English Chess Forum

My quickest loss was 13 moves to a checkmate I didn't see!

My quickest win was 18 moves.

So what are your quickest wins and losses (ECF graded games only, and default wins don't count.)

I once won in 7 moves in the South Wales international:
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Qf3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 e6 6.Nh3 c5 7.Ng5 1-0

and in 7 moves in the Cambridge College League:
1.Nc3 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Ndb5 d6 6.Nd5 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 1-0

I forget who my victims were.

Quickest loss - 8 moves, to a Budapest gambit trap.

I can't remember my quickest win for sure, but it has an upper bound of 18 moves.

David Blower wrote: So what are your quickest wins and losses (ECF graded games only, and default wins don't count.)

Games involving stronger players or strong player v weak player can be very short. But that will be because someone loses material early on and resigns rather than suffer in a lost position while the winning method is demonstrated. At lower levels of accomplishment, players will continue despite early setbacks and in some cases win or draw.

My record with White is a win in 9 moves, several in fact, but resignation rather than mate. Apart from opponents falling into known traps or just giving material away, the best of them was this original effort.

[Result "1-0"]1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 c5 3. dxc5 Bg7 4. c3 Na6 5. Be3 Qc7 6. Na3 Nxc5 7. Nb5 Qa5 8. a4 Ne4 9. Qd5 1-0

Black can move the Knight from e4, but then Nd6+ wins the Queen.

I've also won in 9 moves with Black in a c3 Sicilian. Nothing special, just the Black move order making a normal move into a game loser.

[Result "1-0"][Result "0-1"]1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Bc4 Qc7 6. Qe2 Nb6 7. Bd3 e6 8. Nf3 d6 9. cxd4 Qxc1 0-1

I actually won in 7 once with Black , but it's a trap almost everyone should know but in a slightly different context.

[Result "0-1"]1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6 4. fxe5 Qh4 5. g3 Qe4 6. Qe2 Qxh1 7. d4 Qxd5 0-1

Hmm, never though about that before. A quick sort on my games DB gives

Quickest loss, 12 moves I blame that nearby pub...

[Event "Ilford Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2008.05.26"] [Round "6.13"] [White "Shepley, Julian"] [Black "Hickman, John"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B08"] [WhiteElo "2095"] [BlackElo "1967"] [PlyCount "23"] 1. d4 d6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bf4 c6 7. Qd2 Qc7 8. Be2 Bg4 9. Rd1 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Bxe5 1-0

Quickest win, 16 moves. The delights of my first visit to Gibraltar

[Event "Gibraltar"] [Site "?"] [Date "2006.01.31"] [Round "8"] [White "Reppen, Ellisev"] [Black "Hickman, John"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "1851"] [BlackElo "2082"] [PlyCount "32"] 1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 a6 5. Be3 e6 6. Bd3 Ne7 7. Qd2 h6 8. O-O-O Nd7 9. h4 b5 10. Nh2 Bb7 11. f4 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Be2 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Qxd6 Qxd6 16. Rxd6 Nf5 0-1

A gruesome 10 move effort with me as Black. Plus, queens were exchanged at move 7!

[Event "Sydney Chess Festival, R4"] [Site "?"] [Date "1995.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Ayling, S."] [Black "Sayers, R."] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2145"] [PlyCount "20"] [EventDate "1995.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. g3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Qf3 Qe6+ 5. Qe2 Nc6 6. a3 Nd4 7. Qxe6 Bxe6 8. Bd3 Bd5 9. f3 c4 10. Ne2 Nxf3+ 0-1

On the 16th January I was checkmated in 13 moves (I managed not to see it coming either) in the Surrey League.

On the 18th January I gave checkmate in 12 moves in the last round at Golders Green.



I've lost at least two games quicker than that checkmate one. In 12 moves at Penarth 2012 (should have been 9 really) and 7 moves, iirc, when I blundered a piece against the club hotshot in my first year playing serious chess.

I won a game in eight moves in the London League several years ago - and was treated to the most graceless resignation I've ever experienced. I say, 'resignation', but he didn't actually do that. In fact the guy didn't stop the clocks or utter the words "I resign". He just got up and walked away. I think technically I won that game on time.

This one from a long time ago, which actually ends in checkmate:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 e6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.e5 Ng8 8.Ne4 Ne7 9.Nd6# 1-0


And this one with a typical loss of a piece:

1.Nf3 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.d4 dxc4 6.Qa4+ Qd7 7.Qxc4 Qc6 8.Qd3 Qxc1+ 0-1


I think the opponents deserve anonymity in these games!

As an adult, I don't think I've had many games finishing before move 20. An example from last year:

[Event "Bishops Stortford v L'worth & Hitchin"] [Date "2013.05.09"] [White "Fletcher, Matthew"] [Black "Kenning, Paul"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B07"] [PlyCount "35"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bd3 e5 4. Ne2 c6 5. Nbc3 Qb6 6. a4 a5 7. d5 Nbd7 8. Be3 Qc7 9. Bc4 Be7 10. Ng3 g6 11. Bh6 Qb6 12. O-O Nc5 13. Bg7 Bg4 14. Qd2 Rg8 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. dxc6 bxc6 17. Qxd6 Bg7 18. Nd5 1-0

Looking at my junior games I've found various wins in around 10 moves (quickest being 7), plus a loss in 11 - mostly along the lines of:

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Bc5 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Bg5 d6 6. Nd5 Nc6 7. Nxf6+ gxf6 8. Bh6 Re8 9. Qf3 f5 10. Qg3+ Kh8 11. Qg7#

I think this is the shortest game I think I've seen between 2 strong (~2000-rated) players:

1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. h3 Bg3# *

I've won that last one, but only on the internet!

I think I am the forum record holder for fast checkmates - I used to routinely win with this trap when I was younger:

[Event "School chess club"] [Site "?"] [Date "1980s"] [White "Young Joey"] [Black "Random opponent"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "0"] [BlackElo "0"] 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qh5 Nf6 4.Qxf7#

Shortest win:

[Event "Frank Wood Shield"] [Site "Oxford"] [Date "1987.03.27"] [Round "4.3"] [White "Kingston, Ian"] [Black "Yates, John"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C78"] [EventDate "1987.03.27"] [PlyCount "15"] [EventType "team-game"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [WhiteTeam "Oxford City I"] [BlackTeam "Kidlington I"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Bc5 6.c3 O-O 7.d4 Bd6 $4 8.Bxc6

And shortest defeat:

[Event "St Albans 2 - Pin Green (5)"] [Site "St Albans CC"] [Date "1992.03.09"] [White "Kingston, Ian"] [Black "Brocklehurst, A."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B30"] [PlyCount "22"] [EventType "game"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Nxd4 cxd4 5.d3 $4 Qa5+ 6.Bd2 Qxb5 7.Na3 Qc6 8.O-O g6 9.f4 Bg7 10.c3 dxc3 11.Rc1 Qb6+

I could have resigned that one at move 5, but I felt that I had to kick the queen around for a few moves, just to see if I could find something to work with.

I won twice last year in 8 moves with the Budapest gambit smothered mate trap. ( not against Rob Thompson ! )

Quickest win:
[Event "Isle Of Man"]
[Date "2007"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nicholson,J"]
[Black "Spanton"]
[WhiteElo "1910"]
[BlackElo "1982"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7 5.Nxe5 c6
0-1

Quickest mate:
[Event "SCCU 2011-12"]
[Site "Hassocks"]
[Date "2012"]
[White "Ship,J"]
[Black "Spanton"]
[WhiteTeam "Herts"]
[BlackTeam "Sussex"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nbd2 Nxe5 8.
Nxd4 Nd3#

Quickest loss:
[Event "N London Spring"]
[Date "1989"]
[White "Rice, Christopher"]
[Black "Spanton"]
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. dxe5 Bc5 5. Qd5 Bxf2+ 6. Kf1 Qh4 7. Qxf7+ Kd8
8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. Nf3 1-0

Barry, it was indeed that trap, though in my defence I was a good 60 points weaker then than now.