A few days ago in Samarkand, UZB, American phenom, and youngest GM of all time (for now) Abimanyu Mishra defeated reigning World Champion Gukesh.
I’m not sure if the more amazing thing here is that Mishra is 16, or that Gukesh is 19.
Here is a position from that game that was talked about quite a bit.
Here Gukesh has just played 11…h5 and the commentators are expecting 12.h4. Instead, Mishra plays the very spicy move 12.dxe5, ignoring the fact that Gukesh can now play 12…h4 and trap his bishop.
However, Gukesh has some sort of brain freeze and plays 12…g4 which makes absolutely no sense as the entire point of Black’s 11th move was to “force” White to play h4 rather than allow his bishop to be trapped.
Imagine how easy it is for a Class player like myself to be like “pfft…this patzer misplaying the opening.”
Yet what’s happening here is very complex. I now understand this much better due to the new series from the C-Squared guys, Fabi and Cristian, called Fabiano’s Masterclass.
In their inagural episode, the duo ask “What is happning to Gukesh.”
The first part of this episode not only expertly breaks down the game between Mishra and Gukesh, but also goes relatively deep (for a segment less than 30 minutes in length) into the complexities of this opening.
You’re getting a - admittedly relatively low key - tour of the world of chess from the current world number three. Yes, this isn’t the same as being able to work with him one on one in depth, but any chance to see the world of top level chess through the lens of players like this should not be missed.
As I stated in a recent post, Not All Video Content is Infotainment.
This certainly qualifies as educational.
Til next time,
Chris Wainscott