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Swindle (chess)

Frank Marshall analyzes his best games and some openings in his book Marshall's Chess "Swindles" (1914), Reprint ISBN 978-0343436353.

In chess, a swindle is a ruse by which a player in a losing position tricks their opponent and thereby achieves a win or draw instead of the expected loss.[1][2][3][4][5] It may also refer more generally to obtaining a win or draw from a clearly losing position.[6] I. A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld distinguish among "traps", "pitfalls", and "swindles". In their terminology, a "trap" refers to a situation where players go wrong through their own efforts. In a "pitfall", the beneficiary of the pitfall plays an active role, creating a situation where a plausible move by the opponent will turn out badly. A "swindle" is a pitfall adopted by a player who has a clearly lost game.[3] Horowitz and Reinfeld observe that swindles, "though ignored in virtually all chess books", "play an enormously important role in over-the-board chess, and decide the fate of countless games".[7]

Although "swindling" in general usage is synonymous with cheating or fraud, in chess the term does not imply that the swindler has done anything unethical or unsportsmanlike.[8][9] There is nonetheless a faint stigma attached to swindles, since players feel that one who has outplayed one's opponent for almost the entire game "is 'morally' entitled to victory"[10] and a swindle is thus regarded as "rob[bing] the opponent of a well-earned victory".[11] The best swindles can be quite artistic, however, and some are widely known.

There are ways that players can maximize their chances of pulling off a swindle, including playing actively and exploiting time pressure.[citation needed] Although swindles can be effected in many different ways, themes such as stalemate, perpetual check, and surprise mating attacks are often seen.

The ability to swindle one's way out of a lost position is a useful skill for any chess player and according to Graham Burgess is "a major facet of practical chess".[5][12] Frank Marshall may be the only top player who became well known as a frequent swindler.[13] Marshall was proud of his reputation for swindles,[14] and in 1914 wrote a book entitled Marshall's Chess "Swindles".[15][16][17]

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
  1. ^ Brace 1977, p. 276.
  2. ^ Byrne 1959, p. 199.
  3. ^ a b Horowitz & Reinfeld 1954, p. 12.
  4. ^ Korn 1966, p. 4.
  5. ^ a b Burgess 1997, p. 489.
  6. ^ See, e.g., Ali Mortazavi, The Fine Art of Swindling, Cadogan Books, 1996, p. 44. ISBN 1-85744-105-2 (referring to Em. Lasker–Ed. Lasker, New York 1924, as a "celebrated swindle").
  7. ^ Horowitz & Reinfeld 1954, p. 13.
  8. ^ Horowitz & Reinfeld 1954, p. 7.
  9. ^ Robert Byrne (4 January 1987). "Chess; The Marshall Swindle". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  10. ^ Horowitz & Reinfeld 1954, p. 127.
  11. ^ Larry Evans and Burt Hochberg, in Larry Evans, Svetozar Gligorić, Vlastimil Hort, Paul Keres, Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian, and Lajos Portisch, How to Open a Chess Game, RHM Press, 1974, p. xv. ISBN 0-89058-003-0.
  12. ^ "[E]very exceptional player has been skilled in holding weak positions by means of all sorts of ruses and tricks". Roswin Finkenzeller, Wilhelm Ziehr, and Emil M. Bührer, Chess: A Celebration of 2,000 Years, Little, Brown and Company, 1990, p. 46. ISBN 1-55970-107-2.
  13. ^ Grandmaster Andrew Soltis wrote that Marshall "was perhaps best known for tactical 'swindles' in lost positions." Harry Golombek (editor-in-chief), Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishers, 1977, p. 193. ISBN 0-19-217540-8. "[T]he combinations he enjoyed most were not the aftermath of solidly played games leading to their just reward, but games in which he had much the worst of the position and, by virtue of a spectacular move or sacrificial concept, 'swindled' his opponent out of a seemingly sure victory. ... So often did a 'Marshall swindle' occur that the term became part of the chess lexicon." Anthony Saidy and Norman Lessing, The World of Chess, Random House, 1974, pp. 152–53. ISBN 0-394-48777-X.
  14. ^ Hooper & Whyld 1984, p. 205.
  15. ^ Frank James Marshall, Marshall's Chess "Swindles", American Chess Bulletin, 1914.
  16. ^ Soltis 1994, p. 168.
  17. ^ Nathan Divinsky, The Batsford Chess Encyclopedia, B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1990, p. 125. ISBN 0-7134-6214-0.
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