The Stubborn Donkey
I woke up at 5am on the first day of January, 2023. As I was sipping my coffee and thinking about the new year and what it had in store, I decided to open my chess app and play a game or two before sunrise. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw about 20 new daily chess games open on my screen and my turn to move in about 15 of them! The chess.com 2023 online competition had started!
In my group of 12 players, there were a lot of beginners and people new to online chess. However, there was one player, called 'Donkey', who was higher rated than me, and by a big margin of over 200 points. I noted that his bullet rating was an impressive 2,552! He was certainly no donkey with the chess pieces, and I knew that I had to win at least one game against him if I were to have any hopes of qualifying for the second round.
For the first few days of the tournament everything went according to plan. Many of my opponents forgot about their games and timed out, and some made terrible blunders and after a few weeks it was clear that it was either me or Donkey who would advance to the second round. My two games against him were progressing nicely and I felt I had at least a draw in both games. Donkey, however, had other plans, and he expertly strangled my king until I finally resigned in this position.
After losing that game, the pressure was suddenly on to win my last game against the tricky Donkey with the a black pieces. In all our other games we were just about victorious, and thus it all depended on our last game. I found out that if Donkey and I ended on the same number of points, then we would both go through. I was more determined to win than ever before. I found myself calculating my next move between teaching classes, on the toilet, while riding on my bicycle (not recommended), early in the morning and I believe I even dreamed about making winning moves. Yet Donkey remained consistent and persistent and didn't make any inaccurate moves that I could see.
As a last resort, I decided to follow Ben Finegold's advice and keep attacking my opponents pieces with the hope that he'd blunder. The position looked drawish, but I managed to get my knight in the center and then decided to push his rook around with my black bishop. And then it happened! He moved his rook away and stepped right into something dangerous. Can you spot it here?
Hopefully you found the above knight fork. I had to check the position a few times, because Donkey was not one to easily overlook such tricks, and I was sure he had some other trap that I couldn't see. But after careful consideration I decided that it was indeed a blunder. I made the move, and a few moves later my opponent graciously admitted defeat and resigned. We were both through to round two!
