Sailing to Byzantium

Following my own analysis of this strange game, Colm Daly himself has annotated the game on his website, as he promised. And it is a fascinating insight into the mindset of a top chess player. Top marks for honesty Colm!

He says of his 12th move…”then inexplicably went into crash and burn mode with my 12th move”. I find this an interesting observation. Colm Daly is obviously an experienced and talented player. But his thinking processes and general psychological background is less than perfect. Indeed, I would be embarrassed by making a move like 12… Nc6, and I am only an average club player. So something fascinating underlies the move and his motivations for it. In fairness, he recognises this himself and is honest enough to try and explain it.

He says, in full “At the end of the game Mark pointed to my clock and said “your gone” to which I replied yes in every way possible (or words to this effect) and then I said I was a bit confused! Well that seems to have been a very good summary of why on earth I played my absurd 12th move which effectively ends the game. More confusing given the fact that again I spent lots of time considering it and then after having seen so many variations somehow decided to hell with it anyway? After I played 12…Nc6 I only played the game on further because, to be honest, I was too embarrassed to resign so early and have such a short game on my record. Better to drag it out and at least avoid it being a miniature such was my shocked state of mind and bruised ego. “

I am going to speculate at length as to why he still chose Nc6 even though he spent lots of time, by his own admission, on it and kind of knew that it was weak too. I will admit straight out: this is mere pop psychology and speculation! But I cannot resist.

I think, it probably has to do with three main factors: his psychological condition at the time, his unconscious lack of respect for Hebden, and some lingering evaluation of how the game should have gone.

Firstly, his overriding wish was to win the game, to avenge losses in previous rounds and to make up for a rather poor tournament performance overall. This drove his wish for opposite sided castling and a rapid queenside attack. This he got, readily enough. He was being drawn into a subtle psychological trap. He was tired and had had little sleep the night before. Where have I heard that before?!

Secondly, I don’t doubt that consciously and intellectually he respects Mark Hebden as a chess player. Mark is a lovely guy and his style, according to Colm, is drawish. “His repertoire is not particularly dangerous as such but very hard to play against if you want to have some serious winning chances.” This may be true. But it meant that Colm went into the game thinking “I have to generate winning chances and avoid a draw”. This indicates an underlying disrespect for Mark’s attacking prowess. And it is often hard in chess to play correctly against someone you like.

Lastly, he admits himself that he wanted “a dynamic position with active counter play that would lead to chances for both sides”. What role would Be6 play in that wish? None! It would be a purely defensive move. Hence, he sought to play something more counter-attacking. Hence, Nc6. His unconscious desires interfered with his objective approach.

One of the hardest things in chess is changing your approach to a game after a sudden change: from a winning position to a drawing or losing one, or vice versa. Colm felt like he was in a drawing/equal position after Ng5, and even though he objectively knew he that he could play Be6 and probably it would be a draw, he instead was driven to play for an illusory win. He was, after all, a piece up in this position!

Chess is not a pure science. It isn’t the application of dry logic to abstract puzzles. In practice, it is a very human sport, full of clashes of nerve, determination, spirit, willpower, trickery, confidence, alertness, concentration, psychological desires, motivations and so on. That’s what makes playing chess so intriguing, aside from the chess itself.