Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The Worst Move On The Board XXV


Guo-Kjartansson, London Chess Classic Open, round two, 5 December 2015.
Position after 51...Rb1-b2+.

From Chess Today 5508 by way of Angus French. White, outrated by several hundred Elo points, nevertheless has a draw when she wants it against her IM opponent, but naturally, with two pawns on the seventh, she wants more.

There's only one way to play for a win. Coincidentally, there's only one way to play for a loss...

[Worst move index]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've looked up the game. If White was playing for a win, that appears bad judgement as an engine suggests that the ending has been equal for most of the previous moves. Earlier Black could have bailed out to a simple draw, but perhaps Black was playing for a win, by foul means if necessary?


The engine spots the problem in the distance and plays to avoid it.

RdC

Tim Harding said...

Here's another one. Today in QATAR, Adhiban-Kosteniuk. At move 41 after 17 minutes thought Adhiban played 41 Nd4-c6?? opening the long black diagonal for his opponent to play ...Qa1+ and force mate.

ejh said...

Isn't 41.Nb5 similarly disastrous?