Pirc Defense poisoned b2 pawn: game 1381
In game 1381 I took the Pirc Defense poisoned b2 pawn: my queen went to b6 on move 9 and ate White's b-pawn on move 10, and Stockfish marks the plan as a blunder (+0.05 to +2.24 for White). Against Lyn2011212 (1267) the game then swung back and forth for almost sixty moves, and it ended in a draw after I missed mate in one with 29 seconds left.
The recorded game
I played this game on March 14, 2025 as Black, on my Chess.com account nacsol3. My recorded rating was 1257. It was a ten-minute rapid game without increment, part of the From 631 to 1385 journey.
| Detail | Saved record |
|---|---|
| Game | 1381 |
| Opening | Pirc Defense (B07), with 4.Bd3 |
| Result | Draw (½-½), "Game drawn by insufficient material" |
| My accuracy | 74.4% (White 74.5%) |
| My blunders / mistakes / inaccuracies | 10 / 3 / 3 |
| Accuracy by phase | Opening 83.1%, middlegame 90.6%, endgame 69.5% |
| My best winning chance in the game | 97.5% |
| Original score | Chess.com game |
I came into this game after four wins in a row (games 1377 to 1380), two of them in the Pirc. That probably explains the mood: I felt I could grab things. The weekly diary lists the whole week.
How the opening went
The moves were 1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg7 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.exd6 cxd6 7.O-O Nc6 8.Be3 O-O 9.Nc3. White's bishop on d3 is not the most common setup, and White pushed the e-pawn early to kick my knight. I exchanged on d6 and castled. Up to move 9 the evaluation stayed close to zero.
Position 1: move 9, the queen goes to b6
The checker's description of my move is exactly what I saw: the queen attacks the b2 pawn, which has no defender. Stockfish's first choice was a central pawn move to e5, and its line (9...e5 10.Bb5 a6 11.Bxc6 bxc6) keeps the game level. After my queen move the evaluation was +2.24.
What I didn't see was White's reply. 10.d5 was the engine's own choice. The checker describes it as a pawn that attacks my knight on c6 and opens a line, so White's bishop on e3 now attacked my queen on b6. One pawn move, two threats. I went ahead and took on b2 anyway (10...Qxb2, the engine's best at that point, because by then the damage was done).
Position 2: move 11, the wrong recapture
After 11.dxc6 White had taken my knight. I had two ways to take something back.
My queen took the knight on c3, and on paper it looks great: the checker counts a double attack on the rook in the corner, the bishop on d3 and the pawn on c6. But the pawn on c6 was not just a pawn. It could take my knight on d7, and it did: 12.cxd7 Bxd7. Counting both captures, I had given two knights for a knight and two pawns. The analysis marks 11...Qxc3 as another blunder, +1.68 to +4.75. Stockfish wanted the simple 11...bxc6, removing the pawn before it could take anything.
That is the opening lesson of this game, and it is a lesson about counting, not about theory. The b2 pawn cost me tempo, and then my greedy recapture cost me a piece.
Position 3: move 22, White gives it back
I spent the middlegame a piece down and played better there (90.6% accuracy). My 16...f5 was a mistake (the engine wanted d5) and White reached +7.77 on move 18. Then White blundered three times. On move 21 my pawn took White's knight on d4, which won my piece back, and on move 22 White took my bishop on d7.
This is the move I got right. My rook took White's rook with check, and the checker shows the double attack: check, and the queen with the rook behind it. After 23.Qxe1 Qxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Rxd7 everything came off. We each had a rook, and I had seven pawns against five. The evaluation was -5.34, winning for me.
Position 4: move 29, giving back a pawn
By move 29 I was still two pawns up (-4.87). I moved my rook to b1, and White's rook checked my king from d7 and then took my a-pawn (30.Rd7+ Kh6 31.Rxa7). The evaluation went to -0.25. Stockfish wanted my king to step to h6 first, so the rook check never happened. In rook endgames the king's square decides whether the enemy rook gets checks with tempo, and I didn't look.
The endgame after that was chaos on both sides: four of my blunders came between moves 35 and 48, and White made just as many. On move 48 I gave my rook for White's last pawn (48...Rxh4 49.Rxh4) and promoted my f-pawn to a queen with check (49...f1=Q+). Queen against rook, with 103 seconds left on my clock.
Position 5: move 66, mate in one
For seventeen moves I chased White's king with my queen. The engine's numbers show huge advantages, but the clock kept dropping. On move 65 I played a king move with 33 seconds left, and on move 66 White's rook came to h7, attacking my queen. White had 12 seconds.
The checker gives it in one word: checkmate. My queen to f8 traps White's king in the corner. I saw the rook attacking my queen, defended the queen with my king and attacked the rook. The checker even says my move threatened mate next move. But White didn't have to wait: 67.Rxf7 Kxf7, and two bare kings is a draw by insufficient material. The analysis marks Kg6 as the turning point of the game, from mate in one to 0.00.
The lesson of game 1381
Two lessons, one from each end of the game. In the opening, a pawn with no defender is not automatically free. Before 9...Qb6 I should have asked what White's next move does to my queen and my knight on c6, and 10.d5 answered that with two threats at once. Before 11...Qxc3 I should have asked what the pawn on c6 could take.
At the end, when my opponent attacks my queen, my first question has to be whether I have a check or a mate before I defend anything. With 29 seconds that question takes one second. I wrote about losing winning positions more generally, and game 506 is the opposite story, where my opponent missed mate in one twice.
What came after
The recorded ratings go 1257 after game 1380, 1257 after this draw and 1265 after game 1382, a win in the Zukertort Chigorin. The next game, the same night, became another opening lesson: game 1383. These numbers describe what happened; they don't prove the review caused anything. If you want to review your own games with these boards, Chess Coach in Claude or ChatGPT does it from a finished game. The journey hub has the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What is a poisoned pawn?
A pawn that looks free but costs you more than it is worth if you take it, usually because your queen gets chased or another piece is left loose. In game 1381 my queen's trip to b6 and b2 was marked as a blunder.
What did Stockfish want instead of 9...Qb6?
A pawn move from e7 to e5, hitting White's centre. The saved evaluation after 9...Qb6 went from +0.05 to +2.24 for White.
Was I lost after the opening?
The engine had White clearly better, up to +7.77 on move 18. White then blundered on moves 19, 21 and 22, and after 22.Bxd7 I was winning at -5.52.
How did game 1381 end?
In a draw by insufficient material. With 29 seconds left I had mate in one with my queen (Qf8#), played a king move instead, and White's rook took my queen.