To close the book on 2017, we review your picks for the most remarkable moves, endgames, games, and players of the year gone by. It was an incredibly full year of chess globally, and yet 2018 — featuring the Candidates tournament and the World Championship match, plus the Chess Olympiad in addition to the regular slate of annual tournaments — is shaping up to be even better!
Now, on to the winners...
This category was very close, but ultimately the startling pawn sacrifice 33...f6 !! by Narayanan Sunilduth Lyna came out on top. A surprise clearance operation, followed by a mating attack, made this move and combination a wonder to behold.
Naranyan Sunilduth Lyna in 2015 | Photo: Amruta Mokal
| Naryanan Sunilduth Lyna: 33...f6!! | 83 | | 30% |
| Viswanathan Anand: 22.exf6!! | 74 | | 27% |
| Vera Nebolsina: 26.c5!! | 51 | | 18% |
| Sabrina Vega Gutierrez: 28...Txg2!! | 32 | | 11% |
| Gata Kamsy: 23...c4!! | 22 | | 8% |
| Boris Savchenko: 24...Nb3!! | 10 | | 3% |
See all nominations for "move of the year".
By just a three point margin, ChessBase members selected this endgame from St. Louis over Nakamura vs. Giri in the first round of Norway Chess. Our round report dubbed Maxime "Vachier-Lagreat" for his win over the World Champion.
| Carlsen-Vachier Lagrave | 41 | | 27% |
| Nakamura-Giri | 36 | | 24% |
| Yu-Zvjaginsev | 26 | | 17% |
| Carlsen-Aronian | 25 | | 16% |
| Vachier Lagrave-So | 11 | | 7% |
| So-Jobava | 9 | | 6% |
See all nominations for "endgame of the year".
Confounding even the Champ | Photo: Lennart Ootes, GrandChessTour.org
GM Karsten Mueller has done three videos on "good night vs bad bishop" among other minor piece endgames, all of which are available for ChessBase Premium members. Here's one:
We perhaps biased this one by highlighting this brilliancy when it was played in November, but still, few would protest the overwhelming reader's choice, which nearly tripled the next-closest vote tally.
bestgame2017
See all nominations for "game of the year".
Yifan, who was also nominated in the overall "player of the year" poll, crushed her compatriot Ju Wenjun in your choice for female player of the year, despite the latter's strong finish in the World Blitz and Rapid Championships. Hou overcame the scandal surrounding her thrown game protest at the start of 2017 in Gibraltar, and won largely thanks to her standout performance in Biel.
Anna Muzychuk was also a big vote-getter, with some calling our her principled stand against the awarding of the Blitz and Rapid Championships to Saudi Arabia.
bestfemalplayer2017
Players of the year | Photos: Pascal Simon
And finally...
The Armenian's strong 2017 results — winning Norway Chess, the Grenke Chess Classic, the World Cup and the Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca — propelled him to clear first place in our survey. The World Cup win meant that he will also be making a return to the Candidates Tournament, coming up in March in Berlin. And last but not least, he married his long-time fiancée Arianne Caoili, making 2017 a truly momentus year!
| Levon Aronian | 174 | | 42% |
| Magnus Carlsen | 77 | | 18% |
| Viswanthan Anand | 53 | | 12% |
| Shakriyar Mamedyarov | 25 | | 6% |
| Praggnanandhaa R | 20 | | 4% |
| Hou Yifan | 18 | | 4% |
| Ding Liren | 14 | | 3% |
| Vladimir Fedoseev | 14 | | 3% |
| Richard Rapport | 8 | | 1% |
| Wei Yi | 8 | | 1% |
Yes, he's player of the year...but only on the 64 squares | Photo: Champord.am
