I am a complete idiot!

[David Blower]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 e5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 h6 6. Nbd2 Bf5 7. c3 Bc5 8. b4 Bb6 9. a4 a6 10. Bb2 Qd7 11. Nb3 O-O 12. b5 Ne7 13. Nxe5 Qe6 14. d4 Rfe8 15. f4 Ng6 16. Nxg6 Bxg6 17. Re1 Qe3+ 18. Kh1 Ng4 19. Rf1 Qg1+ 20. Kxg1 Ne3 21. Qc1 Nxf1 22. Qxf1 Re3 23. Bxd5 Bh5 24. Re1 Rae8 25. Nc1 c5 26. Nd3 cxd4 27. cxd4 Bxe2 28. Qf2 Rxd3 29. Rxe2 Rd1+ 30. Kg2 Rd8 31. Bxb7 Bxd4 32. Bxd4 R8xd4 33. Bf3 Ra1 34. Qxd4

[IM Jack Rudd]

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[David Blower]

Sorry about that! And the opening post by me is not the reason why I am an idiot. Instead I am black in this game. After getting to the position I decided to go for a stylish smothered mate in 2. But it was never on. Instead I just give my queen away. Move 19 Qg1.

Why did I do this? The alternative was just to exchange rook for knight which was my original plan.

A little bit frustrated at tonights defeat. Not because I lost, I can take that, but because I just rushed into a move seeing something that wasn't there.

[Ray Sayers]

I assume you calculated Nf2+, Kg1 Nh3++, Kh1 Qg1+, Rxg1 Nf2 mate and forgot you hadn't played those moves yet?!

Sympathies.

[David Blower]

I assume you calculated Nf2+, Kg1 Nh3++, Kh1 Qg1+, Rxg1 Nf2 mate and forgot you hadn't played those moves yet?!

Sympathies.

Thanks for sympathies.

Actually I just saw Rxg1, Nf2 mate, and just didn't look probably at the board, not even noticing that the King can take.

I should have just played Nf2, he plays Rxf2, I play Qxf2. And then just try and exchange pieces. That was my original plan.

And then I saw the possibility of smothered mate, and just went for it. Something just went into my brain to play the exact worst move possible.

Anyone who saw me walking round the room after the game, this explains it! Its because I had played so well to get into the position in the first place. If your from Cannock Chess Club my opponent will have tried his best to explain this on the way back home, but here is a picture to give you an idea of what he was talking about.

[Roger de Coverly]

Actually I just saw Rxg1, Nf2 mate, and just didn't look probably at the board, not even noticing that the King can take.

The Knight needs to be on h3 to make the combination work.

From a recent rapid-play

Event "Bourne End one day"] [Site "Bourne End"] [Date "2013.03.24"] [Round "4"] [White "Smith,AP"] [Black "de Coverly, RD"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B62"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Be2 Be7 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.Rd1 O-O 10.O-O Bd7 11.Nb3 Rc8 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qh3 Kh8 14.Qh5 Rg8 15.Qxf7 Rg5 16.f4 Qb6+ 17.Kh1 Rg7 18.Qh5 Rcg8 19.Bf3 Be8 20.Qh3 Bf7 21.f5 e5 22.Qh6 Bc4 23.Rg1 Nd8 24.Qd2 Nf7 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.Qxd5 Ng5 27.Qd3 Nh3 28.Rgf1 Qg1+ 0-1

[David Blower]

Actually I just saw Rxg1, Nf2 mate, and just didn't look probably at the board, not even noticing that the King can take.

The Knight needs to be on h3 to make the combination work.

From a recent rapid-play

Event "Bourne End one day"] [Site "Bourne End"] [Date "2013.03.24"] [Round "4"] [White "Smith,AP"] [Black "de Coverly, RD"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B62"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Be2 Be7 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.Rd1 O-O 10.O-O Bd7 11.Nb3 Rc8 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qh3 Kh8 14.Qh5 Rg8 15.Qxf7 Rg5 16.f4 Qb6+ 17.Kh1 Rg7 18.Qh5 Rcg8 19.Bf3 Be8 20.Qh3 Bf7 21.f5 e5 22.Qh6 Bc4 23.Rg1 Nd8 24.Qd2 Nf7 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.Qxd5 Ng5 27.Qd3 Nh3 28.Rgf1 Qg1+ 0-1

Yeah well played for that one.

To say I was gutted would be an understatement.

So the reasons for this post is apart from you all going "Oh my God" at such a move is for two reasons. 1) Why do we make such stupid moves at the board. 2) Is there anything that can be done to prevent such a stupid move.

[Roger de Coverly]

1) Why do we make such stupid moves at the board. 2) Is there anything that can be done to prevent such a stupid move.

I would suggest it's down to patterns. Initially I only saw the Nf2 idea winning the exchange because that's all there usually is. It then dawned on me that with the Nh3, the smothered mate idea actually works which is unusual because the exchange sacrifice will normally prevent it.

Earlier I could have caused the audacious queen on f7 serious grief by playing to prevent it moving it with Rg6. Instead I only saw the Rg5 idea, which is met by f4, gaining time to extricate the queen.

[David Blower]

Match report up: http://brewoodchess.webs.com/apps/blog/ ... annock-2-5

Hopefully I have not only described the technical part of the chess game, but if its possible for a chess match the emotional side of it.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi David.

"Is there anything that can be done to prevent such a stupid move."

You have just done it.
These silly moves are in us all. We have to play them to learn from them.
Your game was good enough for me to see you are no fool at the board
so perhaps that wee bit of blasé has crept in thinking you are beyond such blunders.
None of us are.

It's a shock to the system when it happens......and it's meant to be.

Roger you never mentioned in your game the final mate.
(Your opponent should of let you have it. I would have done.)
After 29.Rxg1 Nf2

6rk/1p2b1rp/p2p1p2/4pP2/4P3/1N1Q1B2/PPP2nPP/3R2RK w - - 0 30

That's your actual Royal Fork Mate. They are are quite rare OTB.
You are also forking the other Rook so it's a Royal Family Fork Mate.
(The fact the other unattacked Rook is also contributing mate makes it all rather unique.)

[Chris Rice]

I had a similar experience at Hastings once David. I was White and there was indeed a Black knight on h3 and my opponent who, to be fair, was crushing me, just like you were crushing your guy, got really excited and played Qg1+. I couldn't take with the king but I had a knight on e2 that could! (I had a rook on f1 and bishop on g2) He was devastated as well, he just sat there staring in disbelief doing goldfish impressions. The interesting thing is I thought he might get a rush of blood and do this because I nearly made the same mistake myself when playing a County match for Kent v Essex but saw it just in time with the thought of how embarrassing that would have been. So Geoff's right, these sort of incidents just make you learn. I still remember to this day of a tournament I played in Weymouth 40 years ago and fell for a back rank mate. It still hurts even now.

[David Blower]

Your game was good enough for me to see you are no fool at the board
so perhaps that wee bit of blasé has crept in thinking you are beyond such blunders.
None of us are.

Thanks. You make a good point here. It is of course what makes it all the more frustrating that I was in control of the game, and had played well up to that point.

I'll be honest, yes I have being surprised at how well I have done since joining my local OTB chess club.

I had already mentally started celebrating my win, I was that convinced I had a mate in two on! I only noticed 20 Kxg1 after letting go of the queen, after doing another check of the board, but by then it was too late.

My chess target this season was: "to stop making stupid moves, after rushing into moves," and it wasn't to win or lose a certain amount of games, because I thought that if I played as well as I could, I would win some games anyway. I managed to get through the whole season up until now, keeping up that target.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I had already mentally started celebrating my win

That is something everyone here will recognise. It is hard to do, but it is important to concentrate right up until the game is won and not relax and think a game will win itself. Though admittedly that is hard to do if you think you have spotted a mate. The key there is to stop and think "would my opponent really allow a mate?" And then to double-check that it is actually a mate. Look at all possible moves of your opponent. Then you might have spotted the error in time.

[Roger de Coverly]

I'll be honest, yes I have being surprised at how well I have done since joining my local OTB chess club.

For what its worth, the treatment of the opening was very sensible. Instead of having to defend against a Reti or Kings Indian Attack, in effect you turned the board around and made your opponent defend a Pirc.

[Chris Rice]

The mention of "mentally celebrating your win" made me remember something else. My opponent who played ...Qg1+?? had over an hour left on his clock. The guy on the adjoining board said to him "you had an hour left and you couldn't use two minutes of it to make sure the killer move was correct?" Poor guy, I did feel sorry for him but I did remember this. If you have some time left on the clock and the move you want to make is likely to end the game then you might as well use it, if only to milk the moment of glory a little bit longer.
I did once achieve a smothered mate myself at a Lloyds Bank tournament. I was a bit surprised when playing Qg8+ that he played Rxg8 and let me checkmate with Nf7. I was quite pleased with this finish until in the post-mortem my opponent told me that Qg8+ was so obvious that if I hadn't seen it he would have hit me. Big bloke as well.

What I remembered was fear - quite a useful for tool for tactical training....