Most of the time, I look at GMs doing things well, even brilliantly. That’s one of the main reasons for this blog: celebrating some of the best chess in the world, both for our enjoyment and our instruction.
That’s very high-minded. But sometimes it’s just as fun to watch grandmasters and other fine players slip into EPIC FAIL mode. It’s good to be reminded that they’re cut from the same frail cloth we are, and so to feel a bit less bad about all the times we’ve royally screwed up. And we can learn from the GMs’ blunders as well - though frankly the entertainment value is the primary thing.
So here we go: let’s have a look at a second straight day of failure from Bella Khotenashvili (who to her credit bounced back to win in round 3). In fact, the game we’ll look at today, from round 2 of the Cairns Cup, featured both Khotenashvili and her opponent, IM Anna Zatonskih, both missing the same tactic, which you can see here.
Now for a little motivation. I’ve been casual about plugging the blog, but let’s make some progress here. I’m on verge of 800 subscribers right now. When we get to 1000 subs, I’ll show one of my luckiest games ever, in a classical game against a 2100+ opponent that I won starting with just my rook against his rook and four pawns. The reason to show this game is that the first of the four pawns was recovered using the trick missed by both Zatonskih and Khotenashvili. If you’re reading this and you’re not a subscriber, please like and subscribe; if you’re already a subscriber, recruit a friend or family member, even if you have to bribe them.