Ivanchuk’s painful loss and the tears of a fighter

The name Vassily Ivanchuk is nearly a byword for brilliance in the chess world. His career has been a meteoric rise, including as an elite competitor, and one thing is obvious—chess runs in his veins. Ivanchuk has taken and captured fans' hearts with his unmatched creativity, deep understanding and unpredictable play from his early days as a prodigy to a name in the top players of his generation.

But there’s a human side to him behind all that achievement and all that success that we don’t get to see much. Just last month, as he lost painfully to Daniel Naroditsky, Ivanchuk’s emotions broke through the veil of the chessboard, reminding us that no matter how great, the legends feel the weight of the game. This moment of vulnerability says everything about the zeal he possesses for the game of chess, which minus the championship rings is not merely a sport but a living entity.

Without further ado, I will show you the anotated game.

And that is the game. What do you think? Tell me in the comments!