Bullet Chess #15: The Point that Changed the Game

Being a pawn down in the end game isn't always a bad thing. However, it might cause you to become flustered and rush things instead of looking at the possibilities you have on the board. For this game, I chose the position pictured above because it is the turning point that eventually lead to my winning the game. Even though I was a pawn down, I held on until I saw an opening or until my opponent made a mistake.

It was my move and there was only one thing I had in mind. I needed to march my king toward the pawns on the right side of the board and gobble them up so that I could push my pawns up the board. So I made my way to that side and seeing what I had intended to do, my opponent headed toward the same direction which was probably an inaccurate decision on their part.

White had a kingside majority and since I was focusing on the other side, they should have countered by moving their king to the other side and with the help of the knight, they could sweep that side of the board. From there, it would have been a race. However, whether it was due to impatience or a lack of experience and foresight on the matter, my opponent ended up giving away their pawns on the queenside which meant that I would have two passed pawns.

Granted, we were both low on time at this point, but my opponent wasn't able to stop my pawns from marching down the board. Morever, they didn't try to counterattack and even ended up losing their knight in the process. They were probably banking on the fact that I had less time than they did but it was enough for me to pre-move my pawns and queen.

In the end, I was able to get two queens and my opponent lost on time. It was an interesting game and I think it would have been much more difficult for me to hold if my opponent had changed gears and switched their attention to their pawn majority. Then they would have put up a fight. But maybe due to pressure, my opponent did not make the most accurate moves and lost the game.