A lesson for the n00bs

Here the Gabridoodle, with the black pieces, faces some... difficulties.  In fact, it looks like he's in real trouble.  But he suddenly found a way out: a little horse move.  There's really no way for Fritz to avoid losing a rook (at least).

Perhaps rook to b3 is Fritz's least bad move -- they'd exchange queens:

• the Gabridoodle's horse takes Fritz's queen
• Fritz's rook takes the Gabridoodle's queen
• the Gabridoodle's horse takes the rook

Alternatively, if Fritz wanted to keep the queens on the board, he could move his queen to e1.  He'd still lose the rook and probably also the game.

Note that putting his queen on c1 instead would land Fritz in a vicious royal fork after the Gabridoodle moved his horse to e2, simultaneously attacking Fritz's king and queen. 

• If Fritz captured the horse with his rook, he'd lose his queen (moving his rook opens up a discovered attack for the Gabridoodle's queen) and then quickly be mated. 
• If Fritz moved his king, the Gabridoodle's horse would simply grab the queen.  Fritz would at least be able to recapture the horse, but having swapped his queen for a horse, he'd be toast before many more moves.

Note that in all these scenarios, Fritz has to be very careful about the back rank mate threat while the Gabridoodle doesn't face that problem.

Instead, Fritz did something very, very "special," namely queen to c2.  ROAR !  This resulted in Fritz losing both his queen and rook.  After the Gabridoodle moved his queen to a1 (giving check), Fritz loses one and then the other.

Benjamin Franklin on swindling

From the Chess Improver:

http://chessimprover.com/?p=7295

12 Sep 2012: another half-point swindle !

The need to get a doorknob fixed unexpectedly brought the Chess Pirate out of hiding.  This was thus the first CHESS CLUB meeting that featured both a trip to the hardware store and the Gabridoodle putting on a display of mechanical dexterity by installing a new doorknob in one room while standing in another.

Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, ½-½

Training with Fritz has added briskness to the Gabridoodle's play; consequently, no time control was used (or really necessary) for this game.  The Chess Pirate wore a sombrero in an attempt to distract and/or intimidate the Gabridoodle.  The sombrero didn't really work its magic, but the Gabridoodle did fall behind in material early on, dropping a pony.  Around move 30, the Chess Pirate viciously forked him, gaining a decisive advantage.  Nevertheless, they fought on until the Gabridoodle pulled a bunny out of the hat on move 53, swindling the Pirate for a half point by means of stalemate !