You Are Never Going To Believe It....

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Geoff Chandler
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You Are Never Going To Believe It....

Post by Geoff Chandler » Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:04 pm

With all this talk about online cheating on another thread a wee word about the games at Red Hot Pawn.

I make a living their using their games (under 1800) and the blunders are incredible. No whiff of silicon in these games.
(without a doubt machines appear in some of the 2200+ games - I do not go near them.)

This is the latest...er...instructive blog/column:

https://www.dailychess.com/chess-blog/t ... gzwang.468

(not on a hit hunt, they often get 15,000+ to 20,000)

The gang there do not play blitz (well not officially ) you have days to make a move and still the blunders come.
The main reason is because they have so many games on the go at once and race through them. (40+ games at once is not uncommon.)

Which brings me onto this. (Black to play)



Don't be appalled at white playing on. I have an RHP database of 'currently' 13,991 games ending in stalemate.
If one player there has been stalemated or chucked a won game due to stalemate then lesson learned,
if they sense the remotest chance of a stalemate then it goes the distance to mate....or stalemate.
(my job there is to point out all the missed mates before stalemate.)

Also please remember the vast majority are home and casual players, the book, magazine, DVD's buyers - the very core of the game.

So what happened next? (the player concerned actually sent me the game.)

Black was skipping through his games, as you do, I've blundered but not quite as badly as this.
It was a blunder you are hardly likely to see in an OTB game (unless someone has an example - please!)
Black forgot he was Black , thought he White and resigned 1-0! :D

Been chuckling about that all day. There are a few examples of players resigning in a won game But has anybody
ever forgotten what colour they were in an OTB game and resigned. I've not done that one yet...touch wood.)

Matthew Turner
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Re: You Are Never Going To Believe It....

Post by Matthew Turner » Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:07 pm

My guess is Qa7+ to bagsy that last pawn and make sure Black doesn't lose :roll:

Matthew Turner
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Re: You Are Never Going To Believe It....

Post by Matthew Turner » Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:30 pm

I'll add in some commentary too. Black noticed there was a trick and that After Qa7+ Kd8 Qxa4 was stalemate. He was quite relieved to see White play Ke6 so he could take the pawn without problem

Geoff Chandler
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Location: Under Cover

Re: You Are Never Going To Believe It....

Post by Geoff Chandler » Thu Nov 05, 2020 6:56 pm

Hi Mathew,

Any move by Black is OK but he got himself in a total mixed up after doing a whole
series of him as white games. So he clicked on 'Resign' he would then have been presented
with a second screen asking him if he sure he wanted to resign, Yes! Score is official it was 1-0.

"My guess is Qa7+ to bagsy that last pawn and make sure Black doesn't lose."

Even taking the last pawn the system will take resigns if that is what the black player instructs.

I'll be putting this in a future RHP column. Who knows, it might unleash a whole torrent
of players owning up to resigning thinking they were the colour getting trounced.

My 'do what I say, not as I do moment' came in 2012. I played in a 25 player tournament.
(24 whites, 24 blacks) in my blacks I had about 12 Latvians Gambits on the go.

The opening moves were coming in fast, they always do and I was seeing 3.Nxe5 on a string of them and was replying 3...Qf6.
But one game came around that had gone 3.exf5 e4. 4.Ne5 theory no need to think, forgot about it.



I saw the knight on e5, I quickly played 4...Qf6 and moved onto the next '3...Qf6' game.

After 4...Qf6 5.Qh5+ just wins. ('how did that happen?' )
Dismayed but slightly amused at myself I resigned two moves later.

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Joey Stewart
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Re: You Are Never Going To Believe It....

Post by Joey Stewart » Fri Nov 06, 2020 11:39 am

I'm surprised at you resigning that one Geoff - a swindler like you should think nothing of being a mere exchange down with a bad king position.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Geoff Chandler
Posts: 3496
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:36 pm
Location: Under Cover

Re: You Are Never Going To Believe It....

Post by Geoff Chandler » Fri Nov 06, 2020 1:43 pm

Hi Joey,

I have won from worse material defects, a lot worse, but I need something to work with.
That would have been a slow lingering loss.
I was a stupid blunder, best to feel the burn and let it go. If I meant it then yes, play on, but I lemoned so resigned.