A key lesson: Don’t give up
When comparing methods with other trainers, I have noted a number of general rules that most of us encourage our young students to follow rather religiously. Certainly at or near the top of the list would be “Never give up!” In other words, let mate end the game.
I have seen an overconfident defending scholastic state champion lose to a never-say-die opponent who was several pieces down. Unthinkingly grabbing yet another man, the Champ fell for an “obvious” mate in one move, losing his title. Then there was an expert/masterlevel player at a World Open once who managed to nearly decimate a young die-hard player’s army, expecting him to resign. He overlooked that the boy’s last piece, a rook, could continually make checks until it is captured. By taking the piece, a stalemate would result. The opportunistic and alert young man jumped on this chance and got the draw.
Of course, it is easy to see this rule’s applicability at lower skill levels. After all, those are the realms of countless oversights. At the more professional heights, one risks disrespecting the opponent unnecessarily, implying that he/she might overlook simple stuff.
One of the most notable examples, this column’s featured game, occurred in 1902 in Monte Carlo. Highly respected master Georg Marco thought he had fallen into a fatal piece-losing pin after 36.Rd1, so he conceded defeat. He missed the wonderfully unexpected 37.Bg1(!!) threatening mate and his foe’s queen, yielding a winnable position.
In 1924, Mexican Master Carlos Torre, Champion of that year’s U.S. Open, found himself in what appeared to be an immediately losing situation; so he resigned. If he had scoured the board a little more, he could have found a remarkable resource, allowing him to win instead.
The game went: [Torre, C.-Parker. F.; NY, 16.09.1924] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.0–0 Bc5 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.Re1+ Be6 9.Ng5 Qd5 10.Nc3 Qf5 11.Nce4 0–0–0 12.g4 Qe5 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.fxg7 Rhg8 15.Bh6 Bd6 16.f4 Qa5 17.Qf3 Qd5 18.g5 Bc5 19.Kg2 Be7 20.Nf6 Bxf6 21.Qxd5 Rxd5 22.gxf6 Rf5 23.Rxe6 Nd8 24.Rae1 Nxe6 25.Rxe6 d3 26.cxd3 cxd3 27.Kf2 d2 28.Ke2 Rd8 29.Kd1 Rc5.
In this position, Torre made the worst move possible; he resigned! He saw no way to stop Black from playing ...Rc1+ followed by ...d1+ with queening his pawn. The shocking blocking move 30.Rd6!! would have turned the tables. Check this out: 30...Rxd6 (allowing White to Queen a pawn). 31.g8Q+ Rd8 [31...Kd7 32.Qxh7+ Kc6 33.Qe4+ Kb6 34.Qb4+ Kc6 35.Qxc5+ Kxc5 36.f7 Rd8 37.f8Q+ Rxf8 38.Bxf8+]32.Qxd8+ Kxd8 33.f7 Rf5 34.f8Q+ Rxf8 35.Bxf8. Another way was: 30...cxd6 (blocking protection of the d2 pawn) 31.f7 (Queens incoming!); Or: 30...Rd5 31.Rxd5 Rxd5 32.g8Q+.
A lesson
Most of the tragic outcomes just mentioned could have been avoided by a systematic examination of ALL possible moves, no matter how foolish they seem, before tendering resignation or accepting draws. Many brilliant combinational moves disguise themselves as outright blunders.