New York, 30 November 2016. After twelve drawn classical games, Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin settled the World Championship in a rapid tiebreak. Carlsen led 2–1 going into the fourth game, and Karjakin, needing a win with Black, pushed hard — but overextended. Carlsen pounced, and on his 32nd birthday-eve he finished the match with one of the most beautiful moves ever to decide a title: 50.Qh6+!!, a queen sacrifice that forces checkmate. The crowd erupted.
The most spectacular finishes are often the simplest once you spot them. Carlsen's queen sacrifice works because after 50...gxh6 51.Rxf7 is mate, and 50...Kxh6 51.Rh8 is mate — the rook and pawn do all the work. When you sense a mating net, look first at the most forcing move, even if it means giving up your queen.
It was the fourth and decisive game of the rapid tiebreak for the 2016 World Championship. The twelve classical games had ended 6–6, and after three tiebreak games Carlsen led 2–1. Karjakin had to win with Black to stay alive; instead Carlsen won and retained his title.
Giving up the queen for an immediate forced mate is always striking, and doing it to win a World Championship made it iconic. After the capture on h6, the rook delivers mate — whether the king takes (51.Rh8#) or the pawn takes (51.Rxf7#). It was a fitting, brilliant end to the match.
Yes — take the board as Carlsen with Black's king on g8 and try to find the two-move forced mate that ends with a queen sacrifice, or replay the whole game move by move, no sign-up.
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