Game of the Week X -Mikhalevski,Victor (2552) vs.Nabaty,Tamir (2638)

How does a “Miniature” happen in a high-level chess game?

A “Miniature” is a game that ends in less than about 20 moves. It usually happens in lower-level players’ games because one player may go against general principles such as developing their pieces, not playing with only one piece too much at the beginning of the game, etc. 

Nowadays, this rarely happens in high-level games - as long as one of the players does not make a shocking blunder - because the players often prepare their openings in anticipation of their opponents’ potential moves well into the middle of the game. 

However, sometimes a player implements a creative idea very early on in the game that has yet to be analyzed in advance by their opponent. As you probably know, chess is so complicated that even a strong grandmaster may react in an unfavorable way in such a situation and land themselves in a worse position right off the bat. Whenever this type of game happens, it grabs the attention of the chess world, including your authors

Game of the Week is: Mikhalevski, Victor vs. Nabaty, Tamir