The Worst Move in the History of Chess

The Worst Move in the History of Chess

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So I'm standing in line at my favorite coffee shop, waiting to order. As I'm opening my app to collect loyalty points, a move comes in from one of the two dozen or so games I'm playing. My opponent has just played Nxc6, with the idea that if I play bxc6, he can play Bxc6, forking my king and rook.

There are a lot of spicy possibilities in this position, including taking on c6 and allowing the fork in order to set up my own mating attack, which involves either immediately, or a couple of moves later, playing Bxf2. Stockfish shows Black has a -7.6 advantage here...

...unless you're standing in line at a coffee shop and you see what looks to you like a standard puzzle problem. Good heavens! You can play Qa5+ and easily win the bishop!

So I went ahead and did so, ordered my coffee and felt supremely pleased with myself.

Except when I look at the position a couple of hours later, I notice that those standard chess puzzles never have the knight on c6.

Oops.

Not only did I lose my queen, but I made it worse because Nxa5 reveals a check on my king. Brutal. Though I dragged it out for another 28 moves, I never really gained ground and so resigned.

In one move White went from -7.6 to +14.

Morale of the story: Get your coffee first, THEN decide on your move. You don't want to taste the bitter dregs.