The Worst Possible Move in Chess?

[@Amoeba_Podre]

The worst kind of move is when the opponent forces you to checkmate, and then you resign

[@jacobgoldman5780]

That wouldnt be a move that would be the worst choice.

[@refoliation]

forced mate declined

[@danieldominguez269]

That would be amazing to see in a GM tournament. All the plot twists

[@taiteyard3567]

@@jacobgoldman5780 you have to make a move with your hand to resign.

[@mauer1]

@@taiteyard3567 not if you just leave

[@alexwatt2298]

Powerful passive bishops was the most disgusting, delightful thing I have ever seen on a chess board!

[@vitovitovito4927]

There was a Levy's video that featured a game where the guy overlooked a M1 and blundered a >FORCED< M1 for the other side. That is probably the worst possible move ever in Chess.

[@rdspam]

Yep, that would be my response.

[@artificercreator]

but if the oponent after that misses mate in 1 and then gives the oponent forced m1 and so on, the one who loses is the best of the worst moves.

[@christopherw1248]

​@@artificercreatorbut, isnt it already a forced M1? There are no other move you can do except checkmating the opponent.

[@chrisbeaudoin9818]

That happened to me once. Wish i could link the picture but youtube is dumb

[@nibiyabi]

If that opponent then flagged despite forced mate in 1, I think that's as bad as it can get.

[@MyBiPolarBearMax]

4:00 Heartbreaking is absolutely the right word for missing the stalemate against two queens. 😭

[@michaelf8221]

In that first example, both Bg7+ and Qg8+ would have forced the opponent to take the piece with mate! A rare double example rolled up into one

[@leandro8897]

The worst move I've ever seen was one that Levy has covered in one of his episodes of how to lose at chess: The dude had mate in two (possibly one) with his bishop... But the dude moved his bishop in the wrong direction and the only move his opponent had was too take the bishop with checkmate 😅 hilarious stuff

[@Rantalaiho74]

Tim Krabbe's open chess diary, entry 383, 7 Oct 2008 has this position created by Sampsa Lahtonen in 2008: 52 legal moves for white, 51 of them mate in one, Qxc4+ forced mate in one for black. 1Q1Q1Br1/Q3QRP1/QNk2b2/Q3Qp2/pPpK4/2rp4/6R1/bbqn3B w - - 0 1

[@NaoshikuuAnimations]

That was so much fun! How about a similar video with the clutchest stalemates down a bunch of material? (For high-rated games)

[@whocares2277]

Just look through Eric's history for draws.

[@rosiefay7283]

Fascinating idea. And well done, Slavfox, for your work in searching for such games and finding some.

[@WilliamKiely]

Great content! Please have more of these videos in which someone uses code to find games with very rare themes!

[@ianmoore5502]

This is EXACTLY a concept ive veen eanting a creator to cover for a while. Thank you, Eric!

[@steeevealbright]

The worst theoretically possible move would be when you DO have M1, but instead you force your opponent to M1 you. And if you have multiple M1s when it happens, even better (worse).

[@KrasBadan]

The worst move is when all the moves you have are mate except the one that forces opponent to mate you with en passant.

[@steeevealbright]

@@KrasBadan Compose it!

[@KrasBadan]

@@steeevealbright I actually tried for like an hour, got pretty close but got bored. The idea was that you check your opponent by moving your pawn 2 squares, and he must do en passant with discovered checkmate by the rook. But it seems that there is always some kind of a waiting move that isn't a checkmate and doesn't force checkmate by opponent. Also there is always an option to move pawn just 1 square, allowing regular capturing mate and not en passant mate.

[@erikfauser2418]

@@KrasBadan without en passant its pretty easy though

[@shayboual1892]

@@KrasBadan I made a position where you have en passant mate in one but can also play a move which forces your opponent to en passant mate in one. It forces the en passant by just not having any other moves and it is mate by the pawn actually just mating.

[@rokksula4082]

In Go there is a saying: “There is a fate worse than death” and that is “Death in gote”. When you die in gote, at least the game continues, you just loose the initiative (along with your stones). These checkmates feel infinity worse.

[@Siderite]

And we come full circle: Eric validates all those stupid movies about chess where they don't show the game, only the players, and one of them smugly announces "check!" and the other one makes a move and says "mate".

[@rayclay2]

intriguing to know even that the odds of these positions are astronomical.. loved it~! ty Eric gr8 breakdown. 🏆

[@flippert0]

I think, the most devastating of the examples is "powerful passive bishops". It really looks like black has a neat combination with mate in two, only to discover that it's completely the other way around with mate in 1 for white. For me, this was the most natural looking oversight.

[@steeevealbright]

we need a part 2 of this please!

[@HagarTopeka1]

This seems like very Levy subject matter, and the difference in delivery is entertaining

[@stuvius]

Without watching the video, I instantly think of one game where one player that is in a completely winning position forces the opponent to checkmate them

[@cuzyzy419]

Even worse in a over the board game when you announce checkmate and your opponent just goes: Nah

[@ja-k0]

Loved this type of content.. please do more.

[@silvioparlanti]

BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION!!! Thank you Eric!! you are the best

[@coosoorlog]

18:00 Rd6 would have been a similar forced checkmate. it just somehow looks a bit less of a blunder because you don't move your piece to be captured

[@tristngr]

the worst possible moves are the ones i play:(

[@Hamedak]

thank you eric, this was really fun

[@SevenTheJester]

This is genius content. Entertaining and informative as always, sir.

[@benhaskin1159]

Great video! How do you search Lichess for your examples?

[@diegodelallata]

Hell yeah bro! You made my night! It made me feel much better! Lol

[@borninlafc]

Which chess program do you use to teach on these videos?

[@Mattthechessplayer]

I actually got an extremely rare game earlier where my opponent forced me to put them in zugzwang (the only legal move I had forced them in to a position where they had to lose or stalemate me up 2 pawns) I would say that's a close second to this.

[@ezrasteiny]

A move that forces checkmate

[@ezrasteiny]

I predicted it

[@Exayevie]

Is game 2 the same Prokofiev who composed Dance of the Knights? If so, that's wildly ironic and we need to make it the national anthem of chess blunders.

[@zhuzhou]

Imagine if this happened in a movie when someone suddenly announces "checkmate" - but they really mean they talked they forced themselves to be checkmated

[@zacharygrouwinkel1534]

Eric where was the Levy clip on the 3rd game? You have to… SACRIFICE THE ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!!!!!!!

[@ieaatclams]

He's annoying after the 4th video

[@zacharygrouwinkel1534]

@@ieaatclams yea. Just making a joke. Eric is clearly referencing that and has shown the clip in multiple videos.

[@TeeGar]

Any move I decide to make is always the worst possible move in chess.

[@DarkLukie]

Cool concept!

[@12factortest]

Killer idea and video!

[@ajbiffl4695]

absolutely devastating. this vid is fire

[@garys5175]

Too good, Eric. Thank you for sharing.

[@cobalius]

Not having seen a checkmate or a strong in-between move isn't actually that bad. I usually laugh for not having seen it myself.. But mixing up my own calculations hurts like stepping on the same lego twice (on the way in and out).. Like: > "My queen is attacked and should move" > "This place is protected by that knight" > "Anyways, is there an in-between move?" ... > "This place would also be ideal, if my queen would be there" > *moves the queen since she's attacked* > *blunders the queen by that knight* > *emotionally dies within a second* Another example: > "Definitely need to take that piece" > *takes it from the board* > "But with the queen or the king?" > "With queen would obviously blunder that rook since i didnt castled" > "Anyways, is there an in-between move?" ... > "Taking with the queen would also be ideal, if i had already castled" > *moves the queen* > *blunders both rooks* > *emotionally dies within a second*

[@mratkovich]

Something I thought of once until I think hikaru covered it was what is a stalemate position with the most pieces on the board? Or it was the fastest stalemate? I think there was one with all of the pieces on board but it involved completely irrational but legal moves

[@mandalore9305]

Top tier content, this is hilarious

[@joshuahudson2170]

The orientation problem as black is why I still use the old notation that some others watching Eric Rosen have commented on as but whyyy.

[@tennis1090ca]

Great content as always 🤌🤌

[@thecakeredux]

I'd like to engineer the worst move. It's definitely forced forced #-n, but it also has to blunder #1. On top of that, it needs to be an unreasonable move choice, as in: There need to be obvious moves that are better and don't lose, like winning one or multiple pieces and the forced #-1 has to win material while mating, too. I'm unsure if #-1 is worse than #-n, but I'd argue yes if and only if all three moves are the only legal moves. That way material could be decimated. Essentially, I want all metrics to fall as far as possible from this one move, not only just the game to end. Maybe meta-data would need to be adjusted, like not taking time to think with a huge time advantage, but that would only work in a real game.

[@erikfauser2418]

the worst move is when all other legal moves are mate in 1 but you blunder forced checkmate

[@thecakeredux]

@@erikfauser2418 That's a good argument, all other moves being mate in 1. That's really probably the worst case.

[@ferrisffalcis]

i think the worst possible actual move statistically is going from mate in 1(with as many options as possible) to forced m1 for the opponent

[@WilliamKiely]

Video idea: Which of white's first moves are losing? Is 1.f3 still drawn, or does Stockfish convert with Black 100% of the time?

[@Heroball299]

I would think still a draw but if it was black forced to play the dubious first move then I think white would have significantly better chances of a win.

[@grgapitic5768]

I once had a "flawless victory" in an over the board game - no pawn or piece captured at all, and checkmate.

[@kimchipappi1762]

Great video, Eric.

[@aarondcmedia9585]

Very interesting, loved it

[@iJoxy]

Would be interested in seeing games sorted by eval difference. So e.g. white has mate in 1 but blunders a forced mate in 1 to black

[@Vandalgia]

This is top tier content lmao

[@MichaelSinz]

Those were some fun "puzzles"

[@knutbjartehaus450]

Great content! But in the last one, white wasn't forced to force black to mate white; white could have underpromoted. Would that have been better? White would have eluded inclusion into this epic compilation.

[@weetabixharry]

I can suggest 2 steps worse: (1) I have mate in 1, but instead force opponent to checkmate me, (2) Opponent resigns.

[@abhishekhgd]

Getting back rank mated is bad. But making the opponent back rank mate you is the worst.

[@KaptnJolly]

worst move: if you could have stalmated (but lost instead). blundering draw ist sometimes even nastier than blundering a win

[@KaptnJolly]

4:28 here we have it: it's heartbreaking. :(

[@gerardduffy3406]

I think in the funny finish game, queen takes wasn't the only legal move, there was king takes other bishop too.

[@Calman102]

The white pawn on a7 is defending the bishop on b8.

[@marsing69]

Poor guy at the start of the video guessed the right thing but didnt get recognized

[@LFSPharaoh]

I'll be disappointed if I don't see one of my games in this video. Here we go!!

[@tffelpiano2830]

The cherry on top would be if you had mate in one, but instead forced checkmate for your opponent

[@antonpershin998]

When every legal move you can make is mate except one that forces your opponent to mate you.

[@lux8346]

Stalemating your opponent hurts like hell

[@goatscabinfragrance6795]

10:55 Isn’t that the main fun thing we all search in chess games?

[@yosefzaghi9504]

At 4:00 Eric says that Qf4 is stalemate but it isn’t because of g5

[@ChristianHegele]

the worst move is resigning when you have forced mate. I've done it.

[@bgstop5260]

When you can play en passant but play some “better move”

[@blazingazong]

When you have mate in 1 and then you force your opponent to mate you

[@matheuscouri2225]

Great job eric

[@Stefuni222]

this needs to be a new rosen trophy

[@whileimgaming]

Rage quit therapy session. Thanks for this :D

[@Billbarker57]

Why do I love this so much??? lmao

[@diegodelallata]

Dude I love this! You are the opposite of Levy instead of making fun of us lower rated you're making fun of high rated or at least in the first game. Let me finish it, see if my comment stands X)

[@zenmonke]

this should be in rosen score - both get opponent to make the move and also make the move yourself - both not easy

[@blacklistnr1]

Can somebody explain what aspect of his setup makes me think that his face is 2d printed on flat balloon? Such an unusual thing to experience.

[@screamer22222]

This is great content

[@pandatrailer]

my non mating option was placing bishop in the corner

[@somerandomguy7419]

is this a new rosen trophy when your opponent forces you to mate him?

[@Neophytis]

Best video ever!

[@felixstelis6666]

Forcing mate by en passent

[@MeNowDealWIthIt]

The worst possible move is resigning

[@jaydub2971]

Moving into a triple fork

[@connorhorman]

Counterpoint: Worst two moves in a row - 1. f3 e5, 2. g4

[@cedrics7374]

Stop checkmating yourself.. stop checkmating yourself..

[@TheGrishark]

Very cool!

[@mvgamer9637]

Throwing pieces at your opponent.

[@RR-xf4nd]

@4:20 what if black plays g5

[@ChickenLegsVillage-ov5cj]

Hit the resign button twice?😂

[@SFtheWolf]

a strange game. the only losing move is not to play.

[@KaptnJolly]

these are really cool

[@nomer440]

it's Bf4 after d5

[@brucy2191]

You have a very nice voice sir

[@ecospider5]

Those are awesome.

[@jamesgreen8902]

Forcing en passant checkmate

[@iseriver3982]

Worse possible move? E4

[@latigidon8226]

Self-mate

[@GStarGoku3]

I can't look at these thumbnails anymore I'm sorry you are awesome and your content is awesome but my subscription page is turning into the brady bunch boxes but filled with slack jawed dead expressions that are giving me a weird feeling that something has gone fundamentally wrong and its scaring me.

[@volodyadykun6490]

Inspired by stupid question to Levy on Wired

[@Sachitananda]

worst possible move is F3 says Ben Finegold

[@xandercurrie]

Can you confirm that these were NOT all moves made by Gothamchess ?