Best of 2016: the results of your voting

by ChessBase
1/11/2017 – We asked, you voted: who was player of the year 2016, who was female player of 2016, what game was the best of 2016 and what move? And which endgame did the chess fans like best? Here are the results.
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Player of the Year: Wesley So

Wesley So

Of the ten players who made it to our shortlist because of their outstanding performances in 2016 Wesley So was your "Player of the Year 2016". So started 2016 as number ten in the world, at the end of the year he was number four - and is one of the few players with a 2800+ rating. So had an outstanding performance at the Chess Olympiad 2016 in Baku where he won gold with the American team, he won the Sinquefield and the London Chess Classic and that helped him to win the Grand Chess Tour.

Female Player of the Year: Hou Yifan

Hou Yifan

At the start of 2016 Hou Yifan played in the A-Group of the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Hou Yifan was the only woman in a strong field with several players from the absolute top and she achieved a respectable result. A few weeks later Hou Yifan regained the title of Women's World Champion which she had lost because she had refused to take part in the last K.o.-Women's World Championship. Hou Yifan is the reigning Women's World Champion, number one on the Women's World Ranking List and for you she is also "Female Player of the Year 2016".

Game of the Year: Carlsen vs Tomashevsky, Tata Steel Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2016

An impressive performance by the World Champion: after a quiet opening Carlsen suddenly developed strong pressure on the kingside and outplays Tomashevsky tactically and strategically.

Carlsen's second Peter Heine Nielsen annotated the game for the ChessBase Magazine:

 
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Like in 2015, Magnus had a rather slow start in Wijk, and again had to wander along some dangerous paths to beat Loek van Wely. But like last year, that triggered an excellent streak, both in the number of points, as well as in quality of play. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4!? The London System. A few years back almost looked at with disgust, and in no way treated as a serious opening, but with Grischuk's and Kramnik's efforts recently the verdict has changed. Even so not to the extent that every professional has a ready-made solution planned against it, and Tomashevsky did spend quite some time on the upcoming moves. b6 Maybe inspired by Magnus' success in this game, both Karjakin and Giri decided also to give the London a try, but now Black seemed tipped off, and we actually saw a theoretical debate in the London System(!). After 3...d5 4.e3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6!? Against Karjakin, but eventually lost. 7.Bg3 0-0 8.Bb5!? Against Karjakin, but eventually lost. 4.e3 Bb7 5.h3 For those caring about the finer points of the move orders, its worth mentioning that Kramnik here seems to have preferred to play 5.Nbd2 first on a couple of outings. It's hard coming up with a strong reason for either move, but maybe Kramnik wanted to avoid Alekhine's idea against Rubinstein? With the knight on d2, instead of the pawn on e3, Alekhine played 5...Bd6!? and went on to win an instructive game, covered in his game collection. So maybe only playing h3, when Black has committed ...Be7 is the point. Be7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 c5 8.c3 Nc6 9.Nbd2 d5 Both players have developed sensibly, and one could argue that the fact that neither side has obvious plans, but just have to make small common-sense additions to their positions, should be a small success for Black. 10.Qe2!? Bd6 Tomashevsky blinks first, and tries to force concrete action. Waiting with e.g. ...Rac8 would make sense, but White could still improve his position by bringing the rooks to d1 and e1, making it hard for Black to come up with similar useful moves which makes Black's decision easily understandable. 11.Rfe1!? Even so, Magnus do not take the bait, but puts the ball back in Tomashevsky's court. White has many plans, but it is much harder to see positive options for Black, so instead Black tries forcing White to take on d6. Ne7 Taking on f4 looks strategically risky, as after 11...Bxf4 12.exf4 cxd4 13.Nxd4! Nxd4 14.cxd4 White by swapping knights, removed the option of ...Nb4 based counterplay, and despite having doubled pawns, gets a lot in return. f5 might be an option, transferring the knight to e5 too, or maybe Qe3-g3-h4 followed by Re3 and Rae1. 12.Rad1 Ng6 13.Bxg6! hxg6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.Ne5! Yes, White has given a bishop for a knight, and even allowed Black to capture towards the centre. But the black pawn-structure, while looking healthy, actually is a major drawback. Due to the weakness of g6, Black can never realistically push the knight away from e5, meaning White will have a powerful knight, and Black a rather limited bishop. Tomashevsky keeps playing logical and sensible moves, heading for ...Nd7 exchanging the powerful knight, but not wanting 15...Nd7 16 f4! and instead tries to stop White from advancing the f-pawn. g5 16.f4!? Played quickly, almost like saying: did you miss this? But while of course White could still probably be slightly better with like e. g. 16.Qf3, sending an invitation to the following fascinating complications is not only tempting, but also objectively good. gxf4 . 17.Rf1! This is the point. White wants the f-line open, to sacrifice the rook on f6, and deliver mate. Nd7 17...fxe3!? would be the logical way of trying to prove White's concept flawed. After 18.Rxf6 exd2! Does all this mean that Black's position is actually objectively fine? Not really, as the less imaginative, but simply strong 18...gxf6? loses immediately as 19.Qg4+ Kh7 20.Rf1‼ just mates. The threat is to bring the rook into the attack on f4, as a response to 20...exd2 and if 20...fxe5 then the simple 21.Qh5+ Kg7 22.Qg5+ Kh7 23.Rf6 mates. 19.Rf4! does keep an edge. The threat is Qh5 and Rh4 with a mating attack, and Black's only chance is to fight with 19.Qh5 An obvious try, forcing Black to take on f6, but after gxf6 20.Qg4+ Kh8 21.Qh4+ Kg7! however there is no good follow-up as 22.Ng4 and after 22.Qg3+ Black just goes to h7 with the king, not falling for 22...Kh8?? 23. Ng6+ winning the queen. 22...Qf4! protects both f6 and h6, 19.Rdf1!? comes much closer to breaking Black's defences. f7 cannot be defended, and taking on f6 allows a decessive attack along usual patterns. But Black has the fantastic Ba6‼ which exploits the fact that the white queen needs to be on the kingside for the attack to succeed, meaning that 20.Qxa6 gxf6 works, or even better, first 20...d1Q! as pointed out by the computers. After: 20.Qh5 or the more sophisticated d1Q!? The obvious 20...gxf6?! 21.Qg4+ Kh8 22.Rf4 Bd3 23.Nxd3 d1Q+ 24.Qxd1 Rg8 25.Ne5! Kg7 26.Rxf6! is still very promising for White but either the simple 20...Bxf1 21.Nxf7 Rxf7 22.Qxf7+ Kh8! 22...Kh7? 23.Qg6+ followed by Rf7 21.Rxd1 gxf6 22.Qg4+ Kh7 23.Qh4+ Kg7 just leads to a draw. 19...f6 20.Ng6 but it obviously does not look very appealing. 18.Qh5! Not a neccessity, as also 18.Nxd7 Qxd7 19.Rxf4 gives White a promising attack, but somehow keeps the spirit of the 2 previous moves, and continues the direct attack. 18...Nf6 19.Qh4 Qd8?! Again quite logical, trying to swap off queens, in order to stop the white attack. 19...Nh7!? probably was a better chance, even if White has a promising position after 20.Rxf4 or even just 20.exf4 20.Rxf4 Ne4? A blunder, and a decisive one. The same idea would be much better, but with 20...cxd4 21.exd4 interpolated. Then after Ne4 White can not play like in the game, as there is now no dxc5! but instead has 22.Qg4!? when Black has no choice but to play the weakening f5 , where after 23.Qg6 Rf6 24.Qh5 Qe8 does avoid immediate disaster, but after 25.Qxe8+ Rxe8 26.Nxe4 it makes a huge difference having forced ...f5, as the white knight now dominates on e5, leaving him excellent winning chances in the ensuing ending. 21.Nxe4 Qxh4 22.Rxh4 dxe4 23.dxc5! bxc5 24.Rd7 Rab8 25.b3! Black is basically in a zugzwang. playing...f6 allows Ng6 and mate on h8. The f-rook defends f7, the other, the bishop on b7, which can't move, as then a7 would fall. So what is left, is to move the a-pawn. a5 26.Rc7 a4 27.bxa4 Ba8 28.a5 Rb7 29.Rxc5 Ra7 30.Nc4 Here Tomashevsky resigned. Maybe a bit premature, but there is no doubt that White's position is clearly winning with the 2 extra pawns, and while Black certainly could prolong the game for a while, the result is not really in doubt. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2844Tomashevsky,E27281–02016D02Tata Steel-A 78th6

Endgame of the Year: Carlsen vs Kramnik, Norway Chess Tournament, Stavanger 2016

The World Champion also won the endgame competition. Against Vladimir Kramnik in Stavanger 2016 Carlsen played a textbook game: after an early exchange of queens in a well-known line of the Queen's Gambit Declined he demonstrated how to exploit weak squares (f5!) and what dominating pieces are about. More than 50% of all voters thought that this was the "Endgame of the Year".

Mihail Marin annotated the game for the ChessBase Magazine:

 
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qf3 Bg6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 Kramnik had played this strategically slightly risky variation before. Since the Berlin Ruy Lopez is his main weapon against 1.e4, it is no great wonder that against 1.d4 he does not have doubled pawns either. But on the other hand the pawns are less compact here and secondly accepting weaknesses against a subtle positional player like Carlsen looks a bit like waving a red flag in the front of a bull. 10.Nf3 Nd7 11.Nh4 Be7 This is the main line, preparing to meet f2-f4 with ...f7-f5. 11...Nb6 12.f4 f5 13.Bd3 Nc4 14.Bxc4 dxc4 15.a4 1/2-1/2 (31) Williams,S (2439)-Hawkins,J (2563) London 2015 11...0-0-0?! 12.f4 h5 13.Kf2 Re8 14.f5 Bh6 15.fxg6 Bxe3+ 16.Kf3 Bxd4 17.g7 Rhg8 18.Nf5+- Bareev,E (2636)-Gorman,D (2289) Philadelphia 2009 (1-0, 40) 12.Ne2!?N An early novelty connected with a deep regrouping plan. Actually the last move is logical since it prepares to invade f5 before Black carries out the standard knight manoeuvre to d6. Kramnik's previous games went 12.g3 Nb6 13.0-0-0 13.Kd2 Nc8 14.Bd3 Nd6 15.b3 0-0-0 16.f3 Rhe8 17.Rac1 Kb8 18.Ne2 Nc8 19.Nf4 Bb4+ 20.Ke2 Nd6 21.g4 Re7= Ivanisevic,I (2653)-Kramnik,V (2777) Berlin 2015 (0-1, 53) 13...Nc8 14.Bd3 Nd6 15.Kc2 Kd7 16.f3 Bxd3+ 17.Kxd3 f5 18.Ng2 h5 19.h4 Rag8 20.Rh3 Ne8 21.Ke2 Bd6 22.Kf2 Nf6 23.Ne2 a5= Ding,L (2730)-Kramnik,V (2760) Moscow 2014 (1/2-1/2, 41) 12...Nb6 Since the knight will not reach d6 in time, this move is now connected woth a queenside plan which will prove illusory, though. 12...f5 13.g3 Nb6 14.Nf4 Nc8 15.f3 Nd6 16.Bd3 /\ Kf2, b4 I have tried making work the break ...c6-c5 by transferring the knight to e6, but this does not seem to be entirely satisfactory either: 12...Bb4+ 13.Kd1 0-0-0 14.Ng3 Nf8 15.Ngf5 Ne6 16.Bd3 Ba5 17.Ke2 17.Kc2 c5 17...Rhe8 18.g3 Bb6 19.Rad1 Kb8 19...Bh5+ 20.f3 Nxd4+ 21.Nxd4 Bxd4 22.Bf5+!+- 20.Kf1 20.b4 Bh5+ 21.f3 Nxd4+ 20...c5 21.dxc5 Nxc5 21...Bxc5 22.Kg2 d4 23.e4 22.Kg2 22.Bc2 Ne6 23.Kg2 d4 24.e4?! Nc5 22...Nxd3 23.Rxd3 Re5 24.g4 24.Nxg6 hxg6 25.Nd4 Re4 24...h5 25.h3 13.Ng3 Bb4+ 13...Nc8 14.f4± h6 15.f5 leaves the light-squared bishop out of play for the rest of the game. 14.Kd1 Na4 15.Ngf5! During the game I was not sure about the meaning of this regrouping. At first sight, the knights are clumsily placed, being neutralised by one bishop. Everything became clear a few moves later. Kd7 15...Nxb2+ 16.Kc2 Nc4 17.Bxc4 dxc4 18.Rhb1± 16.Rb1 Ke6?! As it turns out in the game, the king is exposed on e6. 16...Rhc8!? 17.Bd3 Bf8 17...Bd6 18.Ke2 a6 19.g4 c5 20.Nxd6 Kxd6 21.Nf5+± 18.Ke2 a6 19.g4 c5 20.Ng2 Bd6 21.h4 21.Nxd6 Kxd6 22.Nh4 would practically lose a tempo over the previous line. cxd4 23.exd4 Rc6 21...h5 22.f3 Rc6 23.gxh5 Bxh5 24.Nxd6 Kxd6 25.Nf4 Rh8 26.Bc2 Nb6 27.dxc5+ Rxc5 28.Bb3 17.Bd3 Rhc8 18.Ke2 Bf8 19.g4 c5?! This only creates new weaknesses and no counterplay at all. 19...Kd7!? 20.Ng2‼± The core of Carlsen's whole opening plan. Suddenly Black loses stability in several sectors of the board. cxd4 21.exd4 Bd6 22.h4 h5? This loses a pawn leading to a hopeless position. But it is virtually impossible to decide upon a passive move like 22...Rh8 defending the h7-pawn. 23.h5 Bxf5 24.Bxf5+ Ke7 25.Ne3 Nb6 26.Kf3 h6 27.Rhe1 Kd8 28.Rbc1± Black's position looks awful, but White still needs to prove he has a winning plan. 23.Ng7+ Ke7 24.gxh5 Bxd3+ 25.Kxd3+- The control over the f5-square and the threatening h-pawns make Black's position hopeless. Kd7 26.Ne3 Nb6 27.Ng4!? Even though one of the knights belongs to f5, Carlsen's "rodeos" are impressive at least optically. Rh8 28.Rhe1 Playing cat and mouse a bit. There was nothing wrong with 28.Nxf6+ Ke7 29.Ng4 28...Be7 29.Nf5 Bd8 30.h6 Rc8 31.b3 Rc6 32.Nge3 Bc7 33.Rbc1 Rxc1 34.Rxc1 Bf4 35.Rc5 Ke6 36.Ng7+ Kd6 37.Ng4 Nd7 38.Rc2 f5 A desperate move, which loses a pawn for nothing. 38...a6 39.Re2 38...Ke7 39.Re2+ Kd8 40.Re8+!? 40.Nf5+- 40...Rxe8 41.Nxe8 Bxh6 42.Nexf6 Nxf6 43.Nxf6+- 39.Nxf5+ Ke6 40.Ng7+ As we see, 38...f5 did not clear space for the black king at all. Kd6 41.Re2 Kc6 42.Re8 Rxe8 42...Rh7 43.Nf5 43.Nxe8 Nf8 44.Ne5+ Bxe5 45.dxe5 Kd7 46.Nf6+ Ke6 47.h5 Kxe5 48.Nd7+ Nxd7 49.h7 Nc5+ 50.Ke2 A fantastic game by Carlsen and the ugliest defeat of Kramnik I can remember. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2851Kramnik,V28011–02016D35Norway Chess 4th7

Move of the Year: 50.Qh6!! from Carlsen vs Karjakin, World Championship match, New York 2016

Most players would be happy if they had the chance for a spectacular queen sacrifice that mates the opponent who is busy to drum up counterplay against your king. These players would be even happier if they found such a move with little time left on the clock, and if the queen sacrifice ended a difficult match in which they sometimes seemed to be close to losing. In general it is difficult to think of a more spectacular end of a World Championship match. No wonder, Carlsen's 50.Qh6+ in game four of the Rapid Playoff of the World Championship match against Sergey Karjakin was the move of the year 2016 for most people.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.c4 a5 8.Be3 a4 9.Nc1 0-0 10.Nc3 Qa5 11.Qd2 Na6 12.Be2 Nc5 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Rb1 Rfc8 15.b4 axb3 16.axb3 Qd8 17.Nd3 Ne6 18.Nb4 Bc6 19.Rfd1 h5 20.Bf1 h4 21.Qf2 Nd7 22.g3 Ra3 23.Bh3 Rca8 24.Nc2 R3a6 25.Nb4 Ra5 26.Nc2 b6 27.Rd2 Qc7 28.Rbd1 Bf8 29.gxh4 Nf4 30.Bxf4 exf4 31.Bxd7 Qxd7 32.Nb4 Ra3 33.Nxc6 Qxc6 34.Nb5 Rxb3 35.Nd4 Qxc4 36.Nxb3 Qxb3 37.Qe2 Be7 38.Kg2 Qe6 39.h5 Ra3 40.Rd3 Ra2 41.R3d2 Ra3 42.Rd3 Ra7 43.Rd5 Rc7 44.Qd2 Qf6 45.Rf5 Qh4 46.Rc1 Ra7 47.Qxf4 Ra2+ 48.Kh1 Qf2 49.Rc8+ Kh7
50.Qh6+ 50.Qh6+ gxh6 50...Kxh6 51.Rh8# 51.Rxf7# 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2853Karjakin,S27721–02016B54World-ch rapid playoff4

(AS)

Translation: Johannes Fischer

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