Bonus Q&A: What are the chess games feature in "Nothing is Forever"

I thought no one would care about the chess in this game, but I often get positive comments about it. Some players are even interested in wanting to know more about the particular games featured in "Nothing is Forever" 

If that’s you, keep reading.

In the 1st chapter we have 3 full games shown:

The first one is Suri Vaibhav vs Magnus Carlsen, from the Pro Chess League (2018) (rapid time format). Carlen being the world champion was obviously expected to win.

The second one is Wesley So vs Magnus Carlsen, from the Skilling Open (2020) (rapid time format). Two of the top 10 players in the world. So lost that match to Carlsen, but was able to fight back to claim a victory in the aggregate.

The third one is Alexey Shirov vs Judit Polgar, from Buenos Aires Sicilian (1994) (classic time format). Shirov was the 3rd highest rated player at the time, but that didn’t stop him from being crushed by Polgar, the best female player of all time. She was consistently between the top 10 best players in the world, had an entertaining attack style, and was able to defeate several world champions. This game is regarded as one of her best ones.

In the 2nd chapter we have just 1 game:

It was Mads Andersen vs Pablo Salinas Herrera FIDE World Cup (2021), round 1 (classic time format). The ending was so good that I had to show off that beauty. 

Finally, in the 3rd chapter we had two older games:

The first one is probably the most famous chess game in history, the “Opera Game”, played by who many consider to be the greatest chess player of all time: Paul Morphy. He was so much better than anyone else at the time that it seemed like he was playing on a league of his own and everyone else was in the 3rd division.

That game was also shown in the amazing TV show "The Queen’s Gambit":

The second game was a club championship match played in 1964 between Raymond Keene vs E Fielder. Raymond Keene was obviously better than Mr. Fielder and it showed. It seemed a good example to show what a game between a professional player versus a more amateur one can look like.

Also, chess hustlers are funny in videos:

Evidence 1 

Evidence 2 

Sometimes they can even capture 2 pieces in 1 move :)

This post was a bit different than usual. We’ll soon start with the polls regarding your choices in-game.

PS: Every chapter also has little nods to some of my favorite TV shows, and have, one way or another, inspired me to tell this story. Have you caught all of the references?