One of a kind blunders
Uniquely Unlucky
In this article I'm sharing a selection of exceptional blunders. In the process of looking for great moves, while browsing through a huge database of games played online, there is an abundance of blunders to be found. Massive amounts of blunders are played all the time by millions of online players. Most blunders are as stupid as they are predictable. However, in this huge pile of stupid moves, occasionally you’ll find an unexpected move that is unbelievable as well as devastating.
In general, I don’t feel sorry for people when they blunder, because that happens to every player often enough. Especially with common positions, I don’t really care for players that blunder. But there is an exception.
One a kind blunders
When a move is terrible, unnecessary and also illogical, no sane person should play it, ever. That’s why I find it interesting whenever I discover such a crazy move being played anyway. There’s something fascinating about knowing that somewhere in the world exists an unlucky soul that had to live through the experience of playing that move. That’s why I save positions like this whenever I find one.
Practically, it just means that these blunders are only made by one player, according to openingtree.com. It’s a tool that uses the Lichess games database for all games played at a 1600 rating or higher. When looking at all Lichess games and also including all games on chess.com, it’s likely there will be more players falling for the same traps, but as it stands, they are still unique.
The selection
# 1 Hillbilly Attack (Schaeffer Gambit)
Setup
The Hillbilly Attack is not a strong opening and this specific variation is fairly speculative, but it can be dangerous for players that aren't familiar with it. White is threatening mate very early in the game.
Key Moment
Black missed the threat and plays Nd7, blundering a mate in one. But that's not the part that interests me.
It's the one white player that lost the game from this position!
#2 Successful Pirc Trap
Setup
Thanks to my friend Kevin who shared this idea with me recently.
After blacks plays Nxf4 the game is over, white has a forced mate in 2 after Nxc7+ Kf8 Rd8#. In 7.6k games (99.3%) of all 7.7k games in the database white plays Nxc7+, only 57 players (0.7%) blunder and play Nxf4. After Nxc7+ around 1,000 black players resign and the other 6.7k players are forced to play Kf8.
Obviously, white's trick worked and the game is essentially over and black can safely resign, like the thousand players that did so on the previous move. But there's a reason people keep saying "never resign". And even in a desperate position like the one after Kf8, there's always hope. In this position 2.3% of players will not see the mate in one. Mostly because their greedy eyes are distracted by the free Rook. Only 13 white players (0.2%) are oblivious to both the checkmate and the free Rook, and will simply play a move like Nf3 or g3.
Key moment
My heart goes out to the player that played Rd7, arguably the worst possible move white can play, perhaps literally the worst move. Everything went according to plan, with finish in sight, all they had to do was drag the Rook a 7 square distance towards the enemy back rank. So close!
#3 Is this even Legall?
Setup
This one is not a mouse slip. This one is just a player being stupid.
It's hilarious that there are 825 players that go for the free Queen (5. Bxd1), but that's nothing special. Thousands of players have fallen for this trap or one of the many variations of the same tactic.
Key Moments
Again, there's one unlucky player that missed his opportunity to win and went on to lose the game even.
This one is worse. Playing Bxf7+ to force the King to e7, only to play Kxd1 anyway. This player was lucky enough to save some dignity and win the game.
#4 Caro-Kann Pawn Tactic
Setup
This a fairly common position in the Caro-Kann Botvinnik-Carls Defense. White makes a mistake in response to Qb6 and black can win the pawn on d4 after removing the defender.
Key moment
We can only speculate on what happened here, my money would be on a misclick.
That's All!
Thanks for reading.
