The Daily Blindfold - Day 2: The One Knight

Today’s game got off to a flying start when my opponent played the Two Knights Defence against the Italian, and in response to the advance of my e-pawn chose to retreat the knight back to it’s starting square. It’s a mavericks’s opening I like to call The One Knight. There are various ways in which Black can try to reach this imbalanced position, each of which involves the entirely pointless idea of moving a piece and then moving it back to where it came from.

I was feeling good about the position and then disaster struck - mobile data connection severed. I lost a few minutes but eventually reconnected and continued the game with the mobile app. Yes readers, I confess to it: I saw the position at move 7. It took a moment to enable blindfold mode on the phone and I was back in the saddle.

Moments later I was in the harness; after losing a pawn in a strange skirmish where I hadn’t a clue whether my position was excellent or terrible, I managed to castle queenside and BRACQ-1 gave a check, losing touch with the defence of his d-pawn.

Willingly or otherwise, my esteemed opponent dropped the d-pawn and things went from bad to worse as his queenside evaporated and we traded down into a completely winning bishop and rook ending.

True to blindfold form, I misplayed it horribly, and would have been well on the way to the doldrums with sickening defeat, had only BRACQ-1 known that the position of the pieces was not fully visible your humble narrator.

Seconds later I was approaching my final minute of time; BRACQ-1, who had launched his monarch headstrong into the kingside structure, won an important pawn on f3, but promptly resigned upon realising that this feeble gain came at the cost of the whole rook left en prise on c8.

In the end I think I was lucky to get the point. If my opponent known the situation, I’m odds on to get flagged.

No annotations on this one as I have to fly - enjoy the game.

The Daily Blindfold - Day 2