Dear chessfriends,
to shorten you the time until the next Hivechess season starts (in a week), I have here for you a small compilation of quite unexpected plot twist from some of my games which might be a good reminder of what kind of unpleasant things can happen in Blitz chess.
Dead draw?
Here Black can hope at best for a draw, right? I with the White pieces had a pawn more, but with the unequal Bishops I saw no chance to win this apart from losing on time. If the h3 pawn would have been on h5, things would be different :)
link to this position
But my opponent was not happy with a draw, instead he played for a win using the King as an active piece. Maybe too active? See for yourself:
Here I could all of a sudden mate him with b4++! What a turn of events!
Wrong variant, sir!
Speaking of an active king, it is for sure not healthy in classical chess, if after 4 moves a Black King lands on c5, like in this recent game:
White to play, mate in 4!
Apparently the opponent had mixed up the chess variants and was punished by being mated a few moves later. See this bizarre game here! I didn´t find the mate in 4, I was too puzzled, but only mated the guy in 9 moves.
Too greedy!
In this position I was quite lost, as I had blundered an exchange. The only chance was the somewhat awkward positioned black King. What would you play here as Black?
Black to move link to this position
I hope you played here e.g. ...Qd5 and eliminate any threats. Instead Black was too gready and played dc3x??
Of course you saw that I then could just mate Black with Qh5x++!
This is a quite common pattern you always should look out for (a pawn that seems defended but in reality is not defended due to a pin).
Too active king again
In this position material was equal, I with the Black pieces had 2 passed pawns, one heavily blocked by the White rooks, White had a passer too. Only later Stockfish told me that the position was won for Black but in Blitz mode I didn´t realize this.
link to this position
Few moves later after I gave a check (Re4+) the White king decided to be active and went to g5 - well my surprise was great when I realized that with h6++ all of a sudden Black is mate!
Missed win
In this position I had with Black somehow a good feeling. But I overlooked an immediate forced win. Can you spot it?
Black to move and win
Let me know your best move for Black in the comments!
The challenge
And finally a position not from an actual game, but a Lichess puzzle, as a challenge for you. Everything is hanging in Black´s camp, I had no clue what best to do. Can you find the win?
Black to move and win
The first who finds the correct answer gets a (virtual) PIZZA and a BEER.
See you all next week at the start of Season 7!