A lost cause at the chessboard is hard to define, but, like obscenity, I know it when I see it. There comes a point where prolonging the matter is downright indecent, so thank goodness that custom permits us to save our blushes with a timely resignation.
Then again, there are a great many chess positions that lurk in the shadows — distasteful, but not beyond redemption. The degenerate defender must thirst after a swindle to salvage a draw (or more!). I confess that so long as some hope remains of a juicy swindle, I can stomach almost any position, no matter how unseemly.
The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess), a new book by Australian grandmaster and economist David Smerdon, is a thrilling guide to this netherworld of not-quite-resignable positions. Smerdon has collected all manner of games and tales that implicate amateurs and grandmasters alike. The book can be read as a manual: by grasping the techniques that underpin the turnarounds in these games, the reader may hope to save many half points of their own. But most of all, the perpetrators’ ingenuity, and the concomitant orgy of blunders, provide a simple voyeuristic pleasure. Swindles are fun. Like this, which shows the author’s own flair for the art:
NN — David Smerdon
Internet blitz, 2018 (See diagram)
Black has lost his queen, and his exposed king is in imminent danger. Smerdon points to three questions for Black to consider, to maximize his chances. 1. What does my opponent want? 2. How does he plan to achieve it? 3. What’s good about my position? Well, White’s most tempting threat is to play for mate, with Re5-e7+, followed by Qb6/a7. A move like 1…Rhe8 prevents that, but is bound to lose slowly.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in