Blind Spots

Even Magnus Carlsen has them!

Let’s face it, we all have tactical blind spots. For some, it’s forks, pins, or long queen moves.

Don’t worry, Grandmasters have them too.

Even Magnus Carlsen missed a basic tactic in this position, playing Black vs the Spanish GM, David Antón Guijarro.

White to move:

The simple win is the spectacular queen sacrifice, 1.Qxe5+!! Qxe5 2.Rfxf7+ Kh8 3.Rh7+ Rxh7 4.Rxh7# The funny part is that David Anton missed it too with 47 seconds on the clock!

My blind spot is lateral rook moves. This blitz game reminded me of my weakness:

Black to move, can you spot a simple win?

White just played 21.Rbd1, attacking my bishop. It’s a blitz game, and I played 21…Bxd3 on autopilot with a roughly equal game. Yet, Black has an easy tactic: 21…Ra4!! and picks up the knight next move with …Bxe4.

After reviewing the game without the engine, I failed to spot this tactic as well. Yet, only after the engine prompted me — a cool feature on Lichess called Learn From Your Mistakes — did I find this move!

I remember missing a lateral rook move completely in a game vs GM Paco Vallejo, rated 2716, from Spain at the Isle of Man tournament, where I also got to play Carlsen.

This is the critical moment, do I play 25.Nxe4 or 25.Bxe4?

In the game, I chose wrong and took with the knight. Missing a lateral attack after 25.Nxe4? Bxe4 26.Bxe4 Ra4!

White to move:

I ended up playing 27.Bxf6 Nxf6 28.Bc2, and he grinded me down after 28…Rg4+ and …Ke7.

But we don’t have to go far in chess history. Everyone probably remembers Ding Liren’s famous blunder vs Gukesh in this position.

White to move:

White has a drawn position, just some accuracy is required but pretty much any move, except the game move, draws. In the game, Ding played a careless 55.Rf2?? and lost after 55…Rxf2 56.Kxf2 Bd5! forcing the winning K+P endgame.

How could a reigning World Champion blunder like that? Was it a blind spot because his bishop on a8 had no moves, or was it just fatigue after a long and grueling game? We may never know the full answer, but these blunders happen to even the best of us.

As I was finishing this post, I saw another mega-blunder at the Super-GM level. In round one of Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee, Anish Giri played 22…Bxd4?? to reach this position.

White to move and win:

And he resigned after a simple double attack, 23.Rc4! Wow…

It’s a humbling reminder that chess is played by humans, not engines. We all have our own tactical blind spots that appear when we least expect them. Identifying these patterns in your own games is the first step to fixing them.

So, I’d like to hear from you: What is your tactical blind spot? Is it long queen moves, lateral rook moves, or something else?

Please let me know in the comments below.

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