Why Supervillains Lose at Chess

Here's a lesson about the importance of maintaining the initiative.

At one point in this game, I was down more than 20 pawn-equivalency points (according to my chess analysis software). Gulbrandsen's pawns were like the crooked white teeth of Skull Island.

But just like a supervillain who makes the mistake of explaining his evil plan while 007 escapes, Gulbrandsen made the mistake of leaving me with my queen and one free move before he would get a pawn promotion. I used that free move to drive his king all over the board and wipe out almost all his defending pieces, snatching a draw from certain doom and leaving his island fortress in ruins.