Three games today, each with a nice blunder from a strong player. I like seeing this type of game because it reminds and reassures me that these players are beatable. Sometimes when I am paired against a strong player, I am fearful. But watching blunders makes me feel courageous, and sometimes I even do beat them.
Siegbert Tarrasch–Emanuel Lasker World Championship 1908
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.O-O O-O 6.d3 {Both White and Black are content to develop.} d6 7.Bg5 Be6 {Black, however, is not copying White. He merely hopes to get out his pieces.} 8.d4 {8. Nd5!, piling on the pinned knight, was more precise.} exd4 9.Nxd4 h6 10.Bh4 {White retreats. If Tarrasch plays 8. Nxc6?, Lasker replies 8…bxc6 9. Bxc6 hxg5 10. Bxa8 Qxa8, wherein he has an advantage because of his activity.} Ne5 11.f4 Bc5 12.Bxf6 {Of course, if fxe5, dxe5, and Black regains the piece.} Qxf6 13.fxe5 Qxe5 {Now the pin is awkward for White.} 14.Ne2 Bg4 15.Rf3 Bxf3 16.gxf3 f5 {Lasker aims at the weakened kingside.} 17.Qd3 c6 18.Bc4+ Kh8 19.Kh1 {A mistake. 19…fxe4 now wins: after the trade of queens, Black has a very good endgame.} b5 20.Bb3 fxe4 21.Qxe4 Qxe4 22.fxe4 Rae8 {Rf2 is better: occupy the seventh!} 23.Nxc6 Rxe4 24.Ng3 Ree8 25.Rd1 Rf2 26.Nd4 {And here, in time trouble, Tarrasch blunders from an equal position. He cannot recapture due to 27…Re1+.} Bxd4 {Tarrasch resigned.} 0-1
An honorable mention, since several of these games are decided by mismanagement of the clock, is Carlsen’s loss in the first round of the 2015 edition of Norway chess. Due to his lateness, he missed the rules explanation, and wrongly thought he would get extra time on move 60.
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/the-psychology-of-time-trouble
Gata Kamsky–Alexey Shirov Tal Memorial 2007
1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 {If the Black knight doubles, the bishop may now chop it off.} h6 3. Bh4 c5 {Black will eventually regain the pawn, and gains a freer position by temporarily sacrificing it.} 4. dxc5 g5 5. Bg3 Bg7 {The Black bishop has an immediate impact, forcing the move of the c-pawn.} 6. c3 {If the knight had moved, Black plays Bxc3, tripling the pawns.} Na6
7. Qa4+ {White maneuvers to eliminate hang on to the pawn temporarily.} Bd7 8. Qa3 Qc8 9. c6 {White pitches the untenable pawn to hopefully disrupt Black’s development.} Bxc6 10. Nd2 e5 {Black now stands a little better, having superior development and better control of the center.} 11. e4 Ne7
12. Ngf3 f6 {On the other hand, Black’s pieces are a little discombobulated, and the weakened white kingside squared and bad kingside bishop help White to perhaps gain the edge.} 13. exd5 Bxd5 14. Bb5+ Kf7 {Black defers any attempt at castling and prefers to develop the rooks while keeping the king a sweeper-keeper, helping out with its own defense.} 15. c4 Bc6 16. O-O Rd8
17. Rad1 Qd7 {This looks dangerous at first, but knight discoveries are innocuous.} 18. h4 {White tries to break open the Black kingside.} g4 {Black closes the kingside, hoping to close down the flanks to bring his central control to greater prominence.} 19. Nh2 Qd4 {19…f5 is better, solidifying the pawns simply and relieving the queen of its pawn-protecting duties.} 20. Rfe1 h5 {This is a bit worse than f5 because it doesn’t help with the center.} 21. Nhf1 {White redevelops.} Qc5
22. Qa4 {White avoids the trade to avoid either centralizing the Black knight or doubling his own pawns.} Bxb5 23. cxb5 Qb4 24. Qc2 Qxb5 {Black has finally regained the pawn–and another pawn to boot! However, his weak kingside may cause him trouble.} 25. Nc4 Qc6 26. Qb3 Kf8
27. Na5 Qc7 28. Qb5 {Black, with accurate play, has neutralized any White play, remaining a pawn up.} Qc5 29. Qb3 {White resigned immediately after hanging the knight.} 0-1
The psychology of time trouble is also very interesting. Several factors, according to this article: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/the-psychology-of-time-trouble, which is worth reading, are lack of confidence, using time trouble as an excuse, or simply needing a lot of time.
Alexander Ivanov–Alex Yermolinsky United States Championship 1993
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Qb6 {An early queen move made to displace the knight.} 7.Nb3 e6 8.Bg5 {In my opinion, 8. Be3 made more sense, developing with tempo.} a6 9.O-O Ne5 {The knight may now, though in good position, become a target for an f-pawn push.} 10.Be2 Be7 11.Kh1 O-O 12.f4 {White indeed pushes the f-pawn, controlling the e5-square.} Ng6 13.Bh5 Qc7 14.Bxg6 hxg6 {Black takes back with the h-pawn so as to go towards the center, which is generally better than opening up the f-file for his rook.} 15.Qe2 b5 16.e5 Ne8 17.Bxe7 Qxe7
{White now has better control of the center, and better piece harmony. However, Black may soon untangle.} 18.Rad1 Bb7 19.Na5 d5 20.Qe3 Qc7 {Black has now, to a great degree, freed himself.} 21.b4 Bc8 22.Nb3 {However, White now owns the c5-square, giving him an edge. The now-fettered Black bishop also contributes to White’s advantage.} f6 23.Nc5 g5 24.Ne2 {Now, best for Black is a5, striking against the White control of c5.} gxf4 25.Nxf4 Qxe5 26.Qh3 {White now has a gigantic advantage, with all the play and about to win another pawn-the one on e6.} Qf5 27.Qb3 Qe5 {Best for White is now 28. Nfxe6, which works due to 28…Bxe6 29. Rfe1.} 28.Rde1 Qd6 29.Nfxe6 Bxe6 30.Rxe6 Qd8 31.Nxa6 {White is clearly now dominating.} Rf7 32.Rfe1 Nc7 33.Nxc7 Rxc7 {Black has been allowed to trade knights, but White’s heavy pieces are now in even better position.} 34.h3 Kf7 35.Qf3 Rd7 {A poor move in a bad position.} 36.Qh5+ Kf8 37.a3 {37. g4, to finally storm the Black barricades, virtually won immediately.} Rf7 {Black blunders horribly in a very, very bad position. However, as White reached for the queen to mate on h8, plagued by time trouble, he flagged. 0-1.} 0-1
What does chess psychologist Nikolai Krogius have to say about time trouble? His practical advice in “Psychology in Chess” is to not get over-excited when your opponent is in time trouble, and, in it, to concentrate on the game. Simple, but helpful!
HikaruShindo
On another note, I recently won a game I definitely should've lost, because my opponent blundered in severe time trouble, leaving me one pawn up in a rook endgame, when I was a piece (minus that pawn) down. Meanwhile, I myself still play far too quickly :/