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My opponent confidently played
40.Lc4
pinning my Knight, looked at me like he is
expecting me to resign (and rightfully so!)
and got up for a walk.
I quickly played
40...Lg4
(with very little time left on my clock),
reaching the time control (at move 40), and
also got up for a long desired walk. I was
expecting my opponent to either play
41.Dd8 Kh7 42.De7 then give a couple more
checks and resign.
To my great surprise and joy, as I walked
back to the stage, I saw on the
demonstration board that my experienced
opponent without much thinking played
41.fg4??
I assume he only anticipated 41...Dg4 and
completely forgot about
41...f3
discovery which wins the Queen on b8. 0:1.
Was I lucky? Yes, very. However, at the
same time I know some who perhaps would
have already resigned earlier, therefore not
giving the opponent the chance to go wrong.
Sometimes a lucky game, especially early in
a tournament or in a key game, can play a
major role for the rest of the event. It can
bring good mood, raises self-confidence and
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Given the fact that White has the "wrong
color Bishop" all Black needed to do to save
the game was to get his King to the corner
(even if it costs giving the Knight up) or
alternatively give up the Knight for White's
last Pawn. In this position, Black had more
than one way to achieve one of those two
goals. For example: 81...Sd3 82.h4 Sf4
83.Kf5 Kd6! 84.Kf4 Ke7 or 81...Kd6 82.Le2
Sd7 83.Kf7 Ke5 84.h4 Sf6 both leading to a
not very difficult draw.
FIDE SURVEYS Susan Polgar
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15.d5!
This is a typical idea in similar positions
combining various tactical ideas. Black
cannot capture on d5 immediately without
losing the knight on e4.
15...Sc3 16.bc3 Ld5
If 16...ed5 17.Sd7! Dd7? 18.Lh7 Kh8 19.Lf5
and White wins.
17.Lg5!
After the natural 17.c4 Black escapes with
17...Le4.
17...g6
White would get a winning attack after
17...h6? 18.Lh6! gh6 19.Dh6.
18.Dh4 h6!
Christiansen was spending a lot time on the
clock and was hoping for 19.Lh6 (or
19.Dh6? Sg4!) Sd7 20.Dg3 - which (as I
later understood) was actually what I should
have played. But during the game I was very
proud of myself when I noticed the
combination with
19.Lg6?!
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The actual game continued with
19...fg6? 20.Dh6 Sh7 21.Dg6 Kh8 22.Le7
De7
and now the final point of the combination
23.c4! Dh4 24.cd5 Df2 25.Kh1 Tf6 26.De4
ed5 27.Dd5
and White reached a winning position and
later won.
Fortunately for me, my opponent "believed"
me that after 19...hg5 20.Dg5 fg6 21.Dg6
Kh8 22.Rd3 White has a winning attack. We
both realized only much after the game that
actually it would have been Black who is
winning after 22...Sh7! 23.Th3 Lh4.
Interestingly, this game won the brilliancy
prize of the tournament. All commentators
even years later missed the correct defense
for Black and misevaluated the combination.
This game was not as lucky as the first
example we saw in my game against Murey.
This was a lot more complex position, with
substantial calculation required, and many
ways to go wrong for my opponent.
With that said, it is always luck, when it is
solely in the opponent's hands to find the
right move and win, even if they do not find
the right solution at the board.
The point is that one made a bad move or an
incorrect sacrifice and have "gambled",
regardless if intentionally or not. The end
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White had the initiative throughout the game
and has been "squeezing" a slightly better
endgame for a good number of moves and
finally reached the diagramed position.
It is clear that despite having very limited
and even material, due to the Black King's
cornered position White is in the verge of
winning.
Luckily for Leko, who is well known for his
excellent defensive skills, former world
champion Kramnik played
80.Kb6
(although not letting the win completely out
of hand yet), and missed the immediate
winning move. The game eventually ended
in a draw after a total of 134 moves. As
Garry Kasparov pointed out (still while the
game was in progress) the brilliant 80.Td7!
move to be followed by 81.Kb6 would have
completed the mating net around Black's
King. The only way Black could prevent the
back rank checkmate would be to retreat the
Rook from h4 to go via g4, resulting in
giving up the Bishop on f4.
FIDE SURVEYS Susan Polgar
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13.Lc6?
My opponent played this move rather
confidently, calculating the variation all the
way until his 18th move and thinking that I
overlooked his trap. Unfortunately for him
and lucky for me, his calculation was just
one move too short to reach the correct
evaluation of the arising endgame. Instead,
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At first glance, it seemed for my opponent
that it is game over. It is true but not for
Black.
18...Tc8
was the move he missed when he went for
the forced variation starting with 13.Lc6. 0:1
I would call this a clearly lucky game, as I
was able to fully rely on advanced "home
preparation" without needing to think at all
at the board.
Obviously such occasions are rare in all
professionals' lives. However, when it
happens it is nice to "get a break" and have
some rest or extra time to prepare for the
next round while the other competitors may
be in for a full 4-5 hours (or more) games.
c) The opponent chooses an opening line
that we are well prepared for versus one
that we are fearful of
All grandmasters or players who take chess
seriously or professionally continuously
FIDE SURVEYS Susan Polgar
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In this opening position, most lines lead to
complex middle games, for example starting
with 7.a4, 7.Lb3, 7.De2 or 7.Ld3. Often
after a c5d4 - e3d4 exchange, White will end
up with an isolated Pawn on d4.
However, if our hope was to have a complex
and double-edged game with winning
chances as well, it would come as bad luck
if our opponent chooses the not very
ambitious
5
7.dc5
followed by the speedy exchange of Queens
resulting in an endgame with symmetrical
Pawn structure.
Although this endgame may not lead to any
better or worse position for White than the
other mentioned options on move 7, but it
would not the type of position we would be
looking for as Black in that situation.
Another example is in the 80's, a lot of
Sicilian players as Black after
1.e4 c5 2.Sf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Sd4 Sf6 5.Sc3
e6
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were fearful of the Keres attack
6.g4
and would be hoping that the opponent
would rather choose 6.Le2 or some other
move.
Conclusion: Generally in chess we want to
minimize the role of luck, but never the less
it exists. There are situations when our
opponent may think of two moves of the
same strength, not realizing that one is
actually falling into trap and loses.
Therefore in such a situation it would be
lucky for us if the opponent randomly
chooses the wrong one. Along the same
thought, at times the opponent accidently
may choose the right move.
FIDE SURVEYS Susan Polgar