Sindarov Just NUKED Reality w/ 4000 Elo Triple Sac! Entire Chess World In SHOCK!

That, my friends, is the twisted and malevolent face of the meanest man in chess right now, only moments after playing one of the meanest moves you can possibly make. It's a move that I've played myself, as I'm sure many of you have as well, but when it comes to the sacrificial masterpiece that you're about to witness, it's really only the cherry on top. We got people calling it the game of the year, but I'm calling it the game of the century because I can, and because I use an alternative calendar. No less than three incredible sacrifices did the young Javakir Sindarov employ as he took down the numinous Nakamura in the penultimate round of the recently concluded Clutch Chess Champion Showdown in St. Louis. Nobody can shut up about this game, and I even find myself thinking things like, just leave me alone and deliver my mail. I spend most of my time poring over chess games on my laptop, I really don't want to hear about it from you, but I of course just smile and engage I'm a pretty nice guy, but let's go ahead and get right into it. And even if you've seen this game already, you're going to want to stick around for the entire presentation anyway, because as usual, we will be probing some of its most brutal intricacies to a depth that you probably won't see anywhere else. Hikaru Nakamura has team white, he opens with d4, Sindarov responds knight to f6, and we head into the heart of a king's Indian defense. We have f3 from Hikaru, known as the same-ish variation, prioritizing the ultra-solid center, defending e4 with a pawn. This also prepares a possible pawn storming on the king side, beginning with the move g4, as there do exist variations where white ends up castling queenside. Of course the obvious drawback is that you've deprived your knight of its favorite f3 square, so pros and cons with this move. We have a castling by Sindarov, a bishop to g5 known as the Steiner attack, one after c5, hit in the center, and Hikaru's d5 forming the oppressive wedge. The most common way for black to proceed is with e6, but Sindarov goes for the somewhat less fashionable a6, preparing some future queenside expansion with the move b5 at some point. Hikaru can see what's afoot. He pushes a4, just locking that square down even harder than it already was. We have e6, inviting Hikaru to trade off his best good forward pawn in order to land black with a backward one on d6. It's not known to be worth it for white, which is why he instead puts his queen on d2. We have your capture on d5, and after the pawn is replaced, rook to e8, which, fun fact for you, is significantly better than playing knight b to d7 here. As it keeps an eye on the h3 square ready to meet any knight to h3 with bishop takes h3, damaging the white structure. Of course you could just develop the knight to e2 as Hikaru now does, but this of course hems in the bishop on f1. Now you could put the bishop on d3 first, but then it ends up getting hit by a black knight once it gets to e5 and or the move c4 with the gain of tempo. So the bishop would really prefer to be on e2, which is why after knight b to d7 from Sundarov, Hikaru plays knight to g3, opening up that square. And what do you think black ought to play here? Well if you're anything like me then anytime you see your opponent put their knight on g3 or on g6 if they're playing black you're going to start thinking about pushing your h pawn as it is very often the top choice of the engine regardless of who's castled where. And Stockfish is now recommending h5 but it's pretty easy to see why it wasn't played since white does seem to be defending against any h4 harassing his steed seeing that the bishop is covering that square. However, if bishop to e2 were to be played, the black could actually go ahead with h4, seeing that bishop takes h4 could be met with knight takes e4, attacking the queen, as well as the newly undefended bishop, and black's a bit better. So that's a good little trick to remember, but what's played in the game is not the engine recommended h5 but rather queen to c7, preparing the move Sundarov plays next, which after bishop to e2 is pawn to c4, just gaining more space while cutting off the white bishop's view of b5, which should make it easier to push a pawn there. And if I didn't know better, I would probably think that black is the better side here, having this very clear-cut plan of expanding on the queen side. And what does white have? Well, according to the engine, a slight to moderate advantage, after a castling by Hikaru. We have rook to b8 supporting b5, bishop to e3, which on the surface might look a bit odd, but it does have a very specific purpose, which is that if b5 were to now be played, then after a takes b5 and a takes b5, white would be all set to play b4, giving black a passed pawn in exchange for locking up the structure, thus bringing his queenside play to a grinding halt. Unless of course he takes on b3 en passant, But this allows white to grab the pawn on b5, with the knight, defended by the bishop, hitting the queen, hitting d6, to which black should respond queen to c2. And we're not going to get into all the ramifications of that line, but the point I wanted to make is that if white's bishop had not been put on e3, then black would have rook takes b5, and after the bishop recaptures, queen to b6 check, picking up the two minor pieces for his rook, with a winning position. So that was the point of bishop to e3. However, the engine actually thought that king to h1 was a slightly better way to avoid the check due to the move that Sidorov plays next, h5 now threatening that h4, which wouldn't be a threat if the bishop were still on g5 guarding that square. But everybody's still doing pretty okay here. No earth shattering advantage to either side just yet. We have rook f to c1 next, clearing the way for knight to f1 in response to h4, or so I initially thought. But I think it's more about setting up a potential discovery on the black queen. After the aforementioned trade of pawns on b5, followed by the move b4, c takes b3, and knight takes b5, rendering queen to c2 unplayable. So very sneaky stuff going on here. At least to an old chunk of coal like me. Probably not to these guys. Sidorov goes ahead with h4, hitting the steed. Hikaru puts it on h1, looking for the reroute to f2. h3 is next, offering white a pawn, which is definitely not worth accepting, as that would leave white with a shattered structure, exposing his king. So I think most of you probably already knew that, but what do you think white should play here? Give the position a few moments thought, subscribe to the channel and hit that like button while you're at it, if it feels really really right, or at least doesn't feel too wrong, and then let us know what you came up with down in the comments. Well the standard way to deal with a move like this is of course to just push your g-pawn, and this is what Hikaru does, but the engine doesn't think it's best, for the simple reason that it expends a tempo that it thinks could have been much better spent on a move like a5 or knight to g3. Seems kind of strange, but after h takes g2, white is under no obligation to make the recapture, and can actually just use that enemy pawn as a shield for his king, until he is ready to capture. So that's what the engine's saying, for whatever it's worth, but if you want to play like a human, then g3 is going to be your best bet. And it is a fine move. Now why Hikaru decides to play g4 instead, I can't rightly tell you. Does he envision a pawn push to g5 at some point? Really hard to say. But g3 would have been much safer, and believe it or not, he actually had this position before, back in 2016, against none other than Garry Kasparov, where he did play g3 and then went on to win the game. So not sure if he thought this slightly inferior g4 move was some kind of improvement, but The position is still more or less equal after Sidorov's next move, b5, when after a trade of pawns on that square, we do have the push to b4. But I'm not going to put it on the board just yet, because in this position, it's no longer working for white. Apparently rook to a7 was correct, kicking the queen back to d8 when after knight to f2, knight to c5 threatening fork on b3, white's best reply bishop takes c5, the pawn recaptures and knight takes h3, we have ourselves an extremely unbalanced yet roughly equal position, where in exchange for his one pawn deficit, black has this troublesome little 3v1 pawn majority over here, and if everyone plays like an engine, the game should end in a draw, according to the engine. Which I'm of course in no position to argue with, so having said that, let's have a look at Hikaru's move, which is b4. When after c takes b3 en passant, he does go ahead and play his knight takes b5 with the discovered attack on the queen. Looks pretty nice, but after she slithers on back to d8, there is no knight takes d6 for white, as this would run into b2 with the fork and white And White would be losing. So we do have rook a to b1 instead, at which point there is a modicum of evidence to suggest that black's best move in the position is one not played in the game, b2. You really want to get that pawn on the same diagonal as your lurking bishop on g7 while you can, since however white chooses to capture it, he's going to be subjected to a troublesome discovered attack once the knight on f6 goes somewhere. The engine's recommending that White just go ahead and grab it anyway, though. Like so, allowing Knight takes d5 with the discovery. Now taking the knight isn't any good, as that would leave white's queen with double duty, trying to defend both bishop and rook, thus losing material to bishop takes b2, followed by rook takes e3. So something like rook b to c2 is in order, when after knight takes e3, the queen recaptures, and the rather odd looking knight to f8, defending d6, looking for the reroute to e6, apparently black has the much better position, having the bishop pair, the safer king, and probably some other stuff too. Not an easy position to assess, which is why we're going to go ahead and not assess it any further, as we get right back to the game, where after rook a to b1, Sidorov commits one of his very few inaccuracies of the game by failing to push b2, instead opting for knight to e5. And I would ask you to find White's best move in this position, but it's such an obvious one that I'll just go ahead and tell you. Rook takes b3 is best. Now why exactly Hikaru doesn't play it, we may never know, but it could have something to do with the move bishop to a6, putting some pressure on his knight. Seeing that after the move he plays, which is knight to d4, bishop to a6 is not possible. So Hikaru is probably thinking, hey I'm putting my knight on a better square. Maybe I can hop into c6. I'm hitting the pawn on b3 with another piece. I can take it whenever I feel like it. If you push it to b2, I've got rook to c2, hitting it again. I'm over defending f3, which is a square of interest, as there is this potential for a royal fork. So on paper, this move looks like a big winner. But believe it or not, it's actually the fatal blunder of the game. And at least some of that has to do with the fact that it gives Black's rook a clear view of this b4 square. And no, I am not spewing random nonsense for my own amusement, as I have been known to do, and you will come to understand why, or why not, in just a handful of moves. But here, if you haven't seen this game before, go ahead and give the video a good healthy pause and see if you can spot the earth-shattering move Sidorov plays next. It is a sacrifice of the religious variety with bishop takes g4. Okay, first things first, if white plays his best move in the position, which Hikaru does not, knight to c6 with the fork, then after knight takes c6, d takes c6, and queen to e7, the most prudent thing for white to do would be to just develop his knight to g3 or to f2, just accepting the loss of his pawn with dignity. Since if he tries taking the bishop like so, there follows knight takes e4, hitting the queen, when after she scurries to a square like d3, you got knight to c3, hitting the rook, While uncovering an attack on the bishop. You could try rook takes c3 here. And this almost saves the day for white. Since after bishop takes c3 and the queen recaptures. If black were to play the obvious queen takes bishop on e3. He would no longer have a winning position. So care to guess what the correct move is? How about some queen to e4? Attacking the rook while threatening checkmate on g2. And white is pretty much all done. So how's that for a variation? And how much of it do you think Sidorov calculated during the game? I wouldn't put any of it past him, but getting back to Hikaru's move, after bishop takes g4, which is the obvious recapture, after the pawn on e4 is taken, attacking the queen, Hikaru now finds himself wondering how he's going to hang on to his g pawn. The problem is that black's queen is about to come into h4, and this is going to be very bad. Now, Sidorov did mention the move queen to e1 after the game, just preventing it, to which his planned response was b2, when after rook to c2 you got queen to d7, targeting g4 that way. White could try queen to h4 here, adding defense, and I do kind of wonder what Sidorov had planned against that, if anything, but apparently queen to a4 is most decisive, once again threatening to take on g4 as it would come with a discovered attack on the d4 knight, which if captured would leave the rook on c2 undefended, not to mention the move queen to a2 hitting the rook on b1, threatening to promote if it moves, so no road to redemption for team white here. What's played in the game is white's best alternative to queen to e1 which is queen to d1 when after the push to b2 and rook to c2 the black queen now rages into h4 at which point you might be wondering about a simple capture of the pawn on b2. Well, wonder no more because after rook takes b2 and the recapture is made, black can just go ahead with his knight takes g4. Seeing that after bishop takes g4, you got knight to c3, hitting the queen, hitting the bishop, and what are you playing now? Maybe queen to f3, keeping everything defended? Well here, black has all kinds of crushing moves. I'll just show you one at random. Queen to e1 check, when after queen to f1 only move, there now comes queen takes bishop on e3 check, ready to pick up the knight next, And that's pretty much a wrap. So, just one of many ways it could go down. If Hikaru were to take the pawn on b2, which he does not, neither does he try knight to f2, challenging black's most invasive steed, while adding defense to g4. And this is another move that Sundarov mentions, since it almost works for white. Pause the video and try to spot the refutation, if you'd like. The winning move for black is bishop to h6, attacking that knight's defender, seeing that bishop takes h6 would allow queen takes knight on f2 with check, with mate coming on the next move, while knight takes e4 would run into bishop takes e3 check, king to h1, and now knight takes g4. Since after bishop takes g4, you got rook takes knight on e4, twice attacking both bishop and knight, and white's one-piece surplus is about to become ancient history. So many crazy lines lurking in this game, and wouldn't it be nice if these elite players had some kind of a readout like the engine does, so we could see exactly what's going on in those incredible noggins of theirs? I always wonder how much brute force calculation versus pure intuition is responsible for some of this kind of play, but now let's have a look at Hikaru's move, which just might be the best in the position, bishop to f2, because when in doubt, kick the queen out. Except that it doesn't kick the queen out as Sidorov now has knight takes f2, when after the recapture it kind of looks like white is holding everything together. He's got the pawn on g4 thrice defended, maybe he can take on b2 next, but here Sidorov the incinerator now finds his one and only bone crushing move in the position, and possibly his only winning one. Once again pause and ponder if you want to try and spot it, and if you need a clue it is a move that I hinted at earlier in the video. What's played is rook to b4. Threatening rook takes knight on d4, followed by knight to f3 check, with the discovery winning white's queen. So something must be done. If you try rook to d2, adding defense, well then comes bishop to h6, hitting the rook, and once it moves you got bishop to e3, adding another attacker to the d4 knight, as well as to the one on f2, and white's pretty much shafted. So the knight on d4 is really going to need to move. If you put it on a square like c6, well then black's rook comes into f4, increasing the pressure on the f2 knight, which white doesn't have any super great way to defend. And I'll leave those details for you to parse out if you're feeling the need. Too many complications for us to fully investigate, so why don't we just have a look at the move now played by Hikaru, which is knight to f3, attacking the queen. Looks pretty reasonable, but now comes our sacrifice number two. Rook takes g4 check. When if Hikaru were to capture with his knight, which he does not, then we'd see a mate in 6, which goes as follows. Queen takes g4 check, king to f2, queen to g2 check. When if king to e1, then knight takes f3 as mate, due to the pin. So king to e3 is necessary, but now comes knight takes f3 discovered check. When if king to f4, then bishop to h6 is mate, and after king to d3, you got queen to g4, threatening mate from either e4 or d4. And there's just no way to stop it. White is only able to delay his demise by a single move at most with rook to c4, when after queen to f5 check and rook to e4, queen takes e4 is check and mate. So how spectacular would that have been? Well probably not as spectacular as what's played in the game after Hikaru's move, which is king to f1, just keeping his knight defended. We next have a capture on f3, when if the bishop were to recapture then you got rook to f4, pinning it to the knight, lest there be mate. And if the bishop is defended with something like queen to d3, well then bishop to d4 is quite unpleasant, doubling up on the steed. So Hikaru decides he better adhere to the age-old adage that says, when in doubt, go for the material, with knight takes g4. But do you think Sidorov recaptures with his queen? Heck no. It would be a winning move, but why play that when you've got something even flashier? And that something is rook takes bishop on e2. A hideously haymaking sacrifice number three. Now if you recapture with the queen, then comes queen takes g4 threatening mate on g1, or at the very least to pick up the rook on b1 if mate is prevented. And how's white supposed to defend? Putting the queen on e3 or f2 would only run into bishop to d4 defended by the knight. You could try getting tricky with queen to d3, since after queen to g1 check and king to e2, a blunderous capture on b1 would actually lose to rook to c1 check, winning the queen. But after knight to d4 check, driving the king to d2, there now comes queen takes h2, with check, winning the rook on c2. Seeing that after king to c3, knight takes c2 comes with a discovered check, and it's completely over. Okay, we've done our due diligence, let's get back to this soon-to-be-over game, where Hikaru decides to capture with his rook. His thinking is that after queen takes knight on g4, he can put his rook on f2, allowing Sidorov's queen into g1 with check, when after king to e2 only move, it kinda looks as though white just might survive. But it's only an illusion, because now comes knight to d4 check, when if white doesn't want to drop a whole rook, he's going to have to put his king on e3, as Hikaru now does, just keeping it defended. Only trouble is, this allows bishop to h6 with check, forcing the king to abandon such defense. Hikaru is of course able to grab the knight on d4, but after queen takes f2 check, king to c4, the pawn on h2 falls, and king to b5... A move whose purpose I know not. We now have one of the meanest moves you can possibly play, and one of the best ways to simplify a winning advantage into something that's a lot easier to convert than it may have otherwise been, as Sidorov now puts his bishop on c1, forever imprisoning Hikaru's rook on b1, rendering it geometrically impossible for it to ever escape without immediately sacrificing itself. And the game is completely over. Or at least completely overer than it already was, since sacking the rook for a bishop and a pawn will of course offer White exactly zero hope, leaving him with a three pawn deficit. So for this reason, Hikaru makes the very timely decision to tender his resignation, bringing to a close the game of the century. Which of course makes it the game of the millennium. So far anyway. Let me know if you agree down in the comments, or if you think I'm waxing hyperbolic for For the first time ever. Then make sure to stick around for this next game here, which was actually the game of the previous millennium. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Take care of your business, yourselves, and each other. Enjoy this next video, and I will be seeing you very soon.