Tuesday 30 December 2014

This might hurt for a while

As the number of 26500+ players has increased over the years, the number of games by "Super GM 's" (to use an outdated term) has increased as well. As a result we get to see a lot more high quality games, but at the same time, there is an increased chance of seeing the absolute shocker. And as the player concerned is 2600+ this seems to magnify the size of any bad blunder, while giving a sliver of hope to the rest of us.
The most recent example of this is a 10 move loss by GM Qun Ma to IM Danny Reznikov in the Groningen tournament. Failing to analyse all checks and captures, Ma missed a queen sacrifice that left Reznikov ahead material. While Ma could have played on, albeit with a big disadvantage, he decided to end the game at that point. For Ma this is probably just one game in what will be a long career, but the nature of the loss (and blog posts like this) may make it hurt for at least a little while.

Ma,Qun (2621) - Raznikov,Danny (2494) [A33]
SFG 2014 Open A Groningen, (6.3), 27.12.2014



2 comments:

Chris Eve said...

26500+ players?

Greetings from Canada and thanks very much for your blog, which is always a good read.

All the best in 2015.
Chris Eve

Shaun Press said...

Thanks for the catch. An extra 5 crept in to the intended 2600+. It has now been struck out.