreating via 5. Be3 would not have been that bad for White.
7. Taimanov vs. Fischer (1971). This is one of the most memorable blunders not only because of its relative magnitude but also because of the consequences it had for Mark Taimanov. In the candidates' match, the main qualifier for the World Chess Championship at the time, Mr Taimanov made a classic mistake of capturing a "posioned pawn" by playing 46. Rxf6??, whereupon Mr Fischer, almost never missing an opportunity in chess, responded 46....Qd4+. Mr Taimanov retreated 47. Rf2 but 47...Ra1+ won the white rook, and he resigned, leading to a humiliating 6-0 defeat by Mr Fischer. As a direct result, the USSR cancelled Mr Taimanov's salary and forbade him from travelling overseas for a few years; furthermore he never truly recovered from the humiliating loss, even though Mr Fischer beat Danish chess grandmaster Bent Larsen 6-0 as well during the same qualifier.
6. Petrosian vs. Bronstein (1956). Blundering a queen away is something every chess player has done as a beginner-but when it happens at grandmaster-level play it is sensational; Tigran Petrosian was World Chess Champion from 1963-69 and David Bronstein almost became World Chess Champion in 1951,losing to Mikhail Botvinnik (whose loss in 1963 to Mr Petrosian put a final end to his on-off World Chess Champion tenure). For no apparent reason, Mr Petrosian played 36. Ng5?? even though it achieved nothing useful in the position. Worse still, his queen was en prise after 35...Nf5. Mr Bronstein swiftly captured the white queen for nothing with 36...Nxd6 and Mr Petrosian resigned on the spot.
5. Grinfeld vs Pankins (1974). The most notable aspect of this blunder is that White briefly forgot how the pieces actually moved and captured. He announced checkmate with Qg3+?? only to realise that the pawn on h4 only guarded forwards, not backwards. He resigned after Black responded ...Kxg3. Although I have not been able to discover whether or not this was a tournament game, it clearly qualifies for this list of blunders by any standards.
4. Emma vs Stein (1966). The moves played by both sides after 34.Kf1 were bizarre and inexplicable. Leonid Stein, a noted Russian grandmaster, instead of playing 34..Bc8 to threaten 35..Bh3+, attacked the white rook with 34...Qc2?? not noticing that he put his queen en prise. Instead of promptly capturing the black queen, however, Jaime Emma put his rook out into the open with 35. Rd7? and Mr Stein responded 35...Qh2 putting his queen out of danger but still in a good attacking position. A draw was agreed 13 moves later.
3. Karpov vs Bareev (1994). The game was relatively level at this stage and Russian grandmaster Evgeny Bareev was intending to exchange rooks and give Black a solid position. Having mixed up the order of moves, however, he played 34...Ba7?? which missed the hanging rook and in fact was the only move in the position allowing a mate-in-one, via 35. Rxd8#. Unsurprisingly, Anatoly Karpov, having been World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, did not miss the opportunity to play said move.
2. Reshevsky vs. Savon (1973). Samuel Reshevsky was a US chess grandmaster who had a serious habit of getting into time-trouble in tournament play. Thus, in one tournament game, the Petropolis Interzonal, he played 40. Qxg6+?? forgetting about the black bishop on b1, which captured the white queen via 40...Bxg6. What makes this blunder even worse is that Mr Reshevsky had in fact a choice of two forced checkmates against Vladimir Savon: 40. Rh8+ Kg5 41. h4+ Kxh4 42. Rxh4+! Kxh4 43.Qxh5# and 40. g5+! Kxg5 41. h4+ Kh4 42. Qf4#. He was not in fact in much time trouble either!
1. Deep Fritz vs. Kramnik (2006). Cited as the "blunder of the 21st century" and for good reason: Vladimir Kramnik was World Chess Champion at the time (he lost the title to Viswanathan Anand the following year). He had an easy draw with 34...Kg8, against a state of the art chess computer similar to the more famous Deep Blue, but instead he played 34...Qe3?? even though that would prove to be no help to his position whatsoever, especially with White's passed pawn. Deep Fritz promptly responded 35. Qh7#, a threat that should not have been overlooked by even a club player!
Honourable Mention: Olte vs Nichols (1974). As chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower said, "no one ever won a game [of chess] by resigning." George Olte, having trapped his king on the first rank, played 36. h4 in desperation to queen a pawn and salvage something from a lost position. Surprisingly, his opponent, Robert Nichols, resigned on the spot when in fact he had a forced checkmate: 36....g2+ 37. Kg1 gxf5 38. h5 Kg3 39. h6 f4 40. h7 f3 41. h8=Q f2#.
*A supposed four-move game between Amedee Gibaud and Fred Lazard, which features the blunder 4.h3?? leading to White losing his queen or being checkmated in two moves after 4...Ne3!, is not eligible for this list because the game in question never actually happened as described within the relevant tournament. It is just an urban legend.
Comments
Post a Comment