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One of the worst blunders in World Chess Championship History
Game 9 - "The blunders are all there waiting to be made" - Saveilly TartakowerHi all
Video annotation
Video annotation should be here shortly based on the study analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNSvRa0ravg
White seemed to be okay out of the Opening
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#12
Seemingly thematic undermining move
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#17
Bc5 basically forced because of other forcing variations
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#21
A critical moment where it seems b4 should have been tried
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#28
White's "Hanging pawns" don't seem too dangerous here
A side note on Hanging pawns
"Hanging pawns" are like two isolated pawns together. So not as isolated as an isolated pawn. They have their up and downsides. Lasker who has a similar style to Magnus Carlsen destroyed opponents with the Hanging pawn structure on occasion e.g. this game I checked out recently:
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/LscrsTTS#38
Anyway back to this game
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#34
White takes the b7 pawn out
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#51
BLUNDER ALERT!
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#53
The bishop is trapped!
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#54
Final position at move 39
The time control has been essentially made so Magnus will get extra time. At this point, Nepo resigned after 39...Ra8
https://lichess.org/study/ClDHBR0w/BGgpJXzg#78
Time control recap
The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.
Takeaway points
- "The blunders are all there waiting to be made" - Saveilly Tartakower
- Exhaustion may be the root cause of such blunders - such as the exhaustion from the mammoth marathon game 6
- Physical fitness is important for chess if physical exhaustion is linked to mental exhaustion which generally seems to be the case. Bobby Fischer emphasized physical training for his game preparation in key tournaments and matches.
- When one puts pieces into the opponent's territory, there is a risk of those pieces being trapped
- The Hanging Pawns for White in this game didn't seem too dangerous compared to the Lasker game example given
Hope you enjoyed this blog :). Any likes and follows are really appreciated. Also, I also have some interesting chess courses at https://kingscrusher.tv/chesscourses to check out.
Cheers, K
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