A few years ago, a book came out called The Complete Chess Swindler: How to Save Points from Lost Positions. I bought it, started reading it… and didn’t get very far. It ended up gathering virtual dust on my digital shelf. But in a recent blitz game on Gameknot, I was reminded of the book when I managed to swindle my opponent out of victory with a crafty pawn move... he he.
Here's my video commentary of the game, after it was over:
Another Chance to practise the Sniper
I played as Black and opened with the Sniper as that is the defence I am studying at the moment:
- d4 g6
- e4 Bg7
- e5 ...
3.e5 is not mentioned in Sniper advocate Charlie Storey's book, and indeed, the Gameknot chess engine prefers the more usual 3. Nf3 rather than moving the e pawn twice. I decided to carry on with the signature third move for the Sniper, 3... c5.
It was a close game until the twentieth move when I blundered and gifted White my centrally-placed knight:
It would have been better to move my Queen to e5.
Reducing Down and Hoping for Chaos
I decided my best chance was to simplify the position and trade down to an endgame where my pawns might cause some trouble. If I could get it down to his knight versus my pawns, I might have a glimmer of hope. My opponent, with a material advantage, was happy to oblige!
As can be seen, with the last rook exchange, White still has an advantage, but Black is not completely bereft of options...
I was pleased to see that White was willing to trade his a-pawn. Now it was White who had to fret about pawns on either wing.
The Key Moment : The Swindle
Here is the moment when the swindle happened:
I had an opportunity to advance my pawn to h4 and White took the bait. He took the pawn, and that’s when I pushed my g pawn forward. White, realizing what had happened, tried to push his own pawn, hoping to promote first, but it was too late.
In the end, White swindled himself by taking my h-pawn instead of moving his knight to e4. Thus, with a knight down and low on time, I managed to swindle a win.
Instead of moving his pawn to h5, White could have salvaged his position with three moves of his knight:
Well, never mind, eh!
Cheers! 🍻
David Hurley
#PubChessBluffer
References
The Complete Chess Swindler, by David Smerdon, published by New In Chess, 2020
The Sniper, by Charlie Storey, published by Everyman Chess, 2011
Screenshots: https://gameknot.com/