Bill Gates Made A Disastrous Third Move In His Match Against Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen

Advertisement

Advertisement

In an exhibition chess match for a TV show, world champion chess player Magnus Carlsen beat Bill Gates in just 9 moves and 80 seconds.

The truth of the matter is that the game was over much earlier than that.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

By playing a tricky defense as black, Carlsen caused Gates to make a disastrous move three that basically sealed the game.

Here's how the opening went.

Advertisement

Bill Gates started with a very traditional King Pawn opening (Bobby Fischer referred to this opening as 'The best by test').

Screen Shot 2014 01 27 at 8.19.40 AM

YouTube

Carlsen then responded in a slightly unexpected manner by moving his queen knight out (rather than a more normal and symmetrical king pawn response, which an amateur like Gates likely would have expected).

Screen Shot 2014 01 27 at 8.20.02 AM

YouTube

Gates then responded fine, developing his king night.

Advertisement

Screen Shot 2014 01 27 at 8.20.24 AM

YouTube

That's when Carlsen got a little tricky and advanced his queen pawn, attacking Gates' unprotected king pawn.

Screen Shot 2014 01 27 at 8.20.34 AM

YouTube

And then here's where Gates commited a huge blunder. He advanced his king bishop to protect his king pawn.

Screen Shot 2014 01 27 at 8.20.49 AM

YouTube

Advertisement

Now to understand why this move is so awful, we've made a diagram explaining what a strategic disaster this is. You see, while his bishop is in fact protecting his king pawn, his bishop is now hemmed in with virtually nowhere to move.

His bishop is also blocking his own queen pawn, which prevents a forward move of that pawn to attack the center. And because he can't move his queen pawn forward, Gates is blocking the development of his own queen bishop.

So in one move, he puts his bishop on a horrible square, blocks his own pawn, and blocks his other bishop. A complete tactical and strategic disaster.

bishopbehindqueenpawn

YouTube

From there the game was lost. There's just no way to come back from ceding that much temp and position that early on. Carlsen won a few moves later.

Advertisement