Diagrams of the week - My Worst Blunder Yet As Black

This is what can happen if you don't concentrate very hard in a chess match (from my own depressing experiences.. :( )


(Click the image below to view the animation)

So, a few points:

I played 5...Bd6 because I NEEDED TO DEFEND MY E5 PAWN, now that white had played 5.Nc3 to defend his e4 pawn. It was NOT the blundering move.

The REAL blunder was of course, 7...Nf6?? because white now has the killing move 8.e5. I should have played 7...f6, which also stops 8.Qxg7, but also stops that pesky pawn fork!

Well, I've certainly learnt MY lesson...

Been busy recently

Last Saturday's Diagram of the Week was not published, part 2 of Ruy Lopez hasn't even been written yet, no new chess tips recently... What's going on?


Well, tomorrow, the Easter holidays are over, and I'll have to go back to school, so recently I've been really busy. Now that I will be back at school, I can play chess games with my friends and tell you any epic sacrifices I made. Or, of course, any horrific blunders.. I'll also ask if any of my chess pals want to be a blog author so get ready for a major blog-post surge!!

Writing down your games

Have YOU ever written down a chess game you have played? It can extremely helpful. After you play the game, if you lose, then you can review it and highlight the weak moves you made and how you could have done better. And of course, if you win, keep the notation of the chess game as a memory to how well you played! You can also review it and see if you could have played even BETTER!


Why not write a BOOK and record all of your most prized games in it? Organise them, annotate them, give your opinion on what you think would have been a better move if you stop a weak one.

• See our Algebraic Chess Notation page if you don't know how to record chess games.
• Use my Chess Score Sheet for a quick 'n' easy way to record your games:

Chess Score Sheet

Date:____________________ Time:______

White:_____________ Black:_____________

No.	White	Black	50		No.	White	Black	50

Copy & paste the above score sheet into a Word document and print! (If you don't have Microsoft Word you should consider downloading OpenOffice, a free Word-like word processor!)

1. Put the move number in the No. column
2. Put white and black's moves in their columns
3. The 50 column is for noting down how many moves have past since the last pawn movement or capture, and if the move number reaches 50, the game is a DRAW (this is a PROPER tournament rule, but if you're playing a fun game you can ignore the 50 column)

Have fun improving your chess tactics!

DON'T DO THIS SACRIFICE!! I did it just for fun against someone.

Scholar's Mate from Philidor's Defence, from a game I played ages ago (I was white by the way ;))





Play these moves on the chessboard above:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 d6
Philidor's Defence opening
3. Bc4 Bg4
PINNING the knight
4. h3 Bh5
5. g4 Bg6
6. h4 Bxe4
7. d3
I sacrificed a pawn to try and get my opponent to exchange...
7...Bxf3
He did!
8. Qxf3 Nf6??
He blocked mate, but that knight is now dead.
9. g5!
If the knight moves I will deliver mate!
9...Ng8??
His worst blunder that will cost him the game.
10. Qxf7#


Yeah... I know that it was risky sacrificing the pawn to try to entice my opponent to start exchanging... and there so many ways he could have prevented mate, so... not a very good example... but it just shows what you get for being a bit greedy. I would not recommend doing something like this against a careful player, and as in a chess match you should almost always assume best play... DON'T do this!