What can you do to stun a GM? Play 1.d4! Click here to see the video.
Special thanks to Cesar Horta for sending in the video!
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Video tip on how to freeze a GM
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What the heck? Was this a trick video? What was he thinking?
Good move!! You made that man think hard!!
e4 best by test
has this guy played against d4 before? I could not find any games.
i think he’s just playing mind games with his lower rated opponent.
I think it is quite obvious from the video that Shaba was a little disturbed by the noise and the flash photography in the room. He showed incredible restraint and was simply waiting for things to die down. It is just his way. He stays in control. Obviously he was comfortable and made his subsequent moves very quickly. Tal was a great mentor and it shows through in Shaba. Go Alex!
Agree with cfdincle: Shabalov was waiting for all of the hoopla to die down. I don’t know his opponent, but sometimes a top player will take a moment at the beginning to think over what his opponent has played lately.
In my very first OTB tournament game, I played e4 and my opponent did the same thing to me. He waited almost 10 minutes to make his first move.
I assume that he saw I was Unrated and thought he would psyche me out by waiting so long to play his first move.
It’s just a cowardly and annoying tactic that happens more often than it should.
I think I saw an episode of Addams Family before that guy made his move. Unbelievable!
The video is a joke. It is a minor embarassment to the community of all people who have the title of Grandmaster. Russian-American alliance to create major disturbances in order to dominate Canadian chess.
In the end, Shabba won anyway.