A young grandmaster shows more fighting spirit than a super GM
Fighting spirit is the most important attribute of a chess player. You are not always going to like your position, but you have to learn to play on and make the most of the chances that come. You also want to have the reputation of a player who fights on. In this game from the Superbet Chess Classic in Romania last June, super GM MVL as White makes a crushing attacking move 25. g4! against his young opponent, Bogdan-Daniel Deac.
But he seemed surprised when Black snaps back with 25...b3! and after an inaccuracy on move 30, White gets a worse position. Then he puts in no effort and loses in a few moves.
https://lichess.org/study/TiXFxdyo/w52RiWmI#48
I was reminded of this game when watching Richard Rapport v. Ding Liren at the Candidates yesterday. Rapport found a stunning move, 33.Nc4! This leads to so many attacking ideas, depending on how Black responds like c5, Ba4+, Qf5+, Bxe5. But Ding found the best move, the difficult to find 34...Rc6! walking into a pin on a4. Rapport put up a great fight, but White could not find the way out and lost after a long struggle.
No matter how good a move looks or how strong your opponent is, you have to put up the best resistance possible. As well, on the other side of things, you have to remain as objective as possible and look for your opponent's best response.
