Lessons From Mariánské Lázně: Keep A Cool Head

GRANDMASTER David Bronstein once stated: "To lose one's objective attitude to a position nearly always means ruining your game."

I have not managed to find where he said this - it may be from his book on the 1953 candidates'  tournament - but I do believe many chess players fall into one of two  camps: the unreasonably optimistic and the unreasonably pessimistic.

I am probably more often in the former camp, and I think my 2066-rated opponent in round three at Mariánské Lázně was the same.

Position after I played 12...Rff7!?

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White has a promising-looking attack, but there appears to be nothing immediately decisive.

Probably best is 13.exf6, but 13...Bxf6 leaves Black with a solid position, although Stockfish15, but not Komodo13.02, gives White a slight edge.

The game saw the aggressive 13.b4?!, which is strongly disliked by the engines, presumably because it drives the knight to a square from which it is better placed to defend the black king, and because it also weakens the white queenside.

After 13...Ne6 White should probably develop with 14.Nd2, although the engines reckon both 14...fxe5 and 14...a5 give Black at least a slight edge.

Instead White played 14.f4, the idea being to meet 14...fxe5 with 15.f5!?

However after 15...gxf5! - clearly best, according to the engines - White did not have enough for two pawns.

He continued 15.Qxe5? - better is 15.Bxf5 - but 15...Bd6 16.Qe1 Qf6 17.Be3 Qe5 left White with little option but to play 18.Qg3+, after which queens came off and Black emerged a pawn up.

To reiterate: objectivity is an important chess skill that helps a player find the correct plan, or at least makes it less likely a player will go seriously wrong.