Having explained what bullet chess is, we now turn to a more important question – why would anyone play it?
The public image of chess is of a dignified, quiet game played by either elderly gentlemen or deep thinkers (the evil genius Kronstein in From Russia with Love comes to mind). Chess is always thought to be a hard, slightly scary game where thought is required. The sedate, contemplative nature of chess is embedded in the popular consciousness.
Thought, of course, requires time, and the idea of playing an entire game of chess in no more than two minutes strikes most non-players as absurd, then impossible. It is just too much at odds with their image of the game.
Many chess players have the same reaction. They (correctly) think “but that’s not chess,” and then (usually incorrectly) think “I could never do that.”
This reaction is consistent with what we know about the psychology of chess players. Naturally enough, almost every chess player aspires to play perfect, error-free chess (although no one can), but they don’t realize that if everyone did the result would be dreary, boring games. Some argue that top-level chess has already reached this stage.
Chess is a game of mistakes, and it is understandable that many chess players instinctively shy away from playing a version of chess which is guaranteed to lead to mistakes – and often very bad ones. With only one minute for the game, both sides are almost sure to blunder, and so the illusion of possible perfection is gone before the first move is made.
Players who balk at playing one-minute chess are failing to see the whole picture. They shouldn’t be worrying that they will make more mistakes – they should be rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of all the mistakes their opponents will make.
With this in mind, let’s look at some of the reasons we think bullet chess is fun.
It doesn’t matter if you lose
People play chess for all sorts of reasons, but most players would rather win than lose. The beauty of bullet is that it doesn’t matter if you lose! Since bullet isn’t serious chess, it really doesn’t matter, even in chess terms. Bullet is purely for fun, and people who think it’s more than that have other issues they might consider addressing.
You always have a chance
In slower games, if you lose even a pawn to a grandmaster you are probably toast (these days that depends on who the grandmaster is, but you get the idea). In bullet, on the other hand, there is always a chance to pull off a miracle.
The following examples illustrate the important point than in bullet there is always hope.
White (1878) – Black (2068) [A00]
After a chaotic battle featuring intense hand-to-hand combat and an exciting kingwalk, White’s attack has won out. With five seconds left, against his opponent’s four seconds, it is almost inconceivable that White could lose. For example, 42.Qe8+ Kg7/h7 43.Qf7+ Kh8 44.Ng6 is mate, all with check.
But with the game destined to end in less than ten seconds, one way or the other, there is no point in Black giving up. In any case, no one ever won a game by resigning, and it turns out that White contrives to lose in what is probably the only legal helpmate in the position:
42.Q×h6+?! Kg8 43.Ng6? Qf7 mate 0-1
If you think this sort of thing is rare, you either have never played bullet or you resign too quickly! It is almost certain that at this exact moment someone is blowing a “completely winning position” in a bullet game.
Here is another startling example, where the culprit had considerably more time than in the previous example.
White (2128) – Black (1934) [A00]
White has a massive advantage and cannot possibly lose – at least, one wouldn’t think so. There are only two dark clouds on the horizon. The first is that White has 10 seconds left, to Black’s 21 seconds. The second is that White was on game 85 of a 191-game bullet binge. This might account for what happens next.
29...Rb6!
Black courageously plays on, ignoring White’s threats. Only in this book could a move which allows mate in one be given an exclamation mark!
30.Qf5?
Missing 30.Qh8 mate, which would have deprived us of what follows.
30...Rcb8 31.Rd7
31.b3 was a bit safer, but of course White is still winning.
31...R×b2+ 32.Ka1 R2b6 33.R×e7!
With six seconds left, White finds a powerful blow which destroys Black’s defenses. It’s always fun to write things like that.
If White had only a second or two left, then Black might survive by playing 33...Rb1+, which would delay mate by several moves and possibly cause White to lose on time. But here, with White still having six seconds left, 33...Rb1+ wouldn’t accomplish much.
33...K×e7
34.Rd8?
A mouse slip! Black’s persistence is now rewarded. White’s intended 34.Rd7+ mated in two moves.
34...R×d8?
Overcome by happiness, Black grabs White’s unfortunate rook, missing 34...Rb1 mate! But with 12 seconds left, against White’s five seconds, his chances of winning are pretty good anyway.
35.Qe5+ Kf8 36.Qh8+ Ke7 37.Qe5+ Kd7 38.Qf5+ Kc7 39.Q×f7+ Kc6 0-1
White lost on time.
In the previous game, White at least had the excuse of being behind on time when he blew his winning position. In the next example, Black can only blame himself.
White (1953) – Black (1881) [A42]
White’s opening has malfunctioned and he has arrived in a completely lost position. With 11 seconds left, he launches a desperate counterattack.
25.Q×b7!? B×c3?
With a colossal 17 seconds on his clock, Black has no excuse for not finding 25...Rb8, which wins White’s queen and ends his hopes.
26.c×d6+ K×d6 27.Qc6+ Ke5?
Walking into mate, with 14 seconds left. After 27...Ke7 Black is still winning.
28.K×c3?
Missing 28.Rg5+.
28...Qf6?
Black, determined to lose, allows the mate White just missed.
29.Rg5+! Q×g5 30.Qe6 mate 1-0
With three seconds to spare.
The next example is a bit more complicated, but it serves to remind us once again that in bullet chess no position is so good that it can’t be wrecked – or salvaged, depending on how you look at it.
White (1894) – Black (1819) [B06]
After a badly played first 18 moves, Black has a nearly hopeless position. “Nearly” because White has 18 seconds left, while Black has 35 seconds remaining. Black, remembering that few positions are completely hopeless, plays on.
19.d×e5?
White took three seconds to make this dangerous capture, which opens the g1–a7 diagonal and gives Black some hope of counterplay.
After the stronger (and less greedy) 19.Q×f5!, Black could give in to despair with a clear conscience.
19...Qc5+ 20.Kh1 Nf2+ 21.Kh2 Ng4+ 22.Kh3 Nf2+
23.Kg3
With less than ten seconds remaining, White plays for the win. This somewhat impractical decision was likely made more with his heart than his head, because after Black’s obvious response...
23...B×e5+
...White blunders horribly.
24.Bf4? Qe3+
24...B×f4+! 25.K×f4 Qe5+ 36. Kf3 Qe3 was mate, although the move played wins as well.
25.Nf3
After 25.Kh2, White still gets mated.
25...B×f4 mate 0-1
Often players exchange mistakes, especially when time grows short, the position is complicated and both sides are attacking. Before we are done, we will look at many games where the players attack on opposite wings, but the play is even trickier when pieces both attack and defend at the same time, as it can be difficult for players to recognize this duality.
When a seemingly powerful attacking move turns out to inadvertently unhinge a player’s own defenses, entertaining play can result.
White (1882) – Black (2040) [A04]
White has just played 30.Nb5, initiating an attack on the queenside. Black thought for some time and decided against 30...Q×b2, which more or less holds the balance, and instead opts to begin a speculative attack which just gets him in trouble.
30...Qh6?! 31.N×c7
Now White stands better, because once his knight gets to e6, he will have an attack. Each player has 27 seconds left.
31...Bf3?
Black is firing blanks, but the objectively stronger 31...Kf7, covering e6, was not what he had in mind.
32.Ne6+ Kg8 33.Ng2
The immediate 33.Qa5! was strong too, but Black is not going to retreat, so it comes out the same.
33...Bf6 34.Qa5!
34...Kf7
Black thought for nine seconds (!) on this move and realized: 1) he has no attack; and 2) White does have an attack, and a strong one at that.
35.Qd8?!
The seemingly greedy and unprincipled 35.Q×a7 was safer, but White undoubtedly remembered the principle that you shouldn’t go pawn hunting with your queen. Here, though, his king is perfectly safe, and on a7, White’s queen would even help control the g1-a7 diagonal.
35...Qh2?
By spending another five seconds for this shot in the dark, Black leaves himself with only nine seconds, against White’s 20 seconds. To make things worse, 35...N×d5! would have put Black back in the game, but he overlooks this opportunity.
36.Qf8+ Kg6 37.Qe8+!
The six seconds White took to find this deadly move was well spent, as now Black’s defenses collapse. White has 11 seconds left; Black eight seconds.
37...Kh7
38.Nf8+?
After conducting the attack elegantly, White unexpectedly slips. After the fact it is easy to see 38.Qf7+, which forces mate. White also overlooks that his e6-knight covers d4, and therefore performs an essential defensive function. It is a common mistake in bullet to assume that the opponent’s counterplay has been permanently stopped.
38...Kh6 39.Nd7?
White completely overlooks his opponent’s threat. With eight seconds remaining to Black’s two seconds, White would still win easily with 39.Ne6.
39...Bd4+!
Black doesn’t hesitate, but he can’t afford to!
40.Ke1?
White is so shocked by 39... Bd4+ that he takes three seconds to play 40.Ke1, which is the only legal move. The question mark for this forced move is therefore justified, as White’s hesitation gave Black more time to calculate his next moves, making it less likely that Black would run out of time.
40...Q×g3+ 41.Kd2
White, still in a state of shock, takes another three seconds for this “only move.” This leaves him with two seconds, while Black has only one second left. The drama concludes:
41...Qf2+ 42.Kc1
By now White has less than a second. 42.Ke2 would have lengthened the game by a move.
42...Q×f1+?! 0-1
42...Q×b2 was mate, so the less exact 42...Q×f1+ gave White a chance, but White ran out of time anyway, with Black having a fraction of a second left...
The next example is worth giving in its entirety. After all, it took less than two minutes to play!
After a fairly successful opening, Black loses the thread of the game and finds himself in a dismal position. This serves to set the stage for a remarkable comeback.
White (1858) – Black (1946) [A40]
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 Nc6 5.Nge2 e5 6.d5 Nce7 7.Ng3 f5 8.Be2 Nf6 9.h4 f4 10.Nf1 0-0 11.Nd2 h6 12.Nb3 Bd7 13.Bd2 a6 14.Qc2 c5 15.g3
After what might be considered a relatively normal opening, Black has every reason to be satisfied with his position. But in his haste, he overlooks a pawn and things go downhill quickly.
15...Rb8? 16.g×f4 e×f4 17.B×f4 b5 18.B×d6 Rc8 19.B×c5 b×c4 20.B×c4 Kh8
Here we are, at the bottom of the hill, with both players having about 38 seconds remaining. Black’s position is abysmal, and he hardly has a glimmer of counterplay.
But almost any problem in bullet chess can be solved if both players work hard enough at finding the solution. Here Black gets some help from his opponent.
21.B×e7?!
There is no reason for White to exchange his strongly-posted c5-bishop for Black’s miserable e7-knight.
21...Q×e7 22.B×a6 N×e4!
Now it’s a game again, with White having an objectively better position, but with Black having the initiative. Which side would you rather play?
23.B×c8
Curiously, Black never bothers to recapture this bishop!
23...N×c3+ 24.Kf1 Bb5+
24...N×d5!, threatening 25...Ne3+, was stronger.
25.Kg1?
25.Kg2! was much better.
25...Ne2+ 26.Kg2
26...Nf4+?
Black, who took a whopping five seconds for this move, misses the tricky 26...Bd3!, cutting White’s queen off from e4. A fatal check on that square would soon follow. Instead, White is able to find ways to resist.
27.Kg3 Qe5 28.Rae1 Ne2+ 29.Kg2
29...Nf4+?
29...R×f2+! mates.
30.Kg3 Q×d5 (D)
Despite his missed opportunities, White’s exposed king and Black’s resulting initiative give him good chances. After 31.Rhg1, Black would have had to find a way to mate with only nine seconds left, which would have been far from easy.
Instead, White makes the fatal mistake of sinking into a deep think for no less than eight seconds, and completely overlooks Black’s threat.
31.Bg4? Qg2 mate 0-1
In the previous game, Black had to endure ten moves of nerve wracking play before White made (or, more accurately, Black took full advantage of) a fatal mistake. But sometimes things are bad almost from the start, and deliverance comes unexpectedly.
White (1919) – Black (1681) [A00]
1.g3 d5 2.Bg2 c5 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nc3 d4 5.Ne4 f5 6.Nd2 e5 7.c3 Nf6 8.Ngf3? e4! (D)
White’s last move was bad and Black quite rightly advances in the center. White is a few seconds ahead at this point, but this hardly makes up for his dismal position.
9.d×e4
White now compounds his problems by making an ill-advised pre-move. We shall return to this topic in a later chapter, but for now it’s enough to note that White’s position is sinking fast.
9...N×e4!? 10.Ng5? N×g5
9...f×e4 was so obvious that it never crossed White’s mind that Black might capture on e4 with his knight – hence the pre-move which cost a piece. At this point, having foolishly ruined his position, White could be forgiven for giving up, but instead he plays on, mindful that in bullet you never have to resign.
11.Nc4 Ne4 12.c×d4 N×d4 13.Bf4
White has developed some pieces and has 48 seconds remaining to his opponent’s 39 seconds, but he still has no reason to be happy. Now, however, Black goes mad, with drastic results.
13...b5?! 14.Ne5 g5?! 15.e3!
Objectively Black is still winning, as he could demonstrate with the mind-boggling 15...Nf3+! (16.Q×f3 Qa5+). But nothing this difficult should have ever come up, and it’s not surprising that Black finds the narrow path off the cliff.
15...g×f4? 16.Qh5+ Ke7 17.e×d4 Q×d4?
Even now 17...Qe8 and 17...Qd5 are both better for Black.
18.Nc6+ 1-0 Black loses his queen.
While White was in trouble for much of the previous game, the next game is a horror show from start to finish. White is “lost,” objectively speaking, for almost the entire game. Awful as it is, the game must be given in its entirety in order to be fully appreciated.
White (1890) – Black (1636) [A00]
1.g3 c5 2.Bg2 d5 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.e4? d×e4 6.d×e4 Q×d1+ 7.N×d1 Nd4 8.Kd2 Bg4! 9.f3 0-0-0
By simple play Black has exploited White’s opening inaccuracies and saddled White with one of the most difficult problems to solve in bullet – a a vulnerable king.
10.Kc3 Be6?!
Missing the crushing 10...Nb5+ 11.Kb3 (11.Kc4 Rd4+) 11...Be6+. But Black will have many more chances before the game is done.
11.Be3
11...g6?
With 39 seconds remaining, three more than his opponent, Black misses 11...Nb5 mate.
12.a4 Bg7 13.B×d4 R×d4(D)
14.e5
White hangs on grimly, trying to lock Black’s g7-bishop out of play.
14...Nd7?
14...Nd5+! destroys what’s left of White’s position.
15.f4 f6 16.Nf3 Rb4 17.Re1 Bg4 18.Kd2 Rd8 19.Kc1 f×e5
Freed from the threats of immediate loss, White now has managed to catch up on time. Both players have 13 seconds left. Of course White’s position on the board is still bad, but it’s better than it has been for quite a few moves.
20.c3! Rb6 21.f×e5 Bh6+ 22.Kb1
With White down to six seconds, Black suddenly seizes up and drops to only three seconds.
22...B×f3 23.B×f3 N×e5 24.Ne3?
Missing 24.R×e5, but this no longer matters because Black is running out of time.
24...Rd2
Black doesn’t have enough time for 24...N×f3.
25.Nc4! 1-0
An optically strong move which defends White’s b2-pawn and forks Black’s rooks. Of course, White’s c4-knight is hanging, but Black lost on time.
Ridiculously funny games
While there is no shortage of entertaining games in this book, it is worth stressing that bullet chess is fun in part because strange things happen almost as a matter of routine. Whether these games are amusing may depend on your perspective (the loser usually wouldn’t think so) and on your sense of humor, but the mistakes that are made and the opportunities that are missed in bullet range from the sublime to the ridiculous, and we all know only one step separates the two.
So let’s have a look at a sample of the funny things that can happen in bullet. White’s position is almost resignable, as he is facing a ten-second deficit (27 seconds left to Black’s 37 seconds) in a colorless position. However, the fun is only just beginning.
Black has just played 24...Kg6, attacking White’s f5-rook.
White (1979) – Black (1699) [A00]
25.Bg4?!
Objectively White has no prospects, so it’s unfair to condemn this move too harshly. After 25.g4 Rf8!, White’s chances of holding the opposite-colored bishop ending are remote, as Black’s ten-second advantage should be decisive. White’s only hope is to get help from his opponent.
25...Re8?
25...h5 would have saved Black a lot of grief.
26.Rf2 Re1+ 27.Kg2
27...Rb1? 28.Bf5+
Black has increased his lead in time to 12 seconds, but in return he has allowed White counterplay.
One might say that Black fails to accurately assess the nature of his advantage (his lead in time), or that Black misunderstands how to exploit his advantage (avoid mate and win on time). We shall return to these themes later on.
One might also say that Black is doing his best to play good moves, but ends up playing bad ones. This is common in many forms of chess.
In the meantime, Black has to move his king out of check, and instinctively avoids allowing White a discovered check.
28...Kh5? 29.g4+! Kh4 30.Rf3!
Black unexpectedly finds himself in a mating net! Black now spends nine (!) seconds trying to find a way out (time which would have been better spent a little earlier), but can only come up with..
30...Rg1+ 31.K×g1 h5 32.h3
Black’s king is safe for the moment, but he is a rook down, and with 13 seconds left, White has time to win either by promoting a pawn or playing for mate by bringing his rook to h7. It doesn’t come to this, however, as Black gives a final, courteous assist to his opponent, recreating the mating net by opening h3 for White’s rook.
32...h×g4? 33.h×g4 Be5 34.Kg2 Bf4 35.Rh3 mate 1-0
In case you have trouble visualizing the mating pattern, here it is:
In the next game, no one seems to want to win – a phenomenon which occurs more often than you might think in bullet.
White (2113) – Black (1961) [A00]
With only five seconds left, White is in bad shape, despite his extra piece. It will take a miracle for him to convert his material advantage before he runs out of time. Black has 20 seconds remaining.
36...Qd1?
36...Qe4! was the right move, after which it would have been impossible for White to effectively attack Black’s king or even avoid time-consuming checks from Black’s queen.
36...Qg2+!? was a riskier alternative, exchanging queens, as after 37.Q×g2 h×g2 38.h4, White gets another queen and might be able to force mate in time. The ultimate assessment of the strength of 36...Qg2+!? would depend on how long White took to answer it.
37.Q×e5+
White now has four seconds left.
37...Kb7 38.Qd5+?! (D)
In one sense a mistake, as after 38...Q×d5 39.B×d5+, it’s difficult to see how White could force mate in four seconds, since he would have to bring his king into the game, create a passed pawn, get a new queen...
But could White really have mated in the time he had left as long as Black’s queen was on the board? From that perspective, keep in mind that 38.Qd5+?! has another point.
38...Kc7?
Black is so intent on running White out of time that he completely overlooks that the opposing queens are attacking one another.
39.Q×d1?
This move deserves a question mark because White took four seconds (!) to see that Black’s queen was hanging! Now that White has less than a second left, all Black has to do to win is to avoid mate.
39...Kc6? (D)
This isn’t the surest path to victory. Black walks into mate in one!
40.Qg4?
White misses the mate and makes a meaningless move. 40.Qd7 was mate.
40...Kb5?! 41.Qf5?!
We could give both this move and Black’s previous move question marks, because White could now mate in two with 41.Qd7+, but this turns out to be academic.
41...a5 0-1
White lost on time.
Such helpfulness from an opponent is not at all uncommon in bullet, which clearly attracts a higher class of player.
White (2130) – Black (2006) [A00]
After an uneven game, which you are better off not seeing, White has emerged with a winning position. His last move, 25.R×g5, capturing Black’s dark-squared bishop, threatens a deadly check on h5, which forces Black’s rook to the h-file.
Time was not yet a significant consideration, as White has 20 seconds remaining, while Black has 22 seconds. In bullet endings, though, where a quick mate is unlikely, time often turns out to be the deciding factor.
35...Rd2+ 36.Ke3 Rh2
37.f6?!
White took several seconds for this move, but it was better to invade Black’s position with his king. After 37.Kf4, followed by K-e5-d6, there isn’t much Black can do.
37...Rh6?
Black’s position was still difficult after 37.f6?!, as 37...g×f6 38.R×c5 wins for White, although at least Black’s king has some breathing room. 37...Rh6? not only overlooks White’s threat of 38.f×g7+, but even helps White a little by preventing Black’s king from escaping to h6, shortening the game by a move.
38.f×g7+ Kh7 39.g8Q mate 1-0
In the next example, Black first allows his opponent to attack, then actively helps him.
White (1913) – Black (1875) [A00]
We have spared the reader from seeing the first part of this game, but you can take our word for it that White was fortunate to get to the diagrammed position.
With 29 seconds left, against Black’s 26 seconds, White expresses his exuberance by beginning a dubious, but dangerous, pawn storm which more or less wrecks his own position.
25.h4!? Be7 26.g5 R×d3 27.c×d3 R×f5
One of many ways to refute White’s attack.
28.g×h6 g×h6?
28...Rf4! was much safer, but Black may have missed this defensive resource because by now he had only 12 seconds remaining. If so, then White deserves credit for having muddied the waters.
29.Q×h6 B×e4 30.d×e4 Rf6 31.Qg5+
Black has allowed his opponent much more play than he needed to, but after almost any reasonable black reply, the game is equal (at least on the board; White still has a significant time advantage). But before time became a decisive factor, Black found one of the few ways to lose by force.
31...Kf7? 32.N×e5+ Ke6 33. Bh3+! Kd6 34.Nc4+ Kc6 35.N×a5+ Kb6
The attack has unfolded like a study. Black loses his queen.
36.b4 Kc7 37.Qe5+ 1-0
Black lost on time.
The next game we give in its entirety, because of the instructive pre-move mistake in the opening.
But there’s more to the game than that. Many other mistakes ensue, and a good time is had by all.
White (2118) – Black (2042) [A00]
1.d3 c6 2.g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.e4!?
5...e6?
Black, intent on gaining a time advantage, played this move instantly, losing a piece. It is hard to guess what move he was expecting. But this is nothing compared to what happens later.
6.e×f5 e×f5
Both players continue as if nothing has happened.
7.Nf3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0
Black hasn’t missed a beat, and now has 58 seconds remaining, to White’s 53 seconds.
9.Re1 Nbd7 10.Nh4?! g6 11. Bg5 Re8
Now Black starts thinking, and the time evens out.
12.Qd2 Nf8 13. Bh6 Ne6?!
Each player has 50 seconds remaining.
14.Re2
Missing 14.N×f5! (14...g×f5? 15.R×e6!).
14...Ng4
After 14...Nd4!, White’s advantage would be reduced.
15.Rae1?
White overlooks Black’s threat.
15...N×h6 16.Q×h6? Bg5
White’s queen is trapped. Game over, one would think, but this is bullet.
This game could have easily been put in the previous part of this chapter, but the vindication of White’s determination to see the game through to the end turns out to be pretty funny.
17.Q×g5 Q×g5 18.f4 Qd8 19.Nf3?! Qb6+ 20.Kh1 Nc7
Black could also just take White’s b2-pawn, but trading rooks makes sense too. By now Black also has a three-second lead in time, so things look dark for White.
21.Ne5!?
Another bad move, although since good moves wouldn’t help, we won’t be too critical.
21...f6! 22.Nd7 R×e2 23.R×e2 Q×b2 24.Nd1 Q×a2 25. Bf3
With two bad pieces for a queen and three pawns, and both sides having more than 30 seconds left, White needs a miracle.
25...Re8?
And here’s the start of one.
26.N×f6+ Kf7 27.N×e8 N×e8 28.c4!
White strikes while the iron is hot, creating an imaginary threat against Black’s d5-pawn.
28...Nf6?
Black “defends” his d5-pawn, not realizing that it was already defended by his a2-queen. Backwards diagonal moves are often hard to see, as we will discuss later in more detail. But so are sideways moves and discovered attacks, and Black overlooks that his queen is now attacked by White’s e2-rook. This unusual (and for Black, unfortunate) confluence of two of the most common types of mistakes proves fatal.
Since time wasn’t really an issue (Black had 31 seconds left), we can also speculate that he may have been thrown off by his earlier mistake (25...Re8?), or he might have simply forgotten that his queen was on a2, because it was so far from the rest of his pieces. But Black’s oversight fits into a surprisingly common pattern that we explore in more detail in Chapter 14, where we catalogue some of the more frequent mistakes in bullet.
In any event, as is so often the case, the loser is the player who makes the last mistake of the game, and here it unquestionably is Black.
29.R×a2 ... 1-0
White won uneventfully after Black hung his remaining piece 15 moves later.
The next examples are included purely for the mayhem caused by White’s knights. It is always entertaining, at least for the spectators, when one or two pieces demolish the opposing position all on their own. For some reason, when knights manage to create havoc, the games are even more memorable, although perhaps not for the losing player.
It’s difficult to know what lies behind these disasters, other than fate, or perhaps just bad luck, pure and simple.
White (1880) – Black (1721) [A00]
Black’s last move, with 39 seconds left, was 15...Nbd7?, which allows a cute tactic.
16.Q×g7+! K×g7 17.N×e6+ Kg8 18.N×d8
White’s opportunistic three-move combination has won him a rook, but the subsequent cavalry raid by White’s knights is what gives this game its true amusement value.
18...Nf8 19.N×d5 Kg7 20.N×c7 Rb8 21.Kd2 Bd7 22.N×b7 Bc8 23.Nd6 Rb6?! 24.N×c8 R×b2 25.Nd6 1-0
Facing a massive material and time deficit, Black resigned.
White (2025) – Black (1853) [A00]
Each player has 23 seconds left, but on the board Black is losing. White’s knights are worth more than a rook, but who could have foreseen their impending rampage?
27...e6? 28.Nc6+ Ke8
The first of many forks.
29.Nf6+ Kf8 30.N×d7+ Kg7
White has picked up a queen for free, but, adding insult to injury, his knights continue to run roughshod over Black’s position. For his part, Black plays on, hoping that eventually the knights will go away.
31.Ne7
It’s not easy to figure out just how White’s knights got to d7 and e7.
31...Rge8 32.N×c8 f6 33.N×d6
There’s not much to say...
33...Re7 34.Q×c7 f5 35.Nc8 Kf7 36.N×e7 K×e7
37.e×f5 e5 38.Re1 Kf7 39.R×e5 a5 40.Q×a5 Kg7 41.Qc7 1-0
Black ran out of time, with White having six seconds left.
White (1984) – Black (2090) [B06] (D)
Even apparently simple positions can lead to mutual chess blindness if the players are in the right frame of mind.
Black has sacrificed his h-pawn for pressure against White’s king, and while there is no immediate win the pressure is real, especially because White’s e2-knight is awkwardly placed.
Black presses on with his attack, although improving the placement of his king wouldn’t be a bad idea either. White has 41 seconds left, while Black has 47 seconds, so time is not yet a major factor.
17...g5!? 18.b5 g4?
In a misguided attempt to fight for the initiative, Black overplays his hand. 18...Ne7, followed by the judicious advance of Black’s g5-pawn, would leave White with a difficult defensive task. Now the fun begins.
19.Nh4! B×h4? 20.g×h4?
Caught up in the illusion, White overlooks that Black’s h3-queen no longer defends the h6-rook, because the h4-bishop is in the way. 20.Q×h6! decides the game on the spot.
20...Q×h4
Now Black reaps the rewards of his conjuring trick, as his attack gains steam.
21.Ng3 Q×h2+ 22.Kf1 Ne7
With an attack, an extra pawn and a time advantage (37 seconds remaining vs. White’s 31 seconds), Black should win.
23.Qg5!? f6?
The question mark is well-deserved. Not only are 23... Rg6 and 23...Qh4 better, but Black also took 11 seconds for 23...f6?, giving away his time advantage.
Black was still thinking in terms of mate, but in reality he simply had a better position and a large time edge, and should have been content.
24.Qg7?
For his part, White fails to appreciate that his position is quite playable after 24.Q×g4, and there is no need for extreme measures.
24...Kd7?
Missing 24...Rg6!, trapping White’s queen. As mentioned, Black was set on mate, and was unable to switch gears and go after White’s queen. To put it another way, if White’s king were completely safe, Black would likely have seen 24...Rg6!
25.Nf5?
After 25.Q×g4+, the position would be equal, but the threat to Black’s e7-knight looks strong.
25...Qh1+?
After this check, Black is lost. The tragedy is that 25...Qh3+ 26.Ke2 Rh7! 27.Q×f6 Rf8!! (and this move really does deserve two exclamation marks) wins for Black, as 28.Q×f8 Ng6!, followed by 29... Nf4+, forces mate.
Of course, it would be quite an accomplishment to see this variation in a tournament game, much less in a bullet game with a little over 20 seconds remaining.
26.Ke2 Qf3+ 27.Kd2 Qf4+ 28.Kc2 Re8 29.Q×h6 ... 1-0
Black’s heroic effort to defend his h6-rook are for naught, because it was attacked twice. With 20 seconds left, White had little trouble bringing home the point.
The give-and-take in bullet can reach extreme levels, with the players alternating between excellent moves and blunders. This forces the players to wrestle with positions that really ought not to have ever arisen, and the result can be chaotic.
White (2281) – Black (2367) [A40]
This position is quite balanced and, with 28 seconds remaining to White’s 15 seconds, Black should win fairly easily. For example, after 23...Re7!, exchanging a pair of rooks, Black is in little danger and the win should just be a matter of time (literally). Instead quite impossible things start to happen.
23...d3?!
Black tries to take the initiative, on the theory that White will fail to meet the challenge because of his time deficit. But objectively 23...d3?! is risky.
24.N×d3 Rd7 25.Re3
The immediate 25.Qe1! was even stronger.
25...Rcd4 26.Qe1! (D)
After a few seconds thought, White finds the strongest continuation. Black has also been thinking, and now has 18 seconds remaining, while White has 12 seconds. At about this point Black probably started having doubts about the wisdom of his having stirred the pot with 23...d3?!
26...R×d3!?
Black gives up his queen for a rook and a bishop.
27.Re8 B×b2!? 28.R×f8+ K×f8
29.Rb1?
This is a mistake. White likely saw that 29.Qb4+ Kg8 30.Q×b2? Rd1+ mates for Black, so he dismissed 20.Qb4+ altogether. In fact, after 29.Qb4+ Kg8 30.Rf1!, White retains a slight edge.
29...Bd4?
Black fails to take advantage of his opportunity by playing 29...Rd2!, which cuts off White’s queen check and wins an additional exchange. What’s worse is that Black’s lead in time is starting to disappear.
30.h3?
Played instantly, to give White’s king an escape square against a possible back rank check. Black’s last move blocked the d-file, however, so ...Rd1+ is not possible at the moment.
30...R×g3!
Noticing that White’s f2-pawn is pinned along the g1-a7 diagonal, Black scoops up a piece. With 12 seconds left to White’s six seconds, Black has only to consolidate...
31.Rd1
31...B×h3?
As is so often the case in bullet, trying to think leads to a mistake. Black spent three seconds on this move, which is a serious overplay. Both the simple 31...Rb3 and the more complicated 31...Bc3 leave Black securely on top.
32.Qb4+! Kg7?
Black spent another few seconds on this move, which puts his king on the wrong square. After 32...Kg8! 33.R×d4 R×g2+ 34.Kh1 R×f2, Black’s d7-rook is defended by his h3-bishop (a backwards diagonal move!) and White has no tricks with his queen.
This was very hard to see in a bullet game, but Black has only himself to blame. He unnecessarily provoked complications at several key moments, then used up his time advantage trying to figure them out.
33.R×d4 R×g2+
Black was now a second behind in time (five seconds to White’s six seconds).
34.Kh1 Rf7
35.Qc3!
Now White is finding moves!
35...Rf×f2 36.Rd2+ Kg6 37.R×f2 R×f2 38.Q×h3 1-0
Black ran out of time. White had four seconds left.