Homer Nods (IV)

It's been awhile since I highlighted a great chessplayer playing badly; here is an example sportingly provided by GM Chris Ward in his excellent book Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined. Ward calls it "possibly my most humiliating ever encounter."

Ward-Rausis
Le Touquet, 1992
Queen's Gambit, Baltic Defense

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 3. Qb3 e5 4. cxd5 exd4 5. Nf3 Bc5 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8. dxc6 b5 9. Qxb5 Ne7 10. e3 Rb8 11. Qe2 0-0 12. Nc3 Nxc6 13. g4 Bxc3+ 14. bxc3 Be4 15. Rg1 Ne5 and Ward's comment:

It's simply horrendous!



The game concluded 16. Bg2 Nd3+ 17. Kf1 Nxc1 0-1

He annotates the game in detail in the book, but I think the lesson is clear here; if one plays the most 'critical' moves at every turn and neglects development, even a GM can end up looking like "NN" as in NN-Morphy, New York 1857!