In this blog, we’ll try to uncover ideas to use when we are losing. What can we do? We can try to make the game difficult for our opponent, rather than giving them the game. We can set problems for them, even if they are not objectively the best moves. And we can keep creating mating threats with the hope that they may stumble.
We must not resign needlessly, as below.
copiryght–dermpa RHP 2010
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 {White plays it like a true gambit, letting Black keep the pawn.} b5 4. Nb1c3 a6 5. Ng1f3 Bc8g4 6. Bf1e2 e6 7. O-O Bg4xf3 {This exchange is unforced, and is worse for Black. Why give up the bishop for the knight?} 8. Be2xf3 Ng8f6 {A weak move: White misses a chance to either pin the piece with 9. Bg5, or, after …h6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. d5, develop a strong attack. Why not 8…Nc6, targeting the newly underdefended d-pawn?} 9. e5 Nf6d5 10. Nc3xd5 exd5 11. Rf1e1 {This is a normal move but unfortunately on second viewing merely allows Black to develop while gaining a tempo.} Bf8b4 12. Bc1d2 Bb4xd2 13. Qd1xd2 {0-1. White resigned. Keep your games alive! While down a pawn, White has practical chances in an unbalanced position and may well have won had he not given up hope.}
Also, we must try not to simply gift our opponents the win in chessical terms. White is in a bad position, below, but with a fundamental miscalculation makes the game a cakewalk for Black.
perlenbacher–PSYCHOPET RHP 2011
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r3k1/2r1qpp1/1n2p2p/p1p1P3/Pn6/BP6/2RN1PPP/2R1Q1K1 w - - 0 1"]
1. Bxb4 {This is a fine move, as the bishop is less well-placed than the knight. However, this is the root of the problem.} cxb4 2. Nc4 {This is the real bad move. White continues to play into Black’s hands, intentionally trading off all the pieces, not realizing that this simply gifts him a passed pawn.} Nxc4 3. Rxc4 Rxc4 4. Rxc4 Rxc4 5. bxc4 b3 6. Qc3 Qa3 {And Black went on to, shortly, win, soon about to promote his passed pawn. …0-1.}
In the next game, White is faced with a worse position once more. He has a choice, below. He can try to expulse the Black rook from d2 with Be3, objectively the best move, and he has a chance of drawing. However, he does something different. He, (though his move is slightly dubious,) poses a problem for his opponent–sets a trap, and he is rewarded for it.
jeisenm–Ruppster1 RHP 2008
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3q2k1/5pp1/7p/pp3b2/2p2P2/2Q5/PPPr1BPP/2R3K1 w - - 0 1"]
1. Bh4 {Of course Black cannot take the bishop for fear of losing his rook. Qd5 is the best alternative, maintaining pressure.} Rd1+ {Instead, he trades rooks, which is acceptable–simplifying slightly into an easier endgame. Tempting bait, in White’s trap.} 2. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 3. Be1 {And here Black must seize the c2 pawn–but how?} Qxc2 {Wrong. Black trades into a drawn opposite-colored bishop endgame, instead of taking with the bishop, which preserves a fairly easy victory.} 4. Qxc2 Bxc2 5. Bxa5 f6 6. Bb4 f5 {After several more moves, the game petered out into a draw, and a moral victory for White. …½-½.}
Finally, this is a game that I have recorded as being played against an apparently mononymous ‘Ben.’ I was not very good at keeping score, or playing chess, and neither was my opponent. I was Black.
Ben–HikaruShindo OTB ?
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 {I choose the Two Knights Defense, my favored reply even now, which hopes to sacrifice material to attack early, despite its name.} 4. Ng5 {Now, 4. d3 is in favor, killing the game, but this is a more testing alternative, attempting to seize Black material, and obtain a won game in that manner.} d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 {So far, this has been mainline theory–Black loses a pawn, but opens lines.} 8. Qf3 {White pins the c-pawn against the rook.} Rb8 9. Bxc6+ {White seizes the offered pawn, which Black proffered to continue to develop.} Nxc6 10. Qxc6+ Bd7 11. Qc4 {This is a clever little move, forcing Black to disrupt his own development.} Qe7 12. OO h6 13. Nf3 Rb4 {I continue to attempt to activate my pieces, though at the expense of discombobulating myself.} 14. Qc7 e4 15. Re1 {Another pin, this time against the queen, prevents Black from taking the knight.} Qe6 16. B3 {This is a little misguided–faster development is required in so tactical a position, but Ben aims to fianchetto instead.} Bd6 17. Qxa7 OO 18. Nc3 Bf4 {This allows Ba3, skewering the rooks, but he finds an even better move. Can you find it? If not, there’s a reason.}
Here, somehow, his knight took my rook. Neither of us saw it (and by “it,” that the move was obviously illegal.) But even with this sudden material loss, which I had not foreseen (understandably,) I remained persistent.
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/Q2b1pp1/4qn1p/1N6/4pb2/1P3N2/P1PP1PPP/R1B1R1K1 b - - 0 1"]
1... Qf5 2. Nfd4 Qh5 {I try to conjure threats to make up for the missing rook.} 3. g3 Ng4 4. h4 Bxb5 {I am now dead lost, with no possibility of winning, I recognize. But I keep pushing on, despite what Ben comes up with next.}
Here I must have missed a move out, or he simply made two moves in a row, somehow. I am also confused about how I messed this up so badly. But his bishop took my other rook. (His pieces must have had a predilection for taking my rooks on the sly.)
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5Bk1/Q4pp1/7p/1b5q/3NpbnP/1P4P1/P1PP1P2/R3R1K1 b - - 0 1"]
1... g5 {I, immediately, angry with myself that I hadn’t seen this capture either, blunder another piece trying to attack.} 2. Nxb5 gxh4 {Another piece.} 3. gxf4 h3 4. d3 h2+ {And here my perseverance begins to pay off. White needlessly allows space to open up, and threats of Qh3-g2 and Nxf2 start to emerge.} 5. Kh1 Qh4 {Unfortunately I then proceed to waste a move before hitting upon the right one.} 6. Bc5 Qh3 7. Qb8+ {White begins to chase the Black king, heading towards mate. The game is completely won for Ben.} Kg7 8. Bd4+ f6 9. Qc7+ Kg6 10. f5+ Kg5 {I simply keep running.} 11. f4+ Kh4 12. Rf1 {And now I have mate. Bxf6+ was necessary. This allows me to become immune from further checks. I have mate, now, with either Qg2# or Nf2# eventually.} Kg3 13. Rf3+ {White flounders, but I now realize I’m winning, and manage to take the game.} exf3 14. Bf2+ Nxf2#
And that is that. I was confident that I’d win, and I brought whatever threat I believed I could conjure. I wish I could still summon that energy–even though I’m not very strong, I’ve become disillusioned with the hope that any of these things could still work. We should all try and fight that together. Try crazy things– unbalanced chess. Try and recall when you could sack half your pieces and win the game with a pawn or an opponent’s blunder. Because it can still happen. Don’t give up.
–HikaruShindo
(Discussion thread:
Thread 169602. Next post next Thursday.)
