Chess: Magnus Carlsen makes historic blunder after seven straight victories

Magnus Carlsen is again the centre of attention as the world champion leads the Canada Chessbrahs in the chess.com professional league, revived this year for the first time since pre-pandemic 2019.

The world No 1 had a narrow escape at the start against Awonder Liang, 19, but then raced to seven straight wins, including victory against the best-known US woman grandmaster, Irina Krush. In contrast, Carlsen’s great rival Hikaru Nakamura overreached in a won position and suffered a stunning defeat to Berlin’s fourth board Josefine Heinemann.

Game eight for Carlsen, and he opened 1 b3 against the world No 19, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of Indian Yogis. All seemed well as Carlsen’s bishop pair targeted the black king on adjacent diagonals, then the unbelievable happened. With 30 seconds on his clock, the world champion failed to notice the blatantly obvious winning move which many readers will spot within a few seconds or even instantly.

Is this the worst blunder ever by a reigning world champion? True, it was a semi-blitz game, but the Pro League is a serious competition. Perhaps the only rival claimant is Vlad Kramnik’s 2006 match against the Deep Fritz computer, when the Russian failed to notice that the robot was threatening checkmate in one.

Back in 2019, the Pro League included two English teams, London Towers and London Lions. This year, there are none, and the only English player, Gawain Jones, represents Norway Gnomes.

It seems ironic for an event where half the commentary team ( David Howell and Jovanka Houska) are English, that English teams are totally absent. A squad of players in their 20s and teen talents like Dan Fernandez, the British champion, Harry Grieve, Matthew Wadsworth, Jonah Willow, Shreyas Royal and the