Alright people, it’s confession time. What’s your most embarrassing moment in chess. Mine are 2. I’ll let you decide which one is worse.
Accidentally drooling on the chessboard… I recovered nicely by whispering to my opponent “wow, i must really like my position”… He had a sense of humor and laughed (actually, my position was inferior and we both knew it).
The nightmarish act of resigning a drawn game. I thought my opponent had mate, when all he had was perpetual check. The jerk had the lack of class to be later laughing at it with a friend of his, while I was in the room. Maybe he should have told his friend that I had him busted as black by move 15. But all the same, it was definitely the most embarrassing moment of my chess career.
Never have I witnessed a player trying so mightily to prove he wasn’t winning as when he has just offered (and his opponent has accepted) a draw, in a position where the player had winning chances he hadn’t noticed.
Any other time, it’s “You were busted. Your draw here was pure luck.”
I had the opposite experience of karchad, where an opponent resigned
because of the threat of a mate, that he could have avoided.
My opponent had been better most of the game, and I finally managed to
get some counterplay by throwing some pawns at his king. I had just
played pawn takes pawn with check, and if he took back with the king,
there was a 2-move mate. But he didn’t have to take, the king could
have just retreated, and after a couple of checks from my queen, he would
have been OK.
I think it has to do with the psychological impact of seeing your
opponent equalize after you have held a comfortable position for a
while.
On the other hand, once I accepted a draw when I had an easy win.
It was a Queen vs. pawn endgame, and my opponent had a bishop
pawn. He argued loudly that it was a draw, and I looked at the position
for a bit and didn’t find the win, so I accepted the draw.
Of course, this position can be a draw, but in this case my king was
nearby, so I could have won.
Excellent point on the psychology of it. I had the guy busted. I was a piece up for 2 pawns in a middle game that i had a better position in. A dead win for me became a draw. My mind couldnt take it, and resigned a drawn position.