5 Astonishing "Clutch Time" Victories in Chess History
INTRODUCTION
The best time of year is upon us once again: football season. I could not be more excited, especially since my favorite teams, the Miami Dolphins (NFL) and the Florida State Seminoles (college), are showing great promise. I truly believe that either one of them could make a title run this year.
Jordan Travis could definitely win the Heisman Trophy
With football season comes many back-and-forth games and breathtaking game endings that go all the way down to the last play. They get your heart pumping and get you really wrapped up in the intensity of the game.
These exhilarating endings occur in chess also. Great neck-and-neck chess tournaments sometimes come down to one deciding game. In this blog, I will be sharing with you some insane clutch moments in the history of chess and teaching you to remain calm under the immense pressure that comes with being in the clutch!
MAGNUS CARLSEN
2019 WORLD BLITZ CHAMPION
Magnus Carlsen is, simply put, the best chess player to ever walk the earth. He was entering the 2019 World Blitz Championship in Moscow, Russia, having won 4 World Blitz titles already in 2009, 2014, 2017, and 2018... and he was nowhere near finished. He had his eyes set on another World Blitz title, but it wouldn't be easy. The 2019 World Blitz tournament was filled with young, on-the-rise stars who were sure to put up a great fight and maybe even overcome Magnus Carlsen and the rest of the playing field.
The playing hall for the 2019 World Blitz
Of course, a tough playing field was nothing Magnus hadn't seen before. He was up for the challenge of taking on the young stars head-to-head.
Magnus won the 2019 World Rapid Championship with a score of 11.5/15, so his World Rapid and Blitz experience for the year was off to a good start. It would be even more amazing if he could take home a win in the World Blitz tournament as well, and that was what he was after.
Magnus started out the World Blitz with 5 straight wins, beating Russian grandmasters Alexandr Predke and Vladimir Belov in rounds 1 and 2, Emirati grandmaster Salem Saleh in round 3, Russian grandmaster Dmitry Jakovenko in round 4, and then Polish grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek in round 5.
Magnus was making quick work of the "tough" playing field, and it seemed like no one could stop him. Then, in round 6, Magnus was paired with one of the young stars that everyone had been gushing about, Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov. A video of the game between Magnus and Nodirbek went viral on YouTube after Nodirbek played so well that he caused Magnus to "lose his cool" near the end of the game. The game ended in a draw, which was a pretty big deal. It definitely foreshadowed what the future held for Nodirbek.
The round 6 near-loss to Nodirbek left Magnus's morale a little damaged, which caused him to lose his round 7 game to Russian grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin. This turned out to be his only loss of the tournament, though, as he was able to get back on the horse and come cruising back to finish the tournament with a tremendous score of 16.5/21.
There was only one problem: Magnus wasn't the only player to finish with 16.5/21... American grandmaster, streamer, and speed chess legend Hikaru Nakamura also had a score of 16.5 points after all 21 rounds. This meant that the winner would be determined by a blitz tiebreak between Magnus and Hikaru.
The playing hall was eerily quiet since there were no other games going on, which just added to the intense feeling in the air and meant that all eyes would be on Magnus and Hikaru's game. Then, the first tiebreak game ended in a draw, which added even more suspense. Could one of the two players deal with the suspense and win the second game?
What a crushing win by Magnus! He handled the suspense and beat Hikaru in just 30 moves to become the World Blitz champion for the third year in a row!
Magnus Carlsen proved why he is the greatest chess player of all time. He showed that he had ice in his veins and took home a tiebreak win with everything on the line.
Magnus took in a well-deserved moment of glory after his win!
ANISH GIRI
2023 TATA STEEL MASTERS CHAMPION
It was January again, which meant that it was time for the annual Tata Steel Masters tournament to take place in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. This tournament is one of the biggest of the year, with all of the best classical chess players in the world duking it out in a 13-round large-scale round-robin tournament.
The gigantic playing hall for the Tata Steel Masters
The 2023 tournament started with all of the tournament favorites, such as Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, jumping out to an early lead, but it was close. There was no clear leader through the first three rounds.
Suddenly, the tournament took a wild twist as early as round 4 when Anish Giri defeated Magnus Carlsen in a classical game for the first time in over a decade. It was a huge triumph for Anish, and it helped him to a tie for first place with Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
The tournament was shaping out to be an instant classic through just 4 rounds. Then, in round 5, it got even better, when Nodirbek Abdusattorov also upset Magnus Carlsen to separate himself as the lone leader from everyone, at least for now.
Magnus was looking dejected and was slowly being pushed out of the picture. Meanwhile, Nodirbek was running the show, but Anish was staying close to him at the top of the leaderboard. These two remained neck-and-neck as the final round approached.
It all came down to the final round. Nodirbek was up by half a point and only needed a draw for at least a shared first place. It appeared that he had the tournament win in the bag, especially since he had an evidently easy pairing against Dutch grandmaster Jordan Van Foreest, the underdog of the tournament.
For Anish, on the other hand, it didn't look to be quite so easy. He was going up against Hungarian-Romanian grandmaster Richard Rapport, who was coming in off a win against Chinese grandmaster (and now World Champion) Ding Liren in round 12. Anish knew how crucial this game was to his chances at winning the event, but he took a deep breath and casually strolled into the playing hall for the game.
Anish did his part, but Nodirbek still had to lose his game in order for Anish to be the tournament winner. And, as luck would have it, Nodirbek made a slight blunder in an endgame, causing him to fall apart, lose his final game against Van Foreest, and his chances of taking first prize! This meant that Anish was the winner!
Had Anish panicked, he might not have won that game and the tournament. But he didn't. He understood that he should keep his composure and just nonchalantly play his game, even though that game would decide the outcome of his tournament.
Anish even looks calm holding that coveted trophy!
VISWANATHAN ANAND
2010 WORLD CHAMPION
Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was hoping to solidify himself as one of the most legendary chess players of all time, having won two straight World Championship matches and seeking a third.
However, there was a challenger out to stop him, Bulgarian grandmaster and world #2 at the time Veselin Topalov. Topalov was back in the WCC and looking for vengeance after losing the 2006 World Chess Championship to Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik.
Veselin Topalov
Right away, Topalov proved that he meant business, winning game 1 of the match in just 30 moves. It wasn't for long, though, as Anand went on to win games 2 and 4 (game 3 was a draw) to take a 1-point lead in the match.
Games 5, 6, and 7 were draws, but in game 8 Topalov captured another victory, evening the match score again. Then games 9, 10, and 11 were also stale draws, which meant that the score was tied at 5½ - 5½ entering the twelfth game. They were playing best out of 13 games (or first to score 6½ points), so it all came down to games 12 and 13.
The next player to win a game in the match would be the World Chess Champion - an incredibly daunting thought. The players were definitely feeling the heat surrounding game 12, but one of them would have to calm down in order to win the game and the World Championship. Who would be the one to pull it off?
Anand protected his crown! He managed to calm himself before the game and it helped him to retain his World Championship title for a third time! He set an incredible example of how we should act when the pressure is on us.
Anand got to wear the World Championship wreath again!
GARRY KASPAROV
1987 WORLD CHAMPION
The time had come for yet another World Championship matchup, once again between reigning champ Garry Kasparov and challenger Anatoly Karpov. The rivalry between the two Russian grandmasters was continuing with a fourth meeting in the WCC.
The Soviet rivals were facing each other in another World Championship!
All three of their previous matchups in the WCC had been thrilling, so there was no doubt that this next one would be thrilling as well.
Right away, it proved to be just as exciting as expected, with Karpov taking game 2, then Kasparov taking game 4, and then Karpov once again taking a win in game 5. It looked to be a superb back-and-forth match.
Karpov was up by a point after 5 games, but pretty soon Kasparov rumbled back and took a 1-point lead with his wins in games 8 and 11. Then, as in most World Championship matches, a series of draws followed, from games 12-15, before Karpov took another win in game 16.
Now there were 7 games left (they were playing best out of 24 games) and the match was still tied. An action-packed finish was evident, until the match again had a long line of draws from games 17-22, which meant that the match would be decided in the next two games.
Game 23 looked like it was on its way to another draw, but then, out of nowhere, Kasparov played a rook sacrifice that he believed would win him the game but in reality was a completely losing move. Karpov found the only way to play against Kasparov's tactic and went on to win the game a few moves later. What a turn of events!
Now all eyes were on Kasparov to see if he could pull out a win in the final game of the match. If he did win the final game, since the format stated that they were not playing tiebreak games, he would be declared World Champion by default because he was the reigning champ. If he lost or even drew, though, Karpov would be the World Champion. Could Kasparov control himself under the pressure? Or would his reign come to an end?
Kasparov got the win in marvelous fashion! He brought home his third World Championship crown, though the odds had been stacked against him just a round before.
With his back against the wall, Kasparov was able to pull it together and just do the thing that he did best: play chess. And because he calmed himself down, he brought home his third World Championship crown, which he then followed up with 3 more World Championship wins, in 1990, 1993, and 1995. He is truly one of the greatest players that the game of chess has ever seen, and part of what made him so great was his ability to keep his cool under pressure.
That man won 6 World Championships!
TRIVENI CONTINENTAL KINGS
2023 GLOBAL CHESS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
A new chess event was scheduled for the summer of 2023 entitled the Global Chess League. This event was very similar to the online Pro Chess League event that took place earlier in the year but was scheduled to be held in Dubai as an OTB tournament.
There were six teams in the tournament, each with six elite masters. There would be ten rounds over the course of two weeks where teams went head-to-head in matches. The top two teams after the ten rounds would compete in a final match to crown a champion.
The teams for the 2023 Global Chess League
After ten rounds of much excitement and many highs and lows, it came down to just two teams: the UpGrad Mumba Masters, led by French Grandmaster Maxime-Vachier Lagrave, and the Triveni Continental Kings, led by American Grandmaster Levon Aronian. This meant that the Masters and the Kings were going to face each other in the tournament Finals.
Two rounds of Final games were played. The Kings prevailed in the first round, winning 3.5-2.5 thanks to Levon Aronian's win over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Then, the Masters, facing elimination, prevailed in the second round, winning 4.5-1.5.
Because the two teams had each won one of the Final rounds, the teams played each other in two extra tiebreak rounds. In the first tiebreak round, the Masters won by 2 full points, so all they had to do was win the second tiebreak round as well and they would be the winners. In round 2, though, the Kings stole a narrow 3.5-2.5 win to survive another day.
The teams were still tied, so the sudden-death tiebreak games rolled on. This time, only one game was happening at a time, with two masters, one from each team, facing off against each other in a blitz game. The team that the master who won the blitz game represented would be the champions.
The first blitz tiebreak game was between two female stars: Spanish International Master Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, representing the Kings, and Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli, representing the Masters. They drew, so another blitz tiebreak game had to be played.
The second blitz tiebreak game was between two of the highest-rated male masters in the world, Chinese Grandmaster Yu Yangyi of the Kings and Russian Grandmaster Alexander Grishcuk of the Masters. This game was also a draw.
So a third blitz tiebreak game was played between two more female stars: Russian Grandmaster Kateryna Lagno of the Kings and Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy of the Masters. This game was also a draw.
It was clear that the two teams were pretty evenly matched, but they just had to keep playing blitz tiebreak games until somebody won.
The fourth blitz tiebreak game was between two lesser-known male stars: Uzbek Grandmaster Javokhir Sindarov of the Masters, who won the 2022 FIDE Chess Olympiad with Team Uzbekistan, and Danish Grandmaster Jonas Buhl Bjerre of the Kings. The odds were very much against the Kings, as Jonas Buhl Bjerre had lost to Javokhir Sindarov five times already in the tournament.
There was a great amount of pressure on both players here. If either one of them lost the game, they would blow it for their whole team. Could either of them win through the pressure, or would the incessant draws continue?
With his entire team plus the entire opposing team watching anxiously, Jonas Buhl Bjerre, possibly the least likely suspect, won the tournament for his team!
Jonas was under a lot of stress. He knew that if he lost the game, he also lost the tournament for his team. But Jonas also knew that he shouldn't freak out. He knew that he should remain calm under the pressure, and he did just that! Because of him, the Triveni Continental Kings were the champions of the first-ever Global Chess League!
The Kings lived up to their name!
CONCLUSION
The lesson that I am trying to highlight in this blog is that we should stay calm in clutch moments. It is important not to panic and let it get to our heads. If we do this, we are sure to find success, just like these masters did!
I hope you enjoyed this blog. Cya next time! 
