FIDE Surveys – Susan Polgar 

1 

 

Susan Polgar: 
 
The Game Is Not Over Until It 
Is Over! 

 
 
A chess game is "not over until it over"! In 
other words, it is never too late to spoil a 
well-played game. Probably all chess players 
can recall some painful memories of losing a 
"won game", or messing up, blundering in a 
"dead drawn" position.It is important to 
make a conscious effort once we reach one 
of those "completely won" or "dead drawn" 
positions, to not let our concentration 
wandering off or become overconfident and 
careless. Here are a couple extreme 
examples by world class players. In the 
second game of the Man versus Machine 
match, we learned that even world 
champions are not immune from such types 
of carelessness.However, Kramnik had a 
"blackout" and played the careless 
 
Deep Fritz 10 : Kramnik 
Bonn, 2006 

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34...Qe3?? 
In this position 34...Kg8 leads to an easy 
draw. White has nothing more than perpetual 

checks after 35.Ng6 Bb2 36.Qd5 Kh7 
37.Nf8 Kh8 38.Ng6=. 
35.Qh7# 1:0. 
 
 
Khalifman : Polgar S. 
Internet match RUS – USA, 2005 

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Of course, I had my share of moments which 
I would prefer to forget about. In 2005, as 
part of a Russia - USA friendly rapid 
exhibition match, played via the internet, I 
played former World Champion Alexander 
Khalifman. After a rough game, finally 
(thanks to my opponent's carelessness) I had 
a position which I should have drawn. 
During the game I thought that everything 
draws, and played the illogical: 
56...Kf5 
Retreating my King. Instead, the natural  
56...Kf3 would have saved the game. For 
example: 57.Ra4 Rb1 58.Kc6 Rb8 59.a7 Ra8 
60.Kb7 Ra7 61.Ka7 g5. 
The game ended with: 
57.Ra4 Rb1 58.Kc6 Rb8 59.a7 Ra8 60.Kb7 
Ra7 61.Ra7 g5 62.Kc6 g4 63.Kd5 Kf4 
64.Kd4 Kf3 65.Kd3 g3 66.Rf7 Kg2 67.Ke2 
Kg1 68.Kf3 g2 69.Kg3 Kh1 70.Rh7 Kg1 
71.Rh2 1:0. 
 
 
 

FIDE Surveys – Susan Polgar 

2 

 

Nakamura : Carlsen 
Zurich 2014  
The next example is from a recent top level 
game where the top American, Hikaru 
Nakamura, got a reminder of it. 

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White has achieved a much better position 
with a promising attack on the Kingside. It 
seems that White has easy play, and the 
game will be over soon.  
26.Rdh1 
White is getting ready to open the h file. 
26...Bb2  
Black has no choice but go all out, and hope 
for the best and for some luck. 
If 26...Qd7 27.Qd7 Nd7 28.hg6 Rg3 29.Rh7 
(Threatening checkmate in 3 with 30.Rh8 
Kg7 31.R1h7 Kg6 and 32.Bh5.) 29...Be3 
30.Be3 Re3 31.Bg4 Nb6 32.Bf5 and it is 
game over.  
26...Nbc4 would lead to transposition as to 
what happened in the game itself, after  
27.Bc4 Nc4 28.hg6 Bb2 29.Bb2. 
27.Bb2 Nbc4 28.Bc4 Nc4  
Fortunately for White, things are safe for the 
moment on the Queenside - as the Rook 
protects the Bishop on b2 along the second 
rank. Therefore, White can continue safely 
with the attack on the King side and open the 
h file. 
29.hg6  
 

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29...Qb6 
Magnus tries his best practical chance, by 
attempting to "mess things up". 
After 29...fg6 pretty much everything wins, 
but most forceful is: 30.Qe6 Kh8 31.Nf5 gf5 
and 32.g6. At this point White has trouble on 
the Queen side therefore, must prove himself 
on the other side of the board. 
30.g7!? 
30.gh7 instead, would be a major mistake, as 
Black just moves out of the one check with  
30...Kh8 and White's attack runs to dead 
end. Moreover, the tables have turned - it is 
Black who is winning! The game move 
works too, but a much simpler win was 
30.gf7 Rf7 and 31.Nh5! Then, Black is 
defenseless against the powerful threats of 
Qc8 and Nf6. For example: 31...Rb2 32.Ka1 
Qb3 (32...Rh2 33.Nf6 Kg7 34.Rh2) 33.Qc8 
Rf8 34.Nf6 Kf7 35.Rh7 Kg6 36.Qf5#. 
30...Rd8 
30...Rb2 31.Ka1 Rd8 would have also lead 
to the same. 
31.Qh4 Rb2 32.Ka1 
Of course not going for the self-mate with 
32.Kc1?? Rb1 33.Kc2 Qb3#. 
Black's attack is over now, and  hence has no 
choice but to go back to defense. 
32...Rh2 33.Rh2 Qg6 
Materially speaking Black is up a Pawn, but 
it does not help.  

FIDE Surveys – Susan Polgar 

3 

 

 
If 33...Kg7, the most precise is 34.Nf5 Kf8 
35.g6! (as after  35.Qh7 Black can still fight 
a bit with trying to run away with 35...Ke8). 
34.Nf5! 
A very natural and powerful move, bringing 
yet another piece close towards Black's 
King. 
34...Re8 

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35.Qg4 
With the idea of Rh2–h6 trapping Black's 
Queen. 
This is where the game gets to its critical 
stage and White started misplaying a so far 
well-played game against the world's #1 
player. However, there were two better 
options. The first one, 35.Qf2 required some 
accurate calculation. After 35...b6 (35...Qg5 
36.Nh6) White has a pretty combination to 
elegantly end the game: (35...Qg5 36.Nh6) 
36.Rh7! Qh7 (36...Kh7 37.Qh4 Kg8 
38.Qh8#) 37.Nh6 Kg7 38.Qf7 Kh8 39.Qe8 
Kg7 40.Qf7 Kh8 41.Qf8 followed by 
checkmate on the next move.  
But also the quiet 35.Qh3 was good. It 
would keep tied the Black Queen to the 
defense of the h7 Pawn and at the same time 
would also protect the b3 square, which is 
key in some of the variations. After 35.Qh3 
Black is practically zugzwang, as once b7 
Pawn moves, Black will no longer have the 

option to counter attack with Qg6–b6. For 
example:  35...b5 36.d6 Nd6 37.Nd6 Rd8 
38.Nf5. 
After the most natural continuation  35.d6 
Black has a hidden defensive resource, with 
35...Nd6! 36.Nd6 and 36...Rd8!! 37.Nb5 
(37.Nf5?? Rd1 38.Ka2 (38.Kb2 Qb6) 
38...Qe6 39.Kb2 Qb3#) 37...Rd1 38.Kb2 
Kg7 and Black has three Pawns for the 
Knight, giving him reasonable drawing 
chances. 
35...Qb6 36.Qh3 Qg6  

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37.d6? 
A tempting pawn advance but is actually 
giving the game away. In view of the 
comments to the last few moves, it is not 
hard to realize, that White had two ways to 
end the game to their favor: 
37.Qf1 b5 and again the sacrifice with 
(37...Nd6 38.Rh6) 38.Rh7! Qh7 39.Nh6 or 
just by making a waiting move with; 37.Rh1 
or 37.Qh4 and putting Black in zugzwang. 
After the game-move, now Black is fully 
back in the game. 
37...Nd6! 38.Nd6 Rd8! 
This quiet move turns the dynamic of the 
game around. Even though White is still 
slightly better Hikaru did not manage to 
readjust to the disappointing (for him) 
changes to the position and in time pressure 
continued with a few more mistakes. 

FIDE Surveys – Susan Polgar 

4 

 

39.Nc4?! 
The only road to have any realistic hopes to 
win was with 39.Nc8 Kg7 40.Ne7 although 
after correct defense with 40...Rd1 41.Ka2 
Qe6 42.Qe6 fe6 probably White's small 
advantage will be insufficient to collect the 
full point. As we read in Peter Nielsen's 
commentary to this game in New in Chess, 
"Nakamura had planned 39.Nf5 'winning', 
but now realized that after  39...Rd1 40.Kb2 
Qb6 41.Ka2 Black does not play 41...Qb3, as 
that square is protected by the Queen on h3, 
but 41...Qb1# mate! 
39...Qe4 

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What a turnaround! Now, it is White who 
has to be careful not to lose. It was time to 
pull in the breaks and go for a draw, while 
white still can. 
40.Qh5? 
The right defense was 40.Ne3 Qd3 41.Nf5 
when Black must force a draw by perpetual 
checks with 41...Qd1 42.Ka2 Rd2 43.Rd2 
Qd2 44.Kb1 Qd1. 
40...Rd3! 
A strong move to tie the Knight to the 
defense of the Pawn on a3. Magnus does not 
miss his suddenly received opportunity and 
continues the attack with the most precise 
way. Now the threat is 41...b5.  
41.Rh4 Qf5 
41...Qe1 would be a mistake, letting White 
off the hook after 42.Ka2. 
42.Qe2 b5 

Now it is clear that White is in major 
trouble. 
43.Nd2 Qg5  
43...Ra3 44.Kb2 Rg3 was fine too. 
44.Qd3 Qh4 45.Ne4 
If 45.Qb5 then just 45...Qd4 46.Qb2 h5 and 
Black has too many passed pawns running. 
45...Kg7 

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Here Black has an impressive number of five 
(!) pawns for the Knight.  
46.Qf3 
After 46.Nc5 Black would force the 
exchange of the Queens with 46...Qe1 
47.Kb2 Qf2 48.Qc2 Qc2 49.Kc2 and then 
push the pawns.  
46...Qf4 
As we can see one line after another, Black's 
goal is to trade Queens, making sure White's 
hopes of perpetual checks disappear. The 
reamining part of the game is self-
explantory. 
47.Qg2 Kf8 48.Kb2 h5 49.Nd2 h4 50.Kc2 
b4 51.ab4 cb4 52.Qa8 Kg7 53.Qa4 h3 
54.Qb3 h2 55.Qd5 e4 56.Qh5 e3 57.Nf3 e2 
58.Kb3 f6 59.Ne1 Qg3 60.Ka4 Qg1 61.Qe2 
Qa7 0:1. 
Conclusion: It is important to always look 
for good moves and last minute resources 
not just for yourself, but also for your 
opponent. It does not matter how clear and 
obvious things appear, remember, "don't 
count your chicken before they hatch!"