| Dec-03-03 | | Dick Brain: A double pin. Most players would miss it but it should be familiar to those of us who have plowed through at least a fair portion of a tactics course. |
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Dec-03-03
 | | patzer2: Finding the winning pin with 29. Rb1 was immediately easy, but 30. Qd4 or 30. Qe3 was a bit more subtle (maintaining a winning pin and mate threat while using a waiting move to remove the queen from danger) and required a bit of thought as immediate material exchanges yield little or nothing here. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | jedlen: I believe this one's in the tests section in Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics |
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| Dec-03-03 | | cVeggyman: Farago seemed to have the game under control early on after Bjerring lost the center. I for some reason think of a shepard and his sheep when I see Bjerring's king and Farago's queen. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | TheAussiePatzer: <jedlen> ah! that's where i'd seen it... |
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| Dec-03-03 | | MoonlitKnight: Black obviously realized the mate threat. Why didn't he just resign on move 30? |
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| Dec-03-03 | | Spitecheck: As a gesture he may have let his opponent checkmate him, it's just another way of saying "good game, thanks". Or perhaps under intense pressure the opponent simply cracked and forgot about the mate as he muddled from bad calculation to worse calculation. Spitecheck |
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| Dec-03-03 | | fukui: You're right, jedlen. I knew I've seen this one before. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | masterwojtek: This puzzle can be also found in the book called "Combination Challenge". |
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| Dec-03-03 | | Halfpricemidge: I think it's the good gesture thing. When I say "I'm going to resign" while playing games on line, they beg me "Don't resign-let's play it out" becuz they're still learning their 'end game'. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | Jack21221: When I am about to be mated, I go ahead and let him do it. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | Bears092: In my serious tournament career, there is only one time that I was mated before I resigned. In that game, I was a little under the weather, and I had a good position, but made a horrible blunder that left a mate open for my opponent. It's one of those things that you see right AFTER you move. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | pilot: Spitecheck makes a good point about checkmate. I think it's rather courteous to let your opponent finish the checkmate. Assuming there is a forced checkmate in sight. But if it's a lost endgame, I'd think that resigning is the most courteous thing to do. You know you've lost and there's no flashy end. It's just going to be a lengthy timewasting struggle so just resign and let your opponent get on his/her way. |
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| Dec-03-03 | | Spitecheck: Playing a forced checkmate through also has the benefit of having a score that is complete for spectators and the like... (students of the game for instance) The other issue with checkmates though is that some opponent's may take it as an insult (forcing them to deliver it), as if you don't think they've seen the checkmate. Not as bad as people playing on an army down though, there is not much to learn there. Spitecheck |
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Dec-03-03
 | | Eggman: I would rarely let my opponent checkmate me, nor would I wish my opponent to let me checkmate. Usually resigning is more aesthetically pleasing, for two reasons: a) there is something beautiful about the sense of suspense that is preserved by ending the game before the end, especially when, say, as here, White's Queen is hanging in the final position b) as here, the fact that Black ends the game by voluntarily playing a second-rate move undermines the beauty of the logical twists and turns |
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| Dec-03-03 | | mdorothy: Well, this isn't quite a forced checkmate, is it? Couldn't he play 30...Rg8. He'd lose his queen and knight for a rook, but its at least not mate yet. (Although, I'm not even bitter enough to play it out) |
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| Dec-03-03 | | Spitecheck: <mdorothy> If it's not a forced checkmate, it is time for the game to end either way :). I also gave a second reason as to why he would "allow" the mate perhaps you ascribe to that one :). <Eggman> Can't disagree with those statements (you didn't leave a lot of room), but I reiterate my comments were for the everyman, and indeed in my own games will resign long before the axe strikes my king's head. If only I lost a game :) jk. Of course I don't think anybody has played a real pearler against me yet LOLOL (being the perfect judge of a chess game and all in a losing game no less). Resigning has it's own compliment of the opponent's play. "You've done enough mate, let's spare the rest of my army from further degradation" (they perhaps put up a good fight as well and deserve the rest). Spitecheck |
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| Apr-09-04 | | Whitehat1963: I can't believe black took the queen! Couldn't he see the result? |
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| Apr-09-04 | | iron maiden: Black is finished no matter what; he either takes White's queen and gets mated or he loses his own. |
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Apr-12-05
 | | perfidious: Spitecheck's remarks about calculation
remind me of a game I lost in the 1988 US Open; I was in a somewhat worse position and had analysed various unpleasant lines, finding no good option, merely more or less unpalatable ones.........So what did I do ?
In my muddled state, I returned to a line I'd already discarded in which I lose rook and two pieces for the queen. My 2050-rated opponent found it, of course, and I was left to ponder my foolishness at leisure. |
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Apr-12-05
 | | OhioChessFan: Hello all. Been reading the boards for months, but new to posting. I am that rare person who is a fan of chess but doesn't play. I once called Tony Rook at ChessFM and floored him when I told him that. In any case, I had a thought regarding the end of the game. Everyone has heard of spite checks, and I even see the name here. I think Black's 30th move could be called a spite capture. |
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| Apr-12-05 | | hintza: <OhioChessFan> Hi and welcome to <chessgames.com>! It's great that you decided to post! :-) |
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Oct-10-09
 | | GrahamClayton: <Jack21221>When I am about to be mated, I go ahead and let him do it. Jack21221,
I would be happy to let myself be mated if the checkmate was at the end of a King hunt. King hunts are pretty rare, so I would be happy to give my opponent the chance to finish such an attack off. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 30.Qd4