Top 10 Blunders in World Chess Championship History

GM Jan Gustafsson takes a look at the biggest blunders in World Championship match play.
What's your favorite? Got a better candidate?
Let us know in the comments!
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[@jspin3609]

You know you messed up bad when people are still talking about it 124 years later.

[@Enigmaprince]

I think he is still turning around in agony in his grave :D

[@andreasstocker8301]

lul 124 likes

[@tretayug3500]

S. Jefferspin Lol!

[@RonaiHenrik]

S. Jefferspin :D best comment I've read in a long time

[@jimlahey9158]

hahahaha so true, like "let me rest in peace"

[@alexandernat3920]

Nice fps ffs.

[@simpletastybyais1117]

ahahahaha

[@d007ization]

Yeah, I can't follow what happens in the game at all.

[@modrozelenaalga9607]

Yeah, I lost many online chess games because of lag.

[@djentleman7]

recorded using potato processer

[@arbitrage2141]

Complaining about FPS on a chess video. Lol.

[@00bikeboy]

I think the biggest blunder was Jan's suit ;-)

[@leo-ff95]

Alexander Ahhhyehhhhinnne...love the pronunciation

[@LeviATallaksen]

Two other recent candidates are: - Anand's 28. Nf1 in the 9th game against Carlsen in 2013. - Gelfand's 14... Qf6 in the 8th game against Anand in 2012. But the greatest blunder of all must be Fischer not attending the match against Karpov in 1975!

[@ignantxxxninja]

was this recorded by a potato?

[@IIeWaveIIxBlackLight]

Hoony K. quality was pretty good for me dude

[@MrSmellslikeninja]

Hoony K. 10 FPS... Potato confirmed

[@ufewl]

Hoony K. turnip

[@frankzilla447]

Hoony K. your monitor is a potato...

[@ufewl]

thats why potatoes have eyes

[@garrybobbyphogeson721]

Wow, you guys are so talented. You managed to stop motion the whole video and time it with the audio.

[@Chess24]

GM Jan Gustafsson takes a look at the biggest blunders in World Championship match play. What's your favorite? Got a better candidate? Let us know in the comments!

[@LeadersCome]

+chess24 Kramnik - Deep Fritz should be on the list

[@jaidenc2039]

on number two after Ke5 how come no Re5?

[@martinwerner9211]

After Nxe5 Rxe5 the rook on g4 is hanging with Rxg4

[@sujaybms]

korchnoi deserves the second spot. he blundered a mate!!!!

[@domogdeilig]

If you take a look at my games you will surely find a worse blunder

[@dahshkeeNYer]

I was at #5 and still have my ticket stub and hand-written notes to the game. The moves after Nb6 were played so quickly that Anand and Kasparov shook hands and were talking at the board and no one in the audience knew what had happened; what the result was. It took around 5 minutes before we got the moves and saw the ending. The comment by Roman Dzhindzhihasvilli after the game was a classic: "In World Open, this is brilliant sacrifice. But this is World Championship, so is bad blunder. A 2700 who does not see such moves will not be 2700 for long." And, in an answer to an unasked trivia question, the opening of that game (#5 on the list, #11 in the 1995 WCC match) was a Dragon Sicilian, the first time Kasparov played the Dragon proper in his career--and I was there, as well as for games 9, 10, and 13. Games 9, 10, and 11 were the first three wins in the match. Good timing by me, don't you think?

[@dg19de]

the story to numer four (bronstein vs. botwinik) as in the book "expedition into the chess world": told by bronstein, he said, that he had seen the knight check but in a moment of confusion grabbed the king

[@Vedioviswritingservice]

Can't argue with the #1 selection, I am skeptical about labeling the Carlsen-Anand game as #2. I think its there because of how recent it is.

[@KristofferStalsberg]

***** He was talking about #2 ??

[@TheGalactus88]

"Jan doesn't suffer from recency bias dude" +J London. "I might have some recency bias here" GM Jan Gustaffson

[@danielfcastro]

2018, game 12, Carlsen offers a draw.

[@alexandrerobillard4289]

Here in the comments that have not aged well exhibit

[@KristofferStalsberg]

*goes on to promptly crush Caruana 3-0 in the rapid tiebreaks*

[@lolbro1765]

Because Magnus wanted to crush Fabiano and eat Fabiano alive in rapids.

[@danielfcastro]

Hindsight is 20/20. Of course Carlsen was a big favourite in the rapids, but still made a blunder with draw offer. Why reduce his chances of retaining his title from, say 90 to 80%?

[@adnanh3904]

You cant attack without opening your position simultaneously and he knew he would crush Fabiano in rapid so I Understand him

[@Texticulos]

How about Anand's blunder last year in game 9 with Kf1?

[@Bill_Woo]

This is great material and great commentary. Truly. One thing I would like is in the board display, I've seen other games shown where there is a clear blue border around the two spaces of the latest move. That's extremely helpful to keeping up here at home. (Thin brief "mouse trails" would help even more on that.) Also great would be changing a piece that's being moved to yellow. I'd even like it to stay yellow until the next move - which also settles which side is next to move. The "dots" such as showing rook coverage spaces that are sometimes provided are very nice, but the other two items to me are more valuable. It would seem that this could be programmed whether a move is made by mouse moves or if done by hitting the left and right arrow keys to "scroll" through the moves. Thanks so much for all the immensely useful and entertaining videos.

[@davidfranklin5426]

What about Karpov's 22...Rcd8?? against Kasparov in game 11 of their 1985 match, allowing the winning 23. Qxd7.

[@georgesmith5293]

That was great and your commentaries are simple yet effective! Thanks!

[@lilsnacc2732]

is it just me or does his face seem to be lagging a crap ton

[@asperRader]

I'm not really that much into chess, but this was a suprisingly interesting video for me.

[@daneQuixote]

Time to update the list!

[@spxjet8225]

You had me update my video card drivers. Thanks!

[@heartofmanproject9198]

Nicely done! Very entertaining!

[@stevenanderson3673]

In Fischer's game his move is sometimes marked 29...Bxh2?! This makes it a highly speculative move. Also it is known 2 pawns often defeat a bishop in the endgame. My study of the game shows he could have drawn around the 40th move but made an error there also.

[@martinpereiravilla652]

the Fischer and Chigorin blunders just unbelievable at that level but they´re humans after all.

[@quagapp]

Longevity - you pronounced it perfectly. The Bogoljubov match. One of them, I played it right through, showed that Alekhine didn't actually play that well. I think I commented on it before. But in that match, possibly their first, what happened that he mostly had better positions but made errors due to time pressure. In one game he took a draw, that he was winning. But Alekhine knew he was subject to time trouble addiction so he then played a spurious and not good "attack" which anyone could have defended. But he knew that the previous result had demoralized Bogo, who duly lost.

[@imsoto]

Great list!

[@harabas3499]

hi Jan, love your analysis on this video, how about making another video about masters making one unexpected move that instantly forces a resignation from their opponents, like a thunderbolt move suddenly hurled from the heavens!!!

[@preetam8577]

Yeah!

[@MrsNotorials]

This is a lovely chess powerpoint presentation mate!

[@micheletumbarello5162]

Tx very much Jan!

[@josepheid03]

At the first one, bishop after Kh3, Bishop takes the G3 Pawn and after the F2 pawn takes, then the H4 pawn could push without any problem

[@Sn28sept]

How can you miss Boris gelfand from here!!! Forgot about 2012 queen blunder

[@locosiap4184]

Will the site run at 5 fps too

[@ZanzibarBreeze]

Great video

[@Enigmaprince]

13:18 Viktor the terrible... the tiredless fighter LOL

[@tretayug3500]

Zorroborro Hahhhhha!!

[@feeroldent]

Hey, I dont get number 4 after knight e6 poon e2 knight d4 the poon reaches e1 and transforms? What can white do against it? Did I missed anything? The knight will be late in any case bacause the king does not need to sit the black poon and wont get checked? Maybe its to early for me but I hope you can explain me :D

[@chessaddict5942]

Ne6 + Kf3 Nd4 + controlling e2

[@persereikanen6518]

Please include 2018 Caruana rapid game 2 when he played c7??

[@leeball4585]

I wholeheartedly agree with the choice of No.1, such an obvious blunder which instantly finished the match. I remember seeing this position for the first time in a book as a child, as an enthusiastic, aggressive but poor and inexperienced player, but still able to see instantly what a dreadful error this was. I can only hope that Chigorin could blame time pressure - this is always the issue for me, to put the real time situation into context...for instance, many blunders in the Karpov-Kasparov world championship matches were made in terrible time trouble. I recall Karpov himself, criticizing his 35th move in game 11 of the 1987 match in Seville, remarking that he had half an hour in reserve when he gifted his opponent an exchange for no good reason - easily done with just seconds to go, a true blunder when so comfortable!

[@Enderman-en3dv]

#10 I saw in the movie pawn sacrifice and I was so proud to find out how it was a blunder.

[@DeezSports]

Enderman1323 same lol great movie

[@CGoody564]

DeezSports horrible movie...

[@mrprince6467]

i read an article in facebook wich was taken from a book , you can see that the guy in video said what was bronstein was thinking moving the king there . what i read was that daved bronstein accidentally touched his king , the rules said that since he touched it he should move it , wich led to a draw i think and costed him the match , tough one .

[@mwoldin]

Thank you for the pithy explanations.

[@quagapp]

I don't think the chess was lower at the time of Steinitz etc. I played most of the World Champ matches over. It is true that opening theory is more advanced etc but Tchigorin and Steinitz for example were both rather eccentric and went for strange positions. So that Tchigorin kept playing the Evan's Gambit (which remember Kasparov revived so to speak) but you can sense the bloody mindedness of them both. They were developing their theories. Tchigorin played his own defence which is dubious but it leads often to black having 2 Ns vs 2 Bs in positions that are not (in pawn structure) "bad enough" for White...and in the Evans some really crazy chess was played. But both of them could play great games. The circumstances of the match have to be accounted for. Also that in those days chess players received very little money: hence both Lasker and Alekhine arranged their matches (opponents) as much as they could and in Lasker's case against Schlecter, who, despite all the draws: look if you play that match over, every game was exciting: much more so than any WC match by Carlsen and Anand where Anand seemed to be demoralized. Schlecter died basically of starvation in the aftermath of WWI despite having been one of the greatest chess players. Had he won that match and the score was = (but Lasker had it organised so that he won in that circumstance as he had seen the case of Steinitz also dying in poverty)...had things gone that way we might have been considering Schlecter as the greatest player. If Spassky had been a little more interested in 1972 (he joined in the applause when Fischer won that great game he played against Spassky's isolated pawn couple), and a little less hypnotised by Fischer's antics, he may have won that match. We would be talking about Spassky instead of Fischer. A lot of it is morale and confidence etc.....

[@swaystar1235]

this looks like a stop motion with audio put on it

[@thebigfatcat8711]

by the way with the first game (spassky vs fischer) black could play h3 after kf3 and hold the position a bit more

[@mazingol]

with h3, there is no way of white stopping h pawn going to h2 with bishop protecting it right? (unless you give black the f pawn). How is black losing after that?

[@thebigfatcat8711]

yeah exactly thats what i dont understand ;-;

[@MK-13337]

_BukLau_ 1...h3 2. Kg4 Bg1 3. Kxh3 Bxf2 4. Bd2 and the dark squared bishop remains trapped.

[@Callipygous1975]

Thanks, Jan. It would not be hard to do ten more.

[@obas777]

how about game 2 in the current wcc match?

[@ksewpa9948]

What's the name of the intro music?

[@Crabitat]

Fischer's ...Bxh2 leads to a drawn ending, so it cannot be called a blunder in the strict sense of a move that throws away a position. It was a practical mistake, of course, as it requires Black to play brilliantly to draw when the initial position was simply drawn.

[@nguoilukhach]

some unknown games, thx !

[@blueryder3]

Spassky's 27 Q-c2 in game 5 of his 1972 World Championship match against Fischer allowing the simple 27..... Bxa4.

[@pureskill123]

Video lags in the beginning, be patient and it'll get better after 2 mins

[@Zoxeful]

and the worst of all is kramnik's blunder against deep fritz when he allowed mate in one !

[@denizaydn4171]

First stop motion chess video in youtube

[@nickrudin6139]

the last blunder was extremely similar to my game today where my opponent's queen could of taken a pawn and saved him from a checkmate, but he decided to try to attack me instead, gg

[@UnhandsomeJack]

What about when ivanchuk missed a mate in one against anand? That should've been somewhere on the list.

[@tushnim_5996]

THE FRAMES OH MY GOD THE FRAMES

[@767900]

Fun video. Thanks.

[@danielgautreau161]

Last game of Karpov-Kasparov when Kasparov first became champion: Karpov misses a sure draw late in the endgame (in a position that he obviously cannot win) and loses game and title.

[@TheAnnie03]

You could add Boris Gelfand's blunder against Vishy Anand in WC.

[@chessgeek1057]

2:04 ...h3 will eventually lead to a position that prevents king, bishop, and pawn from moving out of the corner, leading to a drawn game.

[@LeviATallaksen]

I guess that was Fischer's original intention, but the problem is 32... h3 33. Kg4 Bg1 34. Kxh3 Bxf2 35. Bd2, followed by 36. Kg2, which again traps the bishop.

[@liamdurrani6953]

8:41 Ke4 can be met with Re1+!

[@jonmaxwell74]

Congrats on your effort for assembling this!

[@37metalgearsolid]

At 5:50 what is wrong with black taking the bishop at F8?

[@MK-13337]

Melaetas Black is at least down an exchange, after Bxf8 Rxg6 and the white rooks will go pac-man on those weak black pawns. Also the black king will not participate as it will be stuck in the corner. And also the pawn on d5 is a monster

[@dahshkeeNYer]

And I'm a little surprised that Spassky-Fischer game 5 didn't make the list--a bigger blunder than game 1.

[@cozak94]

13:50 why doesnt the white king move to H1? The other knight cant check mate on G3 because of the pawn and the rook on H7 protects the pawn also

[@fluffywin0015]

cozak94 Nf2 mate

[@cozak94]

Jimmy Win I should have thought a little longer. Thx

[@fluffywin0015]

cozak94 Anytime

[@B3Band]

cozak94 Because the game already happened.

[@CosmoNaco]

Spassky's blunder against Fisher's Nimzo in game 5

[@stewiegriffin6503]

watch it backwards... 10 is the best move, 1 is the worst

[@KristofferStalsberg]

I've seen #1 before, because it's just completely insane. I really don't think even _I_ would make this patzer mistake in a freaking bullet game. Did he have a stroke or something?

[@Number-cz1rd]

Kristoffer Stalsberg The match had been going on for two solid months and Chigorin was clearly exhausted. The game before this one he also blundered. Before that previous game the match had been tied. The mistake shown here did not just lose the game, it ended the match.

[@ufewl]

Kristoffer Stalsberg I am no expert and would probably have made that move, OK I didn't see the trap but is it the end of the world? He gains a pawn at the expense of very bad position, I mean h4 then h5 should free the bishop.

[@ufewl]

Number 5 indeed I just tried playing the position against a computer, ok first time I lost but second time I forced a draw by repetition, it was against this online computer www.apronus.com/chess/computer.htm?fen=05k2Xpp4ppX4pp2X1P6X8XP2KP3X5PPbX2B5_w_-_-_0_1 hope I set it up right but as I said you gain a pawn for bad position hardly he end of the world. Oh OK I just rolled the video and saw what happened, it played differnent to the online machine, however it is not that much of a blunder, well maybe at the highest level, but as we see it was made by someone at that level.

[@Number-cz1rd]

ufewl Which game are you looking at? The first one or the #1 blunder? I was talking about the Chigorin-Steinitz game. White had a big edge before the last move. He also missed an easy win a few moves earlier. Black's mistake was #22... h4, according to Stockfish.

[@ufewl]

Number 5 yea i was looking at the first one, nut to describe it as a blunder is a bit much, you can't always foresee everything, having said that I am fairly sure I have captured bishops in the same way so maybe he should have seen it but everyone is human.

[@emoney316]

When you smoke it looks like you are playing the flute

[@jwfvanderheijden]

Great video, makes me feel better about my own mistakes. In addition I wanted to nominate Kramnik for missing mate in one against a computer. Remember?

[@ankurmvit]

What about Étienne Bacrot vs. Ernesto Inarkiev May 2008 Baku Grand Prix?

[@Breeelax]

Not from a chess world championship so not suitable for THIS list.

[@Reacher6969]

hahahahahaha nice try though

[@bread5275]

Could Bobby play h3? This is so he can push his other pawns and free his bishop, create a wall so the king couldnt get to the bishop, and create a past pawn.

[@garystumpsr.7708]

Having never heard him speak before I found GM Gustaffson to be the most enjoyable to listen to in these types of videos. Thanks!

[@danielgautreau161]

Boris Spassky's blunder versus Fischer, 1972, Round 5..... 27.Qb1 would have easily drawn but he played 27. Qc2? and after 27..., BxPa4! he resigned.

[@davidfranklin5426]

Or Kasparov's 46. e4??, unpunished by Short in game 9 of their 1993 match.

[@luisfernandoecheverriechev9634]

Fischer's move was not an obvious blunder. There are many tricky continuations after Bxh2. White must be very precisein order to convert

[@MohMoh-mw9ml]

so this is the Blunder, when I drop my Queen though, what is that then , I wonder

[@LordKibblez]

hum yum Also a blunder. arguably bigger depending on the position after it. (are you just losing the queen, or are you losing the queen AND the game.)

[@Hoobyj]

Expected. Zing.

[@ChessGrandmaster]

Very nice and funny comment. Truth is, many players wouldn't notice the blunders in real games.

[@ascensive9837]

2:13 why didn’t he just capture Boris’s pawn with his own pawn? Then he could capture his other pawn with his bishop and it might make the endgame easier for him.

[@ninskil]

I think the biggest blunder in history is Bareev vs Karpov in 1994 when Bareev played bishop to a7 and getting checkmated the very next turn

[@yggdrasil9039]

Is the Fischer Bishop really a blunder? After Kh3 pxp, pxp Bxp, KxB he is effectively only one pawn down from the exchange.

[@mazingol]

what about h3 at that point? White cant stop bishop going to g1 and then either having protected h2 or giving up f pawn (so h3, g4, Bg1, Kg2, h2)

[@DooMMauw]

First game...what about a3.. defend Kg2 folow by Bg1 and h2... ?

[@emokehaupt8584]

That was the critical line but Fischer missed Bd2 which wins

[@qewi1]

i do not play chess, but the winning scenario at 14:54. why wouldn't the tower just take the horse instead of the other tower? wouldn't that squash that plan just like that?

[@sdrawkcab190]

+qewi1 No because the G8 Rook (tower) would be able to take the G4 Rook, and white won't be able to stop black from taking the pawn on G2 and then F2.

[@qewi1]

+sdrawkcab190 oh yeah, of course. thanks for pointing that out :)

[@iliastsagas9588]

+sdrawkcab190 f2 is defended

[@danielhall5238]

How did you miss out all of XQC's moves?

[@bailinnumberguy]

I thought Fischer's pawn grab would be #1 considering it was Fischer. He always seemed to find the best move and that was a beginner's blunder.

[@johnblack7862]

+Randy Bailin Fischer took a very long time to make that move and he knew the pawn was poison, but thought he could make a fight out of it. That was just arrogance, but it wasn't because he missed g3.

[@JordanNexhip]

+John Black Didnt he resign right after the move

[@HeisenbergBrB]

Jordan Nexhip No, he didn't. He continued playing for 24 moves before resigning.

[@ThomasTVP]

A game in which Kramnik overlooked a Mate in One against Fritz was the greatest blunder in chess history.

[@OriginalAimbot]

After losing the championship and the pressure of being the world champion Anand has become low-key invincible he is winning everything and defeating people for fun.

[@harshithreddykakumani5463]

in the garry kasparov match after the bishop moved to h6 the queen can capture

[@jl_woodworks]

But the rook on f3 is hanging and black has already sacrificed one rook.

[@limonagrio5872]

9:16 make my day jajaja Very nice video :)

[@spunkTanker]

+Limonagrio what is jajaja?

[@oneputtsteven]

Spassky's Qc2 in game 5 1972??? Allowing Fischer's stunning deflection sacrifice.

[@kazzoman86]

H3 after G1 and then going up to save the king? number 8. what did i miss with that move?

[@kazzoman86]

nvmd im dumb lol, looked back at it

[@Dante20321]

My chess club name is Max Euwe (the chess Gm Max Euwe started the chess club which is featured in this video)

[@trunghuynhthanh6579]

What about ...h3 in game #1? the king then can't go to g2 and if Kg4 black will play Bg1

[@ToviaBehanu]

Chigorin-Stenitz... Nf4 forking the rooks does not work due to Rxd6 with check.

[@sarahbeanTX]

Tovia Behanu that’s not check :)

[@wernermay5749]

What about a second video with the top 10 of Gustafsson himself?

[@peterhardie4151]

Werner May I have a good selection of blunders myself. I could probably do a top 50 mate in 2 missed and a number of piece up endgames into crushing defeats.

[@MrMichaellee5353]

what about ivanchuk missing checkmate in one against anand???

[@arthurvin2937]

That's why I love Chess - blunders!

[@Electrifiedpawn]

You are awesome Jan

[@kasialotnik2864]

thx

[@Rahul-eh3rf]

I think Anand/Gelfand should be here also. Wasn't that the quickest decisive game ever in a world championship(16 moves or so) because Gelfand trapped his queen?

[@paulfrench3607]

Another interesting mistake that should be in the list was in a game between Kasparov and Speelman. Kasparov playing white with two rooks on the board vs a rook and a knight played the move Kh4?, allowing Speelman to play ...Nf2! and in a few moves Kasparov lost a full rook and had to resign.

[@davidtrottier7066]

Not a world championship match

[@krukowstudios3686]

Tower Defense Theme Song in the intro?? WTF

[@solidsupra8189]

This video quality looks like KZbin in 2002

[@BixenteFabregas]

In fact, looks more like Max Headroom

[@FigureFarter]

The video is in 0p