White is winning. In the diagram position he could play for instance 1. b6 or 1. Ka4 and he is doing fine.
Instead he played 1. Qc3?? Why is this a blunder? Answer…
Author: Michel Hoetmer
Mutual blindness
Is there something like luck in chess? Some people might say ‘in other sports yes, but of course not in chess!’ In football for instance a ball can change direction due to an uneven football pitch.
Or, what happened years ago in a football match in Utrecht: a sea gull collided with the ball. There is no such thing as an uneven chess board. And sea gulls are not likely to be found indoors. At least: not that I have seen.
But of course in chess there is also something called luck. For instance your opponent blunders in a won position. In my opinion that’s luck.
What do you think about this position? It is from my game against A. Broddevalk played in the Västerås Open 2014. See the first diagram.
With his last move black attacked the pawn on b2. White defended the pawn a bit careless with 12. b3. Better would have been 12. Qb3 or 12. Nbd2.
Let’s look at the position from black’s perspective. I was not at all happy with my position. It is a sort of Tarrasch defense but with one major difference: the dark colored bishops are exchanged. For my feeling I was worse because I am weak on the dark squares.Read More »
Chess puzzle #18: easy and elegant
The tale of two blunders in one move
Can a chess player set himself up to lose in more than one way in one move? Of course he can! No problem at all.
It was the last round of the Västerås Open 2014. Things hadn’t gone very smoothly up till now. The result off the rapid session on Friday evening was a bit iffy. But losing to the seven times Swedish champion Axel Ornstein was not a shame. I managed to make a decent fight out of it.
The other rapid games were somewhat more questionable. Two out of four. At least the score, but not the quality of my games, kept some hope alive.
Chess puzzle #17: mate or be mated
White has a simple mate threat. If it was his move he would win with 1. Qh8+ Kf7 2. Th7#
A way to avoid disaster is 1. … Kf7 and to try to move the king out of harms way. Or has black something better? See solution…
Chess puzzle #16: one move too far
I hate to confess this to you, but I missed this one. The first moves seem quite obvious, but than I lost it.*
For sure you can do better and see one move deeper than I did!? White to move and win. See solution…
*I always try to solve the puzzles without moving the pieces.
Chess puzzle #15 dead end?
It seems that the black attack came to a dead end. That’s too bad, because he invested a whole rook in the adventure. The rook on a8 and the bishop on c8 are passive bystanders and of no use for the attack.
At first glance nothing works. For instance 1. … Nxe2+ is met by 2. Nxe2 Qxg4 3. Kh2 Bd7 4. Ng3 and white has the upper hand. Other moves seems to go nowhere either. So is it hopeless for black? On the contrary. He has a win. For you to find out how.
Chess puzzle #14
White to move. It seems that black has everything covered. Or does he? See solution…
Analyzing my own games #1
Some time ago I raised the question ‘what is your ideal game?’ I favored short and decisive games. Of course I wasn’t too serious.
Winning a game without too many mistakes is my ideal. Preferably I dont give my opponent any chances and try to squeeze him. A game I played with white in our club championship comes close to this ideal.
In the past I did not bother too much about analyzing my own games. I don’t know exactly why. Was I lazy? Or is it the feeling of disgust about the many mistakes I made (and still make)? Anyhow nowadays with the computer even players like me have the help of a ‘grandmaster’ and we patzers can try to make some sense out of what we have done and hopefully learn something from it.Read More »
Sweet chess victories (2)
In the first part of my blog about sweet chess victories I showed you two very short games. Today’s game is also very short. But maybe even more sweet. Why?
Firstly because I love short victories. Secondly I love them even more when my opponent doesn’t unnecessary drag things on.
But don’t you get a big smile on your face when your opponent resigns in a position that is actually not lost yet? Sorry, I am a bad person, but I can’t help it: I get a big grin on my face. Everything was over within 13 moves!
Here you can play the whole game in the viewer. Let’s not bother about the first part of the game and have a closer look at the position in which black decided to call it quits (see the diagram). Black’s bishop is attacked. So he has to move it away. For instance 13. … Bg6 In that case white plays 14. Nxg6 and 15. e5 winning a piece. So that won’t work. How about 13. … Bg4? (now it get’s really funny!)
Michel's Chess Blog 