Chess toEnjoy BlundersHappen To err is human. To regret turns out to be,well,masterful. By GMAndy Soltis Can you remember the last game you
won that you were really proud to play? How about your last game-losing blunder? If you’re like most players, it’s a lot
easier to remember the blunder—even if it happened well before that really good win. Blunders have a way of becoming painfully embedded in our memories. But masters take a more professional
approach. When they make a bad mis- take, they accept it and move on: Blunders happen. “I just told myself, ‘OK, I’m an idiot’”
Daniel Naroditsky recalled when he over- looked a strongmove by his opponent in the first round of the 2011 U.S. Champi- onship. But this attitude allowed him to settle down—and draw. However, masters suffer from some-
thing else, a kind of “missed opportunity regret.” They often suffermore when they fail to play a really goodmove than when they play a really bad one. In fact, they’d rather not know about missing an easy win.
Please, don’t tell me GM Vladimir Kramnik (FIDE 2772) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2783) World Championship, third game, Bonn 2008
+ + + + + +pp k
+ + +l+p P+ q P + R +L+P+ P K+Q+ P + + + r
After 33. Bd3 Vishy Anand played 33. ... Bh3, went
on to win the game and forgot about the position. It was only after the match ended, a week later, that his seconds revealed to
14 Chess Life — August 2011 + + + +
him that he had missed a simple, forced mate with 33. ... Bxd3+! (34. Qxd3 Rg2+ or 34. Rxd3 Qc4+ 35. Kd2 Qc1 mate). “They said: Now we will break it to
you,” Anand recalled. His seconds waited because they knew how upset he would be if he knew about 33. ... Bh3?? during the match. He might lose the confidence in his tactical ability that would be cru- cial in the remaining games. It wasn’t that Anand is easily disturbed.
Far fromit. But regret can haunt even the most serene of players. Another world champion, Tigran Petrosian, was cele- brated for his unflappable demeanor, even after a loss. It bothered him more when his favorite soccer team, Spartak, was defeated than when he lost a chess game, according to his son Vartan. But there was one super-painful moment in Petrosian’s long career, Vartan told 64 magazine in 2009: “In 1966 father didn’t win the 12th
game with Spassky ... He could have won with a combination they call a ‘windmill’ but he carried it out in the wrong version. A similar combination is very rare and in the world championship it would have been the first.”
Windmill GM Tigran Petrosian GM Boris Spassky World Championship, 12th game, Moscow 1966
r+ + r k p
+ +Pq +P +P+ p +
+ +pLN+ PPQ+ P P + + + RK
After 31. ... exd3 White had sacrificed the Exchange
three moves earlier. But he bailed out p p l+ + p + p
here with 32. Nxe5 dxc2 33. Bd4 and a perpetual check (33. ... dxe5 34. Bxe5+ Kh7 35. Rg7+ Kh8 36. Rf7+ Kg8 37. Rg7+). As soon as the game was over, the
press room GMs pounced. They showed how White wins with 32. Qxd3!. If Black moves his attacked queen he loses to 33. Bd4. Therefore the game would have gone
32. ... Bf5 33. Nxe5 Bxd3 34. Bd4! dxe5 35. Bxe5+ Kh7 36. Rg7+ Kh8. The difference is thatWhite can pick off
the bishop and two pawns, leaving him with a winning endgame, 37. Rxc7+ Kg8 38. Rg7+ Kh8 39. Rxa7+ Kg8 40. Rg7+ Kh8 41. Rg3+ Kh7 42. Rxd3, thanks to a combination that would rank among the greatest in championship history. Petrosian was devastated. “Father then
‘turned himself off’ for a week, all the time remembering this game,” Vartan said. Had he won the game, Petrosian would
have held a three-point lead at the match’s half-way point, a virtually deci- sive edge. But after the draw, he lost the next game and the match was soon tied. He didn’t seemto put 32. Nxe5?? behind himself until he won the 20th match game, more than three weeks later. But there were enough games left for him to recover and win the match. Vladimir Kramnik wasn’t so fortunate.
He lost his title in the 2007World Cham- pionship tournament inMexico City and blamed the “heavy psychological blow” he suffered in the fourth round. It was- n’t a loss that he couldn’t get over. It was a draw with Alexander Grischuk. “I could- n’t win an absolutely won position,” he recalled. Some players are better at overcoming
regret. Mikhail Tal did it in the tourna- ment that made him internationally known, the 1957 USSR Championship. He began with a stunning 4½-½ and could have played a winning sacrifice in the sixth round. But after an hour of thought he chose a quiet move instead and drew. After he learned that he had missed a forced mate in a key line, Tal
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