Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Tricky Petrov
The 2022 US Chess Championship offered a curious game where a GM resigned in only 10 moves!! The reason wasn’t a brilliant novelty from his opponent but a tragic blunder.
After two consecutive defeats in rounds 5 and 6, GM Elshan Moradiabadi decided to play the Petrov Defense with black pieces in his game against GM Leinier Dominguez in round 7.
That opening is famous for its reliability supported by the high rate of draws occurring in games where it appears. However, players must be alert of inaccurate moves. That was not the case in today’s game and Moradiabadi fell victim of his carelessness.
This is not the first case of disastrous oversight. After the game, GM Caruana pointed out that GM Alexander Grischuk trapped GM Jan Krzystof Duda in an online game played in 2018 with exactly the same sequence of moves.
Viswanathan Anand was another illustrious victim of traps in this opening in a game played in 1988 when he was 19. Also, Vladimir Kramnik fell victim of a trap in this opening in a game against Anand in 2005
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