The Best Chess Games Played in 2016 |
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| Thursday, 24 August 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
 By WGM Natalia Pogonina, Russia Best FIDE rating: 2508  Every year ChessPro publishes a hit list of the best chess games. It is compiled in the following way: 1. Every month IM Maxim Notkin chooses a short list of notable games and sends them over to some of the well-known GM/IMs. After their vote a monthly hit list if published. 2. At the end of the year the best of the best games are presented to the experts once again. They are asked to pick their top-10. 3. A final hit list is published by ChessPro after collecting all the scores from all the experts. The judges of the "Best game of the year-2016" contest were: Nikita Vitiugov, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dmitry Jakovenko, Valentina Gunina, Natalia Pogonina, Sergei Rublevsky, Alexander Riazantsev, Alexander Motylev, Evgeny Najer, Igor Lysyj, Artem Timofeev, Adrian Mikhalchishin, Miguel IIlescas, Olga Alexandrova, Mikhail Kobalia, Alexei Kuzmin, Sergey Ivanov, Mikhail Krasenkow, Evgeny Miroshnichenko, Mikhail Prusikin, Alexey Goganov, Alexander Shimanov, Vladimir Barskij, Dmitry Kryakvin, Sergei Zagrebelny, Alexei Korotylev, Sergei Grigoriants, Adam Tukhaev, Konstantin Sakaev, Konstantin Landa, Evgeny Gleizerov. Here is my version of the top-10 chess games played in 2016: 1. Aronian - Rapport, 0-1. Richard played a fascinating game; the move 27...Rh1! was the icing on the cake. His mighty opponent loves creative chess himself, but this time he was defeated. 2. Carlsen - Karjakin, 0-1. First blood in the World Chess Championship match. A very tense game and a beautiful finish. 3. Caruana - Nakamura, 1-0. This duel could have easily been rated #1 had the queen sacrifice not been prepared at home. Nevertheless, a very nice game. 4. Kramnik - Buhmann, 1/2-1/2. Vladimir Borisovich played very creatively and was very close to winning. However, it is the case when a drawn game is more interesting content-wise than many other remarkable victories. 5. Grischuk - Volokitin, 0-1. The piece sacrifice was quite unexpected and fascinating. On top of that, this game was important for the team match result. 6. Eljanov - Carlsen, 0-1. A solid Catalan opening has all of a sudden led to a double-edged game involving a piece sacrifice. In the end Magnus emerged on top. 7. Wei Yi - Carlsen, 0-1. ChessPro referred to this game as a "breainteaser" and I tend to agree. From first glance it's hard to tell what was going on and who was better. One has to examine the game over and over again to come to a definite conclusion. 8. Karjakin - Caruana, 1-0. I included this game based on its serious impact on the final standings of the Candidates tournament. When a lot is at stake, chess beauty recedes into the background while struggle and tension rise to the forefront. Also, of course, I enjoyed the elegant 37.Rd5! move. 9. Timofeev - Eliseev, 1-0. It took Artem a while to find the keys to Yuri's fortress. The position after 48.Qe5! is quite fascinating. 10. Gagunashvili - Dubov, 0-1. There were quite a few candidates for making it to the top-10, but this game has somehow caught my attention. After 18...Bh3! a tornado seems to have flown over the board. After gaining some breathing space the Black knights began their remarkable and deadly dance. The top-10 best games played in 2016 according to the ChessPro panel of experts: 1. Kramnik - Buhmann, Dortmund, 1/2-1/2, 166 points total. 2. Caruana - Nakamura, London Chess Classic, 1-0, 164 points. 3. Timofeev - Eliseev, Moscow Open, 1-0, 148 points. 4. Aronian - Rapport, European Club Cup, 0-1, 111 points. 5. Anand - Karjakin, Candidates tournament, 1-0, 86 points. 6. Eljanov - Carlsen, Wijk an Zee, 0-1, 85 points. 7. Carlsen - Grandelius, Norway Chess, 1-0, 84 points. 8. Carlsen - Karjakin, World Chess Championship, 0-1, 83 points. 9. Grischuk - Volokitin, Chess Olympiad, 0-1, 74 points. 10. Wei Yi - Carlsen, Bilbao Masters Final, 0-1, 73 points. View all the nominated games Original article by ChessPro Related reading: Best chess games played in 2010 Best chess games played in 2012 Best chess games played in 2013
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