Never Give Up, Remain Alert - Lessons for <1300 Players

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geoffalford

I thought that my opponent had me. I was hanging on as deftly as I could.

Out of the corner of my eye (I was focussed on protecting my Black King), I could see his pawn-locked locked White King, If only .....

And then it happened ... perhaps, he was over-confident in his Queen. But I had a free move, while not in check.

And .. Rd1!

I did not mind his frutile Knight and took it. Checkmate.

What is the lesson?

For players around my level - oscillating in the 1100-1300 range - we make mistakes. We don't play accurately. We don't calculate the continuations, except for maybe the next 2 moves.

In this instance, I had a sense  of an opportunity. And was "being aware", while trying to protect my King. So I played as hard as I could for that - not quite a Tattslottto break, but a  - release of tension on my King. And then I struck back with my Rook, rescuing Black from the depths of oblivion. 

So, don't give up. Fight to the death! And learn what you can from the endgame.

 

 

 

geoffalford

Ah, the game itself! Finally worked it out!

 White lost this game because of a poor opening plan. He did not systematically develop his pieces; e.g. if the Bishop had been developed, his King would have been protected from  back-rank mates.

Also, he got so single-mindedly focussed on what he was intending (finish me off with a check mate) , that he lost sight of Josh Waitzkin's "the now" or "the whole board"

I hope this example of resilience in the face of 6 consecutive checks, plus a sense of "the whole board" (I new Rd1 was checkmate), had me alert to Rd1 as soon as the checking sequence stopped.

 

Game: Spencer200 v  Socrates44 (me)

Venue: Itsyourturn.com

Date: May  5, 2013


 
 
 

 

 <iframe border="0" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" width="574" height="519" src="http://www.chess.com/emboard?id=1401348"></iframe>

 

 

 I felt relieved!

I was so lucky that my opponent tried to do everything with one piece, his Queen. He left a Bishop and Rook on his back rank, not only not contributing, but also making his King unsafe!

ElKitch

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