7 Historic Blunders by the Super Grandmasters
We all know that ordinary players blunder. We also recently learned that GMs blunder as well from time to time. What about the Super-GMs? These the the world champions, ex-world champions, and all those with insanely high ELO of 2700 +. Do these guys blunders? Apparently they do. Here are a few bright examples:
1. Gata Kamsky – Vassily Ivanchuk, Bazana Kings, 2009
Kamsky thought that taking a pawn 32…Rxh4?? is fine, but he missed a simple and devastating response by Ivanchuk 33. Qe1! which loses the Rook in one move. Gata resigned immediately.
Black is about to play 32…Rxh4??
2. Vladimir Kramnik – Magnus Carlsen, Dortmund SuperGM, 2009
In this position Carlsen played 30…Nxb4?? thinking that after black recaptures with the pawn he can take on b5 with a bishop. What Magnus have missed is the white’s beautiful sacrifice 31. Rxe6 which Kramnik played, instantly winning the game.
Black just played 30…Nxb4??
3. Vladimir Kramnik – Viswanathan Anand, World Championship, 2008
Anand played 26…c4?? taking away an important square from his own knight. Now after 27.a5 the knight has to go to 27…a4. After a simple maneuver by Kramnik 28.Rb7 Qe8 29.Qd6 threatening Qb4 and black’s position collapses. Anand resigned but it did not prevent him from keeping the world championship title.
Black just played 26…c4??
4. Garry Kasparov – Alexander Grischuk, EU-cup, 2003
In the equal position Grischuck got intimidated by a far more experienced Kasparov and instead of exchanging the rook for two bishops he stepped into the mating net. 59…Kh7?? 60.Bd4 Rc2+ 61. Kh3 after which Black gets mated in 7.
Black is about to play 59…Kh7??
5. Magnus Carlsen – Levon Aronian, Linares, 2009
In this drawn rook and pawn endgame, Carlsen made a wrong decision which cost him a game. Instead of blocking the passed pawn with a King, Magnus played 83…Rf1?? and shortly after 84.f2 he resigned.
White is about to play 83…Rf1??
6. Alexander Morozevich – Boris Gelfand, Biel, 2009
Morozevich just played 30.Rd4, Gelfand did not see the threat and continued with 30…Rd6??. After that, Alexander simply took the knight for free 31. Rxe4. “Pin is mightier than the sword.”
Black is about to play 30…Rd6??
7. Magnus Carlsen – Sergei Movsesian, EU-cup, 2008
Carlsen just played 76. Nf6?? to setup a mate in one. However, he did not take into account the black’s counter-play which in this case is pretty powerful. After the check 76…Ra8+ Carlsen has no good moves for his King and loses the rook to a knight fork.
White just played 76. Nf6??
Read more things:
[quote name=”Sijo Kizhakkevelikka”]In the first game, Gata Kamsky – Vassily Ivanchuk, Bazana Kings, 2009, Black missed a forced mate !!!
33 —- QXBf2
34 RXQf2 Re1+
34 Rf1 RXRf1+ mate[/quote]
After 33 —- QXBf2 yes you’re right it’s forced mate with 34. Rxh7!… 1-0 !!! …–‘
In the first game, Gata Kamsky – Vassily Ivanchuk, Bazana Kings, 2009, Black missed a forced mate !!!
33 —- QXBf2
34 RXQf2 Re1+
34 Rf1 RXRf1+ mate
In the first game, Gata Kamsky – Vassily Ivanchuk, Bazana Kings, 2009, Black missed a forced mate !!!
33 QXBf2 RXQf2
34 Re1+ Rf1
35 RXRf1+ mate
In game 4 wouldn’t the exchange have been his rook and bishop for the 2 bishops?
I think it’s the reason he didn’t like the exchange or am I missing something?
[quote name=”Claude Sudberry”]In the first game, how is black to play e4 when he’s in check?[/quote]
Who says black ever plays e4?
Hello kojer and Claude Sudberry. There was a typo in the diagram. The black king in the game 1 should be on h8 🙂 It’s now all fixed, thanks for bringing it to my attention
Hi Kevin, Carlsen played 76.Nf6 to setup the mate Rh7#.
In the first game, how is black to play e4 when he’s in check?
1. Gata Kamsky – Vassily Ivanchuk, Bazana Kings,
black king is check by white queen 8)
Isn’t that last one Carlsen played 76.Kf8?