Week 69: one Pirc Defense Classical Variation game, five blunders and a stalemate
Week 69 was one game, and it was a strange one. On May 14, 2025, I played a single rapid game with Black, a Pirc Defense Classical Variation against ridhsy (1243). I blundered on move 10, got back to equal, blundered again with my king, got lucky again, and lost everything except my king. Then, with the engine showing mate in three for White, my opponent stalemated me. Result: a draw, 1252 → 1252, after 71 moves.
The week in numbers
| Games | 1 (Black) |
| W / L / D | 0 / 0 / 1 |
| Rating | 1252 → 1252 (±0) |
| Accuracy | 83.2% (my opponent: 80.7%) |
| Blunders | 5 (my opponent: 4) |
| Opening | Pirc Defense Classical Schlechter Variation |
| Length | 141 half-moves; under a minute left on my clock at the end |
An 83.2% accuracy with five blunders sounds contradictory. It isn't: in a 71-move game, five terrible moves get diluted by dozens of ordinary ones. The blunders still decide what happens.
How the Classical Pirc went wrong on move 10
The opening was calm. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.h3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bc4 c6 7.Bb3 Qa5 8.O-O Nbd7. Then White pushed 9.e5, attacking my knight on f6. After 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 the knight was attacked again, and I had to decide what to do with it (game).
The answer was right there: my other knight, on d7, could simply take the pawn that was attacking me. Nxe5 wins the pawn and attacks White's knight on f3, and the engine calls it equal. I retreated to e8 instead, and the evaluation went from +0.06 to +6.50. The game showed why: 11.e6 attacked my knight on d7, 12.exf7+ took a pawn with check, and after 12...Rxf7 13.Bxf7+ Kxf7 I had given a rook for a bishop. White's bishop on b3 was aiming at f7 along the diagonal.
Both sides throw it back
At move 20 White was still winning, +7.38. Then my opponent took my bishop with 21.Nxd3, and the evaluation dropped to −0.25 in one move. It was a reminder that at 1250 a winning position is not yet a won game, for either player.
My king goes for a walk
On move 24, White's rook gave check on e1 and my king had to choose.
Kd7 keeps the king next to the e7 pawn. Kf5 abandons it, and the engine's reply was Rxe7, taking the pawn and attacking h7 as well: +5.07. White missed it and played 25.Be5, back to +0.20. But I kept walking forward: Kg5 on move 26 and Kh4 on move 28 were both marked as blunders. My king went on to eat White's h3 and g4 pawns, which looks heroic and was not. While my king was away, White's rooks collected my pawns on e7, h7, b7, a7 and c6, and by move 64 White had a new queen on a8.
Mate in three, then stalemate
By the end it was White's king and queen against my lone king. On move 70 the engine showed mate in three for White. White played 71.Kf2, my king on h3 had no legal move and was not in check, and that's stalemate: the game is a draw. The analysis marks 71.Kf2 as a blunder, from a forced mate straight to 0.00.
The lesson of the week
When a pawn attacks one of your pieces, look for a capture before a retreat. Here my d7 knight could take the attacker and gain time on White's knight. The retreat to e8 handed White a free pawn march to my king.
The second lesson is about the end of games, from both sides of the board. With my king alone, I kept moving and the draw came. With the extra queen, my opponent needed one more check before each move: does my opponent still have a legal move? When you're winning big, take squares away gradually and never leave the lone king with zero moves unless it's checkmate.
All games this week
| Game # | Date | Colour | Opponent (rating) | Result | Opening | Accuracy | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1495 | May 14 | Black | ridhsy (1243) | Draw | Pirc Defense Classical Schlechter Variation | 83.2% | game |
← Week 68 · Week 70 → · The journey hub · Review your own games like this with Stockfish and plain-word explanations.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Pirc Defense Classical Variation?
It's the Pirc setup for Black (...d6, ...Nf6, ...g6, ...Bg7) against White's calm development with Nc3 and Nf3. My game came by the order 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.h3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Nf3, and Chess.com filed it as the Classical, Schlechter Variation.
What should Black do when White pushes e5 in the Pirc?
In my game 9.e5 attacked my knight on f6. After 9...dxe5 10.dxe5 the engine wanted 10...Nxe5, taking the pawn with the other knight (about equal). Retreating with 10...Ne8 let the pawn reach e6 next to my king, and the evaluation jumped to +6.50.
Can you draw a lost game by stalemate?
Yes. My opponent had promoted a queen and the engine showed mate in three, but his king move 71.Kf2 left my lone king without a legal move. That's stalemate, and the game was drawn.