Chess blindness of the Champions
11/16/2014 – Strange things happened in the sixth game of the World Championship in Sochi: Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand both suffered from an attack of chess blindness and overlooked a combination a lot of amateurs would have seen in a blitz game. In the end Carlsen was lucky and won the game. But has such a double blunder ever occurred in a World Championship match? Have a guess!
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Chess blindness of the Champions
It was an exciting moment. In the sixth game of the World Championship match between reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Vishy Anand in Sochi, Russia, Carlsen had the better position, but after thinking for a minute before his 26. move he committed a serious blunder.
Position after 26.Kc1-d2? (With 26.Kc1-d1 White avoids all tactical tricks.)
A blunder which easily could have cost Carlsen the title. Because now Anand had the tactical trick 26...Nxe5!. After the practically forced 27.Rxg8 the knight on e5, which is attacked by the rook on h5, saves itself with the zwischenzug 27...Nc4+ and after 28.Kd3 Nb2+ the beast is totally safe - but has won two pawns en route. Black is winning.
But in the game something incredible happened. Anand apparently got infected by Carlsen's chess blindness and missed the chance to win the game and to take the lead in the match. He thought for about a minute and then played 26...a4? to pursue his strategic plan to create counterplay on the queenside.
The live-transmission shows the crucial moment.
Norwegian fans were probably relieved, fans in India probably shocked. Carlsen and Anand were also relieved and shocked because immediately after having made their moves they realized what they had done or not done.
The end of the game: Anand resigns, visibly frustrated.
A mistake that raises questions: Has there ever been a similar case of mutual chess blindness in World Championship matches? And, a bit more soul-searching, why do such mistakes occur?
Well, at least the first question can be answered rather quickly. You only need to have a look at the entertaining book Chess Lists by Andy Soltis, which was first published in 1984 and republished in an edited and revised version in 2002. In more than 70 short articles and under headings such as "Tragic Losses", "Nobel Prize for Literature Players", "Nineteen Master Games with Illegal Moves", etc., the American Grandmaster and prolific writer here lists trivia, facts, and interesting coincidences from the world of chess.
Andy Soltis, Chess Lists
The heading "The Nine Worst World Championship Games" promises an answer to the question of mutual chess blindness in World Championship matches. However, in most of the games Soltis quotes one side commits a serious blunder which the opponents exploits, and which thus leads to an immediate loss. Pretty normal, after all. But Soltis also gives two World Championship games with remarkable cases of mutual chess blindness. One is the 16. game from the World Championship match between Alexander Alekhine and Max Euwe in 1937.
A. Alekhine-M.Euwe, 1937, position after 25.Nc3
Black now made a mistake and played 25...Qe5 allowing White a simple tactical trick. Well, Alekhine was everything but a tactically weak player, yet he nevertheless overlooked this opportunity and returned the compliment with 26.Bb2?. But Euwe still did not see the threat and played 26...Bc6?. Alekhine again refused the present and played 27.a3?, after which Euwe replied 27...Bd6, finally relieving all his fans who were present in Rotterdam from anguish. The game later ended in a draw. Both Alekhine and Euwe had overlooked that White after 25...Qe5? could have won a pawn with 26.Qh8+ Kxh8 27.Nxf7+ followed by 28.Nxe5. Black is two pawns down in the endgame, has no compensation and is clearly lost.
Alexander Alekhine
However, this game had hardly any influence on the outcome of the match. Alekhine, who in 1935 had unexpectedly lost his title in the first match against Euwe, losing 14.5-15.5, won the rematch in 1937 convincingly 15.5-9.5
Max Euwe
Another comedy of errors was the 18. game of the World Championship match between Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov in 1958. It was their third match. The first, in 1954, had ended 12:12 but because the reigning World Champion defended his title in case of a tie Botvinnik remained World Champion. Three years later, in 1957, Smyslov again challenged Botvinnik and this time he won 12.5-9.5. However, in the rematch in 1958, in which the following game was played, Botvinnik regained the title.
Mikhail Botvinnik
Had he won this game Smyslov would have had good chances to win or draw the match, but as it was, he lost 10.5-12.5.
Vasily Smyslov
Anand will also find it difficult to turn the tables after losing the sixth game and missing a golden opportunity. But who knows? Anand has already staged more than one surprising comeback in his career. Maybe he will strike again. His next chance to do so will come on Monday, 17th November, 3 pm local time. The game will be broadcast and commentated live on the playchess.com server. Don't miss it!
Score
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Game:
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Rtg |
01
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02
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03
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04
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05
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06
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07
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08
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09
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10
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11
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12
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Score
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| M. Carlsen | 2863 |
½
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1
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0
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½
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½
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1
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3.5
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| V. Anand | 2792 |
½
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0
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1
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½
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½
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0
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2.5
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Live comments on playchess.com
Our team of commentators will analyse and comment the games of the match live on the playchess.com server. In four languages: English, German, French, and Spanish.
Schedule
| Monday | 17.11.2014 | Round 7 | Simon Williams, Loek van Wely |
| Tuesday | 18.11.2014 | Round 8 | Daniel King, Loek van Wely |
| Wednesday | 19.11.2014 | Rest day | |
| Thursday | 20.11.2014 | Round 9 | Simon Williams, Irina Krush |
| Friday | 21.11.2014 | Round 10 | Daniel King, Simon Williams |
| Saturday | 22.11.2014 | Rest day | |
| Sunday | 23.11.2014 | Round 11 | Chris Ward, Parimarjan Negi |
| Monday | 24.11.201 | 4 Rest day | |
| Tuesday | 25.11.2014 | Round 12 | Simon Williams, Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
All playchess.com premium members have free access to the live commentary.
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Our team of World Championship commentators (English)
Irina Krush: The female in the commentator team, several times US Women's Champion. |
Daniel King: Well known, popular, experienced, and very good. Author of many Fritztrainer DVDs |
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Simon Williams: English grandmaster, author of two popular ChessBase King's Gambit DVDs. |
Chris Ward: Dragon expert and chess commentator at the London Chess Classic. |
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Niclas Pert: Grandmaster, trainer, and author of a number of excellent Fritztrainer DVDs. |
Loek van Wely: Several times Dutch champion and quick-witted chess commentator. |
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Parimarjan Negi: Once the world's youngest grandmaster, author of books and DVDs. |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov: The FIDE-World Champion 2004, former second for Vishy Anand |
Live commentary on Playchess is also available in other languages:
German
- Klaus Bischoff: German Champion and Anchor of the German chess commentary on Playchess
- Oliver Reeh: Also known as "Tactics Reeh" for his regular column in the ChessBase magazine and the ChessBase website
- Dr. Karsten Müller: Graduated mathematician and chess grandmaster. His works on the endgame changed endgame training completely.
- Thomas Luther: Several times German champion. Active in the FIDE commission for the handicapped.
- Merijn van Delft: From the Dutch dynasty of the van Delfts. Lives in Hambug and in Holland.
- Yannick Pelletier: Several times Swiss champion. With a linguistic gift he can provide commentary in a number of languages.
- Markus Ragger: Grandmaster and Austria's number one.
- Harald Schneider-Zinner: Chess trainer and moderator of ChessBase TV Austria.
French
- Christian Bauer: Grandmaster, several time French Champion and member of the French national team.
- Fabien Libiszewski: International Master and member of the French national team.
- Romain Edouard: Grandmaster, European Junior Champion and Vice-World Junior Champion, member of the French national team.
- Sebastien Mazé: Grandmaster and French national coaach
Spanish
- Ana Matnadze, Marc Narcisco, Sergio Estremera
LinksThe games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com with full GM commentary. If you are not a member of Playchess get instant access, but you can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to log on. |
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Discussion and Feedback
Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors
gosh that Smyslov V Botvinnik one is a real sickener though not completely trivial. But if the other results stayed the same Smyslov would have held on to his title so it probably had the biggest effect of them all. Don't you feel the ones in time trouble are more understandable?
@worstwoodpusher (come on, you're not that bad):
When playing the combination at move 26, the bishop is still at d7, so after Nxd7 you can simply play Nf6xd7. That's why I wrote that it becomes a real blunder one move later, when the bishop is at c6.
When playing the combination at move 26, the bishop is still at d7, so after Nxd7 you can simply play Nf6xd7. That's why I wrote that it becomes a real blunder one move later, when the bishop is at c6.
No wonder that Chessbase's traditional worship for God Garry made them forget the two horrible mutual blunders on move 33 in the final game of the 1987 world title match against Karpov in Sevilla!
@Frits Fritschy "In Alekhine-Euwe, after 25... Qe5(?) 26 Qh8+ Kxh8 27 Nxf7+ Kg8 28 Nxe5 it has just been an exchange of pawns, because black can simply play Bxb4." Yes, but then 29. Nxd7 takes bishop :-)
slavafide no matter how often you copy-paste your opinion under various articles, it will still remain a rather feeble opinion.
I'd like to point out Magnus reaction after Anand made his move. Although you don't see the player faces, you clearly see Magnus is "droping" his face on the table... Nice psychologic trick to influence the other player ("Haha you missed something")...
IIRC Magnus did another great psychologic trick during the last round of the Candidate Tournament (London 2013) when him and Vladimir Kramnik had a losing position.
After the time control, he knew he was lost so he got up and stood in front of Vladimir board for more than a minute in the place of Vassily Ivanchuk who was not sitted at the time, putting himself clearly in Kramnik's sight...
IIRC Magnus did another great psychologic trick during the last round of the Candidate Tournament (London 2013) when him and Vladimir Kramnik had a losing position.
After the time control, he knew he was lost so he got up and stood in front of Vladimir board for more than a minute in the place of Vassily Ivanchuk who was not sitted at the time, putting himself clearly in Kramnik's sight...
I can't believe that you're not mentioning a world championship game as recent as Kramnik-Topalov, Elista 2006, game 2, where both players missed a mate in 3... This surely qualifies as a double blunder even more so than the examples you give...
At the face value of the result, it is difficult for Anand, having made only 0.5pt out of 3 black games. Even if Anand could survive the 7th game, he can only try to win at game #8, which if over stretch could see him down 3-5 with 4 games remaining. His hope to win the title requires him to at least win a game with black.
Nobody likes the truth however previous an current match is lackluster. 12 game format is just too short. Kasparov-Karpov used to be far more exciting chess battles with far better quality of chess games . Blunders were more rare occasion than in carlsen-anand match
and more gross in Carlsen matches than kasparov-karpov matches. Just remember 1985 match were twice as long and required physical indurance as well it gave fans longer time to savor every moment. Current WC events is just more of the fundraising event for corrupt FIDE. Chess became a business not a sport.
Please, understand that Kasparov were better than Anand. The great PLAYERS LEFT THE CHESS OR TOO OLD NOW to compete. Carlsen say that the last game was lucky for him. I do not believe in luck but skill.
and more gross in Carlsen matches than kasparov-karpov matches. Just remember 1985 match were twice as long and required physical indurance as well it gave fans longer time to savor every moment. Current WC events is just more of the fundraising event for corrupt FIDE. Chess became a business not a sport.
Please, understand that Kasparov were better than Anand. The great PLAYERS LEFT THE CHESS OR TOO OLD NOW to compete. Carlsen say that the last game was lucky for him. I do not believe in luck but skill.
Players are immersed in their own plans and forget that there is an opponent on the other side
In Alekhine-Euwe, after 25... Qe5(?) 26 Qh8+ Kxh8 27 Nxf7+ Kg8 28 Nxe5 it has just been an exchange of pawns, because black can simply play Bxb4. A pawn dawn, black can still fight. Of course after 26 Bb2(?) Bc6 really is a blunder, as is 27 a3.
If there is any time you would be justified in putting two "?" it's this...
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