The Conversion Tax
Winning the position is the first half. This course is about the second half, where most of the points at this level are actually lost.
What the games say
43% to 48%of blown wins under 1000 in rapid ended with the reader mated while still up huge, across 277,000 blown wins
In bullet the clock does the work instead. Wins there are lost on time, from positions that were never in doubt on the board.
Under 1000, between 29% and 39% of the wins that turned into draws were stalemates. The win was not defended away, it was thrown away in one move.
One figure is narrower than it looks. The roughly 12 point gap between bands holds for players under 600, and this course states it about nobody else.
Three ways a won game dies
The position was won and the king was not safe. Every check you did not look at was still on the board.
A whole point handed back in one move, usually while queening or shepherding a king with no squares left.
The board was decided and the clock was not. The win was there until the seconds ran out.
The check, when you are winning
- Can they check me? Before you take anything, look at every check they have. A winning position and an unsafe king are the same position until you look.
- Do they have a move? Before the move that queens or corners the king, count their legal moves. If the answer is none and they are not in check, that is a draw.
- What does the clock say? Decide before the position is won how you will finish it. A won game with ten seconds left is a clock problem, not a chess problem.
Your own conversion
Reading your games.