Robert Ris: Top 10 blunders in World Championship matches

As tense as it gets

Who made the worst blunder in World Championship history? Even the legendary Bobby Fischer grabbed a pawn on h2, inexplicably allowing his bishop to later be captured by Boris Spassky’s king.

Find below the first three blunders that we looked at. Watch the full video, with all ten blunders presented, at the end of the article.

Mikhail Chigorin vs. Wilhelm Steinitz - Havana, 1892 (Game 23)

Chigorin’s 32.Bb4 allowed mate-in-two. Steinitz played 32...Rxh2+ and White resigned, since 33...Rdg2# is coming. Incredible!

Mikhail Botvinnik vs. Vasily Smyslov - Moscow, 1958 (Game 18)

This was not an obvious miss like the previous one, but a spectacular idea that was missed by both players. Here Botvinnik played 23.Bh3, failing to realize that 23.Nd4! is a beautiful, winning move. The idea is simply to open the path for the bishop to give a check from d5 — e.g. 23...cxd4 24.Bd5+ Rxd5 25.Re8 Rxe8 26.Rxe8+ Kf7 27.Qf8#. Of course, Smyslov also missed this idea, as he allowed it with 22...Rcd8.

Boris Spassky vs. Robert Fischer - Reykjavík 1972 (Game 1)

This is one every chess fan recognizes. Fischer inexplicably played 29...Bxh2, giving Spassky the chance to trap the bishop starting with 30.g3. Unbelievable.

A Complete Black Repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 & 1.c4

These video courses feature a black repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.

Links - 2023 World Championship

• Game 1: Nepo gains edge, Ding holds
• Game 2: Nepo scores, despite Ding’s opening surprise
• Game 3: Ding comfortably draws with black
• Game 4: Ding strikes back, levels the score
• Game 5: Nepo wins model game, leads again
• Game 6: Ding plays the London, bounces right back