
"The Punching Bag" Strikes Back
The following diagram is the aftermath of a stunning Checkmate I received at the hands of a good friend, Abel M.
Abel and I have played against each other over for 3 years during our work breaks. He was a novice player and he lost so often that we very unkindly nicknamed him, "The Punching Bag".
But Mr. Abel turned the tables around in dramatic fashion with a lethal combination that won his first ever game against me.
I was leading in material but found myself in an awkward position with a Queen and Rook on the same file as my King. Realizing this threat, I reacted slowly with Rfe8.
Can you find the Knockout Blow?
And it was all over but the weeping. (Which I did).
But I had to hand it to him for coming up with that finish.
Even if I had defended better (maybe Kf8 instead of Bxg7), my position was badly damaged.
To drive the point home, Abel beat me in the following game too.
Lesson learned: never underestimate your opponent.
Thankfully, there are always people like Abel to keep me (quite literally) in Check.