When you’re playing really well in game, you feel like you’re in complete control and that sooner or later, you’ll eventually find the winning combination. In most cases, you’ll probably won’t and in some, you think you’ve found it, only to realise that it’s actually a losing combination. So the question is, “How do I play chess without losing my winning position?”

And the answer is, “You attack at the right moment”. But what moment is the right moment and when does it occur? Now this is a lot harder to answer. Because chess gives us so many opportunities, there are various different variations to consider, some of which can still end out in your favour. However, being able to play chess well doesn’t just involve coming up with loads of variations, it’s also about choosing the correct one. Let’s take this position for example:

Black is clearly winning and simply moving the queen to f5, threatening to play Qb1+ and then followed by mopping up the queenside, would easily ensure the win. The pawn on c6 can’t be taken by white yet since black’s king could simply capture bishop on f7. Another good move would have been Qf6, just to defend the c6 pawn if black wasn’t in much of an attacking mood.

In the game, however, black was not as patient and decided to immediately liquidate by 1…Rxf7?? Black obviously thought that white would take back and simply leave black a queen for a bishop. However, white stunned black with 2. Bd8+!! and tables immediately turn around, since black must take the bishop, 2…Kxd8 (or lose the queen due to the skewer), but then 3. Nxf7+ wins the black queen anyway.

This example shows you that in order to earn that precious point, you must also have some patience and to be always be aware of the consequences of your actions, or in this case moves, otherwise you could fall victim to such oversights such as the one above.