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The Art of Resilience: How to Defend Lost Chess Positions

You ve Picked wrong Person to talk about that with xD
I defend completly lost Positions, dozens of Miracke Stalemates and counter Mates , where I was about to be mated..,,
so My Secret is JUST PLAY TILL THE VERY END AND BE SERIOUS ABOUT IT EVERY LOSS GAME

You ve Picked wrong Person to talk about that with xD I defend completly lost Positions, dozens of Miracke Stalemates and counter Mates , where I was about to be mated..,, so My Secret is JUST PLAY TILL THE VERY END AND BE SERIOUS ABOUT IT EVERY LOSS GAME

excellent blog! wish my games were that savable lol

excellent blog! wish my games were that savable lol

I hadn't heard of the approach of setting mini challenges for yourself, but I realize I've used this approach. My main one has been to get my pieces as active as possible without trading anything off. I've been able to create several perpetual checks in lost positions this way, even in classical games. It feels great to "steal" a half-point :-)

I hadn't heard of the approach of setting mini challenges for yourself, but I realize I've used this approach. My main one has been to get my pieces as active as possible without trading anything off. I've been able to create several perpetual checks in lost positions this way, even in classical games. It feels great to "steal" a half-point :-)

Wow, this was a really well written blog! As a 2300 on the rival website (chess.com), I can certainly say that if there was anything that was crucial to learn from 2100 to my current rating, it was how to fight back!

Another thing which is good to try and do is swindle the position: create a ton of counterplay, even if there are a few flaws, because that can really mess with your opponent, even if they have a completely winning position. At the end of the day, the worst that can happen is you losing the game, but why not give your opponent a hard time before the "Inevitable" happens! They have plenty of room for errors.

Wow, this was a really well written blog! As a 2300 on the rival website (chess.com), I can certainly say that if there was anything that was crucial to learn from 2100 to my current rating, it was how to fight back! Another thing which is good to try and do is swindle the position: create a ton of counterplay, even if there are a few flaws, because that can really mess with your opponent, even if they have a completely winning position. At the end of the day, the worst that can happen is you losing the game, but why not give your opponent a hard time before the "Inevitable" happens! They have plenty of room for errors.
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"Step 4: Help your Opponents to Make a Mistake"

This is the most important part in my experience. When I do save a lost game, and then look at it with the computer, my clever saving move is almost always shown as an additional mistake. The best moves would lose, but are also often pretty passive. You can only save the game if your opponent makes a mistake. So you have to make threats; and if you don't have any real threats, make a move that looks threatening. If you opponent can't calculate everything, they might just believe you, and settle for a bad move that reduces their advantage! Or it might just look scary, so they'll play something else where they still have an advantage. And now they're the one playing passively, and defending!

And they even might ignore a real threat, because they feel like they have a right to attack, and allow checkmate!

"Step 4: Help your Opponents to Make a Mistake" This is the most important part in my experience. When I do save a lost game, and then look at it with the computer, my clever saving move is almost always shown as an additional mistake. The best moves would lose, but are also often pretty passive. You can only save the game if your opponent makes a mistake. So you have to make threats; and if you don't have any real threats, make a move that looks threatening. If you opponent can't calculate everything, they might just believe you, and settle for a bad move that reduces their advantage! Or it might just look scary, so they'll play something else where they still have an advantage. And now they're the one playing passively, and defending! And they even might ignore a real threat, because they feel like they have a right to attack, and allow checkmate!