Sometimes I get so frustrated when I make a blunder that I simply give up and rage quit the game. Making a mistake in a chess game can often be as frustrating as being spawn camped by some n00b in Call of Duty. This is something I’ve been actively working on for the past few months: trying to stay in the game despite the apparent hopelessness of the position. Now, there are times when its important to realize that you have no chance of winning and you’re just delaying the inevitable. A lone King versus a Rook and a bunch of pawns comes to mind. But when most of the pieces are still on the board, there’s little reason to give up so quickly. Such is the case with this game where I had to make a painful sacrifice early in the middlegame but was able to turn things around in the end.
[pgn] [Event “Let’s Play!”] [Site “Chess.com”] [Date “2021.08.09”] [Round “-“] [White “Internet Opponent”] [Black “CMDRExorcist”] [Result “0-1”] [CurrentPosition “8/7p/1b4pk/8/5PP1/5Q1P/6K1/6q1 w – – 1 51”] [Timezone “UTC”] [ECO “B23”] [ECOUrl “https://www.chess.com/openings/Sicilian-Defense-Closed”] [UTCDate “2021.08.09”] [UTCTime “00:44:21”] [WhiteElo “904”] [BlackElo “1052”] [TimeControl “1/86400”] [Termination “CMDRExorcist won by checkmate”] [StartTime “00:44:21”] [EndDate “2021.08.12”] [EndTime “01:06:00”] [Link “https://www.chess.com/game/daily/350244835”] {While it’s certainly not the prettiest game out there, this one is quite the enigma. It was played over the course of about four days and there were moments where my position was hopelessly lost and I somehow managed to convert it into a winning endgame. Lets take a ride.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nf6 {Structurally, placing the Knight here before moving the Bishop out constricts the Bishop and makes it difficult to activate later.} (4… Be7 5. O-O h6 6. a3 Nf6 7. b4 Nc6 {is a little better.}) 5. d3? {My opponent trades a mistake for a mistake.} 5… Bg4 6. O-O Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. h3 Bxf3 {I had several ideas for breaking through the center, so this Knight had to be eliminated before any of them could be started.} 9. Qxf3 Nc6 10. Rfe1 Nb4 11. Rac1 Qb6 {Defending the Knight and opening the back rank to connect my Rooks. I anticipate an attack on the b4 Knight, so I needed to keep squares open for a potential retreat.} 12. a3 Nc6 13. Rb1 Nd4 14. Bxd4 exd4 {Removing the defender on e5 would come back to haunt me later in the game.} 15. Nb5 a6 16. Nxd6 Bxd6 17. e5! {A solid move and destructive fork. Removing the e5 blockade enabled this and I paid for it dearly more than once.} 17… Bb8? (17… Bxe5 18. Rxe5 {would keep material even and prevent a hard sacrifice to come.}) 18. exf6 Qc7? {Obviously there’s no chance of Qh2#, but a man can dream.} 19. g3 g6?! {This kind of feels like a mistake. It definitely leads to some unpleasant positions and a sacrifice I wasn’t too happy with.} (19… Qc6 20. Qxc6 bxc6 21. Re4 Bd6 {would have relieved some of the bleeding.}) 20. Qg4 Ba7? {I’m not sure what I was thinking with this move. Perhaps I was worried about the Rook coming forward to target my c5 pawn. Even though, it’s already defended by the Queen. This was just careless and thoughtless.} 21. Qg5! {It was here that I realized what he was trying. I was in serious trouble of a deadly checkmate. I needed to come up with a plan fast, but everything I tried in my head ended in a Queen sacrifice…} 21… Qd6 {The obvious target here is the f6 pawn to prevent Qg7#!} 22. Re4 Rae8? {A futile attempt to bait White into trading Rooks and giving my King an escape route.} 23. Rf4 b5 24. Qh6! Qxf6 {The only way to prevent Qg7#. I was not happy that I had to sacrifice my Queen in this position and was pretty demoralized. However, I decided it was best not to give up and press on to see if I could convert the position into a draw (at least).} 25. Rxf6 bxc4 26. Rxa6 Bb8 27. dxc4 Re2 {White is quickly moving into my house, so I decided to pay him a little visit as well.} 28. Ra5 Bd6 {The next few moves are developmental, but also very defensive. Knowing that I was down 8 whole points in this position, I wanted to see how well I could defend multiple pieces and still maintain a solid structure.} 29. Ra6 Rd8 30. Qg5 Be7 31. Qg4 Rxc2?! {A mistake I noticed almost immediately after making it, but it still helped to maintain my immediate goal of pushing the d-pawn down the board.} 32. Rxg6+? Kh8? {Not a blunder, but it probably should have been. I missed the MUCH better 32.hxg6!} (32… hxg6 33. Qe4 {and my position is still terrible, but at least I win a Rook.}) 33. Qf5 fxg6 {Found the best move this time. And now, things are about to get interesting.} 34. Qf7?? {Black misses an opportunity to eliminate the deadly Rook hanging on c2. Now’s my chance!} 34… Re2 {Protecting the e7 Bishop and building a wall for the d-pawn.} 35. b4 d3 {The lone soldier marches forward!} 36. Rd1 d2?! {The Rook on d1 is pinned and it will take careful maneuvering to trick White into sacrificing it.} 37. Qf3?? {White misses the chance to prevent having his Rook sacrificed to promote the d-pawn. Now, the tables have turned.} (37. Kf1 {prevents 37…Re1+!.}) 37… Re1+ 38. Kg2 Rxd1 39. Qxd1 cxb4 40. axb4 Bxb4 41. f4 Rc8 42. Qb3 {White is chasing my pieces around the board when he should be pushing pawns since he has a Kingside majority. This was a stressful part of the game because I had calculated a few variations with the intention of baiting White into trading my Rook for promotion potential.} 42… Ba5 43. Qa4 Rxc4!? {Offering my opponent a tasty treat.} 44. Qxc4? {White takes the bait.} 44… d1=Q {The sacrificed matriarch returns to the board and I go from -8 to +2.} 45. Qc8+ Kg7 46. Qb7+ Kh6 {And my King is safe from harm.} 47. Qf3 Qd2+ {The next few moves are merely luck of the draw, in my opinion. There were many variations in which White can force a draw or even convert for a better position over time, but none of those were fleshed out in this game.} 48. Kf1 Qe1+ 49. Kg2 {A good move, but the initiative allows me a chance to place my Bishop on the deadly b6 square.} 49… Bb6 50. g4?? {A fatal mistake.} 50… Qg1# {As I said in the beginning, this is not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed playing and analyzing it because of how I was able to convert a hopelessly lost position into a win.} 0-1 [/pgn]