Top 5 Chess Moments Of 2021
Hi, everyone, and Happy New Year! We are at the end of 2021, and it's been another big year for chess. 2020 was the year of the chess boom, and it was always gonna be tough to top. But, 2021 may have just done that. There were a lot of great chess moments in 2021, and I've chosen my top 5 and will rank them here momentarily. But first, just a quick shout out and congratulations to @Roger436, his previous blog has been a smashing success and is close to 10k views. Click on that link and help him get there! I'd also like to shout out @anikolay, as his previous blog is quite similar to this post, so go check it out. Now, with all that being said, here are the top 5 chess moments of 2021, starting at #5!
#5. ABDUSATTOROV STUNS EVERYONE, WINS WORLD RAPID CHAMPIONSHIP
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, age 17, began the 2021 World Rapid Chess Championship ranked at #59... and he finished #1. Raise your hand if you saw this one coming? If you just raised your hand, you are probably lying, and if you aren't lying then you must have the ability to see into the future. Good for you! This was the most recent and, arguably, the most stunning development on this list. Abdusattorov defeated notable GMs Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, and Magnus Carlsen, and he ended up scoring 9.5/13 and tying for first place with Magnus, Fabi, and Ian Nepomniachtchi. He then defeated Nepo in the blitz playoff tiebreaker, earning the title of World Rapid Chess Champion. And he's only 17. I see this as a statement win for Abdusattorov. I'm expecting big things from this guy moving forward. I'd also like to mention Alexandra Kosteniuk, who won the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship, scoring 9/13 and dominating the competition. Congratulations to both Kosteniuk and Abdusattorov! Here is Kosteniuk's round 5 win over Valentina Gunina, one of her most important wins since Gunina finished in 2nd place, 1 point behind Kosteniuk.
I think that was probably Kosteniuk's most important win of the event, but that's just my opinion. Abdusattorov's most important win was against Magnus, I believe. Of course, I'd say anytime you beat Magnus that that's your most important win. He had several important wins, but the win over Magnus was undoubtedly the most impressive.
#4. NEPOMNIACHTCHI WINS CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT
I can't believe how long ago this was. It seems so much more recent to me! Back in April, Ian Nepomniachtchi won the FIDE Candidates Tournament with a round to spare, setting up the eventual World Chess Championship match with Magnus Carlsen. The Candidates tournament started back in 2020 but was postponed halfway through due to covid. At this point, Nepo was tied for first with 4.5/7 points, and many thought he would not keep up his pace due to him usually being inconsistent. They were wrong. About a year later, the tournament finally resumed, and Nepo managed to play spectacular chess and win it all. Nepo finished the event with 8.5/14 points, and the final round of the event would not affect the outcome. This was a huge chess moment in 2021, as it set up the World Chess Championship match between Magnus and Nepo, and perhaps paved the way for otb chess to fully return.
#3. FIROUZJA BECOMES YOUNGEST EVER TO REACH 2800 FIDE
Click on the above image for a thorough report on this topic. Am I the only one who thinks that Alireza Firouzja's ascension to 2800 FIDE and world number 2 seemingly came out of nowhere? Top 10 was expected, but he made the jump from outside the top 10 to number 2 remarkably quickly. In any case, just before the World Chess Championship match kicked off, Firouzja made headlines when he became the youngest to ever reach 2800 FIDE, at the age of 18 years and 5 months. He did it faster than Magnus. Incredible. After this great achievement by him, pretty much everyone expects Firouzja to eventually claim the title of World Champion, including myself. It's only a matter of when, and not if, he becomes World Champion. I predict he wins it all in 2026. But I won't be surprised if he is crowned champion before then. By the way, here is the game that got Firouzja up to #2 in the world.
#2. ABHIMANYU MISHRA BECOMES YOUNGEST GM EVER
It seems like so much has happened since young Abhimanyu Mishra made history by becoming the youngest chess player ever to become a GM, at the age of 12 years and 4 months and 25 days, breaking Sergey Karjakin's previous record at 12 years and 7 months. Karjakin would of course go on to challenge Magnus in the 2016 World Chess Championship and is still today among the best players in the world. So it's safe to say Karjakin ended up being pretty dang good. That bodes well for Mishra, eh? Mishra worked hard to get his title in time to break the record, and I wouldn't be surprised if he breaks a few more records later on. Here's the game that clinched his 3rd and final GM norm.
I've previously mentioned Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja, who are both young stars in chess. Alireza is now world number 2 and rated above 2800, while Nodirbek just won the World Rapid Championship and defeated Magnus along the way. Consider those two stars, and now add in Mishra. The future big 3 of chess, perhaps? I dunno, but one thing I'm convinced of is that we'll be seeing a lot more of each of these young stars in the future.
#1. MAGNUS DEFENDS TITLE, REMAINS WORLD CHAMPION
Come on now, you knew this would be number 1 on my list. The 2021 World Chess Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen was undoubtedly the most hyped-up event this year. The whole chess world was buzzing with excitement heading into the match. It was a really big deal. Admittedly, however, the match overall was somewhat underwhelming to some. The first 7 games were very entertaining, but then Nepo collapsed in the second half of the match, and the final score was not pretty for him. Even though the match fell short of expectations for some of us, it was a lot of fun to keep up with and cover. Very enjoyable to watch. We even witnessed history in game 6, as Nepo and Magnus played for 136 moves, the most moves ever played in a World Chess Championship game.
Incredibly disappointing loss for Nepo, but it was historical, and it had everyone talking. Even some ppl I know irl who don't play chess had heard about this! After this game, of course, the match was pretty much over and Magnus had little trouble defending his title. As if the match didn't give us enough to talk about, Magnus declared after the match that he would only defend his title in the next World Chess Championship if his opponent was Alireza Firouzja. I won't speculate about any of it, but it's sure to be a big topic of discussion probably until the next match. All in all, this match had the hype. it had the history, it had the drama... and it had that epic meltdown by Nepo in the second half of the match. To me, this was the top chess moment of 2021.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
And that's a wrap for my 2021 blogs and my top 5 chess moments of 2021. What do you think? Do you agree with my top 5? There were a lot of other big chess moments this year that didn't make my list, but what about your top 5? Share your thoughts on this in the comments below!
Thank y'all so much for reading, I truly appreciate it, and thanks in advance for any comments y'all leave here. I'm not sure when my next blog will be, nor what it will be about. I have some ideas, but we'll see what happens. Again, thanks so much for reading, and thanks for the support all year long. I'll cyall around. Happy New Year!
