Catharsis: Post your most heartbreaking game(s) here.

It know it may be difficult, but post your most heartbreaking game(s) here. You may very well feel better if you do. The more painful the game the better.

Also, if you know of heartbreaking games that were not your own, post them here as well.

Things like one's clock falling when one has mate on the move, losing a game when a title or a large cash prize is on the line, touching the wrong piece by accident resulting in losing an absolutely winning position, losing to someone who gloats over their victory over another. Games like that. 

Most welcome would be including the complete score of the game, some analytical notes and why the game was devastating.

Thank you.

                                                     Sigmund Freud's couch.

Brilliant idea, thank you. I imagine watching the live games will bring many heartbreakers to light.

Thanks for posting this. I wonder how many times this heartbreaker happened, right after the most-often seen 3rd move for Black in the Ruy Lopez. Awful feeling when one makes such an error in the opening and you can't enjoy the pleasure of an interesting middlegame.

You know, by a coincidence I was actually Black in a game sometime in the 1970's or early '80's (My memory fading syndrome is accelerating) that went exactly the same way (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.0-0 axb5). My opponent played on for a while (I probably would have as well) and luckily I didn't return the favor.

I have a heartbreaker ($6,000 prize out the window when I had a forced mate) that I no longer have the score for. I hope somehow to retrieve it.

Don't have any as heartbreaking as what you're looking for.

I almost did... I set up a tactic, and before the move that kicked it off I looked very carefully to make sure it worked. I finally I made the move. My opponent went into a think, and after all the calculation I was ready for a break and got up.

I came back, and he'd made a move I didn't even consider! He was going to escape, and now I was out of position.

Luckily I went on to win the game. But upon reviewing the game, the move that let him escape was actually illegal! He was an older man, so not sure that it was on purpose, but just the thought of not noticing during the game was hugely embarrassing to me. At the same time I was really angry that he would try that. It took me a while to get over it even though I'd won... if I'd lost it would have been very difficult.

Anyway, great idea for a topic, but I don't have anything dramatic for you.

This was a tournament game I played against an 1847. I had black pieces and blundered mate in an completely winning position.

Another tournament game where I got mated in 8 moves!

This is easily my most heartbreaking game to date.  I spent more time preparing for this game than I have for any other including studying a new opening which went very well.  This is a Slow Chess League game.  The time control was 45|45.

Too bad. Instead of 5...g6, 5...Be7 and castles would be fine. Maybe even 5...h6 to keep the knight out of g5, but 5..Be7 is probably right. It's easy to miss these though, especially in this case when you planned to fianchetto your dark-square bishop and in focussing on that plan, overlooked that Ng5 could be played. Good lesson for everyone. Thank you.

Interesting. I guess we can give the man the benefit of the doubt. Good thing that it didn't make a difference. Thank you for your comment.

Thank you for the game, a real heartbreaker. By the way, I think that the idea of Nd4 is fine. If you don't wish to see his knight coming to b6, you might look at 17...axb4 18.axb4 Rxa8 19.Rxa8 and either 19...Nd4 or 19...Nf4!? followed by 20...Be6. I haven't checked this with a computer, but something like that seems reasonable. I don't know about his sacrifice. I think you were okay until the knight fork, which was a shame. 

Wolfy, thanks. Painful to lose the rook after Qxe5+, but a lesson learned.

IMHO, one of the best quotes on learning from these unhappy experiences came from Capablanca:

“There have been times in my life when I came very near thinking that I could not lose even a single game. Then I would be beaten, and the lost game would bring me back from dreamland to earth. Nothing is so healthy as a thrashing at the proper time, and from few won games have I learned as much as I have from most of my defeats.” – My Chess Career, 1920.

Good luck in your games!

Thanks looking at my game, DoctorMove.  It was somewhat cathartic.

@onrainbow - in your second game, you were completely lost, not completely winning

Its a game, none of them are heart breaking.

Wow, what a game, MSC!  For a while, going through the moves, I felt like Odysseus on the island of the Cyclops. Move 42 could be the start of a Puzzle of the Day, a nice way to win a rook. Another Puzzle could be your mate in three. It's too bad to lose this after making such a supernatural comeback. Lazarus!  I've often asked myself after a big blunder, "What was happening in my mind just before I played that move that erased a few hours of disciplined hard work?" Sometimes this helped and sometimes not. Thanks for sharing this. I hope you feel better now that you've posted it .

My pleasure, Chester. I enjoyed looking at it.