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Yuri Averbakh vs Alexander Kotov
"Think Like a Grandmaster" (game of the day Jan-22-06)
Zurich 1953  ·  Old Indian Defense: Normal Variation (A55)  ·  0-1


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Given 13 times; par: 72 [what's this?]

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sac: 30...Qxh3+ PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Jul-04-05   troll007: When you watching endposition, is obvious, that Black make a little mistake, when he take white pawn 38...Nxd5+ . Now white can play more long time, taking 50.Qxg8+ Kxg8 51.Kh3 etc. But when white pawn was by still in D5, white cant take 48.Qxe6, another moves not avoid fast checkmate: 48.Qxa5 Rg8
49.Qc7 R3g6

or:
48.Qf2 R3g6
49.Kh3 Rh6+
50.Qh4 Rg3+

But anyway, what a beatiful party!

Jul-05-05   troll007: <troll007: white cant take 48.Qxe6> Sorry, 48. Qxd6 of course.
Dec-28-05   Whitehat1963: Talk about a useless queen! Excellent game!
Dec-28-05   syracrophy: This has been the best king hunt in the history of candidates match to the world championship!
Jan-22-06   blingice: First P trade is 26 moves in. Any record?

500 kibitzes, hooray.

Jan-22-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: 43. Nxf4 Rg7+ (not 43...exf4 44. Bd4+ cxd4 45. Qxd4+ Rf6 46. Qxf6+ Rxf6, and the king escapes) 44. Kf5 Ne7#.
Jan-22-06   MarvinTsai: Maybe this is the kind of games for proving computers can't "think".
Jan-22-06   rogl: <blingice> no record. Take a look on Geller vs E R Lundin, 1952.
Jan-22-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  dakgootje: I could have sworn ive seen this game before, but as i dont have posted here before, i must be mistaken as i certainly would have posted.
Jan-22-06   EmperorAtahualpa: Beautiful, beautiful game!

The pun is after Kotov's milestone book with the same name, "Think Like a Grandmaster" (sequels are "Play Like a Grandmaster" and "Train Like a Grandmaster").

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...

Jan-22-06   Jarlaxle: im no master but 18.kh2 seems like it put white on his heels the rest of the game. is that move a blunder or did black just exploit it well?? i thought it was a great game.. but i dont know if it was one of the best i've seen.
Jan-22-06   killjoy: <ughaibu, troll007> Ha! That's horrible of you! Don't even bother to analyse alternative lines dealing with moves 35-40. Everyone knows that the Prancing Knight rescued Kotov from horrible time trouble, time that he spent to figure out if the Queen sac would work...which makes the sac that much more intense and no less horrible!! Indeed, after such a sac, no one on this board would even DARE to do anything but discovered checks until the clock reset, just like he did. So it's just a horrible waste of analyses and rather embarassing to embark on such an escapade in front of the rest of us. It also further serves to bring to mind something Geller once said, "I say," he said, "there is a rather large and horrible gap betwixt the kibitzer and the player is there not?"- Ha!
Jan-22-06   ice lemon tea: 18.Kh2 looks blatantly like a blunder to me. however, the real blunder is 15.Nd2 (though it's not very obvious), leaving the king defense a little weak. black did it very perfectly, instead of trying to hold the center, he exploited the less guarded kingside. and everything falls through his way. btw, great kinghunt!
Jan-23-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: The black rooks steamroll the g-file. Worse,the rooks threaten to scatter--so they could squeeze the white king right off the board!
Jun-12-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: In his book: "Winning Chess Tactics" Yasser Seirawan said of this game, that it has what is considered one of the world's most beautiful combinations.
Jul-20-07   jdoliner: Did black play 38 ... Ng8+ check just to reassure himself that he actually had the windmill or what
Jul-27-07   SniperOnKN2: Beautiful 1st brilliancy of the greatest candidates tourney ever. Sure better than any junk Kirsan can organize today. Bronstein said that Ng8+ was to get to move 40. If you play a 19 move queen sac, you probably spent a little too much time. Kotov wanted to get to adjournament without any changes in position.
Jan-06-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: http://www.geocities.com/lifemaster...
Sep-23-08   PhilFeeley: This game is analyzed extensively in The Secrets of Spectacular Chess, p. 59-62, by Levitt & Friedgood. They like 33...Ng4 instead of Nd7 as it supposedly leads to a "prettier" win.
Sep-23-08   PhilFeeley: From Levitt & Friedgood, p 61:

"33...Ng4 34. Nxf4 Rg8 35. Nh5 Rhg6 36. Qg5 Bxg5 37 Kxg4

Now a discovered check by moving the bishop from g5 leads to the win of the g2-rook and a comfortably winning advantage of the exchange for black."

Nov-18-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: This should be called the black hole game.
Jan-14-09   WhiteRook48: why is "Think like a Grandmaster" the pun for this game.
May-10-09   hartkoka: (WhiteRook48: why is "Think like a Grandmaster" the pun for this game.)

because A.Kotov is the author of "think like a grandmaster" book, he is also the author of "play like a grandmaster" and few others..

Jul-21-09   kingmundi: Bronstein comments on this game in his excellent book covering the Zurich 53 tournament. It has been a long time since I read the book, but I recall him stating that the game was adjourned right after the queen sacrifice, and then Kotov worked out the variations overnight. Some of the book is available online through Google.
http://books.google.com/books?id=VU...
Aug-18-09   jrbleau: I don't want to rain on the parade, but this is one of the most overrated combinations in history. It's obvious that Black has an assured draw and a strong chance for a win. Overlooking the queen sac would, on the other hand, be a blunder.
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