Swindles

Diligent explorers of this website may have found a little collection of the finest swindles that I had perpetrated in my career, up to the point where I established this website.  I pulled off another one so appalling that I thought it too should be displayed as a dreadful warning to others.  The serendipity of life ensured that a week or two before, hot new signing Tim Paulden had pulled off a win when a piece down in an endgame, and a week or two after, I witnessed Ian Jamieson come out with a win in a position that the most sympathetic reading would say was unpromising. I am reminded of the wise words of Grigory Sanokoev:

"There are no hopeless positions; there are only inferior positions that can be saved.
There are no drawn positions; there are only equal ones in which you can play for a win.
But at the same time, don't forget that there is no such thing as a won position in which it is impossible to lose."
-- Grigory SANAKOEV
[I am grateful to my esteemed former colleague Peter Lane for drawing my attention to this quote.]

Chess Quotes

"The most important feature of the chess position is the activity of the pieces. This is absolutely fundamental in all phases of the game (opening, middlegame and especially endgame). The primary constraint on a piece's activity is the Pawn structure."
— Michael STEAN, in Simple Chess.