Even Masters Blunder Once (or TWICE) In a While
The illustrated position represents Joel's Mastery in that he obtained a two pawn advantage over me in some 48 moves. However time was running short, My opponent's King was exposed, and I had just enough play to warrant the withholding of my resignation. I played b4. Even though my opponent was low on time, he should have thought a little longer than he did. His blunder of cxb4 came almost immediately, and afterward he admitted that he completely overlooked the purpose of b4, namely Removing the Defender of the d4 square. I played Rd4! and just like that I salvaged the game.Instead of Rdd8, Stockfish offers the following continuation:
1.... Ne3 2.Rh4+ Kg8 3.Rg3 Nf5 4.Nxe6+ Nxg3 5.Rg4+ Kh7 6.Nxf8+ Kh6 7.Rxg3 Rd8 8.Rg4 Rxf8 9.Rxb4 Rb8 10.Kg2 Kg5 11.Kf3 Kg6 12.h4 Kf6 13.Ke3
It was clearly my lucky day to not only benefit from one blunder, but on consecutive moves two. Thanks to a good score in this tournament I have reached my highest rating to date of 1882!