Monday, November 27, 2006

The Kramnik Blunder

It happened about ten minutes ago, in game two of the man versus machine match. Larry Christiansen called it the 500,000 Euro blunder. I call it the Bill Buckner move. It is move 34, and Kramnik has thirty minutes left on his clock. He is black, and it is his move:

In this drawn position, after a game in which Kramnik has played the QGA wonderfully as black, he moves 34...Qe3. Obviously, Fritz mates with Qh7#! Kramnik blundered the way we patzers think that only we can blunder. The commentators (audio and text) at ICC went crazy, everyone at first thought it was a joke. No joke. The world champion of chess, with thirty minutes left on his clock, missed a mate in one.

This is going to be a wonderful example for all future chess novices, probably becoming the best known single move of chess in the history of the game. It teaches the important lesson to all of us: even the World Champion can play ridiculously stupid moves.

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

OMG!

This is not how someone wants to be remembered.

So, "Pulling a Kramnik" is the new chess phrase. . .

11/27/2006 02:49:00 PM  
Blogger Kirk Gregory Czuhai said...

and to think Kramnik is world champion? you would almost think it was intentional as maybe kramnik things being infamous for a long time is better than the typical 15 minutes of fame in a lifetime.
peace and love,
and,
love and peace,
(kirk) kirk gregory czuhai

11/27/2006 10:31:00 PM  
Blogger Pendrax said...

Wow! I feel better (a bit) about all the bone-headed excuses for moves that I've come up with over the years. The only difference I guess is that Kramnik is still World Champion and I'm not. Somehow it makes him more human though. I bet losing bothers him more than it does me!

11/27/2006 10:47:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This puts your "Why do i bother" post into perspective!

:)

11/27/2006 11:23:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is he trying to convince us that he does NOT make use of a computer? This will make the queen drop of Petrosian finally to be forgotten!

11/28/2006 04:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Refering back to one of your previous posts concerning a particular blunder of your own... this must surely make you feel a lot better, don't it? Now next time when you blunder, just think KRAMNIK!

(i'm sorry Kramnik, i'm a fan of yours, but still it remains a horrible blunder.)!

11/28/2006 06:46:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Yes, it makes me feel a lot better about missing a mate in one move that I had. It's even worse to miss an opponent's mate in one, as if you miss it, you are dead immediately.

11/28/2006 09:36:00 AM  
Blogger King of the Spill said...

DOH!

11/28/2006 09:36:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was pointed out that my profile pic is a representation of the same motif. Knight on f8 protecting h7 to allow the Queen to give mate.

There's no way in the world that Kramnik misses that mate in 1 if the Knight is placed on f6 or g5. He would probably recognize the mate in that circumstance faster than Deep Fritz.

11/30/2006 10:42:00 AM  

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