---

Chess is often thought of as a game of calculation and accuracy. Although there is a truth in this view, in games against fellow humans, chess is also a game of psychological brinksmanship. Emotions such as anxiety, fear, impatience, and joy often influence critical positions in the game.

Which brings us to this game. Audacious sacrifices can be practically evil by inducing a flood of emotions in our opponent. Confusion at the move, elation when they win material at our “blunder”, and then despair when they realise, they fell for a trap! This “emotional damage” can result in them losing the will to play. One way to win is for the opponent to resign!

This game began with my opponent with the White pieces playing the Ruy Lopez Opening, me responding with my favourite Jaenisch Gambit, which the opponent accepted (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. exf5). After the opening and early middle game, I get to a great position on move 15 with three attackers on White’s f2 pawn.

After my opponent blocked the diagonal with (16. Be3) I knew the probable best move was to “cash out” and to trade bishops (16… Bxe3). I played this game using my Chessnut Air board (https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/2022/11/03/chessnut-air-electronic-chess-set-review/) and I couldn’t see a particularly winning line after the trade. So, I decided to do something audacious and tricky with (16… Nxf2)! Stockfish called this a blunder [-0.05] and White found the best move with (17. Qe2). They correctly surmised that capturing the knight would have been the wrong move.

It seemed that my gamble didn’t pay off so I spent 4 minutes (in a 30 min game) calculating and deciding the next move. I eventually found decided on and played the best move, which was to trade bishops (17… Bxe3 18. Qxe3). I spent another 3.5 minutes deciding on the next move, and this was where a really evil line came to me and I decided to gamble again!

(18… Rf3)! I knew that Stockfish would probably call this a blunder as this was seemingly a straight up sacrifice of a rook! And it was! Stockfish rated this at [+8.53] so a dead loss blunder. White responded the way I expected, capturing the rook with the g-pawn (19. gxf3). What I saw however, was that that pawn now blocks the queen’s control of the third rank and so (19… Nh3+) comes with check. The king hides in the corner [+7.93] which was what I predicted. White certainly must think that they are winning now! I next centralise my rook to the f-file (20… Rf8).

My goal? I was hoping that White, excited by the prospects of crushing me soon, would see that their rook and queen formed a battery on the e-file. My pawn on e-4 seemed ripe for the taking as it was attacked three times by White (rook and queen on the battery, and the knight on c3). In fact, I was hoping that it would appear irresistible as they could then invite a queen trade, cementing their winning advantage. However, lurking in the background was the knight on h3! White triumphantly captures my pawn with their queen (21. Qxe3) and falls for my trap with the evaluation dropping to [-3.66]! Which is (21… Nf2+) a royal fork of the king and queen!

After I win the queen, White plays on for a couple more moves, and then resigns after their own move, having loss the will to continue. Emotional damage! GG.

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/61593693187

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.11.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "ZOV-ebet-AZOV"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C60"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Ruy-Lopez-Opening-Jaenisch-Gambit-Accepted"]
[UTCDate "2022.11.07"]
[UTCTime "21:00:02"]
[WhiteElo "1335"]
[BlackElo "1354"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "21:00:02"]
[EndDate "2022.11.07"]
[EndTime "21:21:00"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/61593693187"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. exf5 {Ruy Lopez Opening: Jaenisch Gambit Accepted} 4... e4 $1 {When White accepts the gambit, Black gains a good opening advantage [-0.55]} 5. Ng1 Nf6 $6 {Curiously, the chess.com engine labelled this an \"inaccuracy\" [+0.44] and I assume this is a bug. Using Stockfish 15 NNUE to independently analyse this move suggests that this is the second best move and the advantage is still firmly with Black.  However, Qg5 immediately attacking the g2 pawn is best.} 6. Ne2 d5 7. Nd4 Bd7 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. d3 Bc5 10. Ne6 Bxe6 11. fxe6 Qe7 {At the end of the opening, I retain an important advantage in development [-0.68] which more than compensates for the loss of a single pawn} 12. O-O Qxe6 13. dxe4 dxe4 $2 14. Nc3 O-O 15. Re1 $4 {A blunder [-3.90] as there is an impending attack on the f2 pawn} 15... Ng4 {[%c_arrow
c5f2;keyPressed;none;from;c5;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false,g4f2;keyPressed;none;from;g4;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false,f8f2;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false]} 16. Be3 Nxf2 $4 {Trading bishops is clearly the best move, but I decided to play hyperaggressive provocative moves, that I knew were probably bad, and it was objectively [-0.05] $1  Why $2  This is part of the psychological game $1  I thought that I could induce a game changing blunder that would cause \"emotional damage\" that might result in the opponent resigning.} 17. Qe2 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Rf3 $4 {Objectively a blunder [+8.53] but I saw evil potential in this rook sacrifice that could win me the queen $1} 19. gxf3 Nh3+ 20. Kh1 Rf8 21. Qxe4 $4 {And I succeed in making White blunder their queen [-3.66] $1 I suspected that White might find the pawn irresistable as they would assume they are completely winning (they are). The immediate principle is to attempt to force a queen trade and simply to an endgame. However, this complacency may have resulted in them missing the trap...} 21... Nf2+ $1 {[%c_arrow
f2h1;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;h1;persistent;false,f2e4;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;e4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false,h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h1;persistent;false]
A royal fork $1} 22. Kg1 Nxe4 23. Rxe4 Qg6+ 24. Rg4 {[%c_effect
g8;square;g8;type;Winner,g1;square;g1;type;ResignWhite] And White resigns after their final move...} 0-1