But playing on when you think you are much worse requires exceptional optimism or massive arrogance, or an unhealthy combination of both.
But then I have always been a glass-half-empty person when it comes to draws, regarding them as closer to losses than to wins.
This is true in most football leagues and a few chess tournaments, where it is 3pts for a win and 1pt for a draw, but it is certainly not the case at the Jersey Open.
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| White has just played 16.Qc2-b3 and offered a draw in Victor Rumsey (1858) - Spanton (1914), round five |
16...g5?
I am pretty sure it was Bronstein who said that to lose one's objectivity at the board was to almost invariably lose the game.
17.Bb1 g4 18.Ne5 Qd6 19.Nd3 Qd7 20.Ne2 a5?
If I had seriously asked myself, 'Whose king is in greater danger?', I would have surely played 20...Qd5, which would have forced queens off thanks to Black's threats along the long light-square diagonal.
21.Ne5 Qd6 22.bxa5 Nax5 23.Qxb5 Ba6?
Again it was better to get queens off, even though a pawn down.
24.Qxa5 Bxe2 25.Rd2 Ba6??
A blunder in an already-lost position.
26.Rc6 (1-0, 42 moves)
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