Have you noticed that a bad move will frequently be answered with another bad move, foregoing the chance to take advantage of the mistake? Is that due to a gentlemanly gesture, or are there other mechanisms at work?
As for me, there's no gallantry involved when this happens. Just as most of my peers, I handle surprises poorly. We fail to accept that an unexpected move wrecks our plan, and we must now make a new one (on the bright side, if the unexpected move is bad, your new plan will yield better than the old). Instead, we just carry on as if nothing happened, which most often leads to disaster. This game has several examples of mishandling surprises, both by me and my opponent.
Me - N.N. (Swedish League, 2025)
English Opening
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. e3 O-O 6. Nge2 a6 7. O-O d6
So far, both players have made sensible moves. White now has a number of good moves: d3, d4, a3, b3 or h3 are the popular choices.
8. Nd5 Not really a mistake, but premature, as it can be punished right away with Nxd5.
Bg4 Black sticks to the plan.
9. Nxf6+ A waste of time. h3 or b3 were still good options
Qxf6 10. Kh1
In just a few moves, White's position has gone from better to worse. White is behind in development, and the Knight is pinned.
10... Rab8 11. f3 Be6 12. Qc2 The first mistake. Why not play b3? When a move is rejected (in this case 8.b3 and 9.b3), it somehow disappears from the radar. Now Black can gain a strong initiative by 10...b5 11.cxb5 Nb4, but gives that away by
Nb4 13. Qc3 (this would not work with the c-pawn gone)
Rfd8 The first real blunder. b5 was still the move to play.
14. d4 Finally! White has been aching to play this for a long time.
b5 The best move, but now it's too late.
White has a winning position - the Bishop is hanging. Instead of the capture, 15.d4 would be even better. I pondered that for a long time (too long, as it turned out), but wasn't able to calculate the consequences. So, I took the safe route, which is nearly as good.
15. dxc5 dxc5 16. f4 Wins the award for "Worst blunder of the game". I had the perfectly good 16.b3 bxc4 17.f4 in the back of my mind, but for the fourth and last time in this game, b3 slipped away.
Bxc4 17. fxe5
Now Black could secure the win with 17...Qb6. That's not an easy move to find, and neither of us had any thoughts in that direction during the game. It follows 18.Bf3 Rd3 19.Qe1 Nc2 and the Rook falls.
Qe7 This is second best, but allows White to restore equality with 18.Nf4 Bxf1 19.Bf1. However, there's still time to blunder!
18. a3 18... Rd3 Black could have finished it off with 18... Bxe2, but fatigue and time pressure is taking its toll on both players.
19. Qxc4 bxc4 20. axb4 cxb4 21. Nd4 Rb6
White has three pieces for the Queen and two pawns, There are survival chances after 22.Bd5, but with no strength left, I found a much weaker move.
22. Be4 Qxe5 A winning move. The rest of the game contains some more mistakes, but the win was never at risk from this point.
23. Bxd3 cxd3 24. Rf5 Qe4+ 25. Kg1 g6 26. Rfa5 Qb7 27. Nb3 Rf6 28. Nc5 Qf3 29. Bd2 Qf2+ 30. Kh1 Qxd2 31. Ne4 Qxb2 32. Nxf6+ Qxf6 33. Rxa6 Qf3+ 34. Kg1 Qxe3+ 35. Kf1 Qe2+ 36. Kg1 d2 37. Ra8+ Kg7 38. Rd8 Qe1+ 0-1
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