Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Wrong Focus
The FIDE World Cup 2023 took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from Jul, 30th to Aug, 21st. 206 players participated in the Open section while 103 players in the Women section.
The format used in the World Cup is an eight-round knock-out. It consists of two classical games with 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, and 30 seconds increment from move one. If the two-game match ends in a tie, players contest the tiebreakers consisting of blitz games.
The ideal situation in such a knock-out system is a win in the first game in order to put pressure on the opponent in the next game. Apparently that was GM Sam Shankland’s strategy in his first classical game of round 2 when faced GM Ivan Schitco. Shankland’s rating was more than 200 points higher than his opponent and he was pushing for the victory. Shankland was so focused on his winning strategy that he wasn’t aware of his opponent’s intention. As a result, he fell victim of a checkmate net.
Shankland has been the focus of interest in previous posts because of his lack of attention. For instance when he resigned in a drawing position against Giri because of his wrong assessment. Or when playing without looking in the Chess Olympiad (Chennai, 2022), he mechanically moved his king into check.
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