CHESS
One of the most shocking and distressing situations we face is giving away something for free; that is, blundering. Of course, sometimes we may be a bit offform and not play at our normal standard of brilliance. Our weaker moves then may infect our play and worsen our chances. But grossly overlooking a simple capture or tactic that outright loses material is a disheartening experience all of its own.
In general, the frequency of blundering is indirectly proportional to the level of the player. While our betters may give away their men less frequently, they all have produced embarrassing examples of how they are humans as well.
It might be worthwhile to face blunders dead on. Fortunately for us, our dominating World Champion Magnus Carlsen recently gave us a good example. In a major tournament in Holland, he momentarily suffered from “amaurosis scaccistica,” a fancy name for chess blindness. He amateurishly blundered a whole piece. At that level of competition, it should have been curtains for him, but Carlsen buckled down and went on to win instead. See this column’s game.
There are several important things that can be learned from him. First, psychologically, do not go into a funk and play like the game is over before it is. Expecting to lose will yield that result. Stay positive and attentive and let your foe deal with his elation and potential overconfidence.
Next, avoid unnecessary piece trades; an extra piece gains in relative value when the others get swapped away. Next, create complexity. Your opponent is more susceptible to err if the positions are kept hard to understand. Finally, pose as many problems for your enemy as possible, even simple ones. Create as many difficulties as you can. Carlsen did all this and more and his esteemed opponent lost his way and the game.
Game of the week
GM_Carlsen-GM_Jones Tata Steel Chess Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0–0 9.0–0–0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Be6 14.Kb1 Re8 15.Ne4 f5 16.Ng5 Bc8 17.g4??(A) f4(B) 18.h4 fxe3 19.Qxe3 h6 20.Qc5!(C) Bb7 21.Ne4 Re6 22.h5 Qb6 23.g5!(D) hxg5 24.Qa3(E) Rb8 25.b3 Qd8 26.Qxa7 gxh5 27.Rxh5 Rg6 28.Rxg5 Rxg5 29.Nxg5 Qc8 30.Rg1(F) Ra8 31.Qb6 Ra6 32.Qc5 Qd7 33.Ne4(G) Kh8 34.Qf2 Qe7 35.Bxa6 Bxa6 36.Qh2+ Kg8 37.Qh6 Qa7 38.Qe6+ Kf8 39.Rg5 Ne3 40.Qd6+ Kf7 41.Nc5 Bc8 42.Rxg7+!(H)
A) A gross blunder in a relatively even position. B) A simple interference move, threatening the e3 bishop while cutting off protection from the attacked g5 knight. C) Keeping it complicated by offering to sacrifice the knight for a kingside attack. For instance, 20...hxg5 21.Qxc6 Be6 22.Bxd5 Bxd5 23.Rxd5 Qb6 24.Qc4 Kf8 25.hxg5. D) The complexity grows. E) No trade of queens. F) White’s attack is unstoppable now. G) Threatening Nf6+ winning the queen. H) Black resigned. 42...Kxg7 43.Qxe5+ Kg6 44.Qxe3 creating an easily winning ending.