Biggest Chess Dissapointment Ever

The amount of pure ignorance I mmust have had to miss this checkmate is startling.There's nothing worse than losing a won game in 20 moves. 🙁 I feel like a total idiot. Game 1671283

Has anyone else blundered away a clearly better game?

I set up some traps during the game which my opponent did not fall for and ruined my position. I also was not familiar with the Bc4, Bb3 idea. First time i played that so i wansn't to comfortable with the game. However, I think my opponent had a good chance to win the game and I was just hoping for a miracle and be able to get a draw. I started creating as much counter-play as i could and hope for the best.

Game 1575618

In my game against DoJoCleaning I was up an exchange for a totally ruined pawn structure (overall I was down material). I then proceeded to drop the queen for no reason at all (other than not reviewing my move before making it)....
Game 1605899


In a similar vein to your game, I noted the mate in this game Game 1605885 then moved into it anyway a couple moves later (the position was lost anyway, but that was embarassing).


Actually my biggest dissapointement ever was earlier this year in my class championships. Jim and I each scored 2/2 and met up in round 3. I played a kings gambit and after many tactics came out of the opening a (passed) pawn up. He slowly equalized and we drew. In round 5 we each had 3.5/4 with no one else having more than 2.5, he won handily and I came out with a very aggressive position against a schvisnikov (spelling?) sicillian. I sacraficed a bishop and had enough of an attack that when I left 2 hours later a couple of experts were still playing over the game, their intuition telling them that I should be able to win it, but being unable to find the right variation. To his credit, my opponent defended beautifully with his knight. I'll pull these games from chessbase later and post them.

O the suspence!! So what happened? Did you draw? Missed the prize money?

Originally posted by RahimK
O the suspence!! So what happened? Did you draw? Missed the prize money?

It's working the other way for me at the moment; I'm living a charmed life.

Here I had already blundered away a piece and then lined up by rooks to be skewered by a bishop.

I should have resigned but then threw one last haymaker which - incredibly - hit the mark...

Game 1661290

Second one. Here I was soundly outplayed but again threw in one more trap. Incredibly, it worked.

Game 1638123

Ja. It is a reality check when your opponent does not cooperate.

Originally posted by RahimK
O the suspence!! So what happened? Did you draw? Missed the prize money?

Sadly I missed out on the prize money. I did make it into the money into my 2 most recent events though, so I am very happy with my current OTB play.

Well in our halloween sectional, 5 game round robin vs players close to your rating, I was in clear first with 2-0. Then some young kid 11ish slowed my down with a draw. The next day I lost and then drew so I ended up with 3/5. Decent score considering i was rated 3 highest out of the 6 players. However, 3 other people had the same score and we ended up sharing the prize of $100 so $25 each. The entry fee was $20🙁 and I bought a case of pop, driving, food etc...

Originally posted by exigentsky
Has anyone else blundered away a clearly better game?

No.

Can you explain your 11th move? I can't.

Originally posted by exigentsky
The amount of pure ignorance I mmust have had to miss this checkmate is startling.There's nothing worse than losing a won game in 20 moves. 🙁 I feel like a total idiot. Game 1671283

Has anyone else blundered away a clearly better game?

if your biggest chess disappointment has happened on internet, then you dont even know what is a BIG chess disappointment for OTB players...

Originally posted by Jusuh
if your biggest chess disappointment has happened on internet, then you dont even know what is a BIG chess disappointment for OTB players...

Who let you in?

This was very frustrating as I had a fairly clear win: Game 1496928. I just didn't get to grips with the possibilities along the a1 - h8 diagonal and first missed a pin, and then a straightforward (threat of) recapture that would have left me with a slight advantage, instead of that I resigned.

Actually, now that I think of it. In the MN state High school championship of 99 I went 3/3 on the first day then traded B + 2 pawns for Rook and pressure. I then entered a combination which I thought would net me a pawn and instead dropped a rook for 2 pawns. I was so disappointed I barely tried the next game. The final game I woke up about halfway through and could have drawn but I missed it and instead lost to end 3/6. I couldn't get that loss out of my head for about 2 years.

If you think that loss was bad just take a look at this. There was never a game more won than this. I draw your collective attention to my intriguing 23rd move.

Game 1651589

This sure wasn't my worst loss ever, though. Probably the one that most hurt took place in about 1997 in a big, big tournament in Bogota, Colombia. It was a Swiss system and I was drawn in the first round against the country's top female player (Adriana Salazar, I think her name was). Anyway, she was titled, had represented her country in countless olympiads, etc. etc.
We sat down to play and I just thought I would hang on as long as possible because defeat was inevitable. To my surprise, she started talking to me, asking me where I was from etc. We chatted, the clock ticked away (on her time, of course) and before I knew it we had eaten up about 25 minutes on her clock (two hours time limit).
She then realised, started playing, got a good attack, which I defended ok and then, suddenly she got into a panic. Her plan hadnt worked, material was even and she had no plan b.

To cut the story short, we got to an even position endgame but with three minutes left on her clock and about 35 on mine. It was one of the last games being played in this enormous room, and a crowd had gathered around the board (people at the back drew up chairs to peer over the others). I could sense the victory, I could picture the headlines in the paper the next day "Unknown tourist humiliates Salazar". She was really nervous and jittery, kept looking at the board, then looking at the clock, board, clock, board, clock. I was witnessing the greatest chess victory of my long and undistinguished career.

And then...I screwed it up. She grabbed a pawn, I got worried about the material advantage so came up with a little combination to grab one back. But in doing so, I abandoned a vital square, allowing her to give me check and drive my king into a mating net.

It was all so unnecessary. Losing the pawn didnt matter. I should have just hunkered down. There was no time for her to do anything. But I screwed up as I usually do. But Ill never forget that missed opportunity.

Oh man, that one must have hurt, blowing a meaningless correspondence game is one thing, but missing the chance to beat a super strong player in a big tournament, now that's just brutal. The error isn't half as bad as missing an elementary mate, but the circumstances make it so much more tragic.