The day 24 year old Duda proved himself.

2022 Chess.com Awards Winners : Game Of The Year

Updated: Jan 14, 2023, 9:02 AM | 7

Hello everyone reading this post, I hope that the first few weeks of the new year were a fruitful one for you! As we are slowly getting into the groove and moving on with our life in 2023, the year 2022 cannot be forgotten easily. Especially, when it comes to chess.

2022, as a chess year, was a one to remember. The FIDE Grand Prix ( Feb 2022 ), Candidates tournament 2022 ( which was won by Ian Nepomniachtchi ), the Hans Niemann cheating scandal, Magnus Carlsen deciding not to defend his title of the World Champion ( leaving us with two people, Ian and Ding Liren, who will fight it out in the World Chess Championship 2023 ), and then, going on to win both the World Blitz and World Rapid Championships. Chess Olympiad 2022, which was held in Chennai after being decided to shift out of Moscow, the Fischer Random Cup, and not to forget the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, which was won by Hikaru Nakamura.

World Champion Magnus Carlsen ( left ) against 19 year old Hans Niemann ( right ), 2022

On Jan 4, 2023, Chess.com released the list of 2022 Chess.com Award Winners, after a phenomenal year of online chess. The Chess.com Global Championship, Chess.com speed chess Championship, and many other events which made it one of the best online chess years since 2017. It will be impolite not to mention that it was in this year, when Chess.com surpassed 100 million users!

After the end of 2022, all the eyes were on the award winners of year 2022, and as previously mentioned, it was finally released on 4 January. Hikaru Nakamura, who was given the honor of the " Player Of The Year ", IM Levy Rozman ( aka GothamChess ), who won the award for creating the best chess content in the year 2022, i.e. ," Creator Of The Year ". It was his 2nd time in a row winning the award. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, the Indian chess prodigy, was honored as the " Rising Star " of the year, whereas Daniel Naroditsky took the award of " Commentator Of The Year ", for taking the online chess events to a whole new level with his commentary.

Today, in this blog, you will be presented with the game between Anish Giri and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, from the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals, 2022, which was dubbed as the " Game Of The Year " by Chess.com, for Duda being able to find a brilliant, spectacular and violent checkmating combo/pattern of 11 moves. Sit back, and enjoy!

ABOUT THE PLAYERS :

It's good to have a little knowledge about the two players who played the game, before directly moving onto it.

1. ANISH GIRI :

Anish Kumar Giri ( born : 28 June, 1994, Saint Petersburg ), is a Russia-born Dutch chess grandmaster. Currently at the 7th spot in the Jan 2023 FIDE rankings, Giri earned the title of GM at the mere age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days, in 2009. Known for his " solid and conservative " playing style, he is a 4 time Dutch chess champion. By the age of 11, he was already rated 2100, after starting to play chess at the age of 6!

2. JAN-KRZYSZTOF DUDA :

Jan Krzysztof Duda ( born : 26 April, 1998, Krakow ), is a Polish chess grandmaster. Duda started playing chess at the age of 5, and went on to achieve the title of grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 21 days, in 2013. As of January 2023, he is ranked 21 in the world in FIDE rankings, and no. 1 in Poland. With a personal best rating of 2760, he is undoubtedly, one of the best Polish chess players of all time.

( The source of the above information about the players is Wikipedia, with the sentences being re-framed. )

ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT :

The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2022 ( 19 February 2022 - 20 November 2022 ), was a long 9-month series of 9 online chess tournaments, in which some of the best players of the world participated. This tour was clinched by the current world champion, Magnus Carlsen.

Here are the final standings of the tour :

However, this tour will be best remembered for the chess game which is going to be presented in the blog!

Alright, let's move on!

GAME OF THE YEAR :

This game, was played in the third round of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals. Starting with a solid opening, it soon transferred into a complete chaos on the board, as Giri just kept on breaking the rules of chess. He went for a flank attack, and didn't castle his king ever in the game. Although the attack was successful in trapping Duda's dark squared bishop in the center of the board, the advantage remained with him, because of the black's open king. Duda took the advantage of the position, kept building the pressure on black's king, and on the right time, discovered a violent, spectacular mating combination, which included dazzling rook and queen sacrifices. Here's the game!

THE OPENING :

This game, begins with a very customary Queen's Gambit Declined. Here, Duda decides not to play g3, which is called the Catalan opening ( if you saw the recap of Chess.com Speed Chess championship, you may remember that Magnus played many games with the Catalan ), and plays Nc3. Giri, immediately goes for a knight pin, which is called the " Ragozin Variation " of the QGD. Modern engines, very much prefer the Ragozin against 1.d4.

Duda simplifies the pawns tension in the middle of the board, and develops his dark squared bishop. Giri, too, develops his knight with 6....Nbd7, delaying castling.

Right then, a very composed position for both of the sides. Let's move onto the middlegame,

from where the real fun begins!

THE MIDDLEGAME :

After 7.Rc1, Anish just steps on the gas with 7....h6 and 8....g5, but keeps his king in the center. The craziest thing is that it's the best move according to the engine ( cuz the computer's just terrible, you know. ). After a couple of consecutive moves with the bishop by white, black marches its knight forward into the white's territory, maybe with the intentions to apply some pressure on white's knight and dark squared bishop ( remember, the knight cannot take the knight because it's pinned ). And now, 10. Qb3, attacking the bishop and central d5 pawn. Anish responds by trading off the dark squared bishop for the knight.

Duda plays e3, an obvious move as white is preparing for castling and free up its light sqaured bishop. Anish just continues the aggressive approach with h5. White tackles this attack with 13. c4! The best move in this position, but why? Because the best way to tackle a flank attack is to strike in the center. Remember, h3 will be a bad move in this situation, cuz black will just take the bishop with the knight, and white's pawn structure would be completely damaged. The pawns on e3 and g3 will be two isolated pawns, which will not be a good sign for white. Giri continues his plan with h4, and white's dark squared bishop has been trapped. But, the position still remains in the balance, due to black's king being in the center.

Here, Duda gives a check with the Light squared bishop, and Anish plays a totally unexpected move. He moves his king. Yes, the king. Instead of Bd7, he plays Kf8, which is a blunder according to the engine. White takes the pawn on e5, which threatens a fork. Black prevents it with Kg7. Now Bd3 by Duda, attacking the knight, black defends. Though white's still down 1 point of material, he has an active bishop and an active knight, which can be used to attack the opponent's king along with the queen in the future. White castles and black just continues to march forward with g4. This continues with the moves 20. f4 Rf8.

Duda moves on with e4, and almost all the times, pawns in groups are tough to handle. Anish plays g3, with the idea that if white takes, he will play Qh4, and pressure white's king ( this will also threaten a mate in 1, and white's rook is forced off the f - file. ). Now, Qg5 by black, to get to the white's king, but it hangs the c7 pawn, which does get captured. Kg8, and white responds with Bb1, a backward bishop move to make the queen come into the play. Black plays Qd2, threatening to capture the pawn on d4 with a check, which will lose a knight too.

Here, Duda plays a really nice move. Qf3! He doesn't care about the pawn and the knight. He saw the his rook covers the back rank, and plays Qf3, in order to play Qg4, and it will simply be a mate in the next few moves. Anish sacrifices the bishop, and now, white still has the attack, but also is up 1 point of material! Black offers a rook trade, and from here, is when Duda just remembered that last night before coming to this game, he studied a few games played by Mikhail Tal ( not really ).

WHEN DUDA BECAME TAL :

I mean, I don't know if it would be correct to compare Duda to the greatest attacking chess player and one of the best chess players ever, Mikhail Tal, based on this game. But, the move that Duda played here, is totally savage and violent. In this position, the 24 year old Polish superstar, discovered a pure violent mate combo of 11 moves.

Want a chance to guess the move? Well, solve this puzzle, and the correct move will be what Duda played next!

Yes, 28.Rg7+!!. The best move in this position, gets a brilliancy. But what does this do?

This forces the king to come forward. After this sacrifice of a rook, white gives a check from the pawn, followed by a check from the knight. Remember, the move f6+ activates the bishop on the diagonal, and currently, black's king has the same feeling of being locked in a room with closed windows until the oxygen runs out.

If you thought that the full sacrifice of a rook was a hard move to see, the next move is going to make you fell off your chair ( I hope that all of you sit on your chair to play chess on chess.com. ).

Disappointed that you weren't able to guess the move last time? You have a chance again, guess the next move what Duda played!

Yes, Duda sacrifices THE QUEEN! The game ends after this move, there's nothing Anish could do much. Yes, he can delay the mate, but cannot stop it.

Wow, what a game played by one of the best Polish chess players ever! This game, was the game with most votes in the hunt for " Game of the year ", followed by Nep vs Carlsen, Sinquefield Cup 2022, and Firouzja vs Nakamura, Candidates tournament 2022. This game, could have continued in this way :

MOVE OF THE YEAR :

The move, 28.Rg7+!!, got the most no. of votes, and was declared as the " Move Of The Year " by Chess.com. Not surprising, right?

CONCLUSION :

Well done, if you made it till here. This game, was an entertaining one. Sometimes, we just need to be thankful that a game called chess exists, because many time it just doesn't remain a game. It becomes a form of art. According to me, this game deserves to be given the honor of game of the year. Do let me know whether you enjoyed the game or not in the comment section. This will be an end to this blog, meet you in my next posts!

Cheers,

2022 Chess.com Awards Winners : Game Of The Year

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