FIDE SURVEYS – Susan Polgar 

 

      1 

 

Susan Polgar: 
 
Is there luck in chess? 

 
 
Well, yes and no. When I was a little girl, 
my Dad introduced me to the game of chess. 
He used to say "chess is the fairest game of 
all and therefore the better player wins". I 
guess I would agree with that even today, on 
the most part.  
According to Wikipedia: "Chess does not 
involve any random factors such as 
throwing dice..." 
True, in the traditional sense as there is no 
luck in chess. Both sides start with exactly 
the same amount and types of pieces and in 
a symmetrical starting position. 
However, luck (or bad luck), nevertheless, 
plays a role from time to time in every chess 
player's career. 
 
Luck in chess can manifest in many ways. 
Here are just a few of most the common 
ones: 
The opponent 
a) blunders or makes a major mistake in a 
good or equal position 
b) walks into a opening trap  
c) chooses an opening line that we are well 
prepared for versus one that we are fearful 
of. 
Let me elaborate on the above mentioned 
scenarios and illustrate them by some 
examples. 
 
a) The opponent blunders or makes a 
major mistake in a good or equal position 
 
Jacob Murey : Susan Polgar 
Royan 1988 
 
After a hard fought game, in time pressure I 
misplayed the middle game and we reached 
the following position: 

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My opponent confidently played  
40.Lc4  
pinning my Knight, looked at me like he is 
expecting me to resign (and rightfully so!) 
and got up for a walk.  
I quickly played  
40...Lg4  
(with very little time left on my clock), 
reaching the time control (at move 40), and 
also got up for a long desired walk. I was 
expecting my opponent to either play 
41.Dd8 Kh7 42.De7 then give a couple more 
checks and resign.  
To my great surprise and joy, as I walked 
back to the stage, I saw on the 
demonstration board that my experienced 
opponent without much thinking played 
41.fg4?? 
I assume he only anticipated 41...Dg4 and 
completely forgot about  
41...f3  
discovery which wins the Queen on b8. 0:1. 
 
Was I lucky? Yes, very. However, at the 
same time I know some who perhaps would 
have already resigned earlier, therefore not 
giving the opponent the chance to go wrong. 
Sometimes a lucky game, especially early in 
a tournament or in a key game, can play a 
major role for the rest of the event. It can 
bring good mood, raises self-confidence and 

FIDE SURVEYS – Susan Polgar 

 

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set the tone for the better for the entire 
tournament. This in turn can be a major push 
for one's career. In this case, the above game 
helped me to reach a break-through in my 
career in making my first GM norm in that 
tournament. 
At the same time, if one is on the other side 
of the coin, a major blunder can be very 
painful. It can cost a tournament or even 
cause a significant set-back in one's career. 
Of course, the difference is if our opponent 
blunders, it is our luck, while if we blunder 
that is our fault and no one else should be 
blamed. 
The next game not only may have changed 
the life of the player on the "lucky side" but 
possibly chess history at large. 
 
Robert Fischer : Mark Taimanov  
Vancouver (match game 2) 1971 

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Given the fact that White has the "wrong 
color Bishop" all Black needed to do to save 
the game was to get his King to the corner 
(even if it costs giving the Knight up) or 
alternatively give up the Knight for White's 
last Pawn. In this position, Black had more 
than one way to achieve one of those two 
goals. For example: 81...Sd3 82.h4 Sf4 
83.Kf5 Kd6! 84.Kf4 Ke7 or 81...Kd6 82.Le2 
Sd7 83.Kf7 Ke5 84.h4 Sf6 both leading to a 
not very difficult draw. 

Fortunately for the legendary Bobby 
Fischer, his opponent continued with a 
losing plan and played:  
81...Ke4??  
It does not look at first like such a horrible 
move, but actually it loses the game. The 
issue is that the h-Pawn should be stopped as 
early as possible, before it advances to far. 
82.Lc8!  
This was a very smart move which 
paralyzed the Black Knight. If 82...Sf3 
83.Lb7 or 82...Sd3 83.Lf5 forcing the 
exchange of the Bishop for the Knight in 
both cases.  
82...Kf4 83.h4 Sf3  
If 83...Sg4 84.Kg7. 
84.h5 Sg5 85.Lf5  
Black is in zugzwang now. 
85...Sf3 86.h6 Sg5 87.Kg6 
And another zugzwang position.  
87...Sf3 88.h7 Sh4 89.Kf6 1:0. 
 
While Fischer certainly was "lucky" that 
Taimanov did not find the right continuation 
in the critical position, to his credit he found 
all the right moves afterwards to take 
advantage of it.  
If Bobby did not win this game, he 
definitely could not have gone 6-0 and 
history would have been very different.  
But it is part of life: winning (especially by 
the score of 6-0) or to be successful in 
general you need some luck too. I do believe 
what the famous golfer Gary Player said: 
"The more I practice the luckier I get". 
The more opportunities you create for your 
opponent to "give you gifts", the better 
chances you will have for it to happen.  
Here is one of those examples from my 
practice: 
 
Susan Polgar - Larry Christiansen 
San Francisco 1991 

 

1.d4 Sf6 2.Sf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.Ld3 b6 5.c4    
Lb7 6.Sc3 cd4 7.ed4 Be7 8.0–0 d5 9.cd5 

FIDE SURVEYS – Susan Polgar 

 

      3 

 

Sd5 10.Se5 0–0 11.Dh5 Sf6 12.Dh4 Sbd7  
13.Td1 Se4 14.Dh3 Sdf6  

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15.d5!  
This is a typical idea in similar positions 
combining various tactical ideas. Black 
cannot capture on d5 immediately without 
losing the knight on e4.    
15...Sc3 16.bc3 Ld5  
If 16...ed5 17.Sd7! Dd7? 18.Lh7 Kh8 19.Lf5 
and White wins. 
17.Lg5!  
After the natural 17.c4 Black escapes with 
17...Le4. 
17...g6  
White would get a winning attack after 
17...h6? 18.Lh6! gh6 19.Dh6. 
18.Dh4 h6!  
Christiansen was spending a lot time on the 
clock and was hoping for  19.Lh6 (or 
19.Dh6? Sg4!) Sd7 20.Dg3 - which (as I 
later understood) was actually what I should 
have played. But during the game I was very 
proud of myself when I noticed the 
combination with  
19.Lg6?!  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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The actual game continued with  
19...fg6?  20.Dh6 Sh7 21.Dg6 Kh8   22.Le7   
De7  
and now the final point of the combination 
23.c4! Dh4 24.cd5 Df2 25.Kh1 Tf6 26.De4 
ed5 27.Dd5  
and White reached a winning position and 
later won.

 

Fortunately for me, my opponent "believed" 
me that after 19...hg5 20.Dg5 fg6 21.Dg6 
Kh8 22.Rd3 White has a winning attack. We 
both realized only much after the game that 
actually it would have been Black who is 
winning after 22...Sh7! 23.Th3 Lh4. 
Interestingly, this game won the brilliancy 
prize of the tournament. All commentators 
even years later missed the correct defense 
for Black and misevaluated the combination. 
This game was not as lucky as the first 
example we saw in my game against Murey. 
This was a lot more complex position, with 
substantial calculation required, and many 
ways to go wrong for my opponent. 
With that said, it is always luck, when it is 
solely in the opponent's hands to find the 
right move and win, even if they do not find 
the right solution at the board.  
The point is that one made a bad move or an 
incorrect sacrifice and have "gambled", 
regardless if intentionally or not. The end 

FIDE SURVEYS – Susan Polgar 

 

      4 

 

result could have turned out very differently 
and was out of our own control. 
Finally here is a recent example: 
 
Vladimir Kramnik : Peter Leko 
Dortmund 2012 

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White had the initiative throughout the game 
and has been "squeezing" a slightly better 
endgame for a good number of moves and 
finally reached the diagramed position. 
It is clear that despite having very limited 
and even material, due to the Black King's 
cornered position White is in the verge of 
winning. 
Luckily for Leko, who is well known for his 
excellent defensive skills, former world 
champion Kramnik played  
80.Kb6  
(although not letting the win completely out 
of hand yet), and missed the immediate 
winning move. The game eventually ended 
in a draw after a total of 134 moves. As 
Garry Kasparov pointed out (still while the 
game was in progress) the brilliant 80.Td7! 
move to be followed by 81.Kb6 would have 
completed the mating net around Black's 
King. The only way Black could prevent the 
back rank checkmate would be to retreat the 
Rook from h4 to go via g4, resulting in 
giving up the Bishop on f4. 
 

b) The opponent walks into an opening 
trap 
 
In most games, after some opening moves 
an equal or a slightly better (usually) for 
White position arises and then the fight 
begins. On some rare days the fight never 
begins, yet one side may win and the other 
lose. 
The following opening line brought me 
several effortless wins: 
 
Leo Kwatschewsky : Susan Polgar  
Vienna 1986 
 
1.e4 c5 2.Sf3 Sc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Sd4 g6 5.Sc3 
Lg7 6.Le3 Sf6 7.Lc4 0–0  
In this position White has many options but 
it is considered best to continue with 8.Lb3 
to avoid the tactical opportunity Black got 
on the next move in this game. 
8.0–0 Se4 9.Se4 d5 10.Sc6 bc6 11.Ld3 de4 
12.Le4 La6  

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13.Lc6?

  

My opponent played this move rather 
confidently, calculating the variation all the 
way until his 18th move and thinking that I 
overlooked his trap. Unfortunately for him 
and lucky for me, his calculation was just 
one move too short to reach the correct 
evaluation of the arising endgame. Instead, 

FIDE SURVEYS – Susan Polgar 

 

      5 

 

best was 13.Dd8 Tfd8 14.Tfb1 to protect the 
Pawn on b2. 
13...Tc8!  
White would get a pleasant endgame after 
13...Lf1 14.La8 Lb2 15.Dd8 Td8 16.Tf1 Ta8 
17.Tb1. 
14.Dd8 Tfd8 15.Tfd1 Td1 16.Td1 Tc6 
17.Td8 Lf8 18.Lh6 

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At first glance, it seemed for my opponent 
that it is game over. It is true but not for 
Black. 
18...Tc8  
was the move he missed when he went for 
the forced variation starting with 13.Lc6. 0:1 
I would call this a clearly lucky game, as I 
was able to fully rely on advanced "home 
preparation" without needing to think at all 
at the board. 
Obviously such occasions are rare in all 
professionals' lives. However, when it 
happens it is nice to "get a break" and have 
some rest or extra time to prepare for the 
next round while the other competitors may 
be in for a full 4-5 hours (or more) games. 
 
c) The opponent chooses an opening line 
that we are well prepared for versus one 
that we are fearful of 
 
All grandmasters or players who take chess 
seriously or professionally continuously 

prepare their opening lines. They always 
hope that their opponents would choose the 
lines that are either inferior, or ones which 
they are more prepared for, or simply leads 
to a type of position that they are more 
comfortable to play. 
As opening theory changes, so do our 
preferences. 
Here is an example: 
 
Imagine that you are playing Black and you 
are hoping for a fighting game with chances 
to win and chose to play the Queen's Gambit 
Accepted. 
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dc4 3.Sf3  
Other moves which also usually lead to rich 
middle games are 3.e4 or 3.e3. 
3...Sf6 4.e3  
Another option which leads to complicated 
games is 4.Sc3.  
4...e6 5.Lc4 c5 6.0–0 a6  

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In this opening position, most lines lead to 
complex middle games, for example starting 
with 7.a4, 7.Lb3, 7.De2 or 7.Ld3. Often 
after a c5d4 - e3d4 exchange, White will end 
up with an isolated Pawn on d4. 
However, if our hope was to have a complex 
and double-edged game with winning 
chances as well, it would come as bad luck 
if our opponent chooses the not very 
ambitious  

FIDE SURVEYS – Susan Polgar 

 

      6 

 

7.dc5  
followed by the speedy exchange of Queens 
resulting in an endgame with symmetrical 
Pawn structure. 
Although this endgame may not lead to any 
better or worse position for White than the 
other mentioned options on move 7, but it 
would not the type of position we would be 
looking for as Black in that situation. 
 
Another example is in the 80's, a lot of 
Sicilian players as Black after   
1.e4 c5 2.Sf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Sd4 Sf6 5.Sc3 
e6  

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were fearful of the Keres attack  
6.g4  
and would be hoping that the opponent 
would rather choose 6.Le2 or some other 
move. 

 

Conclusion: Generally in chess we want to 
minimize the role of luck, but never the less 
it exists. There are situations when our 
opponent may think of two moves of the 
same strength, not realizing that one is 
actually falling into trap and loses. 
Therefore in such a situation it would be 
lucky for us if the opponent randomly 
chooses the wrong one. Along the same 
thought, at times the opponent accidently 
may choose the right move. 

 
I suggest never to count on luck or your 
opponents' blunder, but rather to create 
choices, challenges and opportunities for 
your opponent to go wrong, without making 
major gambles.  
The only exception I can think of when you 
may consider purposefully gambling on the 
chess board, if you think your position is 
pretty bad anyway and by making an 
inferior move (which may lead to a quicker 
end of the game) but sets up a trap which the 
opponent may fall into.