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Sometimes in a game of chess, we can get tunnel vision. That is, we get so focussed on our planned series of moves that we lose sight of the rest of the board. This is different to making a gambit or taking a calculated risk, as those are decisional choices. Instead, it is not seeing threats and alternatives due to being so invested in a particular line. A situation where this can happen when we are trying to create a mate in 1 threat and I’m going to talk about two games I played recently back to back as examples.

The insight that I have from these games is that even when you think you’ve created a brilliant mating threat, it’s probably a good idea to take a step back, and deliberately take some time to see how and where that threat can be refuted. Consider, how obvious that those moves would be and the likelihood that the opponent will see it. And if they do so, what happens to your position?

I hope you enjoyed this video, and thanks for watching!

Game 1: https://www.chess.com/game/live/36296944185

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.01.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "watson87b"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "1195"]
[BlackElo "1099"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "18:27:37 PST"]
[Termination "watson87b won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 b6 3. Bc4 Bb7 4. d3 Be7 5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4 Bf6 7. Qe3 Nc6 8. Nd5 Bd4 9. Qf3 Ne5 10. Qe2 c6 11. Nc3 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Nf6 13. Nf3 Ng6 14. Bg5 O-O 15. e5 Re8 16. O-O-O Qc7 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Qd2 Rad8 19. exf6 b5 20. Bb3 a5 21. Ng5 Rf8 22. Ne6 dxe6 23. Qh6 Qf4+ 24. Qxf4 Nxf4 25. g4 a4 26. Bxe6 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 Nxe6 28. h4 c5 29. Rd5 Bxd5 0-1

Game 2: https://www.chess.com/game/live/36298172211

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.01.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "dfilko"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "1042"]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "18:53:30 PST"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 Bf5 4. Bd3 Ne4 5. Nd2 e6 6. c3 Nc6 7. Nxe4 dxe4 8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. Qa4 Qd7 11. f3 Bd6 12. Bxd6 cxd6 13. Ne2 exf3 14. gxf3 O-O 15. e4 Bg6 16. O-O-O Bh5 17. Rhf1 f5 18. Nf4 Bf7 19. exf5 exf5 20. h4 Rfe8 21. Qc2 Rab8 22. b3 d5 23. Rg1 Qd6 24. Qg2 Qxf4+ 25. Kc2 g6 26. h5 Re6 27. Rde1 Rbe8 28. hxg6 Rxg6 29. Qh3 Rxe1 30. Rxe1 Rg3 31. Qh2 Qxf3 32. Qd2 Rg2 0-1