Like a man who had just hit the snooze button on a ticking time bomb, Boris Gelfand got up from his seat and walked away from the board, leaving his opponent R Praggnanandhaa pondering his next move in their third round clash at the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament. Gelfand had made his 60th move with one second left on the clock but had unlocked 15 additional minutes by reaching this threshold. He was a relieved man, having matched his young quarry move-for-move for almost six hours. But a few minutes later, when he arrived back at the board and saw Pragg’s response, he sank on his seat like he had been sucker punched.
When he had walked away from the board, the 57-year-old might have been feeling like he could still squeeze the Indian youngster for something more than a draw. But he had blundered away the game in one single push of a rook on move 60. He sat there for many minutes, his face betraying his shock at how the whole game had changed in one single set of moves from both players. At one point he gaped at the young Indian prodigy in utter disbelief, then planted his palm on his head, distraught at how his fortunes had changed. Eventually he resigned after 65 moves.
Pragg thus joined Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, who also won their games on Saturday. Gukesh’s victory over Daniil Yuffa was the easiest of the three, with the Spaniard blundering early on and Gukesh never letting go of his advantage. Arjun had fought a more intense battle against Anton Demchanko before prevailing. But it was the battle of generations between Pragg and Gelfand that was the highlight of this round, since it had seen a one-move turnaround.
Can you guess the move that Pragg found in response to this game-changing blunder from Gelfand?
Boris Gelfand’s critical blunder vs Praggnanandhaa that changed the game in one move. (PHOTO: Lichess)
The Dramatic Blunder: How ONE MOVE changed everything
Gelfand’s 60th move — Rg3 — was an attempt from him to attack Pragg’s queen on h3 and simultaneously protect his pawn on e3. But he had overlooked an obvious reply, which Pragg found: withdrawing his own queen to h4 which created a pin: Gelfand couldn’t move his rook now because then Pragg could capture his queen. The next pawn push move from Pragg (61…f4) proved to be the coup de grace as the pressure rose manifold.
INTERACTIVE: How one single error cost Boris Gelfand game against Praggnanandhaa
Judit Polgar’s expert analysis: Lost in the jungle
Chess legend Judit Polgar said that Gelfand had ‘gotten lost in the jungle’ while trying to chase victory obsessively.
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“When the game goes into the second time control between move 40 and move 60, there’s a lot to be done. And if the game was playing out in a complicated manner until move 40, it can happen that you get lost in the jungle. This is what happened with Gelfand. It’s a very instructive game. How much do you control yourself, how much do you want to win, and how realistic do you want to stay. Gelfand is an experienced player with over five decades. He tried to press for a win, and it backfired on him. It was very unfortunate,” Polgar said on commentary on Chess.com. “He had choices to make and he pressed too hard, he wanted to win. He wanted to play it out but Pragg was not the right person to do this against.”
It can happen that you get lost in the jungle. This is what happened with Gelfand today
Gelfand is a living legend from Vishy Anand’s era who is playing at the Grand Swiss after receiving a wild card from FIDE. Much was expected from his duel with Pragg because the Israeli stalwart was one of the gurus at Anand’s Westbridge Anand Chess Academy who has played a role in sharpening the minds of India’s current generation of world beaters including Pragg and Gukesh.
For the first 60 moves, the battle was a fairly level one, with no player having an overwhelming edge even though the quinquagenarian had been the one pushing the tempo. All the drama that the Gelfand vs Pragg battle had missed for 59 moves, erupted in one push of the rook on move 60.
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