When Vasyl Ivanchuk checkmated Vishy Anand in 2 moves!!!
Game of chess is all about making decisions based on the questions asked by the position. So, it feels right to start the article with some questions.
Q1. Can a chess player lose a chess game by checkmate in 2 moves?
Q2. Can a chess Grandmaster(GM) lose a chess game by checkmate in 2 moves?
Q3. Can a World Champion in chess lose a chess game by checkmate in 2 moves?
Your answer to Q1 would probably be a YES. We have all seen a 2-move checkmate called Fool's Mate in our early days of playing chess. Armenian GM Levon Aronian gave a very nice analogy between Fool's mate and life. As a part of Kasparov Chess(KC) Conference project, Levon was answering some questions asked by chess fans around the world in which one of the questions was:
In the starting position the shortest way Black can give mate is a move quicker than for White (two moves compared to three). Is that a curiosity or another proof of how drawn the starting position is?
Levon's answer: Perhaps that fact also tells us that – as in life! – it’s easier to destroy than create?
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| Move by Move depiction of Fool's Mate |
Coming back to our questions. The answer to Q2 will surely be a big NO. Although, it is possible to get mated in 2 moves. But we expect GMs(The highest title a chess player can achieve) to know this mating pattern, right. Now, we move on to the last question. After reading Q3, you would be thinking as if I am out of my mind asking these stupid questions. Chess World Champion losing in 2 moves!!! Not only losing, getting mated in 2 moves!!! But hang on for a second because what I am about to tell you will blow your mind. The answer to Q2 and Q3 is also a YES. It happened in a game between legendary Ukrainian GM Vasyl Ivanchuk(Chucky) and 5-time World Champion GM Vishy Anand during a rest day of a tournament(maybe Linares not sure).
Chucky asked Anand if he would be ready to play a chess variant which Chucky invented. Anand politely replied "Yeah Sure, Why not." The rules of the variant are as follows: All the rules of normal chess apply in this variant except one. In normal chess, Queen is a combination of rook and bishop. In Chucky's variant, Queen will be a combination of rook and knight.
After this, they played a game. Chucky with white started with Qc3 and Anand replied with Nf6.
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| Ivanchuk is White and Anand is black |
Everything ok till now !!! Are you sure?? Think again.
To Anand's surprise, Chucky played the move Qc7!!!
And guess what, it's a checkmate. Chucky was so so happy at that moment and Anand didn't know how to react. After this Anand said that Chucky only invented this variation just to mate him in 2 moves. To all those familiar with Chucky, this was one of the moments of Chucky being Chucky.Remembering our first days in chess, we all have tried Fool's mate and Scholar's mate idea against our opponents. But watching legends of the game enjoying these mates is such a delight. It also gives a feeling that no matter how much you excel in chess, the joy of checkmating your opponent is still unmatched.
References:
1. This story was narrated by GM Surya Ganguly in one of his YouTube live stream. The story begins in the 57th minute of the stream.
2. All the chess positions are made using the Lichess board editor.
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