Blunder
Last updated on Wed, 11/05/2008 at 11:39pm.
In chess parlance, a blunder is a thoughtless or ill-advised move, often one that loses a piece, if not the game. A typical blunder might be leaving a piece "hanging" (i.e., undefended, ready for capture), or overlooking a checkmate or other strongly winning move. In short, blunders are immediate, easily-exploitable mistakes. A famous blunder was made by one of the greatest players of all time, Vladmir Kramnik, when he faced the monstrous calculating machine Deep Fritz 10. Kramnik played the move 34...Qe3 calmly, stood up, picked up his cup and was about to leave the stage to go to his rest room. At least one audio commentator also noticed nothing, while Fritz operator Mathias Feist kept glancing from the board to the screen and back, hardly able to believe that he had input the correct move. Fritz was displaying mate in one, and when Mathias executed it on the board Kramnik briefly grasped his forehead, took a seat to sign the score sheet and left for the press conference, which he dutifully attended.
