The fifth undisputed world champion, Max Euwe, admitted he was, well . . . blunder-prone.
“I have probably made more silly blunders than any other world champion,” he once said on the BBC.
Blunders are more than just oversights. They are gross “How did I do that?” errors, much worse than a quarterback throwing a pick-six interception.
Make a blunder and you are sure to lose the game — unless your opponent makes a counterblunder.
Yet today’s champions seem to make more and earlier blunders than their predecessors.
In this week’s game, nothing seems to happen until the 22nd move, when Black, former world champion Veselin Topalov, makes one horrible move. After 23 . . . fxe6 24 Rxd8 he would lose the Exchange and a pawn.
Name a modern world champion, and you can recall a double-question- mark move he made.
Anatoly Karpov? He hung a piece against Larry Christiansen of the US on the 12th move of a game.
Bobby Fischer? He began his 1972 championship match with a howler in a dead-drawn endgame.
Vladimir Kramnik? He allowed mate-in-one against a computer?
And Garry Kasparov? He resigned in a drawn position against Deep Blue.