The Best Of Chess Channel

Veselin Topalov had an incredible decade in the 2000s. In the middle of the decade, he won the FIDE World Championship tournament in incredible fashion, starting with 6.5/7, and he reached the #1 Elo ranking in the world. His play at the time was highly dynamic, and he was very well-prepared, regularly springing opening surprises. Here we see him at his very best against a … [Read more...] about Topalov Sacs 2 Exchanges, Overruns Aronian – Top 10 of the 2000s – Topalov vs. Aronian, 2006

In one of the most complicated chess games you will ever see, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave battled Alexander Morozevich in a complex Sicilian. Facing a ferocious attack, Vachier-Lagrave buries his rook on h7. Morozevich can capture the rook at any point, but he doesn't as the rook seems hopelessly entombed. it's only much later in the game that this zombie rook reemerges as a hero … [Read more...] about MVL’s Zombie Rook Wins The Game – Top 10 of the 2000s – Morozevich vs. Vachier-Lagrave, 2009

Hikaru Nakamura has long been one of the best blitz chess players online, but can he really defeat a chess engine in three-minute, no-increment chess?! In 2008, he did exactly that as he used an incredible anti-computer strategy of closing the position and offering two exchange sacrifices to convince the top engine, Rybka, to overpress in an effort to avoid a fifty-move rule … [Read more...] about Hikaru Nakamura Crushes Computer In Blitz Chess – #4 Of The 2000s – Rybka vs. Nakamura, 2008

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is one of the finest chess players on the planet today, but everyone starts somewhere. In my #5 best chess game of the 2000s, a 17-year-old "MVL" won an incredible game against Robert Fontaine en route to winning his first French Championship! Lessons: * Exchange sacrifices are about piece quality, not quantity. * Don't take your opponent's suspicious … [Read more...] about Vachier-Lagrave Sacs Exchange, Queen For King Hunt – Top 10 of the 2000s – Fontaine vs. MVL, 2007

Emil Sutovsky has won many brilliant chess games and brilliancy prizes in his career. Especially in the early 2000s, his name regularly appeared on the best games contest in Informant. His 2002 victory over Ilia Smirin is perhaps the finest in his career, and it's my #6 game of the 2000s. Lessons: * An unassailable knight on f5 is to be highly valued. * The pieces that matter … [Read more...] about Sutovsky’s Nf5 Dominates The Game – Top 10 of the 2000s – Sutovsky vs. Smirin, 2002