How a bizarre chess rule helped a German GM prevent certain checkmate
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The opening day of the World Rapid Chess Championship in New York witnessed a rare and bizarre end to a game because of a unique chess rule. German Grandmaster Alexander Donchenko made a great escape just one move away from getting checkmated by World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura of the USA, thanks to his ingenious use of the 50-move rule.
Nakamura had placed a check on Donchenko's King in the 128th move of their third-round meeting. Donchecko had only one available move: to block the check with his only remaining piece, a rook. But that would not have saved him because Nakamura could have captured that rook with his rook, resulting in a checkmate.
But then something bizarre happened. Donchenko stopped the clock and summoned the arbiter. He was claiming a draw by the 50-move rule. The arbiter came up with her notebook and verified that Donchenko was spot on, denying Nakamura a sure win and giving the German an unexpected draw.
What is 50-move rule?
According to the 50-move rule, a player can claim a draw if no one moves a pawn or captures a piece for 50 consecutive moves. Donchenko correctly remembered that the last capture (Rxa2, a rook capturing a pawn) occurred on move 78. So by the time, Nakamura played his Rh5+, giving a check, it was moved 128, precisely 50 moves later.
While the 50-move rule does come up occasionally in chess, even at the highest level, it is extremely rare to find a scenario like that between Nakamura and Donchenko. The rapid chess championship has a time control of 15 minutes per player with an increment of 10 seconds per move.