Daily puzzle: my pick of wonderful moves from 2016
I am starting the New Year with a fairly random selection of moves seen during 2016: skewed to the last few months, since I only thought of making such a selection in December, and then had to try to recall some of my favourite moments.
Today, to end my selection, the move of the year: a move which I suspected will still be looked at in one hundred or two hundred years, or for however long chess is played. Not for its difficulty, and nor for its beauty (but the fact that Magnus played the winning move instantly was memorable to watch live)
White to play and win
Magnus Carlsen v Sergey Karjakin, World Championship tie break, 30/11/16
Solution
1 Qh6+!!
How to win a World Championship. The more impressive thing is that with limited time, Magnus had earlier played 47 Qf4, winning a pawn but somewhat exposing his King,and at move 49, rather than playing the prosaic, defensive, 49 Qg3, winning eventually, he must have seen the tactics and played an otherwise “risky” 49 Rc8+:
FEN
2R5/4bppk/1p1p4/5R1P/4PQ2/5P2/r4q1P/7K w – – 0 50
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