Mariánské Lázně Lesson 6: Remember A Mantra

IN round six I reached the following position with white.

I have just played 44.Kg2-h3

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I have been a pawn up against my higher-rated opponent for much of the game, but she has just sacrificed the exchange on c2 to get to the seventh rank with the black queen.

I had spent quite a bit of time considering the consequences of Black playing a follow-up sacrifice on g4, eventually concluding that 44...Bxg4+? 45.Kxg4 Qg2 46.Kf5 wins for White, with little danger of succumbing to a perpetual.

The game saw 44...Qf2, after which Black has two winning lines, one starting 45...Qxf3+ and the other starting 45...Qh4+.

I defended against both winning lines with 45.Qc3??, missing Black's third winning line, 45...Qg3#.

In the heat of battle I forgot to apply my usual mantra after an opponent's move: CHECKS - CAPTURES - HANGERS - THREATS.

The idea, which derives from a recommendation of first world correspondence champion Cecil Purdy, is to consider every possible check and every possible capture, and to look for hangers, ie pieces and pawns that are undefended, and to look for possible threats, such as a pawn hitting a queen.

If I had applied the mantra I could not have missed ...Qg3# - it is a threat as well as a check! - and so would have taken the perpetual that is to be had after 45.Qb8+.

LESSON: a simple mantra is a valuable tool - Purdy is not the only one to have recommended it - but, as Purdy admitted, it is easy when excited or stressed to sometimes forget to apply it.