The Blunder

The strong German grandmaster Georg Meier blunders a full queen in his game against Vladimir Akopian of Armenia at the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.

[shimerian]

I've probably watched this 20 times and you know what,  I actually find it strangely uplifting.  God Bless Mr. Meier.  He showed me an example of how to accept an immediate adversity with dignity.  And not just with chess (I'm a USCF fish).  May Georg live long and be able to laugh about this someday.  I wish him the very best and thank him for the life lesson he has taught me.

[kent]

I hope hope I never act like the guy in the red plaid shirt.

[JEMORANGE]

The music is just perfect here. Everytime I blunder my queen I am just going to think of this music and just feel bad about my life

[clivethereddevil]

don't you hate it when you have blundered away a game and some bystander tells you what you should have done?

[lisyaron]

Have to say that while that most have focused on the negative behaviour of the Armenian coach, I found the sportsmanship of Meier most admirable. It is not easy, losing a game when one is so emotionally invested. We've all been there - and not even when we lose through an outright blunder. The way the German conducted himself afterwards is truly an example to all.

[rahulkanchangaikwad]

he realises after taking the pawn....and he has opened the horizontal line for the queen to move to white square to check the king ...and then the queen will take the queen....so sad...feels for the player

[YankeesHiro]

You know what the worst thing about this?
Final score:
ARM - GER
2.5 - 1.5
If Meier had drew, the match would've ended in a draw...but because he blundered and lost, Armenia beat Germany in round 9.

[zokikuzmanovski]

I, myself felt his pain so deeply when I online ranked 2450+ gave up a won game on a classical chess tournament with rook taking pawn blunder similar to this but not as bad, then doing another blunder after that...
I wanted to cry then, watching this I want to cry again now...
My heart literally hurts from watching this...
But it gave me a valuable lesson that we should always play as if we are losing... even in a won position, with our fullest of back-checking potential...

[serrie]

Especially when you play for your team or country, you feel more guilty about it. It is not just losing your game, but letting your team or country down.

[russellthorburn]

It's hard not to feel for the poor fellow. He's clearly devastated.

Also, I agree, the guy in the plaid shirt is an ass.

[xxotactics]

"Chess is above all, a fight" - Emmanuel Lasker.

Mistakes happen man, you're still the same person. A blunder will not change your title nor alter it as a GM.

[mwangikimani]

The thing is not just the loss, its the test to your confidence that's hard to deal with. Poor guy.

[connors]

A horrible feeling that every chess player experiences, good or bad. Everyone has that story.

[Kelvinllovejr]

No one in this world is immune to mind blowing blunders. I am currently rated 1900 USCF and I was once playing this kid ive beaten several times and drew once rated not quite 1800 and we were in this completely drawn endgame and it was basically time to offer the draw as neither of us could make progress and me being the genius that I am I push a pawn which completely drops my rook on the other side of the board. Worst blunder ive ever made and I wasn't even in time trouble. Funny thing is he had like 10 seconds left and was basically playing using the 5 second delay. Never seen anyone move so fast in my life than I did that day watching him grab my free rook.

[BixenteFabregas]

To answer two questions, here are the sources of the game and the music

Game:

[Event "Istanbul ol (Men) 40th"]
[Site "Istanbul"]
[Date "2012.09.06"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Akopian, Vladimir"]
[Black "Meier, Georg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C07"]
[WhiteElo "2687"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2012.08.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[WhiteTeam "Armenia"]
[BlackTeam "Germany"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8.
Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Bf1 Be7 13. Qf3 O-O 14. Bf4
Bd6 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. c4 Bd7 18. h3 Rfd8 19. g4 Be8 20. g5 Nd7 21.
h4 Rac8 22. Qe3 Nf8 23. h5 Rd7 24. Nf3 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Rd8 26. Rxd8 Qxd8 27. Be2
a5 28. Ne5 Bc6 29. Nxc6 bxc6 30. Bf3 Qc7 31. c5 e5 32. Bg4 g6 33. h6 f5 34.
gxf6 Kf7 35. a3 Kxf6 36. b4 axb4 37. axb4 Ne6 38. Bxe6 Kxe6 39. Qb3+ Kf6 40. b5
cxb5 41. Qxb5 Qc8 42. f3 e4 43. Qb2+ Ke6 44. Qd4 exf3 1-0

Music:
Moore, B/Moore, J. "Rejoice". Journey's of life. Joyce & Billy Moore. 2010
(excerpt appears at 2:23)

[Mirror]

You can see him struggling to keep it together, and his face at the end... poor guy.

[mylobage]

That's brutal to watch. Poor bastard.

[Alias-Steff]

"music fit" of the century ! btw: what is it ?

[fellerchrigu]

you welcome! i wondered also, and my son found it out thanks to iphone and the free app shazam! i love this music and find it perfect to this video...

[Gafanhotov]

It happens... He is still the same man, a strong grandmaster...