The Bitter End

We've got some players at the club who are either fairly new to the game, or returning to the game after a long absence. That's why I'm obsessed at the moment with the idea of playing hard until the end of every game, whether winning or losing. It's like football: play hard until the end of every play, every game, and good things will eventually happen. Not all the time, of course, but often enough.

Here's an example* from this week of a player losing a won game because of carelessness at the end.

Dominguez Perez, Leinier (2732) - Perunovic, Milos (2622)

2015 World Blitz Championship, Berlin

Position after 64 Qe3+

Black has had a won game for some time (accepting a couple of errors), but has been struggling to escape from the checks of the white queen. 64 ... Qe4 should pretty much decide things, as White is facing mate of Black gets in ... Qh1 and the black king should get in front of the c-pawn now. (I played it out against Stockfish and had no trouble. That's an easy win!)

Instead, Black played 64 ... Kd5?? and lost immediately to 65 Qe5#. Oops.

Okay, but this is only a blitz game, you say. Doesn't matter. Here's a game from 61 years earlier played at a much more sedate time control.

Batuev, Andrey - Simagin, Vladimir

Soviet Team Championships, Riga, 1954

Position after 84 Qg7

Grandmaster Vladimir Simagin has been winning for dozens of moves at this point, and has carefully advanced his pawn up the board. He now has several moves that make progress, such as ... Kd2, ... Kf2, ... Qf4, ... Qb4, and probably lots of moves that hold the bulk of his advantage in reserve. Instead, he played 84 ... e2?? and got chased into the graveyard after 85 Qg1+ Kd2 86 Qc1+ Kd3 87 Qc3#. Oops. And this with a slow time control. (Probably 40 moves in 2.5 hours, followed by an adjournment and 16 moves an hour thereafter.)

This is why I play games out to the bitter end, and don't get upset when opponents do the same. Respect the bitter enders: working hard at the board got them a whole extra point in both the examples above!

* Both examples pointed out by commenter Andrey over at The Chess Mind.

Full games below the fold.