One of the best-known aphorisms ascribed to the Polish/French Grandmaster and wit Savielly Tartakower is “no game was ever won by resigning”. Have you even resigned in a won position or accepted a draw offer because you overlooked a surprising resource? Then you’re in good company! German Grandmaster Ilja Zaragatski shows you some of the greatest tragedies involving the “wrong” outcome to a game.

7: Svidler - Anand, Dos Hermanas 1999



We start with two chess24 super-grandmasters, Peter Svidler and Viswanathan Anand. In the following position, after 69.h6, the Indian ex-World Champion played:

69... ♔f7 and the players agreed to share the point. Both had clearly overlooked that after 70. ♔xd4 ♘b5+ 71. ♔c5 ♘xa7 72. ♔b6 ♘c8+ 73. ♔c7 the white pawn could no longer be stopped and Black would soon have had to lay down his arms. Let’s take a look: ♘a7

73... ♘e7 runs into the pretty resource 74. h7 ♔g7 75. f6!+ and White wins.

74. ♔d7 ♘b5 75. h7 ♔g7 76. f6+ ♔xh7 77. f7 ♔g7 78. ♔e7 +- So a half point thrown away by Svidler, although after 15 years we hope he can look back on it with a wry smile Peter, an outstanding chess aesthete, has always had a reputation for throwing in the towel a little too early in very bad but not yet hopeless positions - he just loses the urge to play on. (Editor's note: in fact this was far from the only curious end to a game for Svidler back then - don't miss his wonderful The Glory Days of 1999, where he tells the story of how during another game against Anand he literally asked his opponent to beat him in the most aesthetically-pleasing manner!)

6: Lautier - Kasparov, Tilburg 1997

Position after 20.Rc7







Another (potentially) missed half point went against the best chess player of all time. In this position Kasparov accepted his French grandmaster colleague’s draw offer. Instead he could have exploited White’s back rank weaknesses with 20…c5! to get a very healthy extra pawn, which it would only have been a matter of technique to convert into a win. The point is that White can’t play 21.bxc5 as after 21…Rb8 he’ll either get mated or have to give up the bishop. Even World Champions aren’t immune to minor oversights when it comes to concluding a game, particularly if they've already mentally come to terms with the outcome.

5: Kreijcik - Schwarz, Vienna 1905

This is a somewhat older example. It was Black to move, but he threw in the towel since he saw that after the queen check on b4 the only move 1…Kd5 would run into 2.Ne7+, and he’d have to part with his queen. Unlike in real life, however, such a demise for the lady wouldn’t have been a tragedy, since after



1... ♔d5 2. ♘e7+ ♔e4 3. ♘xc8 f3+ Black surprisingly either gets a new queen or wins his opponent’s queen: 4. ♔f2



4. ♔d2 ♘d5+−+

4. ♔e1 ♘c2+−+

4... ♗h4+ 5. ♔g1 f2+ 6. ♔h2 f1Q and Black wins. So here the second player has thrown a full point out of the window. The only consolation, perhaps, was that at the time he didn’t lose any Elo points!

4: Ahues - NN, Berlin 1920

Position after 1. ‌Qf6





In this example White has just dramatically moved his queen to f6, whereupon Black, despite being a rook up, could see no salvation and capitulated. Yes, 1…gxf6 fails to the pretty 2.Rg3+ Kh8 3.Bxf6# but Black has the neat response – 1…Qg4!, after which White could have resigned on the spot. After 2.hxg4 White has blocked the g-file, so Black can calmly take on f6. There isn’t, of course, anything better for White, since it’s not only that 1…Qg4! covers mate on g7, it also creates the threat of Qxg2# Personally I’d even be tempted to play 1…Qd1+ 2.Kh2 Qg4!, but perhaps that’s just my sadistic streak.



3: Kofmann - Sacchetti

Position after 1…Qg3. With his last move Black threatened the deadly Qxh3#, against which White saw no response and conceded defeat. It’s true that he couldn’t take the d4-bishop, since his rook on e1 would be unprotected, but he had another option to extract his head from the noose and even most likely go on to win the game:

1. ♖e8+ ♔d7 2. ♖e3! ♕h4 The queen has to protect the bishop. It doesn’t matter from where, since White will always respond with 3. ♖xd4!+ and after ♕xd4 4. ♖d3! ♕xd3 5. ♘e5+ ♔d6 6. ♘xd3 he regains the queen and has excellent winning chances!



2: Torre - Parker, New York 1924



Position after 29...Rc5





‌In this example the namesake of world-class grandmaster Eugenio Torre felt helpless in the face of the Rc1+ threat and offered his hand. Too bad, since after the unexpected but wonderful 30.Rd6!! it would be Black who went home empty-handed. Taking with the rook is out of the question due to 31.g8=Q, while 30…cxd6 simply fails to 31.f7, since White can refute 31...Rc1+ with 32.Kxd2.



1: Jonasson - Angantysson, 1984

Position after 27...Bd4+





The black player launched a brilliant combination that culminated in this position, forcing White to resign. Or so, at least, thought the players. After the zwischenzug 28.Ne3! it’s White who wins, since he opens up the queen’s diagonal and covers his rook on f1: 28…Bxe3+ 29.Kh1 exf1+ 30.Qxf1 and the tables have turned. The white player was instead so impressed by the tactical skills of his opponent that he immediately resigned.

And the moral of the story: resigning too early simply isn’t worth it!

Let’s end with a chance to test yourself:



Von Popiel - Marco, Monte Carlo 1902

White has just played 36.Rd1 and attacked the pinned d4-bishop once more.





What can you do? Resign, since the loss of a piece is unavoidable, or is there another way out?



See also: