Game, Endgame and Combination of the Year

by ChessBase
1/10/2019 – A few weeks ago we launched a reader poll with nominations for the best game, endgame and combination of 2018. The results are in! The "endgame of the year" was hotly contested, and best game of the year contest was virtually a dead heat. Games of Kramnik, Carlsen and Caruana were the top vote-getters in that category. But readers clearly felt that Ivan Cheparinov deserved to be recognised for the best combination of 2018 for his brilliant rook sacrifice way back in January at the Gibraltar Masters. Take a look...

Checkmate. That's the aim of the game. There are numerous ways to checkmate the enemy king, but there are common patterns that recur over and over again, and having these at our mental fingertips is essential for when we want to finish the game.

Best of 2018 (part 1)

At the outset, a small caveat: It became clear that some readers were confused by the current design of our polls — which looks a bit too much like normal links, and no confirmation step — leading at least a few to accidentally vote prematurely for the first item on the list. Nostra culpa! We'll take that into consideration when reviewing the results and improve the system for the future.

No amount of over-voting can undermine the result of our first reader vote, however...

Best combination of 2018

This one is clear: Ivan Cheparinov's combination against Alan Pichot was judged as the best of 2018 by a plurality of the 246 ChessBase Account holders who voted.

Poll results:

Kombination/Combination/Combinación
Pichot-Cheparinov107
43%
Howell-McShane34
13%
Saric-Bosiocic33
13%
Le-Bersamina25
10%
Fier-Aloma Vidal21
8%
Rublevsky-Alekseenko11
4%
Salles-Ni10
4%
Kjartannson-Salomon5
2%

Here it is once again for posterity:

 
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21...Rg1+! 21...Bxb7 22.Rxe6+ Kf7 23.Qd7+ Kg6 24.f7++- 22.Kxg1 22.Rxg1 Bxb7 23.f7+ Ke7-+ 22...Qc5+! 23.Kh1 Bxb7 Finally! 24.Rxe6+ Kf7 25.Qd7+ Kg8 26.f7+ Kg7! Covering g6. 26...Kh8 27.Qxb7 Qf2 28.Rg6!+- 27.Qd3 Qg5! 28.Qd4+ Kxf7
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Pichot,A2552Cheparinov,I26990–12018Gibraltar Masters 20185.15

Pichot and Cheparinov

Congratulations to both players!


Best endgame of 2018

Karsten Müller selected ten of the best endgames for our shortlist. This category was really close, with Nepomniachtchi vs Nisipeanu registering 22%, Carlsen vs Caruana notching 20% and Kramnik vs Caruana taking 19% of the total of 240 votes cast:

Poll results:

Endspiel/Endgame/Final
Nepomniachtchi-Nisipeanu55
22%
Carlsen-Caruana48
20%
Kramnik-Caruana47
19%
Carlsen-Yifan Hou24
10%
Grischuk-Caruana15
6%
Karjakin-Kramnik14
5%
Carlsen-Navara14
5%
Korobov-Sutovsky8
3%
Jakovenko-Fedoseev8
3%
Giri-Caruana7
2%

Given the propensity for the top choice to get a few extra clicks by accident, we're inclined to give the nod to the World Championship playoff duel. Replay all three below:

 
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38.Re7+ Kxf5 39.Rxg7 Kf6 40.Rg5 a5 41.Rxh5 a4 42.Ra5 Ra1 43.Kf3 a3 44.Ra6+ Kg7 45.Kg2 Ra2+ 46.Kh3 Ra1 47.h5 Kh7 48.g4 Kg7 49.Kh4 a2 50.Kg5 Kf7 51.h6 Rb1 52.Ra7+ Kg8 53.Rxa2 Rb5+ 54.Kg6 Rb6+ 55.Kh5
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2835Caruana,F28321–02018World Chess Championship 201813.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2757Nisipeanu,L26721–0201846th GM 20183.2
Kramnik,V2800Caruana,F27840–12018FIDE Candidates4

Click or tap the second or third games in the list to switch

Mueller reviews the contenders in a special solo edition of Endgame Magic:

Free for ChessBase Basic Account holders, or you can register a free 90-day account to watch


Best game of 2018

Caruana also features in a contender for the best game overall of 2018. But this one is truly too close to call. With 105 votes for Kramnik vs Caruana from the fourth round of the 2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin, but 104 votes for Aronian vs Kramnik, we can only say for certain that Vladimir Kramnik "wins" the Game of the Year. His titanic, back-and-forth struggle with Caruana in Berlin was crucial to the course of the tournament. Caruana's win with Black propelled him into the clear lead. Kramnik's win with Black against Aronian was also played in Berlin.

Poll results:

Partie/Game/Partida
Kramnik-Caruana105
26%
Aronian-Kramnik104
26%
Hillarp Persson-Laurusas91
23%
Ding-Duda62
15%
Aronian-Mamedyarov30
7%

 
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Position not in LiveBook
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.Nc3 Nxc3 7.dxc3 Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Nc6 This position has an extremely high drawing percentage. 9.Be3 Be7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.Rhe1 Bf6 12.Nd2 Re8 13.Bf3 Ne5 14.Bf4 Kf8 15.Bd5 c6 16.Bb3 Bf5 17.h3 g5 18.Bh2 Kg7 19.c4 g4 20.Ne4 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Bg5+ 22.Kb1 gxh3 Safer and was better 23.c5?! Bold but dangerous. 23.gxh3 23...f5 24.Rb4 hxg2 25.Rxb7+ Kh8 26.cxd6 Nf3 27.Ba4 27.Bg1 was Kramnik's original plan, but Re2 is winning for black. 28.Bf7 Rd2 or 28...Nxg1 29.Rxg1 Rxf2 30.Bc4 Be3 29.Rxd2 Nxd2+ 30.Ka1 Rd8 Black collects the d6-pawn and then forces White to five up a piece for the g-pawn. 27...Nxh2 28.Bxc6 Rad8 28...Re4 Caruana burned up several vital minutes trying to make this interesting move work, e.g. 29.Rg1 29.Bxe4 fxe4 30.Rg1 e3! is winning. 29...Rae8 was what Caruana considered, but it's only equal. 29.d7 29.Bxe8? Rxd6! 30.Rd7 Rxd1+ 31.Rxd1 Nf1! and Black wins. 29...Re2 30.Bxg2 Rxf2 31.Bc6 Ng4 32.Rxa7 Ne3 33.Rg1 Nach h6? 33...Rxc2 Black stands well, e.g. 34.Ba4 34.Rc7 Bf6! 35.Rc8 looks strong, but actually threatens nothing. Rxb2+ 36.Kc1 36.Ka1 Rb4# 36...Rxa2 37.Re1 f4-+ 34...Rf2 35.a3 Bf6 36.Rb7 Nc4 37.Re1 Kg7-+ After the text the white pawns become very dangerous. 34.Rc7 Kg7 35.a4 Kf7 36.Bb5 Ke7 37.a5 Rf4 38.c3 Kd6 39.Rb7 39.Rc6+ Ke7 39...Rg4 40.Re1 f4 41.a6 h5 42.a7 Ra8 Still stronger was 43.b4 43.c4 z.B. Kc5 44.b4+ Kxb4 45.Bc6+ Kc3 46.Rc1+ Kd4 43...h4 Here Kramnik misses the strong possibility 44.c4?! 44...h3 45.c5+ Ke5 Better was 46.Rb8? Now, white gets into trouble. 46.Bc6 e.g. h2 47.Rh1 Rg1+ 48.Kb2 Rxh1 49.Bxh1 Nd1+ 50.Kb3 f3 51.Bxf3 Nf2 52.c6 and the white pawns decide. 46.c6 h2 47.c7 Rg1 48.Bc6 could have led to an amazing draw, e.g. Rxe1+ 49.Ka2 Nd5 50.Bxd5 Kxd5 46...Rxa7 47.Rg8 Bf6 48.d8Q Bxd8 49.Rxg4 Bf6 White is an exchange up, but the black pawns are more dangerous. 50.Rg6 Rb7 51.Be2 Rxb4+ 52.Ka2 Nc2 53.Rc1 Nd4 54.Bd3 Ra4+ 55.Kb1 Nb3 56.Re1+ Kd5 57.Kc2 57.Rxf6 Ra1+ 58.Kb2 Rxe1 59.Kxb3 h2 60.Bc4+ Kxc5 61.Rf5+ Kd4 62.Rxf4+ Ke3 63.Rh4 57...Nd4+ 58.Kb1 Nf3 59.Rd1 a devastating blunder for Kramnik in time pressure. 59.Rxf6 Nxe1 60.Bf1 h2 61.Rh6 still offered drawing chances. 59...Ra1+ 60.Kc2 Rxd1 61.Ba6 61.Kxd1 h2 and White can't stop the pawn from queening. 61...Rd2+ 62.Kc1 Bb2+ 63.Kb1 Kxc5 64.Bb7 Ne5 65.Rf6 f3 66.Rf5 f2 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kramnik,V2800Caruana,F27840–12018Candidates 20184
Aronian,L2794Kramnik,V28000–12018FIDE Candidates 20183

Click or tap the second game in the list to switch

IM Sagar Shah uses ChessBase 14 and a few tools at his disposal to try and find out if ...Rg8 by Kramnik was a brilliant novelty or careless preparation by Aronian


Check back tomorrow for a look at the "players of the year"!


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