Missed Opportunities
Chess is an interesting activity for a variety of reasons. "Missed Opportunities" is a new series by John Forbes on things that are sometimes missed during games. When the clock is ticking, humans often have trouble concentrating.
Missed Opportunities #1 - Horizon Problem
Black has a winning move here that is not very hard for a person to find, but very hard for a chess engine!
Stockfish couldn’t find this move, wanting to play 1. ... Kg5. This is a good move, but not clearly winning. In computer science, we call this the horizon problem. Basically, since the algorithmic method is looking ahead move-by-move it can’t see the winning strategy beyond its maximum ply-depth.
Missed Opportunities #2 - Chess Blindness
The position is taken from an Annex Chess Club tournament game. Black played 26. … Ra8 to defend against White’s push 27. a4. White promptly played 27. Rc2. An example of mutual blindness. White can immediately push the pawn to a4 and a5 with serious winning chances due to the immediate mate on c8. Both players were convinced the White a-pawn was dangerous and hanging.
