Those people who say that a single mistake doesn't lose are either incompetent or lying in order to trick the rest of us into making mistakes against them. You'll see, after my game with jgvaccaro is over. It's move 12 and I think I have a lost position already because of one premature pawn push.
Originally posted by paultopiaReally? That's news to me! (As you'll see when I post my annotations).
Those people who say that a single mistake doesn't lose are either incompetent or lying in order to trick the rest of us into making mistakes against them. You'll see, after my game with jgvaccaro is over. It's move 12 and I think I have a lost position already because of one premature pawn push.
Best not to talk about games in progress. 🙂
Originally posted by paultopiaI don't know. I think it's all relative to who you're playing against. But yes, sometimes one tiny little mistake is all it takes to lose. On the other hand sometimes the oppponent will turn right around and make a mistake and hand the game back to you.
Those people who say that a single mistake doesn't lose are either incompetent or lying in order to trick the rest of us into making mistakes against them. You'll see, after my game with jgvaccaro is over. It's move 12 and I think I ...[text shortened]... a lost position already because of one premature pawn push.
But overall, against good competition, yeah, one mistake can do you in.
Originally posted by wibSounds about right. Of course it all depends on the size of the mistake, and when in the game it occurs. Tartakower's crack about the winner being the player who makes the next-to-last blunder is often accurate. Against most players, a mistake in the endgame is going to be more difficult to come back from than a mistake in the opening.
I don't know. I think it's all relative to who you're playing against. But yes, sometimes one tiny little mistake is all it takes to lose. On the other hand sometimes the oppponent will turn right around and make a mistake and hand the ga ...[text shortened]... ll, against good competition, yeah, one mistake can do you in.
Oh, and Paultopia-- before you get discouraged in your game against me, check out the ending of this recent loss of mine: Game 637440.
I think it's safe to say that you should be very reluctant to give up hope at any point in our game! Even if you make a mistake, I'm liable to see your error and raise you a catastrophic blunder. 🙂
Originally posted by paultopiaThe thing is we can all make mistakes, so even if I know I've made a blunder early in a game, I often feel it's worth playing on as my opponent may make an equally silly mistake later on. I don't think it's fair to pressurise people to resign early even if you believe your opponent has lost, it's still in your interest to push on for mate.
Those people who say that a single mistake doesn't lose are either incompetent or lying in order to trick the rest of us into making mistakes against them. You'll see, after my game with jgvaccaro is over. It's move 12 and I think I ...[text shortened]... a lost position already because of one premature pawn push.
i agree. i recently played a game where i made a mistake around move 24 which led to my opponent getting a two pawn advantage, one of them passed. it was making things tricky, but then he failed to calculate the reults of my counter-attack and i got his queen then checkmated shortly after...i hadn't really held out much hope for victory, but just made the best moves i could...Game 625746
I've certainly played games that were decided by a single move. Some (most 🙁 ) of them were obvious blunders, but some, like move 35 in Game 461495 , were more subtle. That move decided the game even though it wasn't over for another 45 moves.
But I will add to the general consensus about not giving up. In Game 659992 I blundered on move 8, hallucinating that the pawn fork on move 9 would get the piece right back. Wrong! I kept playing, though and pulled off a swindle on move 22 that got my piece back, simplifying to a difficult endgame. I think it should have been a draw then as long as the rooks stayed on the board, but he traded them off. At the point where he resigned he still could have offered me a couple of opportunities to stalemate him. I saw them and wouldn't (I hope 😉 ) have taken them, but even when you have no other hope, you should give your opponent the opportunity to make a final mistake. 🙂 Compare to the other game cited where Prefect didn't resign until I made it perfectly clear that I saw the potential stalemate and wasn't going to let it happen.🙂
Best Regards,
Paul