Kosteniuk leads the Munich Grand Prix after a blunder by Paethz

2023-02-03T22:24:26.390Z

The German suffers what the coaches call "the blind spot", and loses in just 23 moves The brains of chess players attract neurologists like honey to flies because mental sport demands high performance that can be measured, since the rules are very clear. However, not even the most sophisticated machines will be able to explain the tremendous mistake made today by the German Elizabeth Paethz. Her rival, the still Russian (soon to be Swiss) Alexandra Kosteniuk is the only leader afte

The brains of chess players attract neurologists like honey to flies because mental sport demands high performance that can be measured, since the rules are very clear.

However, not even the most sophisticated machines will be able to explain the tremendous mistake made today by the German Elizabeth Paethz.

Her rival, the still Russian (soon to be Swiss) Alexandra Kosteniuk is the only leader after the 2nd round of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix that twelve elite players compete in Munich (Germany).

“It is clear that Elizabeth has suffered from what is known as a blind spot, because there is no other rational explanation.

Sometimes these things happen to us”, Kosteniuk explained later to the press officer, the Spanish Michael Rahal.

It was one of the most eminent Soviet coaches, Alexander Kotov, author of still cult books (

Think like a great teacher, Play like a great teacher, Train like a great teacher

), who universalized the concept of the "blind spot": suddenly , a very high level player makes a tactical error typical of a beginner because he forgets an elementary detail.

In Paethz's case, his opponent's queen prevented a mate on e8 with her rook.

Almost all chess players, even world-class ones, commit that kind of blunder at some point.

There was another huge mistake in the same round, but this one has a much more frequent explanation: time trouble.

It happened in the tough fight between two Asian and world stars, the Indian Humpy Koneru and the Kazakh Zhansaya Abdumalik, who gave each other tremendous intimidating looks, even in the minutes before the first movement, as soon as they shook hands in initial greeting.

It is likely that Koneru, 35, ranked 3rd in the world, sees in Abdumalik (23, 15th) the rising star that she was in her youth, and would like to threaten her as they did to her then.

But Abdumalik, who is also a councilor for the Almaty (formerly Alma Ata) City Council, is not easily intimidated.

Koneru and Abdumalik, at the beginning of their confrontation today in MunichDavid Llada

In any case, Koneru achieved a very advantageous position after the opening.

He missed a shot as spectacular as it was difficult for a human to calculate, but continued to enjoy a comfortable positional advantage.

However, under the pressure of the clock, he forgot that if his rook went on the attack instead of pressing from afar it would get locked in, and that's what happened.

But not everything was said yet.

The fight continued, and Koneru exhibited impressive tenacity until he achieved a fortress defensive position very difficult to break through, although according to the machines she was still losing.

But Abdumalik is not a chip, he could not find the precise break and the tie was signed after almost five and a half hours of combat.

Second round:

Koneru – Abdumalik, draw;

Dzagnidze – M. Muzychuk, draws;

Zhu – Harika, draws;

Kashlinskaya – Tan, boards;

Paehtz-Kosteniuk, 0-1;

Wagner – A. Muzychuk, 0-1.

Classification:

1st Kosteniuk 2 points;

2nd-4th Tan, Dzagnidze and A. Muzychuk 1.5;

5th-8th Paethz, Harika, Koneru and M. Muzychuk 1;