English Chess Forum

Ta. But as it happens, it's exactly the game Neill gives above! I suspected I was not the only person ever to win like that.

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"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

I should think that most examples will be a Qa4/a5+ or Qh4/h5+ picking up material. I once finished 1= in the Major Open at the British by winning a last round game which started 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 h4 c5 4 dxc5 Qa5+ 5 c3 (don't know why i did that, but thankfully I did!) Qxc5 6 e3 d6?? 7 Qa4+ (though the game dragged on).

{Chess is a funny old game...}
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Ne5 d6 4.Nf3 Ne4 5.Nc3 Bf5?? 6.Ne4?? {6.Qe2 1-0 Zapata-Anand 1988 Biel & 1-0 [19] Saleh-Rush 1982 Luzern Ol. & 1-0 [29] Farhat-Markova 1995 World U-12 Ch.} Be4 {1/2 [20] Miles-Christiansen 1987 San Fancisco}

Capablanca once lost a piece in the opening of a tournament game but didn't resign until about move 60, I believe.

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To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

I believe Miles said that he was aware he could have won a piece in this game, but didn't play it because he had pre-arranged a draw with Christiansen.

Yup, that's the story. Anand saw the Miles-Christiansen game in Informator, apparently, and didn't bother to check it.

Angus French - the same one who posted earlier in this thread - once won a piece in exactly the same way as Zapata in a club match at Crystal Palace.

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http://www.streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com

"Of all the stupid questions so far, This one is particularly annoying, and irrelevant and when I meet you, I propose to write it down on cardboard and nail it to your face."
- Jerry Sadowitz

Here's a few (mostly ultra-short) that I won. Names anonymised to protect the guilty:

Game 1
[Date "1995"][Result "1-0"][ECO "C32"][PlyCount "13"]1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. d3 Nf6 5. dxe4 Nxe4 6. Nf3 Bb4+ 7. c3 1-0

Game 2
[Date "1999"][Result "1-0"][ECO "A02"][PlyCount "11"]1. f4 f5 2. Nf3 h6 3. e4 fxe4 4. Ne5 d5 5. Qh5+ g6 6. Qxg6#
1-0

Game 3
[Date "2002"][Result "1-0"][ECO "A00"][PlyCount "11"]1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 Bxg4 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Qb3 e6 6. Qa4+ 1-0

Game 4
[Date "2002.12.12"][Result "0-1"][ECO "C47"][PlyCount "42"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. f3? d5 8. exd5? O-O 9. Bd2 Re8+ 10. Ne2 Bc5 11. Bg5 Ne4! 12. fxe4
Qxg5 13. Qd3 Rb8 14. b3 cxd5 15. Qg3 Qf6 16. Rd1 Rxe4 17. Rxd5 Bb4+ 18. Kd1 Bg4 19. c3 Bxc3 20. Qxc7 Rbe8 21. Rc5 Qd4+ 0-1

Game 5
[Date "2002"][Result "0-1"][ECO "B02"][PlyCount "18"]1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nxd5 4. Nge2 Nc6 5. g3 Bg4 6. Bg2 Nd4 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nxd5 Nf3+ 9. Kf1 Bh3#

Game 6
[Date "2008"][Result "1-0"][ECO "A50"][PlyCount "27"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3 Qd8 6. e4 Bg4 7. d5 Ne5 8. Nxe5 Bxd1 9. Bb5+ c6 10. dxc6 Ba4 11. Bxa4 Qb8 12. c7+ b5 13. Nxb5 Qc8 14. Nd6#

Game 7
[Date "2005"][Result "0-1"][ECO "C48"][PlyCount "36"]1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 Bd4 7. Nd3 O-O 8. e5 Re8 9. f4 Bg4 10. Ne2 Ne4 11. h3 Qh4+ 12. Kf1 Ng3+ 13. Nxg3 Bxd1 14. Nf5 Qd8 15. g4 Bxc2 16. Nb4 Bxf5 17. gxf5 Qh4 18. Rh2 Qxf4+ 0-1

Game 8
[Date "2002"][Result "0-1"][ECO "B02"][PlyCount "26"]1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. b3 d6 4. Bb2 Bf5 5. Qf3 e6 6. c4 Nb4 7. Na3 N8c6 8. d4 dxe5 9. dxe5 Nd4 10. Bxd4 Qxd4 11. Rd1 Qxe5+ 12. Qe3 Qa5 13. Qd2 Nd3+ 0-1

Game 9
[Date "2004"][Result "1-0"][ECO "D20"][PlyCount "35"]1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e6 4. Bxc4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. O-O O-O 10. e5 Qd8 11. Qd3 Na5 12. Bb5 c6 13. Ba4 f5 14. exf6 Qxf6 15. Bc2 Qf5 16. Qe2 Qf7 17. Ne5 Qe8 18. Qe4 1-0

1, 4, 7, 8 and 9 were formal longplay graded games, 2, 3 and 5 were less formal or at a shorter time control, 6 I was sans voir.

I also had the old 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nxe4 5. Qa4+ in no less than four ECF graded games, although they all dragged on for at least another desultory ten moves. Shame I don't play 1. e4 any more! Perhaps not, though. After one of the games, my opponent actually asked me if I would like to step outside, an invitation which, under the circumstances, I declined.

I also once had the 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Nxd5 Nxd5 7. Bxd8 Bb4+ chestnut, but that was between two rubbish juniors.

Perhaps the funniest one which I have had twice in graded games is 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. e3 Nc6?? (on autopilot) 5. Qxg4...

One of my most embarrassing losses was in a rapidplay to John Hodgson, see the following shambles:
[Date "2004"][White "McKeown, Paul"][Black "Hodgson, John H"][Result "0-1"][ECO "D80"][PlyCount "26"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Nxe4 dxe4 6. e3 Bg7 7. Qc2 c5 8. d5 Qa5+ 9. Kd1 O-O 10. Bxe7 Re8 11. Bh4 Bd7 12. Kc1 Ba4 13. Qd2 Bxb2+ 0-1

Another absurd game I once lost was the following league game against Ian Snape. I had completely forgotten about it, until I did a search through my personal DB.
[Event "London League Div. 2"][Date "2007.03.21"][White "Snape, Ian"][Black "McKeown, Paul"][Result "1-0"][ECO "A18"][PlyCount "33"]1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 Ne4 5. Nf3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Qc2 c6 8. h4 h6 9. Bf4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 b5 11. Be2 Bb7 12. h5 Nd7 13. Rd1 Qc7 14. Rh3 a6 15. Rg3 Kf8? 16. Nd4 Kg8?? 17. Nxe6 1-0

And here's how to throw a very decent position away with a stereotypical self-trap of one's queen:
[Event "London League Div. 1"][Date "2004.11.10"][White "McCall, Martin"][Black "McKeown, Paul"][Result "1-0"][ECO "B03"][PlyCount "37"]1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Bc4 c6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Nc3 e6 7. exd6 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Bxd6 9. O-O Nd7 10. h3 Bh5 11. Re1 O-O 12. Qe2 Qf6?? 13. g4 1-0
I struggled on for another five moves before launching my king across the room (joking)

Think I've probably bored everyone enough, so I'll stop there!

The Capablanca game was against Samisch. On the black side of a Nimzo, he played Ba6, allowing Qa4 forking both that and his Nc6 (and, on Bb7, d5 by White winning material) The typically "too good to be true" urban legend that was popularised by the usual chess writer subjects was that he had been startled after seeing both his wife and mistress enter the playing hall almost simultaneously

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"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

Harry, that makes me feel marginally better about the following rubbish I played against you in a Manchester League match back in 1981 (I was White). A bit of a come down after feeling quite smug about managing a draw against you the previous year! -
[White "R Clucas"]
[Black "H Lamb"]
[Result "0-1"]1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nc3 e5 6. dxe5 Qxd1+ 7. Nxd1 Be6 8. b3 Nc6 9. f4 Nb4 10. Kd2 0-0-0+ 11. Kc3?? Rxd1 0-1

I've also found an even earlier debacle from 1978 which is more to the point of the thread as it actually involves a mate, or the threat of it -
[White "J S Barrett"][Black "R Clucas"][Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c5 2. g3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4.Qf3 Qe5+ 5. Ne2 Bd7?? 6. Qxb7 {at which point I realised that my planned 6...Bc6 doesn't quite work!}
Quite enjoyed looking through my old score books to dig these out. Unfortunately I can't find any games that I won in a similar fashion. But as they say, it's a marathon not a sprint!

Jonathan Bryant >... Angus French... once won a piece in exactly the same way as Zapata in a club match against Crystal Palace.<
Don't know if any of my clubmates will admit to that one but I'll own up to something since Matt Mackenzie's post about Capa has reminded me that I once lost thus -
1.d5 f5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nf6 4.e3 d5 5.Bd3 c6 6.b3?! (O-O) Bd6 7.Ba3?? Ba3 8.Na3 Qa5+ 9.Qd2 Qa3-+...
I believe it was to Nicholas Fordham (who may have some link to S&B).
I also enjoyed Paul McK's crop of little horrors above.

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To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

It would be possible to broaden this to games where you lose material for nothing inside the first 10 moves, but decline to resign out of disrespect or inertia, only to win inside 20.

Here's a couple of mine.

[Result "0-1"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 bxc6 .Bc4 Ne7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ Ng6 9.Qxc5 Re8 10.O-O Ba6 11.Rd1 Re5 12.Qd4 d5 13.Nc3 Qh4 14.Be3 Rh5 15.h3 Ne5 16.Qa4 Nf3+ 17.Kh1 Qg4

[Result "1-0"]
1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 c6 3.e3 Qb6 4.Qc1 Bf5 5.c4 dxc4 6.Bxc4 Bxb1 7.Rxb1 Qa5+ 8.Qc3 Qxg5 9.Qb3 b5 10. Bxf7 Kd8 11.Nf3 Qf5 12.O-O Nf6 13.Be6 Qh5 14.Ne5 Kc7 15. Rbc1 a6 16. a4 Ne4 17. Qd5

Chess is a funny old game... 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Ne5 d6 4. Nf3 Ne4 5. Nc3 Bf5?? 6. Ne4?? 6.Qe2 1-0 Zapata-Anand 1988 Biel & 1-0

I asked Vishy about this in Blackpool at the British in 1988. He had never seen the stem Miles-Christiansen which ended in a draw as that had been pre-arranged. Thus the fifth move blunder was all his own.

There was a game at Ilford which went something like 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qg4 dxe4 5 Qxg7 1-0. Tim Harding went up to the player of the black pieces and told him he should have played 4...g6. He was than chased around the tournament hall by Black.Fortunately he didn't catch Tim.

Yes, Nick plays for us in the London League mainly.

Funnily enough, I lost a piece in almost exactly the the same way as you did in a game in a lowly section of the 1990 British Championships. It cost me first place and - IIRC - about £60 which was riches beyond the dreams of avarice in those days. The main difference was that I was Black playing against a Stonewall attack.

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http://www.streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com

"Of all the stupid questions so far, This one is particularly annoying, and irrelevant and when I meet you, I propose to write it down on cardboard and nail it to your face."
- Jerry Sadowitz

I think there is cheating in this thread! Much easier to lose a piece in the opening and resign than get mated.

But if we are going to cheat, I've won a few quick games in the sicilian with qa5+ winning a loose piece on b5, including one in the British.

Embarrassingly I've managed to lose the game 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 c6 3 e3 Qa5 0-1 on ICC Twice

Ah, the Stonewall Attack - more widely known since Sheffield last year.
My favourite work of grafitti - WHEN EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS FREE £40 WILL LAST FOREVER.

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To find a for(u)m that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now. (Samuel Beckett)

OK, let’s clear the embarrassing stuff out of the way first. While often getting inferior positions, I usually managed, more by luck than anything, to avoid getting busted outright in the early opening. But every now and then ....

Lowest number of moves ever to have me totally wrecked: 12, as follows (North Circular League match 1965).

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Nc6? 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 Be6? 7.Qa4 Nd5? 8.Ne5 Nb6?? 9.Nxc6 Nxa4 10.Nxd8 Nxc3 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.bxc3

Simple miscalculation of the sequence of captures lost the piece, though my position was already a shambles. I played a few more token moves, but probably shouldn’t have bothered.

Going to the other extreme, about 15 months later I was able to mate in only 13 moves during a local schools’ league game:

1.e4 c5 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.c3 e5?! 5.Nf3 g6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bg4 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Qxd8+ Rxd8 10.Nc3 Bb4 11.a3 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Rd3 13.Ng5?? Rd1#

As for opening traps, that hoary old one in the Cambridge Springs used to turn up every so often when I was playing. The basic version goes:

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 c6 6.Nf3 Qa5 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bd3?? (another move that’s strategically sound but tactically quite otherwise) ... dxc4 10.Bxf6 cxd3, etc.

My North Circular team-mates twice had their opposition fall for this one, though one of them still actually managed to lose the game in the end.

Here’s another version from the Islington U-160, 1975. Same six opening moves by both sides, then:

7.Qc2 Ne4 8.Bd3?? Nxg5 9.Nxg5 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Qxg5

At this point my opponent went to swindle mode, playing very quickly and forcing me to do all the thinking. I was soon seeing “ghost” attacks (as discussed on another thread here) and playing it safe – too safe! – and as a result the game was prolonged to move 62 before I finally nailed the point.

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"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)